Virgil van Dijk has made his feelings clear on what he wants to see from himself and the Liverpool squad under Arne Slot this term.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk spoke openly about the team’s preparations for the upcoming 2024/25 season during an interview following his return to full training.
The 33-year-old had a long season that saw him make 48 appearances across all competitions on top of a semi-final run at Euro 2024.
The Dutchman was not present for the USA pre-season tour but got a run out against Sevilla in last Sunday’s friendly win.
The Dutch defender emphasized that while Liverpool is showing promise, the squad is still a work in progress and has several areas to improve upon.
His comments come after a mixed 2023/24 season in which Liverpool secured a third-place finish in the Premier League but fell short in their bid to win the title.
The Reds also lifted the Carabao Cup but stumbled in the final stretch of the title race against Manchester City and Arsenal.
Despite strong performances that kept them in the title race for much of the season, they ultimately faltered in the final weeks.
Injuries, inconsistency, and nerves seemed to take their toll on the team, allowing Manchester City to capture their fifth league title in six years, while Arsenal finished as runners-up.
The Reds actually spent the most days at the top of the Premier League table in 2023–24 (87), nine more than Man City, the eventual winners, (78), and Arsenal, (76).
What did Virgil van Dijk say ahead of the 2024/25 campaign?
Liverpool’s third-place finish guaranteed a return to Champions League football, a significant achievement after a disappointing 2022/23 campaign where they failed to qualify for the elite competition.
But when quizzed on what could be done to improve on the third-placed finish, Virgil van Dijk issued a challenge for his peers to remain focused until the very end of the season while also pointing out the factors that led to the Reds falling away last season:
“It’s difficult to give an answer to that because there are so many things that play a part,” Van Dijk responded to liverpoolfc.com.
“Obviously two other teams were just more consistent, they were better in dealing with the situation, they had more quality at the time.”
“And we were maybe a little bit too inexperienced. We had a little bit of injuries, we were not good enough, maybe the nerves kicked in”
“That’s definitely something we have to learn. But I can’t really put it on one particular thing that went wrong and why we couldn’t compete until the last day.”
He added:
“But I think everyone had to reflect, had to think about what happened last season over the summer, and come back with an improved mindset and skillset as well in order to perform until the very last day and hopefully be successful.”
“That’s the aim, we want to be successful, we want to compete until the very last day in every competition that we play in.”
“We know that is very difficult but we are going to try it, and that’s something I definitely can promise.”
Liverpool start their Premier League campaign away to Ipswich Town for a 12:30pm BST kick-off this Saturday.
