Money's worth of defending
As other teams were panic-buying in the January transfer window, Liverpool addressed their Achilles heel in defence by an almost soap-opera pursuit of Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton. Making him the world's most expensive defender certainly raised a lot of eyebrows especially for a club not known for splashing the cash.
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It turns out though that Van Dijk is quite likely, one of the top defenders in the Premier League, but also makes others around him raise their game. Case in point, Dejan Lovren.
Surely this is a clear sign of greatness and sound decision by Klopp to greenlight the world record fee as Van Dijk is not only performing at an exceptional level, but gives the impression that he's been doing it at Liverpool for years.
Van Dijk has admitted the physical demands in playing for Liverpool under Klopp far outweigh what he's been used to at Southampton, but he's showing adaptation to those demands and he has taken on himself the mantle of an on-field leader and an organizer of men.
He explained to LFC TV: "Since I have been playing regularly at the highest level, starting in Holland, I need to be [vocal]. In the position, as a centre-back, you need to be organizing. You need to be busy all the time because it makes it a lot easier."
"You need to give a good example to the team; be there whenever you need to be and organized. Hendo is a good leader, which is why he is the captain," he added.
