Had Liverpool beaten Chelsea at Anfield, they would have leapfrogged Southampton in the table and been looking good to claim at least a spot in next season’s Europa League.
Advertisement
Along with this backroom overhaul, Klopp is upping the ante on the training field, telling reporters that he will set brutal, triple training sessions for his squad. “The problem with pre-season is that for the first three weeks we have 15 players who will have been away at the Euros and we also have to see how the squad is changing”. We didn’t defend really compact and not together and invested a lot and it makes you exhausted. Andreas Kornmayer will arrive from Bayern Munich as head of fitness and conditioning and he is expected to oversee the training.
The 30-year-old England centre-back said: “We have got one more game to go then we put a black line through this season”.
“We have to do a lot to create a base for one year”.
That has been particularly reflected in their run to the Europa League final, where he has picked strong teams and backed his players to overcome every obstacle – most impressively beating Dortmund from 4-2 down on aggregate with 24 minutes to go.
“No player is going to play on forever, and there comes a time where you have to move on, or retire, or move clubs, or whatever it is going to be”, Cahill told Sky Sports. You get frustrated. The last few weeks he has been working on a programme to be fully fit and now steadily he has got his shape and then you can see what he is able to do.
Goalkeeper Mignolet thinks lessons can be learned after Liverpool let their intensity drop following a bright start and confidence can be gained from how they fought back. The Reds need to finish above Southampton, who are now one point ahead with a better goal difference than Liverpool (+15 to +13, although Saints have scored much less, 55 to 62).
“The result tonight was not important, what’s important is that we take the right information out of the game”, Klopp said. We were great – wonderful football, without scoring.
Jurgen Klopp’s side lie eighth, a point behind Southampton and three shy of West Ham, who are sixth ahead of Sunday’s final round of matches.
Advertisement
Incoming manager Antonio Conte must ensure that Hazard remains at the club next season – and that he gets the best out of him – if the Blues are to once more become title contenders.
