Things Will Be Different With Holland Now – Van Dijk

Liverpool’s club-record signing Virgil van Dijk insists he still has improvements to make despite making an immediate impact on his side’s defence.

Asked whether the settling in period had been easier than anticipated, he said: “Quicker than I might have thought? I don’t know. Obviously you come here with expectations and you want to play as soon as possible and as much as possible this season and be as fit as possible and quick as possible.

“Now I’m getting better and better and the understanding with all of the players is getting much better. I’m just playing my game and trying to help my team.

“What percent am I now? That’s difficult. But I’m completely over the ankle problems [which kept him out for long periods in the last year], definitely.

“It’s more than that, it’s also just condition-wise and the way Liverpool play you need to be spot on. That’s pretty clear right now.”

“You don’t think about that when you’re heading off with the international team. You’re giving everything for your country, and that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.

“It’s a big period for us as a country, we have been in transition, we have a new manager, and it’s going to be totally different now and I’m looking forward to meeting up with the guys. We play England as well, so it’s going to be good.

“We can prepare for that [the Champions League] when the time comes.

“Everybody knows that anyone we get is going to be very hard. Man City is a very good team, very hard to play against and we need to be 100 per cent or even better to beat them over two games.”