Prepare for a game like Gini: The day before
It's now just a day until Liverpool take to the field again, so how does training differ when energy needs to be conserved and what kind of last-minute preparations are going on at Melwood?
“The day before, training isn’t as intense as in the days before…”
But we will still train and work on the things that can help us in the game. All the things we do are things we think can help us in the game: to score goals, to not concede… We’re always busy thinking, ‘How are we going to win this game?’ It doesn’t matter if it’s early in the week, midweek or the day before, it’s always about finding solutions. We will also have a team meeting the day before a game where we’ll work with the analysts and have a look at the opposition – what they’re good at and how you can try and stop it.
“We always stay in a hotel the night before a game…”
In the beginning, that was a little bit strange for me because in all the previous clubs I’d been at, we’d never stayed in hotels the night before home matches, just away games. It meant I could stay with my family and sleep in my own bed, but now having done it, I think staying in hotels before games is a good thing. It helps you get really focused, no-one is bothering you, you can chill out the way you want and you’re with the team. So now I am used to doing that and think it’s a really good thing, both for us as players and as a team.
“You can take your PlayStation with you, everything that helps you to relax...”
Personally I watch TV shows on my laptop, or movies. I’ve been watching Narcos a lot in the last few months. I also watch Breaking Bad, and I like Entourage and have watched it all. There’s also Power, Empire… there are a lot of things I watch. Empire is the one I’ve been watching the most recently. What I love about watching TV series is that you can watch it for a long time if there are a lot of seasons. ‘Binge watching’ – I’ve learned that is what it’s called! It’s easier when you just want to chill out.
“I also like to listen to music to relax in my hotel room…”
A lot of Dutch music as well as rap, hip-hop and RnB. I think Drake is now the rapper of the moment. I went to watch him in Manchester in February, it was amazing. I listen a lot to him.
“I never think about what might happen in the game the next day…”
I can’t control what might happen, I can control what is going to happen in the moment, so if I can control it I will try to. I am not really a person who thinks, ‘Oh, this might happen… that might happen’. I try not to look too far forward and stay in the moment. I hope to score, I hope to play well, but I don’t think ‘I am going to score’.
“I don’t read what people have said about me, on social media or in the press...”
Sometimes you see it, but I am not really busy with that. If I use social media, I am just usually posting photos and putting my comment on them. I am not a person who is going to read what people are saying, that’s just their opinion. The same goes for newspapers. I have been a professional footballer for almost 10 years now and I know how it works. Today they can love you, the next day they can say you’re not good enough. If they speak good about me, I don’t get too happy or anything like that because I know how quickly it can change. I don’t read it, or watch football TV shows.