Jurgen Klopp has once again called for changes to be made to the fixture schedule, with the Community Shield coming too early for his Liverpool side.
The Reds are preparing to face Manchester City in the traditional season curtain-raiser at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium on Saturday. Klopp’s side have been in Austria getting ready for the gruelling campaign, which has been pushed forward due to the Qatar World Cup forcing a break in November and December.
Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign at Craven Cottage against newly-promoted Fulham on August 6. But the early scheduling is underlined by the fact they will play Strasbourg the day after Man City in a friendly – and are even arranging a further match for the day after the Fulham game to get players up to speed.
Klopp values the Community Shield – in part because he has never won it – but has returned to his favourite topic in the build-up. “I like the competition but I think it would be possible to find another date,” he said. “We had a longer season than other teams and now we have a shorter pre-season.
“It makes not too much sense. Maybe somebody can think about this. But we have to find a way and that’s what we are working on. In two days the season starts again and we are really looking forward to it. It is important as we have played this game a couple of times and it would be nice to win it. It’s the last one that we still have to win.”
Liverpool concluded the Austria leg of their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 defeat by Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday night. Klopp was without star goalkeeper Alisson for the friendly and the Brazilian will also be absent for the Community Shield due to a minor injury.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Does Jurgen Klopp have a point about the fixture schedule? And what can be done? Comment below.
The Salzburg match displayed Klopp’s point that his players haven’t been granted enough time to prepare for the upcoming season. He fielded a second-string side in the first half in Austria before introducing his first-choice players on the hour-mark.
With Sadio Mane sold to Bayern Munich, there will be a new look to the front three, which started with Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho and Darwin Nunez before ending with Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino on Wednesday. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson appear to still be Klopp’s preferred defence, while Thiago, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho are the combination in midfield for the time being.
Klopp admitted that his approach to pre-season training in Austria has all been about upping the fitness levels of his side. “That’s what we have to do because from mid-August on I think we play every three days again, so there’s no time for training,” he said.
