It was in this south-eastern corner of Asia a year ago that Jurgen Klopp started to realise things weren’t all right at Liverpool. Having been thrashed 4-0 by Manchester United in Bangkok, the Reds then jetted to Singapore for a quick jaunt that ended with injuries to several key men.

Though they beat Crystal Palace there, Klopp struggled to find a balance between giving players significant rest after a gruelling 63-game 2021-22 season and giving them ample match time to get up to speed ahead of the new campaign. Liverpool did not find that balance.

And so by the time the Reds were home the 14,000-mile round trip to Asia, they were left underprepared after a truncated pre-season. They then went to Austria for an intensive fitness camp but it always felt like they were playing catch-up. They never did catch up.

‘Would I do anything differently in pre-season? I wouldn’t spend the first week (of pre-season) in Asia,’ said Klopp in January. The German and his management team blamed the hectic summer camps for a dreadful start to the season that saw them win just four of the first 10 games.

But Klopp has learned lessons from last summer, and this pre-season has looked a lot different. Though Liverpool showed tactical and defensive vulnerabilities against Leicester and Bayern Munich here, the squad looks sharper, more focused and generally happier.

Jurgen Klopp has been busy getting his Liverpool stars ready for the new campaign on their pre-season tour of Singapore

Liverpool look a happier and fitter team to the side that struggled in pre-season last year

Liverpool have only played in Singapore as opposed to travelling around Asia like they did last year

Instead of a two-leg tour of Asia including a trip to Thailand, Liverpool jetted to just one destination this time around.

To quash fears of tiredness and jet lag in Singapore, Klopp instructed his players and staff to follow a fake timezone. Though Singapore is seven hours ahead of the UK, Liverpool set their watches to just three hours ahead.

One afternoon when arriving at the plush Ritz Carlton hotel where the Reds stayed, Mail Sport noticed one Liverpool player’s phone displayed the time of 8.25am when it was actually 12.25pm. It meant Liverpool often sat down for team meals past midnight local time.

Though the hotel was crawling with local autograph-hunters and kids trying for selfies – or wefies as they are called in these parts – Liverpool commandeered the 17th floor, with breathtaking views of the Singapore skyline, the futuristic Marina Bay Sands and Formula One track.

Karaoke and table tennis tournaments were commonplace in the hotel. Mo Salah is the king of ping-pong and has a backhand nearly as good as his left foot on the football pitch. Defenders Ibou Konate and Andy Robertson are the class clowns.

Robertson and his ‘co-host’ Salah conducted a series of fun assignments during down time, with them setting each other a series of undercover tasks. The pair frequently gatecrashed other players’ commercial or media duties, while the Scotsman told a series of ‘crap jokes’.

‘What did the drummer call his twin daughters?’ asked Robertson. ‘Anna one, Anna two!’ Trent Alexander-Arnold lamented Robertson’s gag as awful but came to his rescue later to help his sidekick complete the challenge of winning a point off Salah at table tennis.

Konate polled the team’s favourite song, which ranged from many hip-hop beats such as Travis Scott and Drake, to Alexis Mac Allister’s love for Latin American tunes, to Ayrshire starlet Ben Doak’s favourite Gerry Cinnamon anthem, Belter.

To quash fears of tiredness and jet lag in Singapore, Klopp (middle right) instructed his players and staff to follow a fake timezone

Newly-appointed vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold (pictured) has played a key role in Liverpool’s pre-season plans

Liverpool have been undergoing a series of team-building activities during their time in Singapore

These team-building activities are crucial to Klopp, though it wasn’t all fun and games. Liverpool trained three times a day and striker Cody Gakpo told Mail Sport earlier this week that the non-matchday routine was, ‘wake up, train, eat food, train, rest a bit, train’.

Liverpool also flew out a group of club legends to Singapore, with the main aim of easing the burden on the players to fulfil media and commercial obligations. Instead, the likes of Lucas Leiva, Gary McAllister, John Barnes, John Aldridge and Ian Rush took the strain.

New captain Virgil van Dijk has been crucial to helping new signings settle in

Players such as Mohamed Salah (right) have been mobbed by fans wanting pictures and autographs in Singapore

New boys Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have settled in nicely, with new captain Virgil Van Dijk crucial to that amid the unplanned exit of Jordan Henderson. It was also a solid tour for Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz, both of whom missed large chunks of last season injured.

Gerry Cinnamon fan Doak is, to use the lyrics of his favourite song, different from the rest. The 17-year-old, who signed from Celtic for £600,000 last year, has experienced a meteoric rise and the speedy, direct winger has done his first-team chances no harm on this tour.

Doak’s agent is former Celtic legend Jackie McNamara, and the former Ayr United kid is said to have shown an innate desire to win from a young age while he treats every match the same, be it a kick-about back north of the border or playing alongside Liverpool’s heavyweights.

Liverpool will play in the Europa League this season and it could be a blessing in disguise

The fact that Liverpool will play in the Europa League this season could be a blessing in disguise for some youngsters. It is hard to see Klopp risking Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk in deepest, darkest eastern Europe on a Thursday night, so some openings might occur.

Young box-to-box midfielder Bobby Clark has big admirers at Anfield, while James McConnell played well in the No 6 role in Singapore. Jarell Quansah could get some minutes as a back-up defender, while right-back Conor Bradley is well liked despite a recent injury.

All of this means Klopp and Co boarded the long-haul flight back to Merseyside in much better shape than this time last year. Liverpool had an extra 14 days of pre-season this year compared to last, with no international tournament or Community Shield to play.

Assistant manager Pep Ljinders refers to pre-season as a ‘trampoline’ for a good campaign in his diary book Intensity and, though this was hardly a bungee jump start, Liverpool can take plenty of positives from the trip to Singapore as a springboard for success in the new season.