Boss: Why our trip to Barcelona came at the ideal time
Jürgen Klopp feels that Liverpool’s trip to Barcelona was perfectly timed following last weekend’s defeat at Bournemouth.
The Reds flew out for a pre-arranged three-night stay in Spain immediately after their 4-3 reverse at the Vitality Stadium, with their agenda including warm-weather training and a visit to the Camp Nou to watch Barcelona versus Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday night.
Klopp was asked whether the break had lifted morale after the disappointment of losing to the Cherries during his press conference to preview Sunday’s clash with West Ham United this afternoon.
And the boss explained that while such exercises are always useful, they are particularly so in the aftermath of a defeat.
“Actually when you do something like this then it is the best thing to do after you’ve lost a game, because after you’ve won a game everybody wants to be together, after you’ve lost everybody wants to go home usually and be alone,” Klopp said.
“So it was this was good for us to stay together [and] have a good time. Of course you can imagine Barcelona is a nice place, we could train there, the sun was shining, 15, 16, 17, 18 degrees, I’m not sure but it felt pretty warm, we could see the match.
“Especially the players who are often away in international games, they don’t have a lot of time off so they had few nice hours in Barcelona and I was really happy for them.
“It was good, perfectly organised, so Wednesday we came back and could train immediately and [we’re] already settled again.”
LFCTV GO: Watch Klopp's pre-West Ham press conference in full
The manager went on to say that it is vital for his players to get adequate rest and recuperation as the English season enters its busiest time of the year.
“Always!” Klopp replied, when asked if he would like to go away more often.
“It was really nice and a wonderful opportunity the club gave us. It’s part of a few things I’ve learned since I am here - really the whole season is so intense and everything.
“Every person needs a little bit of rest, you cannot push them through all the time. I never did it before, but especially now in England with this intensive time ahead - it’s really important that you can, if the club gives you an opportunity, to do something like this.
“We did it last year with Tenerife. It was different because it was in an international break so we only had a few players with us, but with the kids and everything it was really nice and helped a lot to know more about each other, and it was the same this time again.
“We always have the same time together - before training, after training, it’s training, in the hotel and all that stuff, but we are not [together] a lot privately, so we used the time so it was good. Good food, nice weather, all good.”