The 2020/2021 RAWK Nuggets Thread

Originally Posted by est.1878

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has criticised Premier League executives for "ignoring player welfare" over the five substitutes rule, which was not considered at this week's shareholder meeting.

"Nobody thought [five substitutes] would go through," he said. "I told you about the facts in the manager meeting, if we were allowed to vote it would have gone through with 15-16 votes.

"But that it hasn't happened since is a sign the shareholders see it different to their managers.

"That is not a good sign, to be honest, because it shows they ignore player welfare. The coaches don’t do that but these people do. But we have to accept that for the moment."

not vested interests for a squad famously being ran into the ground, no sirree

I don't disagree that his motives here are self interested, but can also believe his claim that most PL managers favour it. And they have a point tbh.

It does benefit bigger clubs, but it primarily supports the players.

Smaller clubs are being more selfish by not considering the players. At least the bigger clubs selfishness comes with a benefit.

Chris Wilder has pretty much said that he wants 3 subs because it’s better for Sheffield United and that’s all he cares about. If a manager at a big club said the same about 5 subs, they’d be slated.

You can’t really blame Chris Wilder, ther isn’t any quality on his bench

Originally Posted by Danoli

You can’t really blame Chris Wilder, ther isn’t any quality on his bench

That’s the point though, isn’t it? The bigger picture is that it’s there to help players during an unprecedented schedule. His position is entirely about Sheffield United, and also isn’t doing his own players any favours.

The argument against is simply “we don’t want teams bringing on good players against us”.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

That’s the point though, isn’t it? The bigger picture is that it’s there to help players during an unprecedented schedule. His position is entirely about Sheffield United, and also isn’t doing his own players any favours.

The argument against is simply “we don’t want teams bringing on good players against us”.

Is it an “unprecedented schedule” though? Neville’s graphic from MNF would suggest not. Unprecedented times, unprecedented situation for sure, but I think it’s become too easy to just say covid or short pre-season, then not give it much thought past that. Plenty of top level players over the years have coped with short breaks in WC or EC summers.

If Klopp’s so worried about player welfare then rotate more, that’s all. Given the size of his squad he could absolutely guarantee that none of his players play more frequently than in any ‘normal’ season, so why is this all of a sudden BT and Sky’s fault and not his?

Originally Posted by utd99

Is it an “unprecedented schedule” though? Neville’s graphic from MNF would suggest not. Unprecedented times, unprecedented situation for sure, but I think it’s become too easy to just say covid or short pre-season, then not give it much thought past that. Plenty of top level players over the years have coped with short breaks in WC or EC summers.

If Klopp’s so worried about player welfare then rotate more, that’s all. Given the size of his squad he could absolutely guarantee that none of his players play more frequently than in any ‘normal’ season, so why is this all of a sudden BT and Sky’s fault and not his?

Didn’t the players get 2 weeks off in the ‘summer’? Then straight into the Euros next year. Usually alternate summers for that.

Plus this is all after a compacted schedule at the end of last season.

It’s a demand of games that we haven’t seen in terms of season to season, even if it does break down to the usual ‘Wednesday - Saturday’ dynamic now.


Whether clubs should rotate more misses the point imo. We have a proposal in front of us that gives a bit more leeway. It’s why it was brought in in the first place and nothing has really changed.

I think it’s easy to be snide towards Klopp and suggest it’s self serving, but it’s far more self-serving the other way round.

If Sheffield United start getting injuries late in games because their players are run into the ground then Wilder will rightly get an earful.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

Didn’t the players get 2 weeks off in the ‘summer’? Then straight into the Euros next year. Usually alternate summers for that.

Plus this is all after a compacted schedule at the end of last season.

It’s a demand of games that we haven’t seen in terms of season to season, even if it does break down to the usual ‘Wednesday - Saturday’ dynamic now.


Whether clubs should rotate more misses the point imo. We have a proposal in front of us that gives a bit more leeway. It’s why it was brought in in the first place and nothing has really changed.

I think it’s easy to be snide towards Klopp and suggest it’s self serving, but it’s far more self-serving the other way round.

If Sheffield United start getting injuries late in games because their players are run into the ground then Wilder will rightly get an earful.

Liverpool’s game frequency is no different now than in previous seasons. Their break between last season and this was longer than ours because they were out of the CL latter stages; in fact they were in a better position to manage their break because they had the title wrapped up early and could easily have rested their best players. They chose not to.

This is not Klopp bashing; the man is simply trying to flog his best 11 to death with an added insurance policy. He has players in the squad who have virtually no minutes, he just doesn’t want to use them voluntarily. Unlucky.

Originally Posted by utd99

Liverpool’s game frequency is no different now than in previous seasons. Their break between last season and this was longer than ours because they were out of the CL latter stages; in fact they were in a better position to manage their break because they had the title wrapped up early and could easily have rested their best players. They chose not to.

This is not Klopp bashing; the man is simply trying to flog his best 11 to death with an added insurance policy. He has players in the squad who have virtually no minutes, he just doesn’t want to use them voluntarily. Unlucky.

Yep. Shaqiri has 51 minutes of football this season across two sub appearances. He could easily be starting against your Burnleys, your Fulhams etc.

Originally Posted by Switching Off

Yep. Shaqiri has 51 minutes of football this season across two sub appearances. He could easily be starting against your Burnleys, your Fulhams etc.

Exactly. Which is why I have no sympathy for the buck-toothed whiner. His antics are embarrassing.

Originally Posted by Switching Off

Yep. Shaqiri has 51 minutes of football this season across two sub appearances. He could easily be starting against your Burnleys, your Fulhams etc.

f***ing hate that unnecessary use of the plural. Michael Owen does it all the time when he's a pundit.