'Lack of Leadership' - Klopp and Guardiola blast Premier League for not allowing five changes per match

Two highly-rated Managers in English top flight football have criticized the Premier League for not allowing five substitutions in a match.

From Left: Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola. Photo of Klopp: Michael Regan/Getty Images. Photo of Guardiola: Alex Caparros/Getty Images

Liverpool German Manager Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City Spanish Manager Pep Guardiola have expressed their disgust at Premier League's decision to reduce changes in a match from five to three.

Initially, after football returned from a long break due to the coronavirus pandemic, teams were allowed to make five substitutions per match from the usual three substitutions allowed in football.

The decision for five substitutions per game was a system designed to help clubs deal with activity-filled schedules and lack of preparations.

Despite approval by FIFA to retain the initial change until August 2021, the Premier League made the decision to reverse to three substitutions this season as clubs argued that bigger teams would be favoured more by the five-changes-per-match rule.

Reds Manager Klopp said: "It should be [back on the agenda] but I don’t think it’s possible because of the system.

Liverpool Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah with Manager Jurgen Klopp. Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images

"It doesn’t help obviously when Chelsea have injuries, and City and Liverpool and United and Tottenham and Arsenal and Leicester, because that is not enough votes for the rest.

"That is the system. I thought it should have been back in in the first place.

"For me it is a lack of leadership just to put the question on the table and say: ‘So what do you want with that?’ It should have been sold – if that’s the right word – differently with more information, showing more of what could happen, by [Premier League chief executive] Richard Masters. We never asked for any advantage.

"None of the top seven clubs asked for any advantage. We just knew, because we knew our schedule, that it would be incredibly difficult. To have the best games at the weekend in the Premier League, it would have helped that as well. I think we should think about it again."

Citizens Manager Guardiola didn't hesitate to bare his mind on the decision, saying there has been "47 per cent more muscular injuries" this year compared to the same stage of the campaign in 2019-20.

Manchester City English forward Raheem Sterling (second from left) celebrates with Manager Pep Guardiola. Photo: Alex Caparros/Getty Images

He added: "It is nothing to do with certain teams having an advantage.

"It is about why we are here - the players. Forget about the advantage; this is to protect all the players.

"When they play every three days, they start to suffer. Why, in all the leagues is it happening, and here we cannot protect the players?

"The statistics speak for themselves. The players are not recovering from the previous game, even the previous season. It makes no sense.

"Who voted for the decisions? Who are they? They have to protect the players. They have to decide. The law is acceptable for FIFA, UEFA."