After leading the Netherlands at Euro 2024, the centre-back returned to club duty earlier this month and made his first appearance on Sunday afternoon.
Van Dijk featured for almost 75 minutes as the Reds defeated Sevilla 4-1 at Anfield, before a wholly changed XI then drew 0-0 with Las Palmas behind closed doors.
Speaking to ESPN ahead of the Premier League opener at Ipswich Town this weekend, the No.4 was asked about his initial impressions of working with new head coach Arne Slot.
“So far, so good,” replied Van Dijk. “Obviously this is my second week now being back but I’ve seen a lot of the games in America from the guys and seen training sessions as well.
“It’s looking good, it’s looking promising. It’s still a work in progress, still so many things that we can improve but I would say so far, so good. So let’s keep going.”
In the last campaign – Van Dijk’s first as skipper – Liverpool lifted the Carabao Cup and secured a return to Champions League football with a third-placed finish in the league.
The Reds were also heavily involved in the race for the title, alongside Manchester City and Arsenal, until faltering in the closing weeks of the season.
Quizzed on the areas the team need to improve on from that experience, Van Dijk said: “It’s difficult to give an answer to that because there are so many things that play a part.
“Obviously two other teams were just more consistent, they were better in dealing with the situation, they had more quality at the time. And we were maybe a little bit too inexperienced. We had a little bit of injuries, we were not good enough, maybe the nerves kicked in.
“That’s definitely something we have to learn. But I can’t really put it on one particular thing that went wrong and why we couldn’t compete until the last day.
“But I think everyone had to reflect, had to think about what happened last season over the summer, and come back with an improved mindset and skillset as well in order to perform until the very last day and hopefully be successful.
“That’s the aim, we want to be successful, we want to compete until the very last day in every competition that we play in. We know that is very difficult but we are going to try it, and that’s something I definitely can promise.”
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Liverpool participated in the Europa League last term but can look forward to being back in the Champions League in the new campaign.
Slot’s men will face eight different teams during a revamped league phase to begin the competition, with the draw for that to take place on August 29.
“[We missed it] a lot,” said Van Dijk. “Obviously it was our own fault; the year before, only after March we started to play much better and we came very close to having Champions League [qualification] and unfortunately we didn’t.
“To have Champions League back this year is big and I’m really looking forward to that, I’m really looking forward to being out there again and hopefully being successful.
“We know how difficult it is to win that competition so we’re going to fight, hopefully have good games and enjoy [it] and win as much as possible.”
