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Liverpool have touched down in Pittsburgh and wasted no time heading to the training pitches as they prepare for three pre-season friendlies, and there were several things we noticed.
The Reds landed in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and got straight to work on Wednesday, with Arne Slot and his staff putting their initial 28-man squad through their paces.
Liverpool are based at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, home of NFL team the Pittsburgh Steelers, while in the region over the next few days, it is a state-of-the-art facility.
With the club’s cameras present for a session on the outdoor pitches, we spotted a few things of interest.
The new assistant has arrived
Liverpool confirmed the appointment of former Everton defender and Ajax manager John Heitinga last week, with the Dutchman signing as one of Slot’s assistants.
He was front and centre for the Reds’ first session in the US, readily at Slot’s side, and spotted embracing Curtis Jones.
He is clearly a lover of long socks too – he just needed shin pads and he was good to go!
Heitinga worked alongside David Moyes at West Ham last season and he comes with plenty of positive reviews.
A hands-on coach
As we have seen in previous sessions, Slot remains very hands-on and vocal with the group – it is a clear nod to his role as ‘head coach’ as opposed to ‘manager’.
We had grown accustomed to seeing and hearing a lot from Pep Lijnders during training under Jurgen Klopp, although pre-season was usually the exception for the German.
Nevertheless, it will be intriguing to see how Slot and his staff evolve over the coming weeks and months but so far they are a vocal and involved group.
Warm weather training
There were a few comments and expressions noting the heat in Pittsburgh. They recorded 92 percent humidity at some points on Wednesday, coupled with temperatures over 26 degrees celsius.
Quite the difference from their recent sessions at Kirkby – as Slot himself noted!
Warm weather training has its advantages, though, even if players do not quite enjoy being put through their paces in the blistering sun.
In warm weather, muscles are more pliable and the risk of pulling or straining something is reduced. We will take any benefits when it comes to injury prevention!
It’s getting physical
Back to it ? pic.twitter.com/oDZLNOcOgt
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 25, 2024
We’re seeing some fresh ideas under performance coach Ruben Peeters, who has shown an early love for medicine balls.
They grew in size and weight in the US, with players tasked with making quick movements before catching and then passing on the ball at speed.
It is a clear focus on developing explosiveness and power with resistance training – it is no walk in the park and physicality is evidently on the focus list this summer.
Being quick to react
If you have ever watched Formula 1, you will often see drivers work with tennis balls as a way to sharpen their reaction speeds, and Liverpool are using the same tool.
In this particular session, one player stood in the middle of a circle with the tennis ball, they “could not walk” while having the ball in their hands and their task was to touch someone in the circle.
The ball could be tossed around to ‘tag’ someone, and this targets reaction time and quick movement and thought. It was fun to watch too!
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