Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has blamed Jurgen Klopp’s tactics for Liverpool’s current injury crisis.
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Following a spate of injuries picked up by the Anfield club – they now have 11 first-team squad players on the sidelines – Allardyce told the Times it is Klopp’s style of play that leads to the problems.
Allardyce’s viewpoint has been echoed by former Liverpool manager Roy Evans who has also questioned Klopp’s training methods at their Melwood base.
But Allardyce, who recently called Klopp a “soft German”, said in The Times: “That is him [Klopp] asking his players to play a high-tempo pressing game from the top end”. Two weeks ago we had no idea there would be a problem at centre-half.
“The problem is now people speak about the intensity of my style – I didn’t create a style, how could I?” He added: “I still hark on about having a break at this time to lessen the workload on players”.
“But we have to react and that is what we try to do”.
The lack of fit defenders is pressuring Klopp to act sooner than he says he would like, and Liverpool have been linked with a whole host of central defenders.
“We know about our situation, we know in most of the cases about the reason”.
“We play only football and a team like Liverpool, with the ambitions the club have, we have to find a way to be successful”. It’s about thinking quicker in the right position. But speaking after the victory at the Britannia, Klopp admitted he would review his approach, despite insisting that the heavy fixture workload has reduced the time that his players spend on the training pitch. We have eyes open. “But we only have recovery, we don’t train”.
Klopp was asked whether he was considering bringing other loan players back to Anfield, he indicated that he was open to the possibility.
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He said: “We have taken back our own players, especially if they are not in the ideal situation at clubs where they are on loan”.
