Muamba brings new mission to Melwood
As Liverpool's players set about a typical morning of training at Melwood last week, there was a visitor among their midst for whom such simple pleasures are now unfortunately a thing of the past.
The former Arsenal, Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers midfielder, Fabrice Muamba, watched on from the sidelines as the likes of Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge - one-time opponents and, in the latter case, teammate - prepared for their latest battle.
For Muamba, those days are over; a sudden cardiac arrest suffered midway through Bolton's FA Cup tie against Tottenham at White Hart Lane in March 2012 forced premature retirement on the 25-year-old.
The former England youth international has now taken an altogether different path, beginning a fresh career in television presenting - starting with the new programme 'Raise Your Game'.
A mix of football features, reporting, stories and challenges, plus accompanying music and entertainment, the show prompted Muamba to visit Melwood to further hone his TV techniques.
"Today I came to see a couple of old friends of mine, to do me a favour and record this TV show that I'm doing," he explained to Liverpoolfc.com.
"The show that we are doing in Africa is called 'Raise Your Game', where we are going around different parts of Africa to try to increase the level of football and elaborate the Premiership even more.
"Hopefully it will give people a chance to watch the game and bring at least one or two good players to England to give them a trial with a Premier League side as well.
"It's an amazing programme because we do so much work behind the scenes; all of the team has been involved with how we go about the business, getting the players on the TV.
"I'm very thankful that Liverpool Football Club has been nice enough to ask us to come in and have a word with a couple of players, which is great.
"I saw Daniel, Kolo and Victor, and Brendan was kind enough to have a word with me - which was much appreciated.
"I also saw the whole training session, to see what Liverpool are doing and what makes them so successful so far this season. It has been an interesting journey.
"I'm still a work-in-progress, it doesn't happen overnight. But it's something that you have to be calm and work on. When the time is right, you'll feel comfortable.
"Being quite well educated, I feel like I've got something to offer in the media. I'll keep working on it and hopefully when I'm polished enough I'll be able to stand in good stead.
"I wasn't hoping to change this quickly but because of my circumstances you have to adjust. It's about being able to embrace this challenge, take it with both hands and be open-minded on how you can pursue a life-changing opportunity. I'm still learning a lot."
Like most observers, Muamba has been highly impressed by Liverpool's form at the outset of 2013-14, and not least the performances of striking duo Sturridge and Luis Suarez.
Having had two months to assess their respective qualities, the ex-professional now envisages a six-team race for both the championship and Champions League qualification this season.
"You have got two of the hottest strikers in the Premier League so far," he added. "If you keep them injury-free and they keep scoring, you have every single chance to be up there.
"To speak about Liverpool being in the top four is a great achievement. We'll have to see. Hopefully those two guys up front, Daniel and Luis, stay injury-free - then you will have a great season.
"What Brendan is doing with Liverpool is a great job; how they are playing this system and everybody is buying into it and working towards it. Hopefully the guys that you have will contribute to something bigger this year.
"If you look at Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool - everybody has got a chance this year to do well. Tottenham have got a chance to finish in the top four.
"It's not just Liverpool, everybody, all of the top five or six clubs in the league, have a chance to finish in the top four or win the league. It's an open race and may the best team win."
Muamba also highlighted one member of the Liverpool squad in particular for lengthy praise - summer signing and instant fan favourite, Kolo Toure.
He said: "Kolo is a player with a lot of experience, having won two Premier Leagues with Arsenal and Manchester City, and an FA Cup winner.
"So you expect him to bring a lot of experience to Liverpool and also to be a leader at the back. It is important that when you make a change to a football club, you need a couple of leaders.
"You've got Steven Gerrard, who is a fantastic leader of the football club. But you also need someone at the back, who can communicate with the other guys and bring everybody together.
"You have got a great guy in Kolo. It is obviously hard to fill Jamie Carragher's boots with what he has done for the football club and in his career.
"But that's a perfect way of taking someone who has done it and bringing someone like Kolo in to learn from what he has done in the past and carry on the torch."
He may be a self-confessed work-in-progress but according to Muamba, following an emotional 18 months of recovery, the opportunity to succeed at something different should not be taken for granted.
"Sometimes I question why this thing happened to me. But I just have to be grateful that I'm still here, let alone coming to watch football," he added.
"I do miss it, but you just have to be grateful that you can get around to do certain things. It's hard sometimes but I'm just happy that I actually get to do different things in life."
The brand new ninth episode of #LFCWORLD will be broadcast for the first time at 7pm and 10.30pm BST on Wednesday evening, and will also be available for LFCTV Online subscribers. For details of how to watch LFC TV, click here.