Henderson: How we're hoping to benefit from La Manga training camp
Jordan Henderson is confident Liverpool will reap both physical and psychological benefits from their mid-season training camp in La Manga as they prepare to head into the final 13 games of 2016-17.
The Reds arrived in Spain on Wednesday evening for the four-day trip and began drills the following morning.
Jürgen Klopp has described the camp as a ‘second pre-season’, with his side not back in action until February 27 when they take on Leicester City at the King Power Stadium – and Henderson is confident Liverpool will profit from their brief stay abroad.
He told Liverpoolfc.com in La Manga: “Everything has gone smoothly so far. There was a light session on Thursday morning because we’d had a few days off, so it was to get our legs going again, and then it was a tough session in the afternoon.
“We’re looking forward to the next few days, spending time together as a team properly, training and doing one or two other things as well. It’ll be good for us going into the last part of the season.
“It’s a different environment and you’re with each other non-stop because you’re not going home; you’re with each other 24/7, so I think that’ll only benefit us as a team going into the last part of the season. We can get a lot of work in on the training pitch on what we need to improve on, and everyone is looking forward to it.
“There’ve been a lot of games, but coming in here the training will still be intense. There is still a lot more from us to come in the last part of the season and we can still show a lot more. Hopefully the sun will help and we’ll be feeling refreshed in the training, so hopefully when we go back home we’re recharged and ready to go.”
LFCTV GO: Hendo on the benefits of training camp
When they return to Merseyside, Liverpool have just 13 more fixtures to contest before the conclusion of 2016-17.
Henderson is optimistic the Reds will emerge victorious more often than not in those matches as they seek a successful conclusion to the campaign,
He said: “That’s the plan. The manager has said we want to win every game – and that’s what we want to do all the time, going into games wanting to win.
“We feel as though we’re good enough, but we need to show it on the pitch, work as hard as we can in training, work on the tactical side as well and then apply it of a weekend. If we can do that, I know we’ll win more than we lose.”
Liverpool arrived in Spain on the back of an excellent 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening.
Afterwards, Adam Lallana revealed Henderson had called a players-only meeting in the build-up to the game to discuss and debate how to get back to top form after a run of one win in 10 matches prior to Spurs’ visit to L4.
“It wasn’t just me - there are a lot of leaders in the group and we all decided to get together and anyone could speak on what we needed to improve on,” the captain explained.
“I felt it was good and refreshing, as Adam said, and it’s good for us to be together 24/7, get to know each other even more and I think it’ll help us going forward.
“[The Spurs win] gives us a little bit of confidence, getting back to the way we know we can play – and have played for the majority of the season. It’s definitely a bonus coming here, working on one or two things and hopefully we can play like we did against Spurs for the rest of the season.”