eleven to ten. The penalty shootout with which the Carabao Cup between Liverpool and Chelsea was decided last Sunday bordered on perfection with just one mistake that was decisive, that of Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Spaniard was the main protagonist after entering the match substituting Mendy only for the shootout, failing to save any penalty against the rival and throwing his own well over the crossbar.
Although the criticism was fed to the Spaniard, it was not Jürgen Klopp, manager of Liverpool, one of those who joined that wave. On the contrary, he wanted to shed light on the great performance of his team from eleven meters.
The German revealed that they are working with Neuro11, a company that brings together sports science, neuroscience and psychology to get the best possible performance from players in various situations. Among them, the penalties, one that they trained in all its dimension in the previous week.
“We work with Neuro11, I don’t know if you know what it is, but in the preseason you should have seen them in our training sessions. With the boys from neuro11 we train set pieces. The last weeks each player went through a specific psychological exercise for penalties. Also for corners and fouls, but especially on penalties,” Klopp explained to the club’s media network.
Given the course of the game, the changes and the number of penalties that had to be taken, the estimates fell short for the German coach and his team. “They gave us a list of pitchers. They (those responsible for Neuro11) They were in the stadium, I can’t imagine their heart rate. We had the first five players and then up to six, seven and eight. From then on some of the players on the roster were no longer on the field and weren’t even close on the roster. It was really exciting. Congratulations to the boys and neuro11″, he added with a smile on his face after winning his fifth title with Liverpool after the Premier League, the Champions League, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
The company was founded by two neuroscience doctors and a former coach. Dr. Niklas Häusler, PhD in neuroscience and psychology from the University of Bonn, Dr. Fabian Steinberg, PhD in neuroscience and sports science from the University of Cologne and Patrick Häntschke, former youth coach in the Bundesliga. All have put their knowledge at the service of Liverpool ‘generating’ a new weapon against which the rivals can already be forewarned. The Reds are well psyched up to go for all the remaining titles and study every aspect of the game.