Meaning they are unfitter. Liverpool's old players can still run. Don't fool yourself. Our players are spoiled and old. They lack mentality to do hard work. They don't have it anymore. They rely on talent alone.
Ok.
Even if we didn't train as hard...
As JamDav said, that is a classical populist story for people and fans.
Like in politics, when you get a new government, what will the say?
= we are turning the page
= we will apply new ways in finances, health care and similar
Then nothing happens and everything is the same as in the previous 4-5 years.
Then the new government is elected and you will hear:
= we won't make the same mistake as the last government
= we will learn from their mistakes and we will improve finances, health care and a quality of life
Then more or less, nothing happens and everything is the same as always.
A few laters, before a new elections, you can hear:
A current government is bad. They are making mistakes in finances and health care.
We will change it and improve.
So, basically, every single new government will always have populist excuses and phrases like:
1. we will turn the page
2. we won't make the same mistakes
3. we know what the last government was doing wrong, we will change it
I mean, a new government can't come and say: everything was perfect, the old government was awesome and we will do everything the same (or even worse than them, lol).
Now, apply the same logic from politics into football.
New candidates on elections will always say: a current president is doing this or that wrong. We won't do that. We will do things in a totally different way (and it will be better, fo course, lol).
With a new coach, you always have to give HOPE to fans and insert random excuses:
1. a team lacked intensity, a new coach will fix that.
2. we didn't train well, a new coach will fix that
3. there wasn't chemistry in a team, a new coach will fix that
I am not saying that we trained well under EV, but you need to take it with a grain of salt.
Also, when you mention older Liverpool's players who can run, remember that our team was never built around running.
So, even if Busi trained poorly under EV, he will never be a runner.
You can put Busi into Klopp's team, he will still be a slow, tired turtle.
So:
1. Liverpool has a coach who insists more on a physical training
2. but also, players whom Liverpool is buying are physical beasts who can run for days
Do you think that Liverpool would buy:
Messi, who walks for 75 minutes during a match
Busi, who is old, slow and drained
Raki, the same
Arthur, who is on a verge of a heart attack after 8 minutes
Pique, who is playing poker and investing instead of sleeping
Barca historically, was never a hard working team.
Here and there we had a season or two where players clicked well and worked hard.
But during majority of years, we rely on technique and individual talent and players are usually eaten alive by European teams who can run more.
For example:
1994: Milan:Barcelona 4:0
2000: Valencia:Barcelona 4:1
2005: Chelsea:Barcelona 4:2
Exactly the same matches as Liverpol:Barca.
We were slow, confused, scared, and outplayed in every single department. From physical to psychological factors.
