With Liverpool players beginning to return from international duty before their USA tour, Ian Rush has given some insight on what to expect from pre-season training.
Despite Rush retiring nearly 25 years ago, similar principles still apply when it comes to Liverpool’s preparation for a new season.
With excitement building ahead of a new campaign, the late summer is a chance for Reds to get their first glimpse at how the team will set up for the year ahead.
Rush admitted, though, to This Is Anfield that pre-season actually “doesn’t bring back great memories.”
He explained: “It’s very difficult, you know. We had two weeks of very, very hard training, training like twice a day or sometimes three times a day, and then your legs do get heavy.
“It’s all about getting time in the games. You don’t play every game all the time, everyone has to have the chance to play certain minutes in a game, so when it comes to the start of the season, you’re ready.
“Most probably everyone’s had the same minutes of playing.”
Rush is among Liverpool’s greatest-ever players, having scored a record 346 goals for the Reds across 660 appearances.
Even he, though, could be rusty before a new season and explained how he used friendlies to get back in the groove before the real football kicked off.
“As a striker, if you didn’t score in two or three games, then you say, ‘I need to look at my scoring now’,” the Welshman said.
“So you need to get off with a couple of goals before the season starts but you don’t play every game, so it’s all about mixing everything up.”
Rush then went on to note how we shouldn’t take too much notice of early results, saying: “Pre-season results didn’t mean a great lot to us when we were playing, but come the start of the season, everyone was match fit and that’s when the season starts.”
Speaking about early expectations for Arne Slot, he added: “Don’t judge them on pre-season results because it’s completely different.
“We’ll look at that when we play against Ipswich Town away in the first game of the season.”
Before that Ipswich match on August 17, Liverpool have four official friendlies, the first one coming against Real Betis on July 27 at 12.30am (BST).
