Alan Shearer has harshly criticized Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk after the centre-back recently said he has played too many games.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, the pundit slammed the £75million star after Van Dijk publicly said the top players were simply playing far too much football.
Van Dijk is not the only one calling for a reduction in the football calendar, but Shearer believes the Liverpool defender is not complaining about anything.
The Match of the Day pundit said when asked about Van Dijk’s comments: “It’s absurd. Are the players playing too much football? What. I mean, come on.
“I know you can’t mention the money, but they have bigger squads than ever, more substitutes than ever and they get paid more money than ever.
“You have the best physiotherapy, the best technology, the best everything. Do me a favor!”
Shearer should know better than to back Liverpool’s Van Dijk
Player welfare has seemingly been ignored in recent years, with organiz theations such as UEFA and FIFA somehow finding more and more ways to fill the football calendar.
While it may seem interesting for a professional to complain about playing too much, the number of injuries that big clubs are currently facing speaks for itself and Liverpool are no strangers to such a problem.
And that’s why Shearer would be better off not supporting Van Dijk than letting him down, because top players like the Liverpool captain simply play too much football than necessary.
For the second consecutive international break, Liverpool had an early kick-off on Saturday, meaning four senior players will once again have a tight schedule for the visit of Everton.
Jurgen Klopp made no attempt to hide his disdain for the 12.30pm kick-off, which immediately follows the international breaks, for which the Reds have been called up twice in succession.
“We have four international breaks until March, two of which start as early as 12.30,” the coach said before the visit to Wolves last month.
“This is a joke. We have players in South America, I haven’t seen them yet and in 24 hours we will play. It’s like that.”
In that first trip against Wolves, only Alisson and Alexis Mac Allister started, while Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez both came on – although the Argentine was substituted at half-time after looking extremely exhausted .
And it’s the same quartet who will worry Klopp during the October international break, as they all play in South America in the early hours of Wednesday morning (BST).
They must then manage their respective matches safely to return to Merseyside injury-free, with little time to recover and prepare for the visit of Everton on Saturday.
“The boys are going in all directions now and we have to hope they come back healthy and then we start again,” Klopp told LFCTV after the draw at Brighton.
Alisson and Nunez will face off when Uruguay host Brazil in a World Cup qualifier from 1am (BST) on Wednesday, while Diaz will start a little earlier at 12:30pm when Colombia face Ecuador.
However, Mac Allister will get the last start as Argentina’s qualifiers in Peru don’t start until 3am, leaving little time to get back to Liverpool after a long flight.
“There are only two and a half hours left before the 3pm matches, that’s true, but it’s completely different when you have a pre-match meal at 9am,” Klopp explained when speaking further about the 12.30pm kick-off.
“It means that the kids aren’t actually there yet, because they’re from a completely different time zone. And anyone who’s ever had jet lag knows what it feels like.
Everton’s visit on October 21 will be Klopp’s 13th Saturday afternoon start in the Premier League, straight after an international break which costs more than double the next club’s fee.
It is therefore no surprise that Klopp has a lot of frustration when Liverpool matches are on the programme. The only saving grace he has on this occasion is that the Reds are playing at Anfield.
