Liverpool will now have a 17-day gap between games ahead of the Premier League run-in after exiting the FA Cup.
The Reds have had just one midweek off since November and have so far dealt very well with their fixture congestion.
As the season goes on, though, as we saw last season when Liverpool were going for all four trophies, the constant football can take its toll.
While the squad would have been in a much better position to cope with a quadruple push this year, Arne Slot and co. might be thankful for their free weekend due to absence from the FA Cup quarter-finals.
As a result of their cup exit, Liverpool will now not play a match between the Carabao Cup final on March 16, and April 2 – the scheduled date to play Everton at Anfield.
This isn’t a 17-day break for the players, though, many of whom will go on international duty during that stretch, but it does provide a crucial opportunity for the coaches and analysts to reset and prepare for the coming months.
It will also be a chance for a few players and Slot to spend time with family, having had such little off time since before the Christmas period.
On Friday, the head coach said: “Definitely I see them (players) as human beings as well.
“We are working very hard if we are here at the AXA or playing a game. Yesterday was a great example again of how these players work.
“But if you want to just keep on going for such a long season because they never have a week or two weeks off, then I think at certain moments they have to be at home as well and being a father or a husband as well.
“If you are only a football player for 15, 16, 17 years with only three weeks off during the summer – and if you can only be a husband or a father for three weeks a year – that would not be human.
“Of course we take this into account but we do these things mainly because we think it benefits us for winning football games.”
As a result of losing to Plymouth, Liverpool will also miss the FA Cup fifth-round weekend at the start of March meaning the Reds will play just four times in the month of March – both Champions League last-16 ties, plus a league game against Southampton and the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle.
Liverpool now face five league games in the space of 15 days – against Everton, Wolves, Man City, Aston Vill and Newcastle – but then have a free weekend due to the FA Cup fifth round taking place on the opening weekend of March, that falls directly before the first-leg in the Champions League, against either Brest, PSG, Monaco or Benfica.
Exit from the FA Cup certainly has it’s benefits in terms of keeping the squad fresh for the pursuits in the Premier League and Champions League.
Fan Comments