Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football (30/11/20 5PM start), Gary Neville has explained why Jurgen Klopp is partly to blame for Liverpool’s current fitness problems.
The pundit believes that Klopp’s decision to field his strongest XI week in, week out after the league title was already secured towards the end of last season may be contributing to the fitness issues the club are currently facing.
“I don’t think it is exceptional.” Neville said when confronted with the argument that this is an a different season due to the coronavirus pause earlier this year.
“To me it’s exceptional because the players have had more they had three months of covid, March through to I think early June, they then played nine matches, where Jurgen Klopp, even though he’d won the league, played all of his best players when he could have rested them, he played all of his best players.”
“They then had 5 weeks off before the start of the season to the Community Shield.”
As much as we usually love Neville as a pundit, he’s wide of the mark here.
Neville castigates Klopp for playing his best players towards the end of last season, but Liverpool were still playing for that points record and they had every right to be giving their all.
Yes, there has been a lot of rest this season, but there’s a difference between being well-rested and not being match fit.
Let’s not forget that for those three months of covid, players weren’t allowed to train together and we were only allowed one hour of outdoor exercise per day.
Yes, some players will have home gyms, but cardio and weight training is completely different to match fitness in football and the gruelling toll playing the sport at a high-level takes on your body.
It’s hard to really blame Klopp for the issue he’s currently campaigning against.
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