Jurgen Klopp had plenty of positives to discuss after Liverpool made it two from two in the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Burnley.
Here are five key things the boss told the media and supporters in his press conference:
Van Dijk’s return is “really cool”!
The opposition is squeezed high and compact, but Van Dijk can handle it in one fell swoop as easy as you like.
The diagonal balls were missed greatly last season as was his dominance and threat in both boxes and it was all on show at Anfield once more.
“The package of Virgil van Dijk is really helpful. Of course, really cool to have Virgil back.”
But prepare for centre-back “mix up”
After the events of last season, it’s no surprise that Klopp will look to keep things fresh at the back and now that he has options, he plans to use them.
“I can tell you now because of the things that happened last year, we needed four centre-halves, now we have six.
“We needed that and the first four will all play. We’ll mix it up when we have to. After a long injury, they shouldn’t play three times a week.”
The Reds have Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate to rotate through, with Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips still on the books 10 days out from the close of the window.
Anfield “fulfilled our dreams”
More than 52,000 Reds were in attendance and it was a return to savour after 529 days.
“Obviously we were all looking forward to this. A football-fest I call it. Nobody left today with any disappointment.
“All our dreams were fulfilled today atmosphere-wise. The best we’ve had at 12.30, was pretty special.”
No surprises when it comes to Elliott
A first Premier League start was no problem for 18-year-old Harvey Elliott who took it all in his stride, remaining on the pitch for the full 90 and showing plenty of promise for what is to come.
“Harvey was part of this performance and everybody wants to speak to me about Harvey! I can understand it with an 18-year-old playing such a mature game but I’m not surprised that he plays like this.”
We’ve got a star on our hands.
Full-back quality
They were “spectacular” in Klopp’s words with both providing an assist, with Kostas Tsimikas doing his best to put pressure at the feet of Andy Robertson in the weeks and months to come.
But it wasn’t just in the final third as “they were defensively good as well in a really difficult game from a defensive point of view.”
More of that, please!
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