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Ah, manager feuds. The good old days.
You remember in the Rafa Benitez era, how he would fall out with everyone? Remember the arguments over a straightforward hand gesture that Sam Allardyce decided was a huge sleight against him, and Alex Ferguson decided to join in? That sort of thing? Those were the days.
It’s been far too calm for a long time. But now Chris Wilder has apparently been elected the voice of the “anti-five subs” managers, and has set his sights directly on Klopp. The Liverpool boss had been pretty stinging early yesterday.
“Ask Chris Wilder how we can avoid that [injuries],” BBC Sport report him as saying.
“We had a talk between managers - a week ago now, I think - it was 15-5 if not 16-4 for five subs.
“Chris Wilder says constantly that I’m selfish. I think the things he’s said shows that he’s selfish. I was in a similar position at Mainz, all about staying in the league.
“Today, if we had five subs, I take off Andy Robertson and bring on Konstantinos Tsimikas. To save Robbo. Not to make our game better, just to save him. It’s not about changing tactics and systems, it’s just to save the players.”
It was always going to be mere hours before Wilder hit back, of course, and he did so with a vengeance.
“Everybody has that right to do [defend their own club’s view]”, the Liverpool Echo report Wilder as saying. “There is 20 votes in this league and everybody looks after himself right the way through.
“Nobody is looking after Sheffield United the right way now, so we have to look after ourselves. I am not really going into the nuts and bolts of what was said.
“I have got a huge amount of respect for Liverpool Football Club, as I always have done. I also have a huge amount of respect for Jurgen.
“Whether it is looking after the football club, whether it is selfish or another word. By the way, there are a few more managers in there as well that have looked after their own club. I will always look after Sheffield United.”
Look, I want five substitutes. Maybe it’s because I support Liverpool, though I’d like to believe myself less tribal than that. Wilder and others will kick up a fuss about it, but come on, guys. Let’s get something sorted.