On the pitch, the mentality of the players he’s been working with almost daily for the last month is something that has captured Van Bronckhorst’s attentions.
“I’ve been impressed by the quality of the players, yes,” he stated. “To be competitive in all the competitions we face, you have the quality but I think the most important thing in being involved in successful set-ups is character.
“The character we have in this group and the desire of the players to become better, to be competitive every day, that is what you notice. No matter what kind of exercises we’re doing on the pitch, you see the competition is really high and everyone wants to win, which makes it very competitive for us as well to make sure everything is done right.
“If you make one mistake as a coach on the pitch and the player loses… you have to be really spot-on! Because of the environment we create and the players create with their character and attitude, they are also very competitive in the games and that’s what we want. We want to be competitive, we want to win every game and you can see that desire even in the little games we play to do the body wake-up in the morning, little games in warm-ups, in training… it’s everywhere.
“That’s the environment the club and, of course, Arne with the staff has created in the last years – and also Jürgen [Klopp] as well before. You can see it is the DNA of this club and we are just here to continue that and make sure it is maintained.”
A key part in ensuring such levels of desire and competitiveness are maintained as standard comes from the players themselves, with senior members of the squad leading by example, and skipper Virgil van Dijk one of the principal standard-bearers.
“He is the captain. I have followed almost the whole of his career, from being an assistant at Feyenoord trying to get him there when he was playing at Groningen and Ronald Koeman was our coach,” detailed Van Bronckhorst.
“I have seen him making his steps in football with Willem II, Groningen, Celtic, Southampton and Liverpool now. He has developed into one of the best defenders in the world and you can see he is the captain of this team with how he represents this club and how everyone in the club looks at him as the captain. Now I am working with him every day and you see what he means for this team. He is very important.”
After the club’s pre-season tour of Asia concluded last Thursday, Van Bronckhorst was back in the coaching staff office on Saturday morning, ready to assist in planning for Monday’s double-header with Athletic Club at Anfield.
A trip to Wembley to face Crystal Palace in the FA Community Shield follows on Sunday, while his next opportunity to experience a matchday in L4 will come later this month when AFC Bournemouth provide the opposition for the Premier League opener.
“It will be different because I was the opponent and now I am one of Liverpool,” he considers. “It will feel different.
“I was also here a second time with Rangers when we lost 2-0 at Anfield [in 2022]. And one time before, when I was a player at Rangers, I watched Liverpool v Barcelona. I think it was in 2001, Liverpool won 1-0.
“What I remember is You’ll Never Walk Alone – it is also the song we had at Feyenoord, so for me it brings back so many memories from my time there as a player and a coach, winning trophies.
“I hope in the end it will remind me of trophies I won with Feyenoord and Liverpool.”
