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For the first time this season, Liverpool will play three times in a week — and Arne Slot is going to have to manage the fitness of his players as a result.
Having (just about) beaten Burnley on Sunday, the Reds will now take on Atletico Madrid midweek in the Champions League. After that, there's the small matter of the first Merseyside derby of the season at Anfield against Everton.
There is a quick turnaround between Atletico and the derby, with the Premier League fixture coming in the early Saturday slot. As a result, it will be interesting to see how Slot copes with the lack of preparation time.
Curtis Jones missed Liverpool's trip to Turf Moor with an injury and it remains to be seen whether or not he is going to be back this week. Slot will offer the latest in his press conference on Tuesday.
But with Alexis Mac Allister still working his way back to full sharpness after an injury of his own, it would have been useful to have an extra midfield option to turn to.
"He missed a lot of pre-season, so he is ready for one game a week, maybe [for] 70 to 90," Slot said of Mac Allister. "He played 90 for Argentina and he was really tired after 70.
"He doesn’t have the right build-up towards playing three games a week for 90 minutes, so it was always sure today that I would take him off after 60 minutes for him to be able to be back on the pitch again on Wednesday and for him to be on Saturday back on the pitch again.
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"I had already made one substitution in the first half, so if I then take him off at 60 minutes that would be my second one. If I then want to make [another on] 75 then in end I can do nothing anymore."
Alexander Isak sat out the trip to Burnley completely, with the decision made that it was best for him to train rather than travel. The plan is that he will take to the field on Wednesday.
"If you start the season when the players who have been off for three or four or five weeks, you give them a certain base," Slot explained post-match at Burnley.
"You give them a lot of good sessions before they are able in the end of the week to play 45 minutes.
"We got him from Newcastle in a state where you could say his pre-season is going to start now, so then he needs proper minutes of training before he has a certain base, let alone for him to play twice in three days.
"So, that’s what we do, what we try to prepare players for in the beginning of the season is [to play] once a week and then we try to do more and more and more for a minimum of two games a week so they are ready for that schedule.
"Now, Alex is far from ready for that schedule of three games in a week, 90 minutes. But then we could use him today for five minutes and then Wednesday again 10, and then 15, but we don’t believe that is the way to build him up.
"We believe it’s the way... Sweden did the right thing of giving him good sessions without playing him a lot because if you play the player you cannot give him good sessions.
"They did the right thing [and] we did the same, so now he will be able either Wednesday or Saturday to play 45 as a minimum, and maybe a little bit more.
"But if he plays 45 on Wednesday, don’t expect him to play 45 or more on Saturday because his body is not prepared for that, in our opinion."
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