09 January 2024 , 22:30
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It was a message to draw a line under last season, which was delivered with a bit of punch - or a joke about receiving one.
Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders has revealed how the Reds reinvigorated their manager and their squad in the summer by banning negativity and training three times a day in pre-season.
It has led the Merseysiders to go from failing to qualify for the Champions League and falling short in the cup competitions to going for four trophies this season.
Liverpool take on Fulham on Wednesday in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final with a place in the FA Cup fourth round secured after their weekend win over Arsenal.
They are top of the Premier League and, although not in Europe's top competition, they are favourites for the Europa League with a last-16 tie to come in March.
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While they've got a squad of young talents shining such as summer signings Dominic Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister as well as experienced heads like Virgil van Dijk returning to their best.
It’s a far cry from this time last season when the Reds went through January without winning a league game and were dumped out of the Cup by Brighton.
But thanks to a summer of spending, some tough training and some motivational words, they’ve turned it around. “There is not a good manager without a good ownership,” Lijnders said when asked how boss Jurgen Klopp has been re-energised.
Pep Lijnders is an esteemed colleague of Jurgen Klopp (Getty Images)“The ownership invested in the squad where we needed to invest and that’s already a really good sign. You bring energy, power, talent, young players and that energises the manager and the coaching staff.
“The second thing, and probably the most important, is we really drew a line before pre-season started. I said as a joke that if anyone was negative in this building I would punch them in the face. Just to make sure that we didn’t carry anything over.”
Liverpool saw the arrivals of Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and the more experienced Wataru Endo in the summer. They also waved goodbye to older players like Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and James Milner, which meant a gap in the ‘leadership group’, which has been filled by Van Dijk, Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson and Andy Robertson.
Then there was the training in pre-season. “A lot of key players went, seniors who were always the leaders, so new players had to step up – Mo Salah, Virgil, Alisson, Trent – and they did,” said Lijnders.
“Then you can start training three times a day, which we didn’t do before. There was a voice in their head saying ‘We want to be successful and so we have to go through this.’”
Lijnders felt he saw the right changes already happening towards the end of last season when the Reds went on an 11-match unbeaten run in the league. Then the arrival of the summer signings, the return of Van Dijk’s best form and the class of young players such as Curtis Jones, who he described as ‘as good as a new signing’ has helped turn them into challengers again.
“When young players feel they have to do more they feel more and more that it becomes their team,” said Lijnders. “That’s what you need. That energises everyone.
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“If you see that they want to run at 8am but they understand it and they go through really hard at times, I really believe that the difference is made on the training pitch.” Now they have the chance to turn their potential into trophies.