When Virgil Van Djik went down clutching his knee following a challenge widely recognized as reckless from Jordan Pickford, the red half of Merseyside collectively held its breath. Many on social media wrote off the season as the world’s best defender was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season, what ensued was surprising. Liverpool have actually been subpar with Van Djik compared to the high standards set across the last two seasons, highlighted by the shocking 7–2 loss at Aston Villa. Liverpool won its next five matches, collecting three clean sheets on the way. Little known academy players stepped up, performing at elite levels immediately. But now, with news of Joe Gomez out for the foreseeable future after successfully undergoing knee surgery on November 12th, Liverpool are left without their top center back pairing, along with an increasing injury list of first team players.
Over the previous two seasons, the back four and the keeper picked itself — Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Van Djik, Joe Gomez, and Andy Robertson. Liverpool are now left with just Robertson and Alisson, who himself went through injury troubles early on in this season. With the condensed season, matches on both the club and international level are coming thick and fast. More so than ever, squad depth and sports science are key to managing and optimizing player health. Liverpool have been rightly lauded for their expert player recruitment led by Michael Edwards. Now is time for the medical and fitness team to step up during the unprecedented season.
Jurgen Klopp places great trust in his team, both on and off the field. The medical and fitness team can provide Klopp with all sorts of player management details, such as how much rest and recovery they require between matches, and how close they are to muscle overuse injuries. But a key problem this season is the extraordinary number of matches the professional football players are asked to play. With a fully fit squad, Klopp can field two competitive starting XI’s. But with the number of players on the treatment table, Klopp is forced to overuse some players or be criticized for fielding a weaker team.
With Liverpool in pole position in the Champions League group stage, Klopp is surely thinking of mass rotation in a couple of the remaining matches. A starting lineup of Alisson, N. Williams, Koumetio, R. Williams, Tsimikas, Milner, Jones, Keita, Minamino, Origi, and Jota, is surely not out of the question. After this international break, where some players will play three matches, they will return to the new Kirkby training facilities heading into a period of 11 matches in 37 days.
At the end of the day, Klopp can rotate his squad, employ the best sports scientists and physios all he likes. But with the football authorities cramming an absurd amount of football into the calendar, there is little Klopp can do to avoid further decimation of his squad. Until FIFA, UEFA, and the FA come together to discuss scheduling in the best interest of player welfare rather than commercial partners, the problem will only continue to persist.
