This was Jurgen Klopp with the gloves off — a no-holds barred press conference reminiscent of the last day of school when all rules go out of the window or the final week of a job where everything becomes more relaxed.
The departing Anfield boss has not put his ‘out of office’ alert on just yet and is still working hard to ensure his era ends on a high. But if anyone wants a window into Klopp’s true feelings, the next fortnight will bring just that.
The poor folks at TNT Sports, FIFA administrators and English football’s calendar managers were in the firing line as Liverpool’s press officer flanked Klopp with a smirk resembling that of a school teacher who has lost control of the class clown.
Klopp looked directly into the camera at the Reds’ training base and took aim at broadcasters TNT Sports for constantly scheduling European teams in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off, indirectly blaming them for English teams’ failure in continental competition.
‘In general it’s a really interesting subject, seeing that Aston Villa lost 4-2 (on Thursday night),’ he said.
Jurgen Klopp took aim at TNT Sports over the ‘crime’ of Liverpool’s ‘insane’ fixture schedule
The Reds have been struggling through a tough period that has seen them play eight times across 23 days
‘If they go out it would mean no English team is in a European final. You will all stay here, you will all talk about it. If you don’t decrease the intensity for the players.
‘If you think all English teams underperformed, there were definitely (bad) moments. But the Premier League is the best league in the world.
‘It is not overrated, the players are overworked. Somebody needs to help the people. You cut off one game (FA Cup replays), then give the top teams three more Champions League matches. Everyone has a reason to say, “You cannot cut off these games, they are important”. But you cannot sort it all the time.
‘I had a discussion the other day with colleagues from my favourite TV channel which I will definitely never watch again, TNT. People always say, “They pay you! They give money for football”. It’s not that, it’s the other way around: football pays them.
‘(Broadcasters) have to become a partner of football again and not just the squeezer. That’s just a little advice from an old man on the way out. We have to change our approach. It’s a general problem.
‘They dare to give us (a schedule of) Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday 12.30 — it’s a crime! I was waiting for Amnesty International to go to them. I would like to be part of that meeting when someone says, “Liverpool 12.30,” and the whole room bursts into a laugh.
‘The quickest turnaround in the whole world… Liverpool! They say you have to fight more and go for it. It’s absolutely insane.
‘But they are still happy. They like subscribers, you can take me off that list. If you are ever looking for a pundit, I speak English and could do it, but…’
Klopp said he expected human rights charity Amnesty International to get involved over Liverpool’s testing fixture pile-up
The German joked TNT could ‘take me off their list of subscribers’ after savaging them
Klopp added on talk of him taking a role in the admin side of the game: ‘No, I never thought about it but they will need people of a normal age knowing the business. But imagine me becoming FIFA president?
‘It is obviously a well-paid job, that is why they all want to do it — not the official part obviously. I don’t think I will spend my lifetime on these kinds of things. In the end one person cannot put it right as long as all the rest think, “Ah, it will be all right, they earn millions, let them play there”.
‘Let’s do the first three match days in America — all really good ideas. Alone you can’t change anything. I probably wouldn’t survive in that sea of sharks. That is not the plan. I don’t think I will do that.’
Klopp infamously went to war with TNT Sports – then BT Sport – in 2020 and blamed them for causing an injury to James Milner
Klopp insisted there was ‘no problem’ between himself and Mo Salah despite a row between the pair during their 2-2 draw at West Ham
Meanwhile, Klopp rubbished talk of a fall-out with Mohamed Salah after the pair clashed on the touchline during last weekend’s draw at West Ham.
‘Completely resolved,’ said the boss. ‘It’s not a problem. We have known each other for (a long time) and respect each other. It’s a non-story.’
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is a doubt for tomorrow’s match against Tottenham — Klopp’s penultimate Anfield game — after nursing a minor muscle injury all week. Conor Bradley is back in contention but Diogo Jota is likely to miss out again.