Top managers' concerns over lack of enough "quality time".

Jurgen Klopp sympathized and at the same time lashed out as Manchester City have been dealt an unfair hand when it comes to their congested playing schedule before entering 2020. Liverpool manager described Manchester City playing two games in 48 hours as “a crime”.

Pep Guardiola’s side face Wolves on December 27 and then host Sheffield United on the 29th. The City boss was fuming and he already took a strict action by writing a letter to the Premier League as his team will not get enough break time between the games and which will eventually reflect in the results.

Pep said,” I wrote a letter to the Premier League to say thank you and we are going to the fridge after Wolves to get ready for Sheffield United.” He mentioned that Sunday was a day off and they will be training on 23 and 24. The night of 24 is off. The morning will be off too due to Christmas but then 26th will be training and 27th is the game against Nuno’s team."

The defending champions are 11 points off the top of the table and they are already struggling this season. They have been good but very inconsistent, which in recent times is very unlikely from Guardiola’s side. Injuries have been a concern too. 

This, however, is not the first time Pep has had problems with the allotted schedule. At the beginning of 2016-17 season, his first as Manchester City manager, he had shown his concern on the lack of rest his players were able to get ahead of the new campaign.

Klopp was also in a very similar situation recently where Liverpool had to play at Villa Park one day and within 24 hours had a CWC game in Qatar. Klopp was furious and initially told the media that his squad would only play one of the games but it ended with two different squads playing the games, which also saw a very young Liverpool squad suffering a 5-0 thrashing from Aston Villa.

Premier League authorities should have these schedules checked properly before as these things are related not only to the players’ health but also on the way a competition should be played, in the right spirit and with everyone given equal opportunity.

featured image credits- thesun.co.uk