On Tuesday, Pepijn Lijnders took charge of Jurgen Klopp’s press conference ahead of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup fourth round tie against Arsenal.
Social media was inundated with the clip of the assistant manager speaking about how “our identity is our intensity”, in what was a highly impressive showing from the 36-year-old.
Lijnders didn’t hide from the fact that there would be many changes to the team, which ended up being unrecognisable to the one that took to the field in Sunday’s 2-1 win against Tottenham.
The Dutchman spoke about how well the front-free work and also revealed how much preparation goes into games.
He also made pointed out exactly what he and Klopp were expecting from the youngsters in the match against Arsenal.
Pundits, Twitter and the man in the street can say that Wednesday’s goal-fest was a freak, one-off match – 19 goals, including numerous Goal of the Season contenders – but there was much more of a hidden message deep down.
Arsenal were admittedly weakened, but their starting lineup was not too far away from what Unai Emery normally plays in the Europa League.
That competition, for all its faults, is still a huge step up from the standard Liverpool’s youngsters ply their trade in, but they more than held their own on an epic night at Anfield.
Neco Willaims and Curtis Jones were the standout individuals for the young Reds. They looked like players who were willing to take the game to Arsenal and didn’t look out of place on the hallowed Anfield turf.
In a game like Wednesday’s, when there was goal after goal, it could have been very easy for players to lose focus and let their heads drop, but they never did.
Divock Origi’s equaliser was more than just another late, great famous goal for the Belgian.
Before it, Liverpool were on the verge of losing their unbeaten streak at Anfield, albeit it in the Carabao Cup, but these players did not want that to happen.
How crushing such a result would be to most of these players on the fringes of the squad, having had Klopp put his trust in them.
So when Origi equalised and Jones scored the winning penalty, it showed again just how close the whole squad is to each other.
It isn’t a ‘weakened side’ or the ‘young ones’ – it is another bunch of excellent footballers willing to go the extra mile, playing with great intensity.
Signs of this togetherness were seen in Madrid, with players of various ages, calibre and influence celebrating together.
After the Arsenal win, a video appeared of Roberto Firmino recording Jones’ penalty, giving him encouragement.
This is what it means to play for Liverpool currently and the show of unity between players of all abilities means that this team can do anything.
Up next for these youngsters will probably be the trip to Aston Villa in the quarter-finals of Carabao Cup, assuming the match actually goes ahead.
They have more than played their part already and if it ends with silverware in February, it will be a major boost in their blossoming careers.
They played as if they had listened to everything Lijnders said in his pre-match press conference.
