Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold admits he stepped up his preseason last summer to a new level.
Alexander-Arnold felt the decision has seen him mature as a professional.
He said on the We are Liverpool podcast: "I think in previous seasons, without throwing myself under the bus, I've seen off-season as 'off-season' and I do my runs and I do my programme but in my head I've got three, four weeks of pre-season to really get ready for the season. Before that, just get it ticking over a little bit and then head into pre-season.
"Whereas this pre-season, it was, 'I need to come back and I need to be in the shape that if the season was to start on the first day of pre-season then I'll be ready to start that game and play 90 minutes.' That was my mentality. I put that in in the summer.
"It felt different as well. Coming back in, I felt like a man."