https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/397490-JĂźrgen-klopp-premier-league-re-start-interview
Having Liverpoolâs entire squad able to train together at Melwood once again has been a âmassive, massive liftâ, according to JĂźrgen Klopp.
After the Premier League unanimously voted in favour of returning to contact sessions this week, the Reds have been able to work out with a full complement of players since Thursday.
Indeed, on the same day, the division announced a provisional restart date of June 17 for the competition, meaning Klopp and his team now have a target to tailor training routines towards.
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com at Melwood on Sunday, Klopp said of being able to have the whole group together: âItâs absolutely brilliant, a massive difference. The weather is just outstanding, it means all the things we have to do outside â we donât have changing rooms here, that makes it all slightly difficult â but with the weather itâs absolutely no problem, itâs rather nice to do it this way.
âSo, we enjoy it a lot. We could work on all the things we wanted to work on. The first week was already really good with the small groups, I enjoyed that as well, because it was just important to get on track again, to get used to the pitch and ball and boots and all that stuff. And now we work on tactical things, that works really well.
âThe boys are still the same really good bunch of boys â and that helps a lot. We are in a good moment, we enjoy it. Hopefully we can make progress in the next two or three weeks, there are a lot of things that need to be organised still, obviously. We need to get hopefully a couple of [bits of] information but we take it like it is and use each second we are together.â
Despite a return to contact training, social distancing and hygiene protocols remain firmly in place at Melwood, making for a much-changed venue to the one Liverpool voluntarily suspended activity at in March.
One-way systems, temperature checks on arrival and strict measures on access to the various areas of the facility are just some of the health and safety procedures that have been implemented.
âItâs [been] a massive organisational challenge, to be honest,â said Klopp. âWhat Ray Haughan did in that department is unbelievable â where we can park, where we can walk and all that stuff.
âWhen you make the step from 10 players of two groups of five, to nearly 30, thatâs massive. And we still have to stick to the same things. So, we are fully concentrated when we come in here, let me say it like this; that we do the right things, that we get the temperature tested and all these things. Itâs not like it usually is.
âItâs completely fine but itâs just when you come here itâs not like, âYippee!â â you think, âWhere do I have to drive, where is somebody who gets my temperature?â and all that stuff. Thatâs how it is in the moment.â
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com last week, Klopp described the period as being similar to a pre-season schedule in terms of the training work being done with players to raise their match fitness and sharpness.
âWe donât have to be match-fit now,â the manager reiterated. âWe try it with increasing intensity, day by day, but we have to be fit on the 19th or 20th, whichever day they will give us against Everton, I think. Thatâs the moment when we want to be at 100 per cent.
âItâs roundabout three weeks until then, thatâs good. We want to use that and we will. Itâs our pre-season; how I said, we donât expect a long break in between the seasons, so this is a very important period for us. We never had nine weeks without football training in our lives â since we played football, pretty much. Thatâs all different but interesting as well.
âWe enjoy the situation, thatâs really all good. And it makes all the difference for us, to be honest, to come together and have this hour or two here together. You get this contact, feedback as well on the pitch directly, not via a computer or a screen. Itâs a massive, massive lift.â
With the Premier League set to confirm the divisionâs fixture schedule in due course, Klopp highlighted work that will need to go on away from the training pitches at Melwood to arrange the teamâs logistics for the restart.
âThatâs what we were all waiting for,â Klopp said of the news of the provisional restart. âBut now itâs always like this. You were waiting for that, somebody tells us we could start, thatâs good. Now we know, from a training point of view, what we have to do when and when we have to be at 100 per cent in the best way, how we can train in different intensities. That was very important.
âNow, of course, itâs more and more interesting when we play where, the times are really important because we will see how we can organise the travel stuff. So, the situation keeps us busy, thatâs absolutely OK.
âBut on the pitch everything is fine, thatâs really great. Around, we organise it as good as possible and use the situation.â