Liverpool's 'heavy metal' approach has seen 190 muscular injuries in four years

Liverpool have had a large number of injuries in the last four years and Jurgen Klopp's 'heavy metal' football approach has led to a huge amount of muscular injuries.

Jurgen Klopp's style has been well documented; the gegenpressing system is all about intensity and suffocating teams and pressuring them within an inch of their lives.

It's worked wonders as Liverpool have won every trophy available to them, but it's come at a cost.

Injuries have been extremely commonplace, in some players more than others, and you begin to wonder what the long-term lasting effects will be.

Injuries over time due to the intensity of Klopp's system

Klopp has always favoured this style of play: “I love it when I read after the game that we ran more than the opponent,” He claimed in 2013 after his Borussia Dortmund side won at the Emirates Stadium when his players ran a total of 117km compared to Arsenal’s 106km. “I don’t like winning with 80 per cent possession.”

That much hasn't changed, but this season has seen a worrying stat for Klopp as Liverpool had been outrun by every team they faced in the first seven games of the season.

They did return to a sense of normality, outrunning Ajax in their 2-1 win in the Champions League this week, but perhaps after four years of this group of players (minus Sadio Mane) their bodies can no longer re-produce that intensity time and time again.

We have to consider the fact that they played all 63 games available to them last season which was then followed by international football and only a short break before pre-season. There are more games now than ever before.

According to the Athletic, out of their top five most played players since 2018, the key players to their system are up at the top. Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have played the 1st most and 4th most respectively.

Their system is heavily reliant on them and that's why they've been utilised so much. Robertson is now 28 but has had a really clean injury record despite having the most minutes. He is currently out for the next month which will stand as his longest time out of action since 2016. His form has dropped off this season, with some fans wanting the recently impressive Kostas Tsimikas to take his place.

It will be interesting to see how it affects Robertson in the next few years and if his levels do drop consistently. The other players at the top of the list are players who play less intense positions (Virgil Van Dijk & Alisson) and fitness freaks in Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

We will have to see how the season plays out but it all points towards Klopp needing some fresh blood in the squad in the right positions to re-energise and re-vitalise the squad before they can rediscover their incredibly consistency that they've displayed in the past.