Jürgen Klopp revealed that Liverpool’s pre-season schedule will be extended.
Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has revealed that his side will play a friendly game the day after they start their Premier League campaign.
The Reds begin their competitive season on Saturday as they take on Manchester City in the Community Shield before taking on Strasbourg at Anfield 24 hours later.
But after their first game of the 2022/23 campaign against Fulham on August 6, Klopp’s side will play a behind-closed-doors friendly against an unnamed side on August 7.
‘I cannot ignore the fact that after this important game there is a season coming up’
The German explained why they had chosen to add another fixture, claiming that his team haven’t had a long enough pre-season schedule.
“The situation is, Saturday is a very important game and we still have to prepare [for] a season and we cannot ignore that,” he said during his press conference on Thursday.
“We played last night, we lost 1-0 [to Red Bull Salzburg], we trained the day before twice, really intense.
“That is what we have to do. I cannot ignore the fact that after this important game there is a season coming up. So we have to extend our pre-season into the season. We play on Saturday against City and we play on Sunday a pre-season test game against Strasbourg.
“Then we play Fulham, then the next day we play another game, just so we can extend our pre-season, that’s what we have to do, because from mid-August on we play every three days, so there is no time for training any more. So we try to do the right things and the schedule is always a challenge, that’s how it is.”
"Jurgen Klopp usually complains his team has too many fixtures" 🤔
Liverpool are planning a friendly after the Premier League season starts | #PaperTalk pic.twitter.com/uHzXHfoWQM
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 29, 2022
Klopp wanted the Community Shield fixture to take place at a later date
Klopp also confessed that he would have preferred for the Community Shield game to take place on a different day.
“I like the competition but I think it would be possible to find another date because we had a longer season than other teams and now we have a shorter pre-season,” he added.
“There are opportunities and maybe somebody can think about that. But we have to find a way and that is what we will try. That’s what we’ve been working on since we are together again and in two days the season starts again and I’m really looking forward to it.”
