Klopp calls for ‘proper breaks’ in English football, predicts tough start for Liverpool this season | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has called on English football to introduce ‘proper breaks’ and has predicted a ‘tough start’ for his side this season.

The Champions League winners will begin their season next weekend when they face Manchester City in the Community Shield on August 4, before their Premier League season begins against Norwich at Anfield on Friday, August 9.

Several of the club’s stars, including the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, are yet to return for pre-season following international commitments this summer, with Klopp calling on English football to introduce ‘proper breaks’ into its hectic schedule.

“We sit here and it sounds like I am having a moan or whatever. It is just the situation, in the long-term, is not acceptable,” he told a press conference in the USA, as per the Mirror.

“For here (on pre-season) it is not a problem. We have all the boys here, apart from the three up front and Ali.

“It’s not like after three days you can say to them, ‘Hey! Come on! Let’s start running again!’. They have had a tough summer programme. It’s football.

“It’s not riding a bike, so you lose a little bit (of rhythm). It will all come back but it will be a tough start.

“In the future, we have to change that. We have to change it. It is not possible (to continue this way).”

Liverpool‘s Anfield clash with Norwich is the opening fixture of the Premier League season, with England’s top flight beginning before their European counterparts.

Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga will start on August 16, whilst Italy’s Serie A begins the following weekend.

Klopp says the short turnaround for English club’s makes things difficult, and believes extended rest and training would lead to ‘world class performances’.

“But then England and the Premier League, it starts the earliest? Huh? Where is the space for training? Come on!

“It looks like nobody can imagine a week without football in the year. When did that happen? A game again, a game again.

“It is difficult, difficult for the boys. Everything will be fine this season. But in the long-term? We have to change it.

“There must be breaks. Come on, let them go. Be brave. Don’t treat every game like it is the last of a decade.

“The pressure is everywhere. We need to calm this down. We need proper breaks, then you will get world class performances.

“Then you can enjoy these boys in the long-term and it will be easier for the younger ones to come through.”

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