Andros Townsend aimed a playful dig at Jurgen Klopp, claiming his "moaning" finally meant he got his own way after the Premier League confirmed they would be implementing the five substitution rule next season.
The Liverpool boss has been a vocal critic and regularly expressed that he wants more substitutions, while Pep Guardiola has also been an advocate of more changes during matches. The rule was initially used when football returned amid the coronavirus pandemic in June 2020, but when clubs voted on whether it should be kept permanently last season, it was comprehensively rejected.
There were three separate voting periods but each one never surpassed 14 votes, which would have been enough to implement the rule. However, that has now changed following a Premier League Shareholders' meeting back in March where they decided to it will be reintroduced from the start of the '22/23 campaign.
Klopp called on the Premier League to make the alteration in order to protect players from sustaining injuries, with Thiago and Virgil van Djik amongst those to suffer long-term issues. But Townsend believes the league gave in due to Klopp "constantly banging on and on" about it.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Townsend said: "I love how Jurgen Klopp has found a way to get his way. He's been moaning for years. They have been pushing back, and finally, they have given him his five subs.
"I think we saw last season, even the season before, constantly banging on and banging on. Votes on votes on votes. Getting pushed back, then all of a sudden, they announced the five subs eventually."
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Some clubs wanted to continue with the five-sub rule ahead of the 2020/21 season, with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham all reportedly voting for the change. But there was strong opposition from the so-called 'smaller' clubs who felt it would give an advantage to the teams that have bigger squads and would create an uneven playing field for sides with less depth.
A row erupted between Klopp and Burnley midway through last season, where the Liverpool manager brought up how many international players the Clarets have compared to the Reds. This is where he opened up on the problem with the current three substitutes rule.
"The decision needs 14 votes to change it and that’s something wrong," Klopp said in December. "What we realised again in the managers meeting – and we know it has always been like that – is how 14 clubs make the decision to change. We have to put competition aside.
"[Five substitutes] is the right decision, especially in this moment, because you bring players back in this moment, after COVID infection or an injury, and because of the games they have to play you risk injury and they have to go out again, maybe after 60 minutes. That is a real problem. This wonderful game is so wonderful because usually the players on the pitch are in good shape, are well trained, are well recovered and go for it.
"That is why we love the game. Now the situation is much more difficult." Taking aim at Burnley, Klopp added: "There is something wrong. Here is an example. With Burnley, I am not too sure how many of their players play international football.
"When our players play three games, they [Burnley] have no game. They have 38 Premier League games and three or four cup games, to make around 42 games a season.
"So we are talking about an issue which some clubs and players definitely have, but it is decided by the other teams and we make a competition of it. They say, ‘well they are better than us’, and that is a real problem. It’s Premier League and can still cause us problems.
"How many games does a top-class player play? With the league, some cup games, Champions League, internationals – it’s 50 games. Higher. The further you go the harder it is on players. You need luck in these moments and you should not need luck. We do not stop discussing it because if we don’t discuss it, it just stays like this."
