Jurgen Klopp makes COVID admission and highlights unseen role of Liverpool backroom staff member

Jurgen Klopp has admitted Liverpool’s players took a little while to get back to their best after suffering with Covid-19.

The Reds were forced to close down the AXA Training Centre and cancel training earlier this month after a suspected outbreak.

And Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara, Alisson, Roberto Firmino, Joel Matip, Kaide Gordon and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all had positive tests at some point in the past six weeks.

Klopp and his assistant manager Pep Lijnders also both tested positive over the festive period as Liverpool ended up having to postpone their Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg clash with Arsenal and field a number of youngsters against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup as a result.

Also losing Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita to the Africa Cup of Nations, performances have understandably been a little inconsistent in the past month.

But Klopp is hopeful his side are now over such a setback as he praised the work of Dr. Andreas Schlumberger, the club’s head of recovery and performance, behind the scenes for ensuring the players are back to their best.

“The biggest difference was after Covid,” the Reds boss told reporters. “That’s why I mention it. We still don’t understand it 100%.

“The boys weren’t always… I see when they can’t. It was the case in one or two games but it looks now like we’re over that as well.

“I’m really pleased with all the development, especially with long-term injuries, we now deal with them really well.

“Dr. Andreas Schlumberger is a massive help there. The structure he implemented is incredibly helpful. It’s good.”

Klopp then highlighted Van Dijk’s performances following his return from an ACL injury to demonstrate how Liverpool have benefitted from Schlumberger, who joined the club at the end of 2020.

“I’m not surprised (by his performances), no,” the German said. “It wasn’t a curve always going up, there were little bumps in that. That’s normal.

“Virg had to learn to deal with a lot of things. Some physical things are just not available like they were before but they will come and came back. But it’s not from the first day so you have to adapt to these things.

“There are worries, I had bad injuries myself and you cannot ignore that when you are an intelligent person. Virg obviously is and you cannot ignore everything and just say, ‘who cares?’

“The way back to your best is a bumpy one and he did exceptionally well.”