Following the heavy 3-0 defeat to Wolves last weekend, Jürgen Klopp give his players two days off to recuperate. He explained his reasons ahead of the Merseyside derby.
Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has revealed why he gave his players two days off this week in the aftermath of the 3-0 defeat to Wolves.
The Reds were pummeled by the Midlands side at Molineux, and Klopp took the rare — and some would argue brave — decision to hand his players a two-day break following the defeat.
Asked why he would give his players the break following a defeat of that magnitude, Klopp outlined his reasons in his pre-game press conference ahead of the Merseyside derby with Everton.
“You can — but it is not beneficial to train every day,” Klopp said. “We played bad at Wolves, next day we came in, made the analysis and spoke to each other and then gave them two days off because it is a very long time between Saturday and Monday (the following week).
“But of course I could have said ‘Sunday training, recovery’ and from Monday on we go for them (Everton).”
Klopp acknowledged that his approach could be considered unorthodox in some quarters. Indeed, he claimed that the question about the days off would have come sooner in Germany, where he implied there is a fixation on the ‘old-school’ approach of using days off as a kind of reward. Nevertheless, he defended his decision:
“It wouldn’t have been helpful at all. It would have been bad, it would have caused injuries, it would have caused a lot of problems.
“To be honest on Sunday after we spoke about everything I thought 100 per cent it makes sense that we don’t see each other for two days.
“And it was helpful. I left on Sunday in an average mood and I came back in a good mood.
“I worked through it. I had a lot of phone calls but I was in a much better mood, a completely different mood to be honest, and that is why it was very helpful and yesterday we benefited from it.”
Klopp, and Liverpool, will be hoping for their first league win of the year against Everton. It would be a very timely boost, and further proof that the two-day break worked.
The Reds last won a league game against Leicester, on December 30.
SOURCE: liverpool.com
