Daniel Sturridge has revealed that Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp is making the Reds’ players toil hard in their pre-season training camp in USA
The England international has even said that the current pre-season camp is the “most intense” he has ever attended in his career as a professional player in the Premier League. Incidentally, this is Klopp’s first ever pre-season with the Reds, after the German was appointed as the Liverpool manager mid-way through last season.
“It has been a lot of hard work, running sessions and tactical sessions,” Sturridge was quoted as saying on Liverpool’s official website. “I am feeling fresh. Pre-season is about pushing your body to the limits and it is one of those things where you have to battle and push yourself through the sessions. It is probably the most intense (pre-season) I have experienced at any club.”
“It is certainly something everyone is getting used to and something which will hopefully put us in good stead for the rest of the season,” said Sturridge. “I think there is more emphasis on tactics because there is time to develop but it will take time.”
Daniel Sturridge has had a rather injury-prone career so far, which has been quite detrimental for Liverpool. The England international has been brilliant for the Reds whenever fit. However, his fitness has been a problem for Klopp last season, as Liverpool faced periods when they did not have any in-form striker in their squad.
In fact, Klopp often had to field Roberto Firmino as a false no.9, with Sturridge being injured and Christian Benteke being terribly out of form.
Klopp has his unique style in training, says Wijnaldum
According to Liverpool’s latest acquisition in the transfer marke Georginio Wijnaldum, Klopp’s training technique is similar to the ones he has experienced in the Netherlands.
“Every trainer has his own training style, so Jürgen Klopp has his own style. It’s quite similar to some of the training I used to do in Holland because you play a lot of football,” Wijnaldum was quoted as saying on Liverpool’s official website. “In training, if he sees that I have to do something different, he will stop and tell me ‘you have to do it like this…you need to be aware of this and that…’. In those situations, he’s also helping me.”
Klopp is known for implementing his unique ideology of football, often called gegenpressing, which requires the players to do extraordinary amounts of running during the 90 minutes. This intense style of football can lead to frequent injuries, which is why the players need to be trained well during the pre-season.
This is why Klopp’s pre-season training sessions are known to be particularly more excruciating than that of the other top football managers.
“It’s tough but in pre-season, every training session is tough. You have to create a base for the season to come, so training is always hard,” siad Wijnaldum. “You will be tired after the training sessions, but that’s how pre-season works. It’s more than only hard work, it’s also technical and shape work which we are working on right now.”
Klopp’s gegenpressing system involves the team pressing their opponents high up the pitch, so as to win the ball back in the attacking third. The logic behind this style of play is that once the possession is lost, the opponents do not have much time to react, and stand a greater chance of conceding a goal.
