Jurgen Klopp was snappish in response to BT reporter Des Kelly’s questioning over the absences of Brazilian duo Fabinho and Alisson Becker.
The German referenced the fixture scheduling that encouraged the club to send the pair to Spain, rather than return to Merseyside, in anticipation of the Reds’ Champions League meeting next week with Atletico Madrid.
“No it was because we played at 12:30 and there is no chance they could play them so that’s when we thought then we set them to [Madrid],” the former Mainz coach spoke pre-match, as reported by the Mirror.
“It’s not that we thought ‘oh let’s see’, if we would’ve played tonight we could’ve given it a try but we play at 12:30 so there was no chance.
“Who was it the idea to bring us at 12:30? Was it Watford?
“If you [BT] wouldn’t have said it we would’ve had to reply, ah yeah thank you for your help, really, thank you, thank you very much.”
Poor handling of Curtis Jones during the international break saw the club’s midfield options further thinned – an issue Klopp had highlighted in his pre-match presser.
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Given how poor fixture scheduling has been a recurring theme when it comes to Klopp’s tenure in charge of Liverpool, one can understand why it has incited so much frustration from the 54-year-old.
Ultimately, it didn’t cost us in our 5-0 victory over Watford this afternoon, with the midfield excelling and Caoimhin Kelleher rarely challenged between the sticks.
Regardless, it’s a set of circumstances that could have cost us in a potentially tight title race where we can ill afford any avoidable slipups.