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The Lack of World Cup Burnout
So, so often these days, a post-World Cup season can be riddled with a slow start, a struggle for fitness, and a team having to keep some of their biggest stars out of their starting XI. While a side such as Tottenham had a huge amount of players get through to at least the semi-final stage of this summer’s World Cup, Liverpool have an advantage over many of their rivals on that front.
Out of the current Liverpool squad, Dejan Lovren was a key part of the Croatia team that lost to France in the final, while Jordan Henderson was in England’s engine room as the Three Lions went out at the semi-final stage. Trent Alexander-Arnold was a squad player for England, and Simon Mignolet was an unused part of the Belgium squad that similarly go to the semi-finals. Brazil’s Roberto Firmino, Egypt’s Mo Salah, and Serbia’s Marko Grujic all departed the tournament early, and so the Reds fared a lot more favourably than some of their fellow Premier League teams when it comes to the post-World Cup fallout.
For example, Spurs’ pre-season and the early part of their 2018/2019 Premier League campaign was hugely affected due to the sheer number of their players who were tied up with the latter stages of the World Cup; Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, and Moussa Dembele all a part of the Belgium side that got to the semi-finals; Harry Kane, Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, and Danny Rose in the England squad that similarly went out at the semi-final mark; and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris captaining France to World Cup glory.
Elsewhere, all three of Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea had seven players involved in the World Cup semi-final stage.
