Virgil van Dijk on Mo Salah, Andoni Iraola, and Trying to Overtake Arsenal, Presented by YETI: Men in Blazers 08/22/26

0:00You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network Suboptimal Radio.

0:15It's a joy to welcome back. It's Mr Virgil van Dijk. Yes, Rog. How are you? I'm good, Virgil. Can I say, last time I came here, I shook your hand and for the next couple of days, everyone I shook thought I smelled unbelievable. It was your aftersave, man. Yeah, well, I tried my best. We are here just before the start of a new season. It's your 10th at Liverpool. First under new manager, Andoni Irola. If you were asked to sum up an Irola training session in one word, what would you say? Football. Intense football. Yeah, it's been good. A lot of work, a lot of training sessions, tactical sessions, small-sided games.

0:51Yeah, it's been good. What's his central message been? What theme is he emphasising as he brings that aggressive brand of football. The match is pretty clear to win games. And not only on the weekend, but also obviously in training and bring the intensity, keep going, keep running

1:10and enjoy it as well. I want to talk about this season to come, but I do need to touch upon the last campaign. Didn't go how you wanted to. Had times of challenge that transcended football. And now you've had some distance to process it. What did you learn from it? What did it teach you? I think the main thing of it all is that we had a very unacceptable season as a Liverpool player, Liverpool standard. Obviously, in life you can't always be perfect, you can't always be on top. But that's how you react to it and it's down to us and it's down to what we do each and every day now. We start sort of from scratch again, everything is wide open, four competitions are waiting for us.

1:51and it's excited. So that's what we're going to fully focus on and have to be much better than what we did last year. It's hard to believe this is your 13th Premier League season. So much experience. Do you still learn as much every single season as you did when you began or does it start to feel like drops of rain in a large ocean? That's a great saying, but no, I definitely keep learning. Every year is different. Football is evolving. You play with different players. You play against different players. You're always sort of learning, adapting. But at the end of the day, it's about showing your quality on a consistent basis.

2:27And it's been a good ride so far. This is a time of incredible change all around the league, especially here. It's your first season without the legend Mo Salah. Mo's presence was as singular on the field as his abs were generational off it. And returning this summer, do you feel Mo's absence? Or is football so fast-moving and unsentimental that you just lock in? you're used to moving on? Nothing is forever. And obviously, you're mentioning Mo. Well-deserved because I don't think we will ever be able to replace a player like that in a way that what he did for the club. And that's only a good thing, in my opinion.

3:04But the same goes for Andy Robertson. And obviously, we had players in the past that obviously were very fundamentally part of the success that we had. And that's life. And you have to just move on, adapt, and others have to step up. You mentioned Andy Robertson, Mo, Canate also gone. You know, that camaraderie, that sense of connection, that sense of leadership in the locker room. Do you feel as you approach this season that extra burden of leadership or are you seeing extra individuals in the squad who are stepping up to fill that void? Well, it's pretty early on in the season, but the matter of fact is that you have to.

3:40And you can't shy away from taking responsibility or you can't not want to take that responsibility. so it's down to others to step up. Who do you see doing that? Well, I don't think it's good to name names. I think you will see it throughout the season. No one's watching this. Let's see it throughout the season. It's down to the players that know exactly who have to step up. I want to talk about the backlight. Your partner, for much of the last five years, Ibrahima Canate, has stepped off and you're in the process of developing new relationships. 21-year-old Jeremy Jacquet, Ronald Araujo. And you've talked about how centre-back relationships, they take time, they take reps, they need chemistry.

4:21You've talked about how Jeremy's English is a little bit better, but that you're smelling and sensing we're both human beings, the kind of defensive coordination. Can you talk about how you approach both men and the differences between them that you've experienced so far? Well, funny enough, it's only been like five days since I've been in and around training on a consistent basis with them. but in any job or profession or whatever, and you're working together with someone new, it just takes time. It just takes time to get to know each other. And especially on the pitch, what are each other's strengths?

4:54What are the weaknesses that you have to sort of complement each other in? And by the end of the day, you know, it's about winning games and doing that by hopefully having a lot of clean sheets. and we obviously as the last defensive line together with the goalie are obviously vital in that. But I've said it over all those years, it's not about only us in the back, it's about how we defend as a team. And the better we do that from the front, the easier eventually it's going to be for us in the back. So yeah, let's just crack on. How long does it take before you fill that? Hopefully next week. But no, it doesn't work like that.

5:32It just needs consistency. Both players that you mentioned just have to keep going, keep staying fit, keep improving, keep learning from what it takes to be playing every three, four days from especially end of September. You have to take it on board. You have to enjoy it. And that's my message to them. Enjoy the pressure because we're all going to be under pressure. It's a good thing. But the day showed promising signs from the last 45 minutes was really good. But now it's down to doing that for the next 10 to 15 games in a row for us and then keep going. I want to talk about you for a minute.

6:07You're 35. You're still young. You're still sitting here mogging me off completely. But you entered the Premier League as a 24-year-old. And LeBron James has talked about growth mindset as he got older. He worked out every single season how to evolve his strengths as they changed, his weaknesses as they changed. He began to rely more on his emotional decision-making, his experience, rather than that, explosive athleticism early in his career. Do you feel you've changed your game as you've aged in this league? Yeah, I would say as a centre-back, I think, in my opinion, and what I feel is that you get better over time, you get better over experiences.

6:44You play in a position that when you make a mistake, it will be punished with goals or big chances against us. So you try to just, you know, learn from moments like that, but also learn from good moments when you win things, how you deal with that, how you deal with the team, how you deal with when you lose, unfortunately, whether it's finals or go through injuries and stuff. So you have to take everything on board. And over the years, definitely, you know, my game has been really evolved in my opinion. And that's something I enjoy really. When you look at this Liverpool team, there are so many weapons.

7:21Dominic Soberslai can enforce his will on opponents in moments of his choosing. You've got 17-year-old Rio, who can be electric, mischievous. 19-year-old Trey Nioni, standout performer, arguably, of the pre-season. This is a chaos season in the Premier League. So many teams are undergoing massive change. It's not just Liverpool. So what is it, or who is it, that gives you the most confidence in this squad as this campaign begins? The thing is, if you're Liverpool, in my opinion, you need to have the confidence that you'll be able to challenge on the absolute highest level. And that's definitely within me.

7:55That has never changed over all those years I've been at the club. The main thing to be successful on any level is to be consistent. And that's what we have to find. We have to find the consistency. Obviously, as individuals, to be able to maintain this such a high level that, you know, you can beat anyone, but especially as a unit, as a team, looking after yourself, being fit. It's a combination of all of it. But if you're consistent, if you don't have too many injuries, you have a good chance to be competing until the final moment of any competition. And that should be the aim for us.

8:37What's the team goal? What's the minimum possible for Liverpool in terms of league outcome that will make you proud? League outcome. As a Liverpool captain, as a Liverpool player, I want to be challenging for the Premier League title. But you also have to be realistic and we saw how strong Arsenal was last year. We saw how consistent they were. And obviously, if you look at their squad as well at the moment, they look like they have a good depth in their squad as well. But looking at myself and our team, I feel like we have the quality to definitely challenge for the Premier League title. But we have to do much better than we did last year.

9:13And that's a matter of fact. You're coming up on nine years in this city of Liverpool. I don't know if it's gone quickly or not. You arrived here December 2017. Every Liverpool fan I know has a screen copy of that photograph of you holding a Liverpool jersey in front of your Christmas tree. How Liverpudlian do you feel? What's the most Liverpool thing about you, Virg? I love this club. And this club means so much to me. I feel the responsibility I feel the the love from the fans the appreciation as well and it's it's special because obviously like I've got a family and my kids obviously are Scouts almost as well so yeah this club means means the world to me and obviously I think everyone knows that Serious question do you have a passable Scouts accent?

10:05No maybe when I maybe when I eventually I don't do if-butts or maybe I do absolutes nothing in the dressing room I do with you I don't you're a wise man I know you've got a lot of football left to play do you have anything else you want to achieve or do you feel that you proved yourself to yourself I don't think I have to prove anything to anyone but what I do know is that I want to keep going till the absolute max and like you said I feel very good I know how it works in the football world you know it's 35 years old and then it's like oh yeah how and he can't and this and that so that's for me to block out and I'm pretty good in that to be fair just enjoy it enjoy the ride May this be the low point of your season talking to me Virg but when you leave Anfield some time yet What do you want the people who watched you, the Liverpool fans, to remember you for when they look at their grandkids and say, I saw Virgil van Dijk with my own eyes?

11:14That I inspired, obviously, this generation of fans, defenders, and been an amazing, successful player and captain for this football club. This is to you, to your family. Appreciate it. Happy to miss the season ahead. Thank you, mate. You too. Courage.

11:34Thank you.