Pep Lijnders revealed that one way in which Liverpool are attempting to drill their players to be better finishers is by implementing a drill in which they are punished with more running if they finish poorly.
The coach noted that Andy Robertson was getting frustrated in the process due to how well Harvey Davies was performing in goal.
“They are ending the session with counter-attacks; the passes are well played in front to keep the right speed but Harvey Davies killed the exercise by making some spectacular saves,” the Dutchman told liverpoolfc.com.
“Jürgen shouts from 100 metres, ‘Love it Harvey!’ but Robbo is fuming! Haha!
“In these counter-attacking drills, when our players don’t score they need to sprint back quickly to the halfway line.
“Remember one of our coaching principles, the better you play the more you play. The better you finish the less you run. The worse you play the more you run. Natural pressure. I like to make the team fit in this way a lot.
“On his arrival yesterday evening, Robbo said he can get five goals this season… after this first session he said he was thinking he might even be able to get seven, maybe!
“I told the boys afterwards, ‘Top session, guys!’… Jürgen responded immediately, ‘Top session, Harvey!'”
The Merseysiders came under fire last term after struggling to produce goals beyond the efforts of talismanic forward Mo Salah.
Focusing on finishing certainly makes a great deal of sense following our struggles in the prior season.
That being said, it will be interesting to note how our finishing improves directly as a consequence of drills rather than the return of key stars critical to enhancing our attacking prowess.
We’ve arguably greatly missed Virgil van Dijk’s diagonal balls, not to mention recovery pace, which allows us to effectively play a high line and squeeze opponents in their own box leading to further goalscoring opportunities.
With the club reportedly interested in adding another attacker to the ranks, we could be a formidable prospect in the Premier League and beyond in the upcoming campaign.