Virgil van Dijk is among several Liverpool first-team players to have enjoyed something of a resurgence following a personally disappointing campaign in 2022/23.
Reflecting on his experience last term, the Dutchman pointed to the club’s lack of consistency and a general feeling of tiredness in the squad as contributing factors to such a poor follow-up season to the near-quadruple success experienced in 2021/22.
“Everyone last year, at the end of the season, was drained – I’ll be honest. It was such a disappointing season because we didn’t find consistency. We played one good game – against Manchester United here and then lost to Bournemouth in the next game. It was so frustrating,” the Dutchman spoke on TNT Sports (via BBC Sport).
“We had a short break in the summer and then we came back and everyone felt great. It went well and we sense a different vibe and energy in the club.
“Being top of the league means nothing yet. It is game by game by game. We have to enjoy the moment, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world.”
With a further three points added to the bank courtesy of a victory over Everton this Saturday, the Reds have picked up 20 points from a possible 27 so far – few can argue over the side’s consistency this time around.
Realistically, that figure should be at least slightly plumper, with us having been cruelly denied at least a share of the spoils in London in our 2-1 defeat to Tottenham.
With another difficult clash out of the way, we can at least now enjoy navigating comparatively less challenging fixtures in the form of:
26th October: Toulouse (H)
29th October: Nottingham Forest (H)
1st November: Bournemouth (A)
5th November: Luton Town (A)
9th November: Toulouse (A)
12th November: Brentford (H)
Whilst there’s no such thing as an easy game in the English top-flight, one might imagine Jurgen Klopp will be viewing that raft of games with a little bit of relief after being handed a decidedly difficult start to the term.
Emerge from that period with a 100% record across all competitions and it should leave us in a nice position ahead of an away trip to the Etihad after the November international break.
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️