Andoni Iraola says Liverpool must take full advantage of their one-game-a-week schedule early on in the season to get fully up to speed for the months ahead.
The Reds will begin their Champions League campaign in the second week of September and have just one Premier League fixture a week to navigate before then, starting with a trip to Newcastle United on Sunday (August 23).
Pre-season finale
Iraola saw his side sign off from their pre-season schedule with a 2-0 win over Serie A outfit Como at Anfield, thanks to goals from Cody Gakpo and Jeremy Jacquet, who was making his unofficial debut following his £60m move from Rennes at the start of July.
And the new head coach says he and his staff must ensure the squad can use their next three full weeks of training as productively as possible before the fixtures begin to pile up.
Building relationships
"We are better than we were last week (in the 3-2 home loss to Monaco) but I hope next week we are better than we were today," Iraola told LFCTV. "It's normal. The first halves are better than the second, but today lots of players played 80 minutes, 90 minutes."
"They finished with no cramps, nothing major so it is keep building these levels, mentally as well when you are not as fresh, keep the focus so you don't make the big mistakes. It's an improvement but especially second half we need to do better."
"We have now the first two weeks of the season, we have full weeks where we can train, we need to train together, some players who started today, we need to build relationships to have these players to be able to solve problems by themselves on the pitch."
Preparation and debuts
"We need to analyse what we can improve, especially in the second half today. So we have to use these two or three weeks so we are ready for the new season."
"I think everyone understands we need every player, every time, every minute and that is the commitment. I am happy with the attitude of the players, I am asking them to do things that is a bit different, especially without the ball and they are trying to get it."
"It is not perfect and we have things we need to improve but I am very happy with the attitude, the willingness to be on the same page and we will get there."
On the debuts of the impressive Jacquet and Ronald Araujo, who played the second half in place of the former, Iraola added: "Yes, both of them Jeremy played really well."
"Ronald played really well as well and when you have new faces, both of them played so well. It was a very good performance from Jeremie Frimpong, 90 minutes, he helped us offensively but also closed off his side. So some good performances at the back."
