“I have not expressed my preference. I was asked a very different question. I play 4-3-3 week in week out, but I said I think we can still play 4-3-3 very well. The meetings we had were about how we can do this even better. We don’t have heated discussions. Just normal, I give my opinion, the national coach has his opinion and usually we are on the same page.”
The Liverpool defender acknowledges that the new system demands different things from him, forcing him to step out of his comfort zone. “You do some other things. Cover for example. I’m not used to going all the way into midfield or being pulled away. It doesn’t mean I can’t do it, but it does mean you have to adapt,” said Van Dijk, who was hit on the shoulder by an exuberant Van Gaal. “It’s tailor-made for you.”
Van Dijk thinks it is too early to say that Orange has found the ideal system. “Hopefully we can get really good at this and it will be a good option for the World Cup. We have a fantastic selection that can do this too. But you have to do it right in the games. We will see. We trained it all week and it looked good against Denmark and hopefully we can show the same or even better against Germany.”
