Liverpool had four players unavailable and a few more had to be benched because of nagging injuries, when the Reds beat Arsenal on Sunday. After years and years of Klopp facing injury crises, there is more to it than just bad luck.
During the preseason many Liverpool players picked up knocks with varying degree of severity, but Klopp pointed at the depth of his squad. “We needed to strengthen and we’ve done that. The situation with the keeper and the centre-backs in preseason hasn’t been too cool but this season we will be able to react better,” he told the Echo a few days ago.
In fact, Liverpool have been able to broaden their squad, as they secured the services of Loris Karius, Sadio Mané, Georginio Wijnaldum, Ragnar Klavan, Joel Matip, Juanma and Alex Manninger, while the likes of Martin Skrtel, Joe Allen, Brad Smith, Jordon Ibe, Kolo Touré and Jose Enrique left Anfield. However, that can’t fully hide the injury issues that have again occurred under Klopp’s watch.
It is not the first time that the German coach has struggled with injuries. It all started in 2012. After winning the domestic title twice with Borussia Dortmund, Klopp faced the unavailability of many players throughout the next season. Despite reaching the Champions League final, BVB weren’t as competitive over the course of a 10-month season than the years prior. Transfermarkt lists all the injuries of that particular season here and of the even worse 2014-15 season here.
Media reports have suggested that Klopp and his then staff member Oliver Bartlett, a highly regarded English fitness coach, disagreed on the intensity of training. Bartlett left Dortmund in 2012 and begun to work for Roger Schmidt at Red Bull Salzburg and Bayer Leverkusen, where Bartlett has been able to keep most of the squad healthy even though the respective teams have played a high volume pressing style.
The very out-spoken former Wales coach Raymond Verheijen, who has a history of attacking the training methods used by some Premier League clubs, insisted that Klopp’s training methods would ‘destroy players’. A month ago, Verheijen described in detail three phases and warned that Liverpool could be about to enter an ‘injury crisis phase’, which eventually happened.
However, recent statements made by Klopp could hint at the change of mentality and reduction of the intensity of training in between matches. In addition, Liverpool have the luxury of sitting out of the Europa League. Leicester City showed last year how valuable a week of rest can be, while direct competitors have to play midweek.
“Remember the situation when Phil (Coutinho) had his first hamstring? He came back, we couldn’t give him time. He played five games and then … (was injured again),” Klopp explained recently. “Things like this shouldn’t happen this season. We can’t change the intensity of games. But it’s clear that we can change the intensity of a player’s training. If we can avoid situations like that we will do.”
It should be mentioned though, that Liverpool are not the only team struggling with injuries. Sunday’s opponent Arsenal, for instance, were also significantly weakened as many players have been left on the treatment table. So Klopp and his staff are not the only ones who need to reconsider training regimens and the length of recovery phases.
