Liverpool fans have reason to be cheerful this summer. They have made some decent signings, with Sadio Mané being the standout capture so far, and in Jurgen Klopp they have a young, ambitious manager who is eager to prove himself in the world's most famous football league.
But perhaps fans on the red side of the Mersey should temper their expectations a little, after reports in the Indo today suggest that Klopp is too demanding of his players on the training ground.
Raymond Verheijen is a former coach in the Wales national team setup and has been extremely critical of Klopp's methods of extreme conditioning in advance of matches. Verheijen claims that Klopp "destroys players" by having them do "too much, too soon" which leads to his players spending a LOT more time in the treatment room compared to other clubs in the league.
Jose Mourinho is another coach who is known to be extremely demanding on the training ground, even leading to some speculation in the midst of Chelsea's decline last season that the primary cause for this was that the players were over-trained. This is a claim that has followed the Portuguese around at the various clubs he has managed across Europe, with some saying it explains the 'third season syndrome' where some of his teams begin to inexplicably underperform.
In a diatribe posted to his Twitter account, Verheijen blasted Klopp and - worryingly for Chelsea fans - Antonio Conte for their outdated training methods.
Something tells us that Daniel Sturridge won't play much next season if there's much truth to the below.
In past weeks media reported how intelligent coaches like Conte & Klopp do 'too much too soon' with double & triple sessions in pre-season.
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
Coaches destroy players by training too much too soon in pre-season in 3 phases:
1) fatigue phase, 2) injury phase & 3) injury crisis phase.— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
Phase 1: Accumulation of fatigue phase. Overtraining players with too many sessions & too short recovery time in between to regain freshness
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
Phase 1: Accumulation of fatigue phase. Which Einstein invented 2-3 sessions per day with relatively unfit players just after off-season?
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
Phase 1 --> Phase 2: After being overtrained in first 2 weeks tired players now have to play friendly games which means a high injury risk.
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
Phase 2: Injury phase. Accumulated fatigue results in slower nervous system. Signals from brain to muscles travel slower. Less coordination.
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
Phase 2 --> Phase 3: After some players got injured in week 3-4 of pre-season coaches can't stop vicious circle so injury crisis in week 5-6
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
Phase 3: Injury crisis phase. More injuries lead to smaller squad so tired players get even more game minutes. Even more fatigue & injuries.
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
In about 2 weeks the first teams will enter the 'Injury crisis phase' (phase 3). Look forward to all these coaches blaming external factors.
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
In meantime ask yourself a question: why do we no longer fly in planes of 30 yrs ago but do intelligent coaches still train like 30 yrs ago?
— Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) July 18, 2016
