'Carra still claims he was cheated'
'How have you spent the international break?' has been a common question around Melwood during the past week and the answer from Mike Marsh consisted completely of football.
With heavy snow on Merseyside restricting travel options, the Liverpool first-team coach cancelled plans for a short break and instead focused on five-a-side training clashes and analysis.
Our cameras captured a special tournament which took place at the club's training complex last Thursday, pitching four highly competitive teams against one another - with the result still the subject of debate.
"Some of us have had a mini-break," Marsh told Liverpoolfc.com. "We had no game last weekend so some people had the opportunity to either get out and watch a game or go home to visit friends and family.
"I stayed home myself; I did plan a break to the Lake District but decided against it with the weather. I stayed home and watched football on television.
"We've had people up from the Academy; the U18s and U21s have been up to make it a workable group. It has been nice to see the younger players on different days, and a good opportunity to see how they are progressing.
"We had a five-a-side tournament - Scousers, Latinos, Rest of the World and England. It was a little bit lively, with one or two questionable refereeing decisions that are still debated.
"It was good to see how competitive the lads are and it was a good competition; the Latinos won it in the end, although Carra is claiming a little bit of cheating by the referee. It's a competition that we have now and again and it's the most serious training that there is during the season."
Those young hopefuls joining training at Melwood can undoubtedly take inspiration from the five Liverpool players who were representing England U21s on international duty.
Jordan Henderson, loanee Jack Robinson, Jonjo Shelvey, Raheem Sterling and Andre Wisdom were selected by Stuart Pearce - and are now in contention for the European U21 Championship this summer.
"With the education that they've had at the Academy and Melwood, they've put themselves forward for England U21s - all of them have done really well," reflected a pleased Marsh.
"It's nice to be involved in those competitions, it will add to their experience. When they come back, what they have learnt will hopefully benefit the football club."
The Reds' international stars have headed back to Merseyside ahead of Sunday's Barclays Premier League trip to Aston Villa, with three points the target following defeat at Southampton.
"It was difficult to take the last game we played - I think we were beaten comprehensively," Marsh added. "We didn't play very well on the day and we've had a long time to stew over it.
"Fortunately enough for us, a lot of the players have been away and had a chance to recharge their batteries with the national team. Being in a different environment might have worked well for us."