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Pep Lijnders has firmly established himself as a key member of Jurgen Klopp's backroom staff.

Promoted to Melwood from the Academy by Brendan Rodgers a year ago, the highly-rated Dutch coach was retained by Klopp following his appointment last October.

The 33-year-old, who had previously worked at PSV Eindhoven and Porto, has figured prominently in the training sessions on the club's pre-season tour of America.

Lijnders became a father for the second time when his wife gave birth to their son Benjamin just two days before Liverpool flew out.

The ECHO caught up with him at the Reds' Palo Alto base in California to discuss preparations for the new campaign and the emergence of exciting young talent like Ovie Ejaria.

Pep, watching training on this trip, there seems to be a real intensity to the sessions. Are you satisfied as a coach with where the players are at with the new Premier League season a fortnight away?

The players come back after a period where they were completely off or were in different styles of play because they went to the Euros or the Copa America. And then of course you have the young players.

In this first period, if you talk about intensity, it improved because the players starts making decisions based on the collective references and intentions of our specific way of playing.

The intensity goes up because the lines, the sectors, the inter-sectors and the players individually start working better together.

That’s the main thing in this first period – that everyone starts making decisions individually because of the collective idea and references.

Pleased? Yes, of course, because there’s a big development in that part.

We are very clear in what we want: how we want to prepare pressing situations; how we want to move the ball gradually up; how we can advance as a team using the free spaces the opponent leaves in their organisation; our positional play. The intensity is high because they start playing better together.

A lot of the drills are repetitive. Is that so it becomes second nature to them?

There’s a saying that success is repeating a few disciplines, but really well and constantly. It’s repetition but we don’t want a linear or mechanical style of play.

That’s why we focus on principles and the principles are basically tactical patterns which give the individual stability in an unpredictable game.

You saw against Chelsea that it was permanently unstable and we want them to make it more stable because of the focus on those principles and tactical patterns.

It would be easy to say ‘A, B, C’ but football doesn’t work like that, especially in our situation with Liverpool FC having so much talent.

We want to give them the freedom of expression to be constantly unpredictable and constantly searching for limits, a constant gain of individuality in that collective identity and way of playing.

Where it’s very clear as a collective how we want to approach each single game. The exercises have character because it’s a direct reference to our way of playing.

The way of playing is basically like a lighthouse guiding us as coaches, prioritising and creating specific exercises towards creating that common goal and common idea between players. That gives the players stability.

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Liverpool struggled to create chances in the midweek defeat to Chelsea, who defended deep and were very difficult to break down.....

If they are already this organised in three weeks, how organised will they be in three months?!

I really believe if you want to improve you have to test your limits tactically, technically, emotionally, individually and as a collective. That game and the next ones are perfect to challenge us.

Our positional game to open them up more could’ve been quicker in certain moments, we could’ve attracted them more to find space on the other side.

The development has been really good in terms of how the team uses the free spaces to circulate the ball, how the team was patient enough to find the right spaces, and have the right times with their passes in playing and arriving for them.

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A real feature of this pre-season has been how the young players have stepped up and delivered. You worked at the Academy with the under-16s for a year after you joined the club in 2014. Have they surprised you?

No, because I know them really well. We have so much talent in our Academy and so many players who need guidance.

You see what happened in three or four weeks with Ben Woodburn, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ovie Ejaria – that’s gold in terms of development because that’s probably half a year of development in the Academy.

Just because they see Phil Coutinho using the free spaces, they see Adam Lallana turning and protecting the ball.

Trent sees how Emre Can drops into the defensive line to circulate the ball to get higher as a team.

There’s a saying that young talents need models, they don’t need criticism. That’s what we want.

We want to create by bringing them up. We brought the boy up from 16, that’s Ben. We brought the boy up from 17, that’s Trent. And we brought the boy up from 18, that’s Ovie.

It’s interesting because indirectly we also want to influence all the other boys who stay behind because they see it’s possible.

And we want to bring boys up who love adversity and overcome adversity constantly, who adapt really easily to a quicker style of play.

Sometimes they have more time off than the others, sometimes they get a morning off because if you always played at 15km per hour and then you have to play at 20km per hour, you get tired earlier.

We deal with that really well. They've made a good impression. So far, so good.

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Ejaria shone again against Chelsea at the Rose Bowl the other night. He looks so calm and composed – despite the step up in class.

We say the pitch always stays the same and the ball always stays the same. The opposition can change and the stadium can change, but the stadium doesn’t influence directly if you focus.

Then it only has to do with how a player orientates himself, how he sees what happens before the pressure is coming.

Can he protect the ball in these situations? Can he still play his own style? Ovie does that really well. That is what we stimulate from a young age throughout our Academy – take initiative constantly.

We want offensive aggression. We don’t want to have a ball percentage of 70, it’s about chances created and that’s how individuals get stimulated in the game context, to constantly take more initiative to move the ball forward in the final third or really create.

Ovie is a good example. If you can outplay, you unbalance the defensive line. If you can play quick combinations it tears them apart. If you dominate both then you are really a top player and he dominates both parts.

We stimulate from a young age in our Academy, protect the ball and be able to create a forward solution instead of passing it back. That has to do with how he positions himself and creates space for himself.

Against Chelsea our positional game was good but it can be quicker. Is it provoking enough to get them really out of balance?

Everybody thinks intensity is harder running. No, intensity is better co-operation between lines and better working together in prepared pressing situations. But that only works if it’s co-ordinated.

Otherwise it’s just running and that’s the worst thing in football, if you run without a purpose.

A number of youngsters have left the club this summer, including Jordon Ibe, Sergi Canos and Brad Smith. But Liverpool have negotiated buyback clauses which means they could return in the future.....

We always want to do what is the best for everyone. We invest a lot in development and trying to create a common identity through the whole club.

We really believe that creating a new generation can help us and if that means a young player has to go out to get experience and get his career going, but still with the option to come back inside our club, that shows that we believe in this process.

Many people say it, but we really believe in development and are doing it. It was an amazing statement from Liverpool to give Jurgen a six-year contract, but what we’re doing now in this moment will influence this club long afterwards.

Take Ben Woodburn, Trent or Ovie - this is part of the culture to bring in our young players to compete with our top talent.

To be able to compete at that level, you need a quality set-up and organisation of really high standards.

They’ve shown we have that because they can compete and they do compete. One day, they will win the competition and play. We truly believe in this. It takes time, like any development, but it will be worth it.

I believe collectively this season, we can have a real advantage over our opponents, regardless of whatever player they buy or have. The training methodology - every minute of every exercise - must influence a higher standard, which is what we are building.

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Seven signings have been added to the squad this summer. What do you make of the new arrivals?

I think our signings have been top. We made a list before and we got what we wanted. Our young players are top. Our selection is top. I’m really positive towards this season.

With signings you want a direct influence on the areas you’re already good in and the ones you need strengthening in. We analysed our game model and looked at where we needed development.

If you have a player who has certain abilities that were maybe missing, he will indirectly influence all the others as they see how he handles situations.

Ragnar Klavan, for example, they see how he steps out with the ball and how easy and calm he is under pressure to still search for the chance to put Sadio Mane in a one-v-one situation.

Don’t forget, the players we already had were top too. I really enjoy working with them. They have the right character, attitude and always are looking to reach the highest levels.

You sound like you are loving being part of this new era for the club under Klopp?

I can’t describe it to be honest. I think they’ve already put a mark on my personality. I’m enjoying it, I try to help, we are really a team.

Jurgen’s creating a family atmosphere, which is really important to being a top team.

You can’t just want to be the best team on the pitch, you have to do it off the pitch too. Everything always has to be of the highest standards.