Neville claims Jurgen Klopp rant is all about gaining an ‘advantage’

Gary Neville has questioned Jurgen Klopp’s rant over kick-off times, claiming that the Liverpool boss is acting like his old boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

Klopp was involved in a heated exchange with BT Sport following his side’s 1-1 draw at Brighton. That game saw the REds lose another player to injury in James Milner.

The Liverpool chief has repeatedly spoken out against the hectic schedule and the Saturday lunchtime kick-off slot.

However, Neville – speaking on Monday Night Football – feels Klopp is implementing the same psychological tactics as Ferguson regularly displayed.

To Neville, Klopp’s spikey post-match comments are just a way to gain an extra advantage over his rivals.

He told Sky Sports: “I don’t think Jurgen Klopp’s got a point around fatigue, around the length of time of pre-season or about the Saturday kick-offs.

“My view is that when you become a winning manager, and this is where Sir Alex got to and why they called him a whinging so and so for many years, the best managers they just want to win.

“The biggest risk to Klopp winning the league again this season is another big injury or two. So, he wants to try and gain that advantage to put some psychological thing into people’s minds. Sir Alex Ferguson did it for 15 or 16 years.

“Klopp has been the best manager in interviews for the last few years, he’s been the best manager on the pitch. He has connected with the fans better than anybody else, his style of football is fantastic. But on Saturday he got done in an interview, and that’s very rare.

“He didn’t get his story right, he hasn’t got his evidence to back him up either in games played or in the Saturday kick-off slots. He just lost this particular one having been brilliant in all his other interviews that he’s done.

“He’s trying to gain an advantage to get results, that’s it.

Ferguson always wanted an advantage

“I played for a manager in Sir Alex Ferguson. Every single season he wanted that advantage. He wanted the ability to recover more, to play at different times. So it suited Manchester United, and that’s what Klopp wants now.

“What Klopp has done at Liverpool over the last three years is unbelievable. But his squad this season is just wilting a little bit under the fact they’ve had that three years.

“There might be an element of Covid and sport science, but the rest time has been there. The games are not coming thicker and faster than any other season. The Saturday kick-offs are not coming thicker and faster than any other season. So the exceptional points Klopp is making haven’t happened.”

Neville is also not convinced that this is a season of exceptional circumstances due to the condensed nature of the fixture list.

He highlighted how a 12.30pm kick-off time doesn’t overly affect a team’s ability to pick up points.

“I don’t think it’s an exceptional season,” Neville said.

“It’s exceptional in that the players have had more rest than they’ve ever had before.

“They had three months of rest from March until June, they then played nine matches, where Klopp played all his best players even when they’d won the league, and they then had five weeks off up to the Community Shield.

“In any season I ever played in a World Cup or European Championships, I only ever got three or four weeks anyway.

“There’s more rest this year than in any year in football’s history. I don’t get this idea that it’s a unique season. The fans aren’t in the stadiums, the feeling’s not there for the players.”

No major Klopp gripe

“I don’t think Klopp’s got what I would believe to be a major gripe about being disadvantaged against other teams that play in that [early] slot in any other season.

“If you’re successful and you’re Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, they want to watch you over in Asia and the overseas broadcasters will pay for that. It’s been the same for 18 years.

“I then started to think about the volume of games Liverpool have played.

“They have played a lot of games in the last few years, they’ve been successful in the Champions League, gone all the way with City in the league. If you look at the days per game, again through history, at the moment they’re playing every 5.4 days.

“If you look again at the most successful teams who’ve had European campaigns, whether it be the Europa or Champions League, going all the way back to Manchester United in 1998/99, again Liverpool are not disadvantaged. The players Liverpool have got this season, with bigger squads, are being asked to play a game every 5.4 days.

“The maximum Liverpool can play this season, if they go the whole way in every competition, is every 4.5 days.”

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