Jürgen Klopp on the Gomez-Matip partnership, Marcus Rashford and more

During the second part of his pre-Sheffield United press conference, the Liverpool manager spoke in depth about the unique demands that the current campaign has and will place on footballers.

Klopp also weighed in on the possibility of Gomez and Matip teaming up at the rear in the absence of Virgil van Dijk, and explained his admiration for the social campaigns being led by Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford.

Read a full transcript below.

In contact with the club’s medical department regarding the physical condition and availability of the player …

Let me put it like this, professional football at the level we play is a bit like Formula One compared to driving a normal car. Most of the problems guys have during the week, probably none of you would mention because they don’t sprint in the next moment or up to 50 sprints in the next hour and a half. For us, it is constantly that we have to judge what is normal at that time, what children feel or what physiotherapists feel when touching their muscles. It’s too much? Do we have to be careful? Or where can we just ignore it and all these kinds of things. That is really a challenge, to be honest. We always have a lot of discussions in that department, with the medical department. Sports science compared to the time I studied it or even before (the 90s, late 90s and so on) nobody knew much about recovery and how long you need, I was just fit or injured and in the half there was almost nothing. Now, with the number of games we play and with the schedule …

Look, I said it before the game against Everton, a huge challenge for us is when the boys play on Wednesday night. If they played in Liverpool on Wednesday night and then Saturday at 12.30, the difference between Saturday at 12.30 and Saturday at eight as we do now is huge, it’s huge these few hours. The body takes a specific amount of time to recover and no one can slow that down or make it faster. You can obviously do it with some things, but you can’t do it in 20 hours. We always have this problem around the Christmas period when no one is interested in hearing about Boxing Day and then two days later playing again and all these kinds of things. It is a challenge. We deal with human beings; We ask a lot but we cannot do wonders or miracles, it is simply not possible. But they have to play again and nobody cares when they last played and that is the situation. The medical department and the coaches are obviously very often in conversations about that and it’s hard to judge that. I would say that most of the time we are probably right, we all find the right solutions, but sometimes we have no idea what will actually happen and we pray or hope for the perfect result. That is why it is so complicated these days, but it is for all the teams that are involved in international football, it is the same. But we don’t play them all the time, we play against teams that played last Saturday or last Sunday the last time, so that makes a big difference. People probably think that’s fair enough because one team has more players or better players or whatever and the other team has more time to train. That is the situation, since yesterday that is the situation.

This year, with the triple head in the international break, it is really new, that was never before and it was an incredible challenge to play the game at 12.30 on Saturday because the South Americans came back from Peru, which is absolutely incredible and for that they played a absolutely exceptional game. So yeah, we have conversations with the medical department and we follow their advice and when the Doc comes to me [and says] this player can’t play, I can’t say, “Yes, he can!” So I have to wait until the last minute to make my final decisions in these weeks. I’m used to that and I’m still trying to find the best solution.

On the prospect of Gomez and Matip forming a defensive partnership and the fact that they had never started together before …

The reason is because I think Virg played almost every game and one of them was injured. As long as Dejan Lovren was still here and Dejan was in good shape at the time [he could play]. I didn’t know they had never played together, I didn’t know, but they can play together, not a shadow of a doubt. Like I said for the Fabinho and Joe couple, they need to get used to each other and the wingers need to get used to them. The more stability you have in this line, the better. We never really had that, especially one position was always very changeable. They will fight together, of that there is no doubt. It’s football and it didn’t turn into rocket science overnight. We can help you with information, but then the tests will be done every three days, that’s the situation.

On whether this is the most challenging season for a coach, in terms of managing the physical condition of the players …

Will become [so]. It already is and will be. Life is more challenging than I have ever experienced in my life, and soccer is no different. Is no different. This is what we constantly talk about, we try to find solutions and we need everyone’s help to help children overcome it. I’m not going to complain about anything, but on this matter of the calendar, we just have to make sure that the teams that play during the week do not play at 12.30 on Saturday. For example, if you play on Tuesday [in the] Champions League, then at 12.30 on Saturday is fine. If you play on Wednesday, Saturday at 12.30 is oh my god. You do it once: ‘OK, come on, let’s do it.’ But you do it two, three times, things like this, that’s the problem. That is really the problem. We need to have time to rest them. I know people don’t want to hear that and we can go back to all the other things that people say about professional footballers, but in the end what I said, it’s like Formula One: everyone can drive a car, but it’s hard to drive. 300 mph in a fairly close area and then you wait for your brakes to work. It is more or less what professional football is: everything at the highest speed, everything with the highest intensity. And for that, you need the best breaks you can get; brakes as in a car, and as long as possible. That’s it. I am not the only one who thinks like this one hundred percent, I know that all the other coaches involved in international football see it exactly the same. But how do we know, that usually doesn’t change much.

About what he would say about Rashford …

Yes, I’m not sure I can come up with better words than other people much smarter than me about it. But what Marcus started there is absolutely incredible and it’s so pretty. With all the rivalry between the clubs and things like that, in these moments as footballers – and as human beings – always united. It’s nice to show in an age where obviously many people who are really in charge of something and show no signs of proper leadership, that a child who grew up in difficult circumstances, blessed with obviously sensational talent, never forgot. its roots and where it comes from. That I have to do it then is a bit embarrassing, but it’s also wonderful. I hope his mother is really proud of him. I don’t know him, but even I am. He plays for United, which makes it really tough! But it is something absolutely wonderful, wonderful. Whatever compliment you received, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want the compliment anymore now, it’s good to do it once, that’s right. Now he’s in the role and now he’s the role model for that and that’s great. And it won’t distract you from your football stuff. But, yeah, absolutely cool and happy about it.

On the union of the cities of Liverpool and Manchester …

Yes, that shows that soccer can be really wonderful. [things] in moments. And it also shows that the issue is really serious. That is why everyone puts rivalry aside and only thinks about more important things in life. As I said, very happy that we can show this solidarity right now.