Pep Lijnders has sent a message of confidence given the proximity of the return of domestic football.
With the campaign interrupted by the World Cup in Qatar at the moment, those of Jurgen Klopp’s team who have not competed in the tournament are in Dubai preparing for our clash with Manchester City on December 22.
The Reds, who have experienced a patchy start to the season, will complete warm-weather training and play friendlies against Lyon and AC Milan while in the Middle East and Lijnders is confident the FA Cup holders will be raring to go when the campaign resumes in just over two weeks.
“If you get to a stage where there are a lot of doubts and the players and the team are not as dominant as before, you have to find different solutions. But it is arrogant to think that life will always go up and up and up, as it has been in recent years,” the Dutchman told The National.
“There will be difficult moments and it is for me, Jurgen, for the rest of the staff, for the team, to face difficult moments well. And honestly, I’ve never seen the team lose commitment, I’ve never seen the team lose passion, I’ve never seen the team lose unity.
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“And if we have that, success will come back, if they work like that. Let’s hope the difficult period is behind us.
“I think with the character that we have, if we keep them fit and fresh, and build on what we did, we’ll be back. And there’s still a lot to play for, people forget that sometimes; We will be there.”
Lijders is right in what he says: we are still in all four competitions and we have reason to be confident ahead of our return to action.
Luis Diaz is back in training camp and should gain some minutes in Dubai and aside from Diogo Jota staying out until February, Klopp’s team is looking healthy at the moment.
One or two signings wouldn’t hurt in January, but if we save up our bankroll to go all out for Jude Bellingham at the end of the season, that’s understandable.
We are sixth in the table at the moment, 15 points behind league leaders Arsenal, which of course is far from ideal, but it will be interesting to see how our rivals manage after the World Cup with the likes of Manchester City. Spurs and Manchester United have more players in Qatar than we do.
There’s no reason this season can’t be successful for us and we can’t wait to see the Redmen back in action!
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