Jurgen Klopp has hit out at the decision to have Liverpool play against Watford in the early kick-off.
The Reds are playing against the Hornets in their first Premier League match following the October international break.
Liverpool are without two of their Brazilian contingent in Fabinho and Alisson Becker after the pair were involved for their country during the hiatus.
During the break, Liverpool tried and failed to have their kick-off time for Saturday’s match moved to later in the day.
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Liverpool had sought to have the match, which is due to start at 12.30pm today (Saturday), switched to a later time of 7.45pm in order to have a better chance of having their Brazilian duo available.
The ECHO understands, though, Watford opposed the move due to the lack of time before the game and many supporters will have already finalised travel arrangements.
Alisson and Fabinho have flown to Spain ahead of Liverpool’s midweek trip to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
Both players were due to undergo a 10-day bespoke quarantine on their return to England having travelled to red-list countries Venezuela and Colombia earlier in the international break.
But they will now avoid that requirement by staying in Spain and preparing for Tuesday's group match at Atletico before returning to Merseyside later next week.
Speaking to BT Sport before the match, Klopp said that had the game been moved to a later kick-off, Alisson and Fabinho would have had a chance of playing.
“No it was because we played at 12:30 and there was no chance they could play them so that’s when we thought then we set them to [Madrid],” said Klopp, when asked if the duo couldn't play due to quarantine rules.
“It’s not that we thought ‘oh let’s see’, if we would’ve played tonight we could’ve given it a try but we play at 12:30 so there was no chance."
When told it was Watford's decision to reject Liverpool's request to move the kick-off time, Klopp said: “Who was the idea to bring us at 12:30? Was it Watford?
“If you [BT] wouldn’t have said it we would’ve had to reply, ah yeah thank you for your help, really, thank you, thank you very much.”
Klopp was involved in a similar exchange after Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Brighton in November last year.
