Ryan Gravenberch has credited Arne Slot for his brilliant start to the new season, saying the manager gives him clarity and confidence.
Gravenberch joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich last September and made 26 Premier League appearances under Jurgen Klopp, but started just 12 of those games.
Since Slot's arrival, the midfielder has been shifted into a deeper-lying midfield role, earning plaudits for his performances, having started all three of their matches as the Reds made a perfect start to the campaign.
So far, among Liverpool players, he has won the joint-most duels (17), made the most interceptions (seven), and won the joint-most tackles (six).
Gravenberch believes his performances come from the faith shown in him by Slot.
"I just feel good in my skin, to be honest," Gravenberch told ESPN Netherlands. "But does that have a reason? Yeah, things are going well at the club. I'm just doing my thing, and it's working out well now."
"He gives me confidence now. He just lets me start in the lineup. It's going pretty well.
"As a player, you obviously want to get minutes. For me, that confidence is part of it. With that confidence, I feel more comfortable, and with the minutes, it keeps getting better.
"He's a good coach. He knows what he wants. He has a clear plan. Yeah, so far, we're executing it really well. Clarity from the start is always nice for me."
Gravenberch is now hoping to translate that form to the national side, and he is part of the squad for their Nations League matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany.
The 22-year-old was also part of their Euro 2024 party but did not play a single minute in the tournament as the Oranje reached the semi-final before being knocked out by England.
While he admits that it bothered him not to feature for his country at the Euros, he is now looking to put that frustration behind him as he looks towards future tournaments.
"It did gnaw at me a little," he said. "Because, when you go to the Euros, of course, you want to play. But in the end, we have to move on. The Euros are in the past. And now we're here."
"Life goes on," he added. "The Euros are over, and now we have to focus on the Nations League. And in two years, there's the World Cup again."
'Maresca one of the best', says Madueke after flying season start
Noni Madueke believes new Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is one of the best in the business and is looking forward to flourishing under his stewardship.
Madueke, who joined the Blues from PSV Eindhoven in 2023, started the new Premier League campaign in fine form in the early tenure of the Italian.
The 22-year-old has scored four goals in four appearances this season, netting his first professional hat-trick in their 6-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last month.
Madueke managed just 11 goal involvements (eight goals and three assists) across all competitions last term, but feels Maresca's arrival has helped him add another level to his game.
"He's a great guy, a good manager, a very good tactician. He's helping me a lot with my game, little details," Madueke told talkSPORT.
"Things that you wouldn't necessarily think of yourself. I always feel like a great manager will say 'this can help you score more' or this can help you get in behind more'.
"Little things that I feel like he's helping me with."
His impressive start to the campaign has resulted in a first senior England call-up under interim head coach Lee Carsley for the Three Lions' upcoming Nations League fixtures.
Only Taylor Harwood-Bellis (21) has made more appearances than Madueke (19) for England's Under-21's side during Carsley's time in charge, helping them to success at the European Under-21 Championship last year.
However, when it was suggested that Carsley's appointment had given Madueke more motivation to impress, he insisted that his full focus remained on Chelsea.
"Not so much England, more so because I had a new coach at Chelsea and you want to impress your new coach at your club, and just play well,’ Madueke said.
"Every time I get the chance to play for Chelsea, it's such a massive club, I feel like it's a thing of pride, and you want to do the best you can.
"I always want to improve my game, so this season I just wanted to start as well as possible."
Madueke managed just 13 starts in the Premier League last season, and faces another year of fighting for his place in Chelsea's line-up.
The Blues welcomed 11 new faces to Stamford Bridge during the transfer window, with Pedro Neto offering the biggest threat to his starting spot on the right-hand side of their attack.
But Madueke is relishing the prospect of competition at the club, saying that he will embrace the situation with ambitions of succeeding at the highest level.
"If you want to play for one of the top clubs in the world, you’re going to have to deal with competition," Madueke concluded.
"That’s not something you should shy away from, that’s something you should just take head on.
"If you believe you’re a good player, you want to be around good players, because it increases your level.
"You don’t want to feel like you’re going to play every week and can just cruise through because that allows you to drop your standards a little bit.
"So it’s good that we have a lot of great players in the building, so the training level is better and, ultimately, we’re better on the pitch when it comes down to it."
Martinez 'ready to compete' for Ballon d'Or after glory with Inter and Argentina
Lautaro Martinez believes he is worthy of being in consideration for the Ballon d'Or after leading Inter and Argentina to silverware in recent months.
Martinez was, unlike his compatriot Lionel Messi, one of 30 players nominated for world football's most prestigious individual prize earlier this week.
He fired Inter to their 20th Scudetto last season, topping Serie A's scoring charts with 24 goals in 33 matches, eight more than his closest rival, Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic.
He then carried that form into the Copa America as Argentina won a record-breaking 16th continental crown, winning the Golden Boot with five goals – including the winner in the final versus Colombia – in just 221 minutes on the field.
Martinez finished 20th in the voting for the 2023 award but expects to be higher up the rankings this time around.
"Considering the season I had, I deserve to be where I am," Martinez said. "I worked hard and suffered so much in the previous years.
"This is the second year in a row that I will participate in this ceremony. I think that I am ready to compete for this recognition."
With Messi out injured, Martinez partnered Julian Alvarez in attack as Argentina thrashed Chile 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday, the Atletico Madrid man scoring with a stunning long-range strike.
Albiceleste boss Lionel Scaloni was impressed with how the forwards dovetailed in that match, saying: "The duo of Julian and Lautaro performed well. They complement each other well, they don't give up a single ball.
"Lautaro assisted, Julian also went very well, he scored. They worked for us and they are two strikers who can continue to play together, we will see.
"I don't think there is so much superiority to the rest. They leave everything out there, the key is not to give anything up in advance.
"They are always hungry. Football is very strange, at any moment it can put you in your place."
Kazakhstan 0-0 Norway: Haaland fires a blank in Nations League opener
Erling Haaland fluffed his lines as Norway were held to an underwhelming goalless draw by Kazakhstan in their Nations League opener.
Norway failed to secure promotion from League B in the last edition of the Nations League in 2022-23, and their attempt to escape Group B3 got off to a frustrating start in Almaty.
Haaland was the joint-leading goalscorer in the 2022-23 tournament (alongside Aleksandar Mitrovic) with six goals, but he was unable to find the target despite being presented with several good chances on Friday.
The Manchester City man sent a 24th-minute header spiralling over the crossbar, then dragged another effort wide from the edge of the six-yard box five minutes later.
Norway dominated possession as newly promoted Kazakhstan dug in to preserve their clean sheet after the break, and Haaland's best chance would come nine minutes after the restart.
However, the Premier League's leading scorer was unable to steer home from just a couple of yards out as Norway's winless run in competitive action stretched to three games.
Data Debrief: Contrasting fortunes for Premier League stars
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was at the centre of everything good about Norway's performance, creating four chances for team-mates and registering the most passes in the final third (41) of every player on the pitch.
However, Norway found their main man Haaland out of form up top, the City star failing to score from four shots totalling 0.9 expected goals (xG) – a figure that represented almost half the overall total created by both teams (Kazakhstan 0.21, Norway 1.63).
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