Virgil van Dijk has given a agency thumbs-up to at least one notable change that Arne Slot has applied at Liverpool this season.
There have been refined but noticeable tweaks to the Reds’ tactical persona beneath the 46-year-old compared to Jurgen Klopp’s reign at Anfield (the rejuvenation of Ryan Gravenberch as a quantity 6 involves thoughts), though one of many largest alterations to how issues are achieved has been away from the sector of play.
Van Dijk welcomes one change from Slot
In an interview with The Mirror, the LFC captain outlined how Slot permits the gamers to stay in their very own residences the night time earlier than a house match, whereas his predecessor had the squad staying in a lodge.
Van Dijk mentioned: “It’s everybody’s personal choice, however it’s the foundations now. Personally, I prefer to sleep in my very own mattress and be with my household, and so it really works out fairly properly. What we did up to now labored out fairly properly, too, as we’ve been very profitable by way of successful.”
“Personally, at this stage of my life, I positively prefer to be as a lot at dwelling as potential. I’ve acquired all of the sources to get myself prepared by way of restoration, whether or not it’s a pool, sauna, ice tub or anything I must prepare.
“Clearly we journey quite a bit; FaceTime is a giant software that would type of preserve you just a little with your loved ones. This 12 months, the regime has modified, and we have now just a little bit extra time to be dwelling and never spending time in too many lodges, and it provides you just a little bit extra time to be with your loved ones.”
The marginal good points can have a huge impact
Particulars resembling these mightn’t appear drastically vital in the case of outcomes on the pitch, but when they’ll contribute in direction of marginal good points and get the gamers onside, they’re removed from insignificant.
Like most of his Liverpool teammates, Van Dijk is a father to younger kids and has spent numerous time aside of them over the previous few years as a result of calls for of his profession, so any alternative to take pleasure in extra time with them is to be embraced, significantly over the Christmas interval.
Because the captain says, it wasn’t as if Klopp’s choice for the gamers to remain in a lodge the night time earlier than a house fixture had a detrimental impact, contemplating the outcomes which had been earned on his watch. Nonetheless, it’s the sort of change the gamers possible admire after such a long-standing routine beneath the German.
No matter Slot has been doing each on and off the pitch has evidently been working thus far this season, and something which may assist the Reds in direction of lifting the Premier League title in Could – regardless of how minor – is to be welcomed.
