Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has praised summer signings Jérémy Jacquet and Ronald Araújo for their impressive debuts against Como but admitted it will take time to develop a solid centre-back partnership.
Both Jacquet and Araújo played 45 minutes of Liverpool’s final preseason clash on Sunday afternoon, with the former netting the Reds’ second goal in a 2-0 win.
Making his first appearance since suffering a dislocated shoulder at Rennes in February, Jacquet in particular caught the eye against Cesc Fabregas‘ side before Araújo — who joined Liverpool on a season-long loan from Barcelona last week — replaced him for the second half.
“I think [Jacquet] did well, same as Ronald,” Van Dijk said after the game. “It’s a start, a good start so hopefully he can crack on. [You build relationships] by playing games. I won’t say it’s the only way, but games are totally different than training.
“Jeremy’s English is, I would say, a bit better than Ronald’s but at the end of the day we are all pretty good footballers. We can see and smell some moments on how to defend certain situations.
“But it’s pretty clear that you need to form a connection together and that takes a bit of time. In my opinion that’s absolutely normal but hopefully we can get that going as quickly as possible.
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“Like I said, I think [Jacquet] did well. I think he came out of it a bit tired, but it’s absolutely normal when you’re playing your first 45 minutes after such a long time. Now it’s down to him to recover. We’ll be back on the pitch tomorrow morning and then we’re working towards Newcastle. St James’ Park will always be a tough one.”
Liverpool’s victory over Como marks their final outing before next week’s Premier League opener against Newcastle, with the Reds returning to winning ways after back-to-back preseason defeats to Leeds United and AS Monaco.
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After watching his team throw away a 2-0 lead for the second game in a row against Monaco last week, Andoni Iraola acknowledged his players were struggling to sustain the required level of fitness to compete for 90 minutes — something Van Dijk believes they are improving.
“What I see is that no team in world football can play full intensity for 90 minutes,” the Liverpool captain said. “Obviously at a certain point, you’re gonna have some moments where players — or we all — get to a position where we’re gonna be a bit tired. Then it’s down to us to make sure that we are compact and find the right moment to press again. I think we did that much better than we did the last game.
“Obviously everyone’s eager to go and to press and keep their intensity up but it’s a team game and we need everyone together in order to be able to do that. That goes in phases through the game.
Read more:Jacquet nets in debut as Liverpool beat Como in preseason finale
“But if you do that at the right time, at the right moment, then you don’t need to run as much as we sometimes do. So that means at times when there is a throw in, a free kick, you have to maybe play it even quicker in order to keep the ball a little bit longer. But it’s a process and we’re working on that.
“[Against Como] there was definitely improvement in my opinion. Obviously when you play the previous two games, you are 2-0 up and you give it away, I think that’s something you can’t have happening again. I’m glad we did much better in that sense.”
