Jürgen's plans for two games in 48 hours
Liverpool's plan to cope with two Premier League fixtures in 48 hours begins by focusing solely on the Anfield clash with Leicester City first.
The Reds host the Foxes on Saturday and then journey to Burnley on Monday as the congested festive schedule provides its toughest examination of squad depth and recovery.
Jürgen Klopp’s team faced a similar challenge last season, when a home meeting with Manchester City was followed by an away clash at Sunderland two days later. They beat City and drew with the Black Cats.
Asked if lessons can be used from 2016-17 to inform the approach to such a quickfire double-header this time around, the manager explained it is simply down to accepting and adapting to the demands.
“You cannot learn from it, you only learn to accept it. That’s all,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.
“We have to be fully concentrated on the Leicester game and after the Leicester game we have a few hours to ‘collect the bones’ to see who is able to play against Burnley and then we’ll make the line-up.
“It’s different. We don’t moan about it. We play Leicester, we play Burnley and we play Everton [in the FA Cup] – no problem with that.”
Klopp continued: “It all depends on injuries. We feel really well-prepared.
“It’s not that last year we were not prepared for this period; we had injuries in the wrong moment. That’s how it is. We have injuries now – hopefully there will not be a few more players injured.
“If we have our squad together then we are prepared for pretty much everything. Now, the focus is on Leicester. We are prepared for that game, for sure, and then we will see.”
Leicester have made a managerial change since the teams’ last league meeting, a 3-2 victory for Liverpool at the King Power Stadium in September.
Claude Puel was appointed the following month and has since guided the Foxes up to eighth in the table, though they were beaten 2-1 at Watford on Boxing Day.
And Klopp believes the Frenchman has made his side an even more dangerous proposition.
“We didn’t make the analysis so far but I saw the Manchester United game – they really play football now. They are still a wonderful counter-attacking team,” he commented.
“The first goal they scored against United was, ‘wow!’, a fantastic pass from Gray and Mahrez was in behind waiting for Vardy. It looks quite easy.
“They are fine-tuned and a good football-playing side; that may be the biggest change since Claude Puel was in. It will be a tough challenge again. This period in the year is really tough for all of us and you need to be ready. I like that, actually.”