Liverpool may be soaring high in the Premier League and Europe with eight wins from nine matches, but Virgil van Dijk believes the Reds are still a work in progress.
Under Arne Slot, who has made history with the best start for a head coach at the club, Liverpool secured a victory against Bologna on Wednesday night, maintaining an unbeaten run in the Champions League.
The Dutchman’s squad currently sits at the top of the Premier League, gearing up for a crucial match against Crystal Palace this weekend, and they have also advanced to the last 16 of the Carabao Cup later this month.
Despite this success, captain Van Dijk emphasizes that there is still more to come from the team.
He pointed to their inability to fully capitalize on opportunities during last weekend’s 2-1 win against Wolves as a clear indication of areas that require improvement.
“Yeah, 100%,” says Virgil van Dijk.
“I think it was very clear to see after Wolves.
“We had a good meeting in my opinion after the game in terms of how to manage the game much better, how not to let opponents come back into the game and it is obviously still a work in progress.
“We are still learning game management with experience and try to deal with difficult situations that occur during games.
“The Wolves game was a good example of how to not do it.
“Hopefully we learn from it and we do much better, otherwise it could be a very tough season.
“The Wolves game, you’re 1-0 up, and I think you don’t need to force the most difficult ball and then end up losing the ball, giving the opponent a better feeling, giving them momentum in order to get dangerous, especially when they are at home.
“It’s about managing the game at times and deciding when to play that killer pass, when to keep possession, let the opponent run a bit more and get them more frustrated.
“It’s a fine balance but we have to and we will do much better because we speak about it.
“I was one of the guys who was not really happy after the game because I think we could have done much better in terms of making it a lot easier for ourselves.
“If we want to achieve things this season then we have to do much better.”
“It was good to get the victory,” adds Van Dijk.
“The first half was not the best but I think it was also down to the fact we gave some chances away and we were sloppy in possession.
“I think we could also have done a lot better in the final third.
“A couple of times we came on the edge of the box and made the wrong decision in terms of the final pass, second half was a lot better.
“We controlled the game at times and fully deserved the win.
“You don’t want to be sloppy because when you are sloppy you can give chances away and that is something we have to learn.
“It is still a learning process.”
Slot and his coaching staff are diligently working to communicate their ideas, and Van Dijk believes there are already clear signs of progress.
This improvement comes in addition to an impressive run of results, as Liverpool conclude a demanding schedule of seven games in 22 days with a Premier League match against Crystal Palace on Saturday for the lunchtime kick-off.
“We have a lot of meetings,” he says..
“A lot of video meetings so you get exactly shown what he wants from us, what we do well and what we don’t do well.
“He is doing it this way because he is showing it.
“It is not like shouting with nothing to back it up, he can show us ‘look at this what are you doing there’.
“That is a good thing.
“There is so much to give I think but it is a good start.
“We still have things to improve.
“We are winning games and it is a good feeling that we can still improve, so we have to keep going.
“I don’t know how many hours we have before we are in London and then we have to get ready for a very difficult game.”
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