Jurgen Klopp has lamented the “tough” situation all Premier League sides are in with away games in such a busy calendar, but explained Liverpool’s plan to avoid it.
The Reds have played four times so far since the restart, but all four have been in the surrounding area, with two games at Anfield, one at Everton and the other at Man City.
This week brings their first long-distance trip since the coronavirus pandemic forced a three-month break in the campaign, with Liverpool travelling 215 miles to Brighton.
Klopp and his players have already made the flight down south, with the manager explaining before the Wednesday night kickoff that this was the best way forward amid a “tough” schedule.
“When we heard about the fixtures it was tough. It’s tough for everybody, but if you get your fixtures you don’t look at where the others play and stuff like this,” he said.
“Each day that you have more rest between games makes the main difference.
“Now this is the third game with always three days, three days, three days, so between the games is only two days.
“You know around Boxing Day when we played pretty much every 48 hours after the last game, it makes absolutely no sense and will never make sense.
“I stick to the opinion that that’s a crime. But three days is kind of OK.
“The next game is a problem and the next day after that is a problem, from an intensity point of view. Now [we are] travelling on top of that.
“We didn’t know when we got the fixtures how the country would be in that time, but still we had to plan.
“I think now we’ve found a hotel where we can sleep overnight. We had to make a decision on if we should go on the matchday, but Brighton is not around the corner, especially the airport.
“So we decided to do it like we would in the middle of the season and fly there today, train tomorrow morning and all that stuff.
“It should be OK, but then, of course, coming back in the middle of the night and playing a few hours later again against Burnley.
“But Burnley has, I think, exactly the same situation: they are in London against West Ham tomorrow night, and then play us.
“So it’s not easier for them or easier for us, it’s just tough for all of us. The logistics are really difficult.
“In and around the stadiums meanwhile, I think is really good, everybody is used to everything we can deal with the situation.
“So far the dressing rooms were brilliant, how all the other teams set it up, so that’s all OK.
“It’s different, and I pretty much can’t wait until it is like it was before, but it’s absolutely OK.”
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