Jurgen Klopp spent a large portion of his pre-match press conference on Friday fuming at Liverpool's festive schedule, after eight of the club's matches in December and January were moved for TV purposes.
The moves give the German's side less than 48 hours to recover from playing title favourites Manchester City on New Year's Eve before facing off against Sunderland two days later - and he was open in his unhappiness whenspeaking to the mediaon Friday.
Jurgen Klopp hits out at #LFC's Christmas schedule in press conference rant https://t.co/8ZWZEmfbvD
"I was happy for a second until I saw the new fixtures," he said. "Now I have seen the fixtures and I am not too happy.Because we have less than 48 hours between our game against Man City on December 31 and in Sunderland on the 2nd.
"Forty-eight hours is an interesting idea, but less than 48 hours I cannot believe.I learn more and more about this league and maybe I have to ask someone if we can ask if there will be another time for us at Sunderland.
"Our job is to do everything we can to win games. I understand tradition - I would never say Boxing Day is not a good idea as I love it and I have absolutely no problem.But now having a match day with two days between there should be another possibility.I don't know why we play Monday. Is January 2 a special day in England?"
Klopp 1 'Dutch fitness guy' 0 #LFC https://t.co/YYOMgAFzus
He continued to complain about the fixture list, blaming similar fixture congestion for England's repeated failures on the international stage as he added:"Forty-eight hours between two games - how does this work?
"And then you will sit there and say 'You didn't perform too well, how did this happen?' or "Injuries. Oh?" and then this Dutch guy (Raymond Verheijen) says 'the training is not too good'.How do you prepare a team for this. Do you say 'Only 50 per cent against City because we have Sunderland on Monday'.
"It doesn't sound like it is right. Everyone is asking 'Why England is not too successful in big tournaments'.Ask what other big countries are doing at this time - they have their legs on the sofa and are watching English football."
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