LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp is notoriously out-spoken when it comes to fixture congestion, and firmly believes the pile-up is too demanding on players.
And he’s already told incoming Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick that he will have ‘no time’ to implement his famed Gegenpressing philosophy.
2
2
Rangnick has agreed a deal to take up the reigns at Old Trafford after being recruited because he was the OPPOSITE type of manager to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But Klopp has warned it will virtually impossible for him to instil his philosophy before the New Year.
He said: “You have an idea but you have to adapt it to your team, and that is I found myself it’s not easy when you come in the middle of the season and there are pretty much 20 games between here and New Year’s Eve.
“That’s a massive challenge because the things you want to change on the pitch, we all don’t have time for that.
“So even if your team is already educated in that you still need long long long meetings and there’s no chance of that! It will be interesting.”
He also went on to say: “Like all coaches in the world, we need time to train with our teams and Ralf will pretty quickly realise he has no time to train because they play all the time so that makes it a bit trickier for him.”
BETTING SPECIAL – GET MAN UTD AT 100/1 OR CHELSEA AT 30/1
Klopp fumed about the hectic Christmas schedule last season and the inconsistent kick off times that come with games being chosen for TV.
His anger reached boiling point in an astonishing on-screen row with composed BT Sport reporter Des Kelly.
Although the Anfield hero may have a point – United play EIGHT games in the month of December alone.
Klopp himself is said to have taken inspiration from Rangnick when it comes to his high intensity ‘heavy metal’ style of play.
The pair also know each other well from their time coaching in their native Germany.
And Reds boss Klopp revealed Rangnick often called him up and asked for information on teams after Klopp had faced them with Mainz.
He said: “We faced each other for the first time when I was a young coach and he was at Hannover.
“He might have forgotten, but they always played our opponent a week later so he called me, the young manager of Mainz and asked plenty of questions.
“I was happy big Ralf Rangnick was calling me, but he got all the information he needed. Then they got promoted [in 2002] and we didn’t, so he still owes me!”
⚽ Read our Football news live blog for the very latest rumours, gossip and done deals