Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola concur on the Man City vs. Liverpool FC Premier League choice.
The managers of Manchester City and Liverpool have discussed a problem that is probably going to impact both teams’ players.
As it attempts to crack down on rule violations, the Premier League has come under heavy criticism during the last week for its 10-point punishment of Everton.
Over the course of its 31-year history, the competition has experienced exponential growth, emerging as one of England’s greatest productions, reaching stratospheric heights. In the 2021/22 season, revenue reached a record £5.5 billion, and that amount is expected to rise as the years go by.
A sizeable amount of the revenue comes from TV broadcasting rights, which in turn helps the game expand to ever-widening audiences. The ability for broadcasters to select which games are used for which game slots comes with these rights packages.
Apart from the customary blackout at 3 p.m., TNT Sports currently gets to choose which matches to air during the Saturday lunch hour, with Sky Sports holding the majority of the power over the remaining matches. There is dissatisfaction among many in Premier League dugouts regarding the early kickoff times.
After Liverpool and Brighton drew, manager Jurgen Klopp got into a well-known on-air altercation with interviewer Des Kelly in 2020 about the issue. As the presenter correctly noted, the Premier League was the ones who made the time slot argument available for coverage.
After the international break, players, especially those in South America, have a quick turnaround. Klopp’s team is scheduled to play Manchester City at the Etihad on Saturday at 12.30 p.m.
This kind of game is inappropriate for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. It’s just not possible, to be honest, for the people making these decisions to feel football,” Klopp remarked. And it’s the time when football games draw the biggest crowds worldwide.
“A combined total of roughly thirty international players could be on these two teams. The South American players, incidentally, all return on the same plane. We load them onto the plane from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, and they all fly back together. They all return, one game, one plane. All we need to do is make sure we’re prepared for this match.
Pep Guardiola made a hint about this in September. And following that, last month’s due to his extensive international travels, he decided to rest Ederson against Brighton during the break.
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A few weeks prior, though, Guardiola had also criticized the schedule following his team’s 3-1 victory over West Ham. “These guys, Julian Alvarez from Bolivia and Ederson from Brazil, were playing for their national teams for ninety minutes.” They are extremely tired from it.
Just have a look at the number of injuries each team has. Observe [Edson] Alvarez of West Ham; he leaves the game after 15 or 20 minutes.
“Why? He arrived here to play against City after traveling from South America for 12 or 13 hours, jet lagged. We don’t treat the players well. We treat the players in such an irresponsible manner.
Later that month, he declared that he believed managers were not being heard and urged players to take a stand against FIFA and UEFA in order to bring about change. The World Cup in the middle of the season and the demanding post-Covid schedule make it understandable why clubs, including City, are experiencing such a high injury rate.
Maybe Saturday’s game won’t be as much about elite precision quality as it will be about who can recover and regroup the fastest.
The classic sky blue color of the Puma home shirt is contrasted with finely detailed, slightly darker blue stripes across the front, which are modeled after the walkways at Etihad Stadium. The shirt commemorates the anniversary of City’s 2003 move from Maine Road to their new location.
