Sepp van den Berg on facing Liverpool, Preston loan and new position
“It’s just really good to be playing,” said Van den Berg. “Right wing-back gets tough, I’ve been running a lot on the right side this season and last season.
“But it has just been good playing different types of defensive actions, more one-v-ones, more attacking-wise as well going up the pitch, getting crosses in. It has been good. It’s different than I’m used to, but I’m playing and it has been good.”
Van den Berg arrived on Merseyside from PEC Zwolle in the summer of 2019 and has been involved in four senior fixtures for Klopp’s team.
He found a natural role model in the Reds’ dressing room in his compatriot Virgil van Dijk, of course – his country’s captain and a Premier League and Champions League winner with Liverpool.
“Already watching him in training and training with him, I remember the first season I came, before COVID of course, I always went to the games and sat behind the bench and going into the dressing room and stuff,” said Van den Berg of what he has learned from Van Dijk.
“Just seeing everyone preparing and then seeing him playing games and watching him make it look so easy, it’s already such a big influence for a player at a young age to just watch, for me, the best centre-back in the world do what he does.
“You can only learn from it, so it’s been really nice to just be around him and watch him train and play.”
Van den Berg is now receiving a hugely beneficial education on the demands of the men’s game in the Championship, a division he describes as “really tough, physical, quick, going from end to end”.
He hopes to not only return to Liverpool next year a much-improved performer for his experiences in England’s second tier, but perhaps to have helped Preston reach the play-offs along the way.
“I just want to play every game really,” he said. “Of course, I’m still young, so I heard all the time I should be playing every day. I just want to play every game, do well.
“I said it before the season, I feel the team we have, the play-offs is a nice thing to look up to; I feel we just as a team have to be as close as possible or even make the play-offs.
“For me, it’s just improving here and then hopefully come back in the summer to Liverpool, show them what I’ve got and hopefully get a spot in the team.”
Comments