Pep and Klopp need to stop whining

To hear the managers of Liverpool and Manchester City bleating on about playing too many matches is truly heart-rending.

Apparently 25-man squads (so literally more than two players for each position) aren’t big enough to cope with playing three times in eight days.

Apparently the army of nutritionists, sports scientists and dieticians employed by most Premier League clubs in these enlightened days doesn’t guard against fatigue or minor injuries.

It’s not as though today’s players are ploughing through inches of mud every game like their predecessors. Hell, tackling has pretty much been outlawed in recent seasons to protect the divers and the cheats so really today’s players should be the fittest in football history.

But listening to Guardiola and Klopp after last Sunday’s big game was turned from enthralling to boring by a half-time interval you’d think everyone was on their last legs, after eight Premier League games!

And I’m not having regular European matches as an excuse as most of the group matches would be won by a reserve team. There is no need to send out your superstars to beat the best Denmark and Greece have to offer. It must be tiring for Mo Salah to pick himself up off the floor every 10 minutes and for Raheem Sterling to run up and down blind alleys for 90 minutes so maybe ask them to stop doing that?

Maybe, instead of whining about the need for five substitutes (some managers would be salivating at the time-wasting bonanza that would become available), you actually managed your squad better and then you’d be able to protect the lightweights.

At Posh’s level they have extensive data on every player so can see who is slowing down, running less and likely to become more prone to injury. Maybe they should tell Liverpool and City their secret.

Last season when Liverpool were beating Shrewsbury Town in an FA Cup tie there was a buzz about the club’s kids. Where are they now? I know one is on loan at Blackburn, but the others are presumably waiting for the next domestic cup tie.

They may as well leave Anfield if the selfish top clubs get their way and scrap the League Cup to ease fixture congestion/fit more European matches in (delete as appropriate) as they’ll feature less than James Milner for a good few years yet.

Guardiola was so happy for his midfield to slowly pass the ball square and backwards last Sunday he gave young, fit and fast Phil Foden about five minutes of action.

Anyway ignore all the bellyaching and just watch the usual slew of injury drop-outs from international squads before they make miracle recoveries to play in the next club matches.