Let It Go: Klopp Adjusts Training in Response to Frozen Conditions

Freezing temperatures forced manager Jurgen Klopp to tweak team preparations ahead of Newcastle tilt.

The UK is currently facing a harsh winter storm bringing blizzard conditions and large amounts of snow to their shores. Lives are, obviously upended during such conditions and while the game of football does not register at the same level of importance as the very real impact to the every day lives of Britons brought about by this storm, it most certainly does not escape feeling some impact.

This So Cal boy - an immigrant from the tropical clime of the Philippines to boot - has been complaining a bit as our region faces a cold snap of our own. But we’re talking about lows in the mid-to-low 30’s Fahrenheit - which, as it turns out, is approx -1 degrees Celsius - and with highs in the low 50’s . Liverpool, however, has been at that California low as their temperature high-point this week, raising concerns of potential muscle strains as the lads train ahead of hosting Newcastle.

During his pre-match comments, Jurgen Klopp addressed those concerns as this week’s preparations were mostly done under sub-zero conditions.

“It was really cold, the wind cooled it down massively but the snow was not one day a problem. Monday or Tuesday when we came in, it was snowing everywhere, but there was nothing on the pitch.

“So we changed the programme, you cannot do tactical things, we had to do it quite lively. Tactical training is quite often talking on the pitch about different situations - wait, stop here.”

The boss seemed to be very optimistic in his assessment of the training, noting that the lads adapted well and that the weather even cooperated a touch by managing to miss hitting the training pitch at Melwood when dumping snow on the region. Maybe God is a Red after all?

Needless to say, Klopp and company are all looking forward to this weekend’s match and a busy week ahead with 3 matches in 7 days, including the reverse fixture against Porto and the derby with United set for next Saturday.

By the looks of it, though, the cold never bothered Klopp anyway:

“It’s good because I think it will be the same circumstances tomorrow, so it’s the best preparation you can have [to] get used to it. It’s not that difficut, it’s [just] different.”

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com