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Jürgen Klopp has described this season as the most challenging of his managerial career due to the condensed match schedule resulting from Covid-19.
Liverpool have started a seven-game streak in 22 days and their resources were stretched not only by injuries to players like Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, but by several positive tests for Covid-19. The unprecedented complications of the pandemic, coupled with the lack of recovery time between matches, have put all coaches to the test who also have to deal with losing players in international duty, according to Klopp.
The Liverpool manager, who is close to having Alisson available again after a shoulder injury, said: “Yes he is. [the most challenging season for a manager] and it will get more challenging. It is already. Life is more challenging than I have ever experienced before and with soccer it is no different. It’s what we constantly talk about when trying to find solutions. We need everyone’s help to help kids get through it.
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“I have no problem that we have to play again and I’m not going to complain about anything but, with this schedule, we have to make sure that the teams that play during the week do not play at 12.30 on Saturday. If you play on Tuesday in the Champions League, for example, Saturday at 12.30 is fine. If you play on Wednesday, Saturday at 12.30 is: ‘OMG!’ We did it once and it’s, ‘Okay, we do it,’ but doing it two, three times, that’s really the problem. We need to have time to rest. “
Liverpool, who play at home to Sheffield United on Saturday night, have a workload of 20 games plus two international breaks from early October to late December.
Klopp added: “I know people don’t want to hear it and they go back to all the other things they say about professional footballers. But professional football, at the level we play, is a bit like Formula One compared to driving a normal car. Anyone can drive a car, but it is difficult to drive at 300 mph in a fairly close area and then wait for the brakes to work.
“That is more or less what professional football is: everything at the highest speed, with the highest intensity. And, for that, you must have the best brakes available. I am not the only one who thinks so. I know that all the other coaches involved in international football see things exactly the same. “
