29 Jan 2026 13:02:45
Hi Ed 1, i've not posted in probably 5 years but on here daily, great site you've created and continue to feed the LFC addiction many of us struggle with (it is a struggle at the moment! ). I wanted to ask your opinion on a hypothetical question on Alonso if you have the time.
If he were to get the job in the near future, do you think fitness would be his main priority to start with? Would we see big improvements in the players ability to actually last a full 90 and once again be one of the fittest teams in the prem? Also what type of style do you think we'd see from the team, would it be closer to Klopp's press press press fast style? Thanks!
{Ed001's Note - the style of play he favours is the high octane, high press, so he would have to work on fitness to enable the team to play it. Interestingly enough, one of Klopp's assistants, I can't remember whether it was Krawietz or Buvac, said that doing it can also save players' legs, as they are doing less running back towards their own goal each time the ball is turned over. But Alonso's problems at Madrid stemmed from his insistence the players worked hard on their fitness in training. The poor dears couldn't handle the work required. Half a million a week and you won't even try!}
29 Jan 2026 14:33:44
Thanks Ed for the reply! Crazy to think the players were asked to run a bit for 500k! I'd like to think the Liverpool squad has a lot better character to it than that of Madrid. Should help that Wirtz and Frimpong are so familiar with Alonso, especially Frimpong who seems as though he is a big personality within the team.
{Ed001's Note - you only have to look at Salah, Wirtz and Szoboszlai to know that we have players who are not averse to putting in hard work. Though people will now start chuntering about how Salah wasn't tracking back, completely ignoring that it was on instruction from Slot that he wasn't tracking back!}
29 Jan 2026 14:38:01
To be fair Alonso did actually manage to get the Real players to run and press harder, there is an excellent video from Adam Cleary on just this very subject. If he can get that team to press high and work harder, he can do it anywhere.
29 Jan 2026 14:44:22
Even amongst the highly uneducated of us, surely fitness is one of the first things and easiest things to sort out. Most fans will forgive an under performing team as long as they're putting the effort in. Let's not wait until the back end of the season and hope every one else tires.
29 Jan 2026 15:31:33
Funnily enough, florent Perez (spelling) of Real Madrid, if true has been on the phone personally to the Real Madrid players after Alonso was sacked and told them they must start working Harder and trying more on the pitch.
29 Jan 2026 15:47:15
Ed, that as prolly Kornmayer who said this. Just a guess. Cos he was with Bayern when they played high octain footie and won the treble in 12/ 13 and then, he came to us in the summer of 2016.
{Ed001's Note - it was either Buvac or Krawietz. I just can't remember which. It was one of Klopp's assistants that he brought with him.}
29 Jan 2026 17:19:29
Ed I recently saw a snippet of an interview with Oxlade-Chamberlain and in it he was saying how tough training was when he first joined LFC.
That he was exhausted from training but once his body had accustomed to the rigours of it, that even walking onto the pitch he and the team felt in such peak fitness that the felt unbeatable.
That they could outrun and press any team for 90 minutes.
{Ed001's Note - yeah, I have no idea why we have allowed that to go. I know the fitness coaches used to have the argument with Klopp over it, claiming it was too much, but surely even they are not stupid enough to not have realised the benefits it brings??}
29 Jan 2026 17:41:39
The funny thing is ED01 - we hardly had any injuries back then. Played with a limited rotating squad Mane/ Bobby/ Mo hardly ever got rotated with Hendo/ Gini/ Milly/ OX held midfield before Fabs came in.
I can almost understand from a fitness coaching perspective that 3 games a week with the same players + heavy cardio sessions could be a concern but, on paper and before our injuries, we have plenty cover to rotate.
{Ed001's Note - they always come out with this nonsense about over training, but it has always been the case that those who train harder are likely to get less injuries. I have never understood why they can't understand that you have to push them harder to make the games easier.
The concern I can understand is that of it being difficult to reach peak performance in game after game, from a physical perspective. But you can aim at mini peaks for each game, by aiming training and recovery around hitting peak at each game. Most of the season, when playing so often, you are only really doing recovery and light sessions anyway, as the games give the fitness levels.}
29 Jan 2026 17:44:08
Specially now several years on Ed with
Even more science and reaserch now in regards to recovery and the human body. Surely they can find the perfect balance!
{Ed001's Note - I think there is too much specialisation and not enough exploration of how it works in other sports etc. It does not help that most studies are sponsored by companies that are interested in reaching a conclusion that helps them sell a particular product range. That is why for years we had all these studies claiming we had to have low fat food for our health, even though there was no independent studies that reached that conclusion. I remember when I was doing a sports science course through Liverpool, and I was determined to find independent studies. I only managed to find one, that was done in apartheid era South Africa on endurance athletes. They found that low fat food lowered endurance and slowed recovery time. That was completely contrary to the other studies and when I tried to quote it in my answers to a test, I was failed as it was not considered an acceptable study, even though it was the only independent one I could find. So there might well be an issue with the way these coaches are being taught, if they are not being given full freedom to learn from independent studies.}