Klopp’s Liverpool are victims of their own success

can complain all he likes but Liverpool are victims of their own success.

The champions will always be the first or second choice for broadcasters. Only Manchester United have anything like the pulling power of the Merseyside club.

Klopp has a point when criticising the schedule. The German’s main argument is that playing on a Wednesday night and again at 12.30 on Saturday afternoon is too quick a turnaround.

Des Kelly, BT Sport’s pitchside interviewer, countered that Klopp was wrong to blame the broadcaster. The decision on the time slots for games was agreed by the Premier League.

Liverpool’s drawing power was underlined last month by research into top-flight viewing habits.

The study looked at the audience ratings for 790 English top-flight games screened between 2013 and 2019 and, using Bournemouth as a reference point, rated the pulling power of all 28 clubs that featured in the Premier League in those six years.

“Two clubs stand out in terms of appeal to a national audience,” the study says.

“If either Liverpool or Manchester United were substituted for AFC Bournemouth in a televised match, the ‘brand effect’ alone would be predicted to raise audience size by about 75%.”

The next most popular team is Arsenal, who generated a 43% upswing on the base level. Manchester City, the dominant side in the study’s timeframe, only produced a 26% boost compared to Bournemouth.

This means broadcasters like BT will choose Liverpool and United matches at every opportunity. The increase in audiences drives advertising revenue.

The 12.30pm slot is an important one for the Premier League. It means the match is played in prime time in Asia: 18:00 in India, 20:30 in Hong Kong and China and 21:30 in Japan.

The Asian market accounts for about a third of the Premier League’s overseas income. The Saturday lunchtime games are not for the benefit of domestic audiences but for viewers in the Far East.

Klopp’s concern for his players is genuine. Other managers worry about the impact of playing too many games over a short timeframe, too.

There is little chance that the broadcasters, the Premier League and the club owners will make the sort of changes Klopp would like.

Liverpool will bear the brunt of fixture congestion. BT will not look at the team’s previous game when given the chance to select the champions for a lunchtime match, they will only look at the potential viewing figures.

It is the downside of being popular. Like it or not, Klopp will have to live with the situation. – The Independent