Liverpool’s manager is on record as believing the Premier League’s overloaded winter schedule asks too much of players and has a negative impact on injury records, fitness levels, and English clubs’ ability to compete with their continental counterparts deep into the second half of the season.
In the past, he has tried to deal with the situation by taking his squad to a series of mid-season training camps that double as brief holidays. This season, though, he’s also going to give his players—or at least the ones not on international duty—time off before the overloaded winter fixture list hits.
Players have been given nutrition and fitness regimes to follow for the coming week but, following Liverpool’s victory over West Ham on Saturday, were told they will not be expected to show up at Melwood again until Friday and can otherwise spend the next few days however they’d like.
For his part, Klopp will be flying to Cape Town for a charity function and will take a few days off around that for a brief mid-season break from football. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Joël Matip, James Milner, Daniel Sturridge, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be getting some holiday time, too.
For the players called up for international duty, though, things will be much the same as they are in any other international break, and if Klopp wants to give those players a bit of downtime ahead of a hectic December and January, he will need to find another way to do it.