Jurgen Klopp will finally get what he’s wanted vs Wolves this weekend. The Liverpool boss hasn’t been shy to speak his mind on the subject.
Jurgen Klopp doesn’t have to worry vs Wolves. He’ll have to worry about the dangers in their team, of course, but his biggest worry is finally to one side.
Managing fitness has been incredibly difficult. Klopp has openly talked about terrible schedules making things a problem and you can take last week as an example.
Liverpool came back from the international break with a 7pm kick-off against Leicester City on Sunday. It’s an unusual time for a Sunday kick-off but there’s nothing inherently bad there.
But Liverpool played Atalanta just 37 hours later – an earlier Sunday game would have made more sense. Scheduling like that happens, though, and Liverpool can deal with it.
What was truly ridiculous, however, was the 12:30pm kick-off against Brighton the following Saturday. That came well under 36 hours after the Atalanta game.
That absolutely did not have to happen. Liverpool played three high-intensity games in six days, which again, didn’t have to happen.
Klopp’s problems are all the worse because of an injury crisis, too. The Reds are without over half-a-dozen first-team players – they lost Naby Keita and James Milner just in those games we mentioned.
Fortunately, though, Klopp can finally rest this weekend.
Rest and relaxation
Liverpool don’t play Wolves until Sunday, giving players five days rest ahead of the game. They can treat it as a normal game, then, without feeling the effects of the Ajax clash.
More than that, the following game against FC Midtjylland is a dead-rubber. Klopp doesn’t need to worry about keeping players fresh for it or managing minutes. He can go all-out vs Wolves and rotate everyone against the Danes.
It will be a huge relief. It’s the first time in a long time, in fact, that Klopp can treat a game in isolation.
Hopefully, Liverpool will be all the better for it.
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