The Lijnders Files: The assistant manager’s notes from day three of preseason provide fascinating insight into what to expect from the new season.
Pep Lijnders has posted another pre-season journal entry on the Liverpool club website, and there’s a lot to dissect. The assistant manager covered a lot of territory, but he began with an update on Virgil van Dijk, who many fans had been looking forward to seeing in training.Lijnders cited the return of Van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joël Matip as highlights of the camp, and elaborated on the Dutchman’s contributions to the Liverpool setup.
“Just now, I was walking off the pitch after this morning’s session thinking the quality and speed of passes were outstanding. Virgil found Milner one time with a ‘surprise’ pass through the centre in behind… we stopped the exercise there! Always ending on a high!”
While Van Dijk’s defensive abilities will undoubtedly benefit Jürgen Klopp and his club this season, his incisive passing will be as useful. In his final full season, 2019/20, the centre-back was in the 97th percentile for progressive passing distance among his positional contemporaries in the top five European leagues. He was in the 99th percentile for long passes completed, with about 16 per game at a completion percentage of 79.2%. If Liverpool’s offence — particularly Sadio Mané — appeared off the pace last season, it’s fair to assume that at least some of that was due to the loss of Van Dijk’s exceptional service.
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To his credit, Rhys Williams gave a reasonable depiction of Van Dijk’s death when called upon. The 20-year-old had an impressive 84.2% long pass completion rate, averaging 11.59 per game. However, these were usually not progressive passes towards the final third. While they propelled Liverpool forward, they lacked the devastating offensive power of Van Dijk’s exceptional distribution. The importance of the 30-year-old’s return cannot be emphasised, something Lijnders obviously understands.The assistant manager identified ‘options everywhere’ as the ‘password for offensive football’. Van Dijk’s defense-splitting passes definitely provide a fresh option in Liverpool’s assault, but it also appears that Lijnders is content with the pressing work being done all over the pitch:
“At the moment, there are just options everywhere. This is, for me, the password for offensive football: options everywhere. They now just have to gain the confidence to feel that the last step is possible to win the ball back.”
This final sentence is telling. Liverpool’s pressure dropped considerably last season, as was to be expected given the pandemic. Nonetheless, it appears like work is already starting to re-set the traps. Lijnders and Klopp don’t simply want to hem the opponent in; they want to take the ball away from them: pressing is the best playmaker, after all. A reinvigorated press will be crucial in any prospective title charge.