“Klopp Called Me ‘Mr. Sick Boy’” – Liverpool player reveals first Lactate Test Failure
Liverpool FC had their first training session of the 2022/23 season. And as we began the new season, let us look back at a Jurgen Klopp story shared by a current Liverpool star player.
Liverpool FC is now off and running for the 2022/23 pre-season. And as is customary, Liverpool players had their medical checkups during the first session. This is done to ensure players are fit to start training after a long break. And also that they didn’t have any injury already whilst being away from the action.
And as we go into that, let us relieve an experience shared by our own Andy Robertson.
Klopp calling Liverpool Player Robertson Mr. Sick boy
We now recognize Andy as the unstoppable force on Liverpool’s left-wing, chasing down attackers and amassing assists like nobody’s business.
The Scotland captain moved from Hull City to the Reds in the summer of 2017. He was prepared to prove himself during the preseason. But the infamous lactate test presented a hurdle to him on the first day of training.
Moreover, to pass the exam, you must essentially sprint from one set-up pole to the next before the whistle blows. The players must sprint faster each time since the intervals between whistles are getting shorter.
The players then get a blood extraction from their ears to have their lactate levels measured in between intervals. This was because that wasn’t amusing enough.
You’ve struck my dread trifecta: a root canal, a lot of jogging, and having blood drawn.
Robertson was unprepared for the test’s rigor.
He revealed:
“But I remember my first day, there were only six or seven of us because it was pre-season, so only a few of us in. And Danny Ings was just coming back from a long-term injury. So he stayed behind and we had to do the lactate test that the Germans love, it’s basically running to your maximum. I remember running alongside Danny Ings and I was just sick everywhere! Actually physically sick. My medical took two days so I didn’t really eat, so I put it down to that and I was tired. Ingsy was talking to me on the way round and I could just feel it, I knew something wasn’t right. I tried to hold it in my mouth and I just had to let it go. It was terrible. Day one!”
Robertson was wrong if he believed that manager Jürgen Klopp’s absence from the scene would protect him.
“Luckily the gaffer wasn’t there and I thought I’d got away with it and he returned three days later and introduced himself, blah blah blah, and then he called me Mr. Sick Boy or something like that. I was gutted!”
The first day of preseason practice is often the toughest. For the majority of Liverpool players who were returning from their summer breaks to begin their work, that day fell on Monday.
