Erik ten Hag and Jurgen Klopp have criticized Newcastle’s tactics in the past, but Sam Allardyce reckons neither Premier League manager is in a position to talk.
Leeds United manager Sam Allardyce has brushed off Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and his Manchester United counterpart Erik ten Hag’s remarks about Newcastle’s time-wasting tactics, pointing out that every club deploys the same tricks.
Ten Hag previously described Newcastle’s game plan as ‘annoying’ in the buildup to February’s Carabao Cup final, which his Manchester United side won 2-0 at Wembley. He also accused the Magpies of time-wasting back in October.
“Who doesn’t do it?” Allardyce said in a press conference on Thursday.
“Who complained? Well he [Jurgen Klopp] time-wastes, [Erik ten Hag] he time-wastes. They all time-waste in the last five minutes when they’re winning 2-1. Don’t be daft!
“We’ve all been talking about ‘ball in play’ more than time-wasting and whether ‘ball in play’ can be improved. The game is as ferocious and quick enough as it is. Player fatigue and player injuries are strained more than ever before so if you speed the game up even more and increase the time on the pitch even more you’re going to get more injuries than you’ve ever got because it’s never been as quick as it is now.
“With it being so quick, recovery time becomes of the essence but because there are so many games there is no recovery time. Then you get more injuries and ultimately more chronic injuries which may limit a player’s career to a lot shorter than it should be.
“But we can’t do anything about that because the players ask for so much money we have to try and increase our profits and increase turnover to fund the players that are so expensive to bring into Premier League football.”
Allardyce’s Leeds side will welcome Newcastle to Elland Road on Saturday for their latest Premier League match.
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