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If defenses win league titles, then Liverpool probably wouldn't have beaten Arsenal to Premier League glory last season. But while they are not the only component required for silverware, they are important.
At the start of the new season, Liverpool has already conceded 14 goals in 10 league games. At that rate, it would let in more than 53 across the course of the campaign — a number higher than all but two of last season's top 10.
And yet, out of nowhere, Arne Slot's side has kept back-to-back clean sheets against Aston Villa and Real Madrid in the last few days. From somewhere, it has pulled some solidity out of the bag.
"That is the basis of success at the moment," Van Dijk said live on Amazon Prime Sport after the Real Madrid game. "I think that you can see that Arsenal are flying and that is down to clean sheets and not conceding chances.
"I think that’s what we had as well and now what we are trying to do consistently — start with defending. We have the quality to hurt anyone in possession and on the break.
"But it starts with defending and today showed our hard work. Against Aston Villa, we didn't create too many open [play] chances, but we managed to find the win, and we have to keep going.
"Sunday [vs Manchester City] is going to be another difficult one, and so we have to be ready for that as well."
Whether or not Liverpool will continue to look so solid when teams begin to launch long throws and dangerous set-pieces into the box again remains to be seen, but the immediate-term future looks positive.
Ahead of a trip to Manchester City, the mood has certainly shifted.
No matter how much Liverpool improves, it will likely never match Arsenal for keeping clean sheets and blocking opponents out. However, its attacking prowess is much greater than what Mikel Arteta can call upon.
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For that to properly shine through — and in time, it will only do so even further when Alexander Isak gets up to speed and Florian Wirtz improves even more — it needs a solid base.
Though Andy Robertson has now played pretty much two full 90 minutes in as many games, keeping the same back four for the third successive match of the week is a must.
Likewise, Conor Bradley was exceptional against Vinicius Jr, and won't be fazed by the threatening Jeremy Doku.
With a Tuesday-Sunday turnaround, there is probably enough time to keep the same team from midweek. In its defense, in particular, that consistency could be key.
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