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"Our identity is intensity," Pepijn Lijnders enthusiastically told the media at Melwood in Tuesday's press conference ahead of Liverpool's EFL fourth-round tie against Arsenal when speaking about the next step in the development of Liverpool's young players looking to make the breakthrough into the first-team.

For the second time in a row, the Dutchman took control of those duties for this competition, and while before MK Dons there was the fact that Jürgen Klopp had been in Milan to attend the FIFA Best awards, this time it seemed like a deliberate ploy for Lijnders to take the press conference instead.

The Reds' assistant manager also alluded to picking a side to take on the Gunners "who is hungry, who is fresh, and who wants to prove a point", and although Klopp will no doubt have a significant say on proceedings, it does almost feel as though the EFL Cup is Lijnders' project this season.

It would make sense to have him play a heightened role in managing Liverpool's approach to this particular competition, given that Lijnders was previously the first-team development coach who acted as a bridge between the senior set-up and the academy – a role which has now been taken up by Portuguese coach Vitor Matos, who joined Liverpool from Porto earlier this month.

(Image: Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

And while Lijnders' reference to "intensity" was specific to the style of football Liverpool play, it's also a description which is apt for Klopp's all-or-nothing persona in general, and the entire enterprise that consumes his every day.

On the touchline, Klopp's intensity is an embodiment of the team he has constructed – and while that serves Liverpool well on the pitch, it must also be exhausting for the man in charge of it all, whose job carries a weight of pressure, hope and expectation a daily basis which is almost impossible for the rest of us to imagine (hence why he has alluded to taking a break from football once he eventually comes to the end of his time on Merseyside).

Although he'd never come out and admit it, it's no wonder that Klopp pays little regard to the domestic cup competitions, using them as an opportunity to give valuable first-team experiences to the likes of Rhian Brewster and Harvey Elliott, rather than treating them as a priority to go all the way and win.

Just over four years into his Liverpool tenure, Klopp finds himself at a point whereby the sheer brilliance of the team he has built, in combination with the burning desire of everyone associated with the club to win the Premier League title, means virtually every game feels like an absolute must-win scenario.

Liverpool have done an exceptionally impressive job at maintaining such a formidable pace at the top of the table so far this season, but from the outside it's very easy to underestimate or gloss over the psychological toll the sheer, all-consuming intensity of it all must surely have on Klopp and the players.

The EFL Cup, then, becomes akin to an unofficial mini-break, whereby most of the key players who have already poured so much physical and mental energy into Liverpool's roaring start to the league campaign can have a well-deserved night-off, while Klopp can also take slightly more of a back-seat and delegate more powers to Lijnders to shape the approach.

Given that Lijnders may one day be a prime candidate to succeed Klopp in the manager's role, there are obvious signs this season that his influence is steadily growing, while his public persona and confidence in front of the cameras is notably becoming increasingly visible.