Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has launched himself into a club-versus-country row less than two weeks into his reign after likening England's handling of Jordan Rossiter to that of a horse.
The 18-year-old returned from under-19 international duty with a hamstring injury after playing three matches of 90 minutes in five days.
Klopp said the situation was not normal and he would be speaking to someone at the Football Association.
Liverpool have recent history with the FA over treatment of players as just over a year ago Klopp's predecessor Brendan Rodgers expressed his displeasure after Daniel Sturridge sustained a thigh injury during an England training session the day after an international match.
"Rossiter is a special story. I never heard of an 18-year-old playing three games in five days," he said.
"That is the problem why he is injured and I don't think he will be ready until the next international break.
"I don't know who I have to talk about this but I will find a way because it is not okay.
"On my first day I didn't want to have a call with someone with the FA but for sure this is not okay.
"These young players are our future. If we handle them like horses we get horses."
As if to emphasise the point Klopp insists he is not a slave to the 100 per cent, flat-out running dogma which people associate with his football as he is just as concerned about players' fitness.
The German's methods from his first match in charge at Tottenham - in which the Reds ran a combined 116 kilometres, by far their furthest of the season - have been the subject of much analysis.
There is already a debate about whether his team will be able to sustain that in a Premier League season when there are also European demands.
But Klopp stressed it was not the necessarily the requirement every game
"The biggest misunderstanding in my life is people ask me if it is possible to play this kind of football," he added.
"We don't have to run 115km only to be successful. We need healthy players but we don't kill the players.
"You don't have to run like crazy if you have the ball. It is only the start.
"We must know turn the screws in the right moment; better thinking, better timing.
"But if play a much better team and you are not ready to run more than them then you are crazy."
Klopp is likely to make changes to his side for the Europa League visit of Russians Rubin Kazan as he is holding back the likes of striker Sturridge, who sat out the draw at White Hart Lane with a knee problem, for Sunday's visit of Southampton.
"Rotation is okay if your players can handle the situation," he added.
"You can leave a few players out on the pitch and the others have to swim for their lives, which is not okay.
"We cannot bring (Christian) Benteke and (Roberto) Firmino back for starting, for example.
"If all the players are fit and you have been working for a while then you can think about it."
Klopp's home debut is one of the most eagerly-anticipated in the club's history but the German sought to manage expectations.
"We have to be patient, in a football way. I hope no-one is waiting for it to be 4-0 after three minutes and is then disappointed," he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here