England treated my lad like a horse, nags Klopp
Jurgen: FA have handled my player like a horse
LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp has accused England of handling 18-year-old Jordan Rossiter ‘like a horse’. The midfielder returned from Under 19 duty with a hamstring injury after playing three full matches in five days, and the angry German will demand an explanation from the FA. ‘Rossiter is a special story,’ he said. ‘I never heard of an 18-year-old playing three games in five days. That is why he is injured and I don’t think he will be ready until the next international break (in a month). ‘I don’t know who I have to talk to about this but I will find a way because it is not OK. On my first day I didn’t want to have a call with someone at the FA, but for sure this is not OK. ‘These young players are our future. If we handle them like horses, we get horses.’
JURGEN KLOPP is seeking urgent talks with the FA after he was left furious by an injury Jordan Rossiter sustained playing for England’s Under 19s.
The Liverpool midfielder returned to Melwood last week with a grade two hamstring injury, having played three matches in five days in Macedonia for England as they attempted to qualify for next summer’s European Championship in Germany. He will now be absent for a month.
Rossiter was one of three players to play every minute of every game — Newcastle defender Freddie Woodman and Chelsea defender Jake Clarke-Salter were the others — but Klopp was incensed about the demands placed on the 18-yearold and claimed he had been worked ‘like a horse’.
Aidy Boothroyd, England’s Under 19 head coach, has spoken to Liverpool academy director Alex Inglethorpe about Rossiter, most recently on Saturday, and is happy to talk with Klopp. But he is likely to find the Liverpool manager in a dark mood.
‘Rossiter is a special story, I would say,’ said Klopp ahead of tonight’s Europa League match at Anfield against Rubin Kazan. ‘I’ve never heard that a player so young plays three games in five days. That was the problem. That’s why he got injured.
‘Now he is injured and we have to wait for him. I don’t think he is ready to play until after the next international break. I don’t know who I have to speak to about this, but I will find a way of talking to someone. It is not OK. We need him at the moment, a young player with a big talent. It would have been good for him if he could be with us but he can’t.’
Rossiter would have been in contention to play against Rubin Kazan but Klopp continued: ‘It is too much. What can we say? Three games in five days; football is 90 minutes. There are special things you have to use, your muscles. If you’re young maybe you are more resistant to things.
‘But it is not normal to have three matches in five days and send him back. I have to talk to somebody.
‘We are in contact, our doctor Andy (Massey) and Chris (Morgan, head of physiotherapy) are talking. I didn’t want my first day at Melwood to be on a call with someone from the FA.
‘It is the hamstring, a muscle problem and where is that coming from? In the last game. I don’t know what minute, maybe he played through and then he came back.
‘It was not on the flight. It was not on the train. It was not in the car. It was in the match and because of the match.
‘These young players are our future, if we handle them like horses then we get horses. We want them to improve.
‘We want them to have time and not feel too much pressure. They don’t have to play three games in five days. It is interesting that I have to say this again. Is it normal in England that you have to play three games in five days?’
Klopp was animated for much of the 33 minutes he spent in front of the cameras at Melwood yesterday, at one point even stopping Lucas Leiva replying to a foreign journalist because he did not like the nature of the question the midfielder had been asked.
His attention to detail continued on the training field and the intensity of the session was in stark contrast to the one before the most recent Europa Leaguegue outing against Swississ side Sion, which h proved to bee Brendan Rodgers’ final home game.
It is unlikely Klopp will deviate too much from the starting line-up he named for his debutt against Tottenham m last Saturday.
England striker iker Daniel Sturridge, though making progresss from a knee problem, is not fit to start, while forwards Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke and defender Dejan Lovren are short of peak condition.
Klopp intends to treat the Europa League seriously and is relishing his first match at Anfield, even if he cautioned about expecting a spectacular result. ‘I cannot say too much about the atmosphere at Anfield. I want to go there, I want to feel and see it,’ said Klopp. ‘That is what we are all waiting for — one of these special moments. But we have to be patient, in a football way.
‘I hope that nobody is waiting for 4- 0 after three minutes or something like that and is then disappointed.’