Jurgen Klopp has detailed his willingness to rotate in the early weeks of Liverpool’s season. The Reds kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 3-0 win over Norwich last week and will host Burnley on Saturday afternoon in front of a full house at Anfield for the first time since March 2020.
Jurgen Klopp said: “Pre-season is like that. You have four, five, six weeks – some only had two or three I know – then the season starts and the first two weeks we have three games – Saturday, Saturday, Saturday – and then the international break. That’s been like that for a few years I think. It means there’s no real reason for rotation and stuff like that. Everyone in pre-season played a similar amount of minutes and then the international break comes this year with three games for some – which we will talk about in a different moment but we have to talk about it – and then coming back and playing again. And then all the problems are when you play all three games [during the international break. It is not about giving rhythm here and there, it is about using all the resources you have, and that means using all the players you have and to make it as likely as possible you have the chance to win the next football game. So rotation happens more or less, it is not about really what you can change because you can only change when they are all fit and all available. That is why we had that problem last season so it is not that difficult, it is about using all your resources.
Jurgen Klopp added: “At the moment if I think that a different line-up wins you the next game then why shouldn’t I rotate? I’m the one who always says we have too many games and we have too many games. There are too many games. There are three games for some countries in the next international break. There are too many games for the players out there so of course it makes sense to give different players more opportunities. That’s how it is, but for that they need to have opportunity first and foremost and you need to think you can win the next game because that is our first and foremost our job to do. We have to win pretty much all the football games we play. That is the task.”
