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Jurgen Klopp has just one word for it: “Crazy”.
Liverpool’s whole season, and their hopes and ambitions for the next, will now come down to a suddenly, bafflingly, congested fixture list that sees Manchester United play three games in five days, then have a week off.
Their manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he will have no option but to play his kids in one of those games, and will inevitably leave one of his rival bosses unhappy.
Klopp has no doubt it will be him.
It is what he would do of course. United play Leicester on Tuesday, barely 48 hours after their trip to Villa. Then Liverpool Thursday, in an historic fixture where both sides always play their strongest sides.
No prizes for guessing where the kids will appear. And Klopp knows it: “If Man United is doing it like that, we cannot change that. I expect a strong team against us – and what they do in other games, we obviously have no influence.”
It is just a cruel twist of fate that the Anfield club are now chasing Leicester for the final league spot, and the Reds boss says an insane season has reached an almost inevitable conclusion.
The Reds themselves play their final four games in 10 days, when they have had an almost two week break, but after a victory over Southampton that hinted at a return of the real Liverpool, he insisted things are at least now clear, if not simple.
“Winning four games is pretty much the only chance we have, so that’s what we should try. If we win all four it could be enough, so that is what we have to do,” he explained.
“Everybody is 100 per cent sure Ole Gunnar Solskjaer respects the Premier League 100 per cent, but the situation is now like it is – and I really think it’s crazy what we did with that.
“I know there were not proper solutions, but I think there could be a better situation than that, I am pretty sure. United have three games in five days but then a weekend off.
“So it looks like there could have been a window where we could have done something slightly different. But it is a decision and I understand that he (Ole) doesn’t like that, definitely.”
Klopp is not carping, more accepting that fate, which has intervened so cruelly on the injury front for Liverpool this season, has one final twist for his side.
At least they will go into the United game with some momentum, after a game where Sadio Mane finally scored a goal at Anfield – his first there this year, incredibly, and Thiago got his first for Liverpool.
With both of them at last showing the sort of form that made them world class, Klopp’s side look more like themselves, a situation undoubtedly aided by a strong performance from another new centre half pairing of Nat Phillips and youngster Rhys Williams, who looked comfortable and promising.
It makes for a mouth-watering week, where the visit to Old Trafford at least means something. And the subtext of United stopping their biggest rivals getting the huge benefit of Champions League money is a huge one.
Klopp has no qualms about it. “Man United has only good players. Midfield, wow. Up front, all good players. The only thing we can do now is keep winning, and that’s historically not easy (at Old Trafford) – but we will give it a try.”
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