Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has once again lamented on the fixture congestion, indicating that his team is still suffering from the hangover of the last season. The Reds have ad a very poor start to the new season, as they sit seventh in the Premier League, out of the title race and now fighting for a top-four finish. They have been knocked out of the Carabao Cup as well, face a replay of FA Cup third round against Wolves and are drawn against Real Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16 who beat them in the final last season.
While injuries have rather played a more important part in shaping up Liverpool’s season so far, Jurgen Klopp however held nothing back as he had a go at the authorities for forcing the teams to through a very tight calendar, almost a game every three days post the month-long World Cup break during November-December. Klopp’s anger was justified as well, given he will be without five first-team players for the upcoming Brighton trip, and Darwin Nunez’s availability being subject to a late call.
Jurgen Klopp regrets over Liverpool’s pre-season in Asia
Liverpool were in a scintillating form last season, fighting for an unprecedented quadruple of the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. They were just a point behind Man City in the league, and into the finals of all three cup competitions. However, it all came trembling down as Liverpool ended with just the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. City triumphed to the league title on an epic final day and Real Madrid beat them in the final of the Champions League to lift their 14th crown.
It seems Jurgen Klopp’s men have failed to recover from the utter disappointment, as they started this season on the back foot, and are still struggling on it. The German, ahead of his team’s crucial Brighton game came all out against fixture congestion to suggest that the 63 games Liverpool played in all four cup competitions combined last season cost them a positive start to the new season, and is still haunting them. He said:
“Could anybody know how the last season of 63 games could influence this season? I don’t think anybody could know. It must have. We can say that now. We had holiday, not too much, there were games here and the boys all looked fine. Then it started with Diogo [Jota] coming back from international duty and getting injured and then bam, bam, bam. Luis [Diaz] twice, Darwin [Nunez] suspended and now injured. Earlier in the season midfielders were not available so we brought in Arthur [Melo] who then got injured. There is a lot of bad luck.
“Would I do anything different? I wouldn’t go in the first week [of pre-season] to Asia. Not because Asia is not great but I would go in the third week to Asia. It was not really in our hands. Things get decided and we deal with it. Would it be better to have done it differently? Yes. We played until the last match day. We planned the pre-season long before that.
“We were in a super-positive mood, we could have won everything and then all of a sudden we don’t win everything. Just because we are Liverpool doesn’t mean we are not allowed to have problems. When you are Liverpool and the distance to the Champions League gets bigger then it feels like you are bottom of the table but thank God we are not. There are a lot of games to come and players to come back.”
With his feelings quite clearly known about the tight calendar his team is enduring, with a compact squad, Jurgen Klopp will still have to leave it all behind and look towards the next outing against the Seagulls, who played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Anfield in the reverse fixture. After the Brighton trip, Liverpool will have to quickly turn their attention to the FA Cup replay against Wolves, again travelling to the Molineux Stadium on 18 January.