Jurgen Klopp's final warning for Liverpool coach Arne Slot

It’s no secret that Jurgen Klopp HATED a 12:30 kick-off.

The former Liverpool manager often spoke about his disdain for the early slot on a Saturday, and towards the end of his time in charge, grew more and more frustrated with TV companies and the Premier League’s insistence on scheduling games early on a Saturday, especially after international breaks.

That anger was driven not only by Klopp’s poor record in early games, but also by his concerns for player welfare amidst injury problems caused by a packed fixture list.

The Premier League differs from many other European divisions in that it tends not to give extra days off to teams competing in Europe – something Klopp blamed for English teams' underperformances last season.

Now it seems one of his last warnings is coming true, as early Saturday games have come back to bite the Reds again.

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Klopp's last warning

Despite being tipped to dominate, English clubs struggled in European competitions last season, with both Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool being knocked out at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League and Europa League respectively.

Klopp partly blamed the Premier League's fixture congestion for this underperformance, and predicted the same happening in future seasons.

"You [TNT Sports] have to become a partner of football again, not just the squeezer. That’s a little advice from an old man on the way out," he said during a press conference towards the end of last season.

"I will watch a lot of football but not all because people can survive without matchdays from time to time.

"[Manchester] City, Arsenal, that they are out in the quarter-finals [of the Champions League] is just not a reflection. That we are out at the quarter-finals is just not a real reflection of quality. It’s just a reflection that we couldn’t deliver on the day we had to.

"Yes, in other countries they have really good teams, no doubt about it, but it’s a sign. Years ago I think we had four English teams in quarter-finals and then we take it and say, ‘That’s the Premier League, let’s make more of it’.

Klopp added: "That they dare to give Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday 12:30 is a crime. I was actually waiting for Amnesty International to go to them."

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Slot on early kick-offs

Arne Slot has had to deal with two early starts so far this season, away to Ipswich and last time out in a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.

The Reds controlled the game against Palace with relative ease, but suffered a major injury that shows why Klopp was so annoyed at his side being chosen for 12:30 games.

Alisson went off during the game with a hamstring injury, not for the first time in his Liverpool career. The goalkeeper has had muscle problems before, which could be part of the reason Liverpool are already looking to the future with the signing of Giorgi Mamardashvili during the summer.

Part of Slot’s success so far this season has been tightening up Liverpool’s defence and Alisson’s injury will make the upcoming run of difficult games tough to manage, but he's not the only problem Slot currently has.

"We've got quite some issues and we can only judge that from today as it's the first day they are all in," Slot said ahead of this weekend's game against Chelsea.

"Macca missed one game, played the second. Kostas [Tsimikas] missed England...I can name them all and we have a few issues, so we will see. [Wataru] Endo was sick, we will see."

He joined Klopp in expressing frustration at fixture congestion, blaming the 12:30 start against Palace for Alisson's injury.

"It's uncommon for goalkeepers. At Feyenoord I had the same with my goalkeeper, getting muscles injuries. We are looking into it and what the reasons are," he said.

"If you get one [injury] the chances of another go up so we have tried to be careful. But also it's a good chance to explain again, there were some things about me not disliking 12:30 kick-offs but if you play Wednesday evening, it might be disadvantage to play 12:30pm after a Champions League game...the chances for injury go up.

"We need to take this into consideration. You cannot change all 11 players but in retrospect I might have chose Caoimh [Kelleher] over Ali.

"In Holland, I am 99.9% sure the Champions League teams get extra rest to prepare. That is not common here in England."

With the Reds next game not until Sunday afternoon, Slot will be glad of the extra day of rest ahead of a very busy period.

Klopp, on the other hand, will be looking forward to another Saturday lie in.