Jurgen Klopp has made no secret of his disdain for the fixture congestion that his — and other teams competing in Europe — have had to deal with this season.
The Liverpool manager has watched on as soft-tissue injuries have kept star players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold off the pitch as his defensive line becomes ever more threadbare.
Not only is fatigue and the compacted calendar, all on the back of no real pre-season, ramping up the number of players on clubs’ treatment tables, but they have also changed the way many teams play.