\n
\nIt may only be a friendly, but for Liverpool\u2019s players, the match against Olympique Lyonnais at Al-Nasr\u2019s Maktoum Stadium on Sunday night is one more step on the road to rediscovering the consistency that had deserted them in the early half of the season.<\/p>\n
\nLiverpool are in Dubai on a training camp, and Jurgen Klopp\u2019s assistant Pep Lijnders wants the players to retain the intensity that made them the team \u201cnobody wants to play again.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou always search for consistency in the team. In the season you search for stability. The only way to be intense is that you can play every several days, not with the same 11, but with the core group,\u201d he said, ahead of the first Dubai Super Cup outing against the French side. The second game, against A.C. Milan, will take place on Dec. 16.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe injuries didn\u2019t help, of course. Going behind in many games early \u2014 that didn\u2019t help as well,\u201d said Lijnders. \u201cWe all know that the team is built on confidence. And the player with confidence or without confidence, or team with confidence or without confidence, is not the same. The moments where we had to fight to come back into the game, and change the result around, that asks for a different type of game.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe know other teams adapt. Teams know to sit deep against us, try to exploit our high line or the counter attack. And when it\u2019s 1-0 for the opposition team, it makes it of course much easier to execute that type of game plan. We try to commit more bodies, players try to resolve more often something individually instead of collectively. And that\u2019s a little bit of the story of the first part (of the season).<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSometimes you need to take two steps back, to see the truth and feel how it is not to win as many games,\u201d said Lijnders at a signing event for his book \u201cIntensity: Inside Liverpool FC\u201d at Dubai Mall. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why this break and being here in Dubai is really welcome because we can do some proper work, correct and create this team again who nobody wants to play against.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAdding to the campaign\u2019s disruption is the holding of the FIFA World Cup in mid-season for the first time ever. While six Liverpool players were with their national teams at Qatar 2022, the rest of the squad had a short break and is now back in full training.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe want to adapt again to our game style. So the boys can get a lot of moments showing how we want to play. Counter-pressing is a massive part of that in the training sessions, but they have to adapt again to that style of play so we can stay high up the pitch, so we can attack and attack again. And we can have our creative players more often with the ball higher on the pitch.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe want to create unity between the players, and between the staff and the players. It\u2019s brilliant to be here in this environment, in this different part of the world. And we want to show in these two games that we have our hunger, our passion, our way of play. We\u2019re really proud that we are here, that we are able as Liverpool to be here and to show who we are and what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nSince the start of the 2018-19 season, Liverpool\u2019s consistency \u2014 with exception of the middle of the pandemic-dominated 2020-21 season \u2014 has been remarkable, as has been the team\u2019s trophy haul.<\/p>\n
\nSo is it difficult to pick out one particular highlight?<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI was lying on the beach, and the waiter comes and he said \u2018you gave me the worst day of my life when you beat us 4-0.\u2019 And it was a Barca supporter,\u201d said Lijnders, referencing Liverpool\u2019s stunning second-leg comeback against the Spanish giants in the semifinal of the 2018-19 Champions League.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAnd then I said (to Klopp), can you imagine if we didn\u2019t play Barca how we played at home to reach the final of the Champions League, and then in the end we\u2019re winning the Champions League and winning the Premier League, and the Super Cup and the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cCan you imagine \u2014 we would not be lying here, that\u2019s for sure, it would be different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIt is a trick that Lijnders and Klopp are looking to repeat.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou need success, you need to win,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need to build confidence in the team and that\u2019s something we need to do again, and not rely on what we did in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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