Liverpool got off to the perfect start in 2024 with a comfortable victory over Newcastle United last night. The result cemented the Reds’ place on top of the Premier League table, and now gives them ascendancy heading into a crucial part of the season.
It’s undoubtedly an exciting time for Liverpool fans. This is a new look Liverpool team that was thoroughly reshuffled last summer and given a fresh face. It’s a young team that is only just getting started – a team that Klopp himself has labelled his 2.0 version.
The fact that Liverpool already finds themselves on top of the Premier League table, above Manchester City and Arsenal, is even more impressive with that context.
But despite all the excitement Virgil van Dijk refused to get bogged down on talks of a potential Premier League title when asked by reporters after the Reds’ victory over Newcastle.
“I’m not going to speak about any of this, I never did and I won’t do it now either,” Van Dijk said as per the Liverpool ECHO.
Van Dijk’s statement is right
The Liverpool captain then continued: “It’s far too early to do that. We are at the start of January, we have players leaving now, we have players coming back from injury, so let’s see what it brings.
“If in February or March we are still up there obviously we have to get the last push going and see if we can squeeze it out. But for now, we just focus on the game ahead and don’t look at others, (and just) try to improve ourselves. That’s always been the experience and it brought us one success over the last six years to win the Premier League and hopefully we will see what happens at the end of the season.”
Virgil van Dijk has every right to be cautious. Liverpool has been in similar situations before – only to narrowly lose out to Manchester City at the end of the season.
On top of that as Van Dijk points out Liverpool is heading into what promises to be a challenging period for Klopp’s side. It remains to be seen how well Liverpool will be able to cope in the absence of Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo, who could miss a large chunk of next month while on international duty.
However, regardless of what happens this season, Liverpool’s performances so far have been impressive, and that is an exciting sign of the future.
What Liverpool have proven so far is that this new era in the club’s history under Klopp could be just as successful as the first.
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