Klopp defends Liverpool Europa League selection

Some of the questions raised about Liverpool picking such a strong side for the Europa League clash away at Rubin Kazan show that you literally cannot please anybody in football these days.

Much of the criticism leveled at his predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, revolved around how little importance Rodgers seemed to place on European football. Either because he wasn’t up to the task, or he didn’t feel his players were capable of playing more than once a week.

So it has been refreshing to see Jurgen Klopp choosing such strong sides in the Europa League since he arrived, with just four changes for the game on Thursday, whilst three of his first choice 11 arrived onto the pitch in the second half.

But Klopp doesn’t feel that there is any problem and says that Liverpool can’t send kids to play Real Madrid. Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Sunday kickoff against Crystal Palace (via the Liverpool Echo), Klopp said: “If you play Champions League, you are playing Wednesday and Saturday.

“Nobody says ‘okay, come on, go to Real Madrid with 17 year old guys!’ – that is not fair for them. They get experience but not the experience they should get.

“Where is the difference (with Thursday and Sunday)? Is the only benefit that you like the other tournament more?”

Many see such long trips to regions such as Russia as taking huge tolls on the players, with many pre-empting a bad result a few days later by getting their excuses in early. Not Klopp, it seems, who is adamant that there is no problem for his players with playing so many games.

He continued: “We have to play. We cannot rest. That is our situation. This has been really good.

“Four weeks, it’s a short time we’ve been working together. Six games? That is not a big number and we have a common experience.

“We can work with this. The best training at the moment is our matches.

“It is very intensive. It is good for physical condition and it is good to talk about after games. It’s much easier when we win.”

For a side that have gone through some tough times since the start of last season, the momentum of being unbeaten under Klopp will mean that any tiredness is ignored. And the desire to impress the new manager will mean that most will be happy to play through any tiredness or fatigue. Something the 48 year old will no doubt appreciate.

Are you concerned about Klopp playing such strong sides in cup competitions? Let us know your thoughts below.