Origi pleased Melwood work is paying off
Divock Origi believes hard work at Melwood on honing his striking talents was the secret behind his sensational Southampton hat-trick – and now he's set his sights on grabbing a first Anfield goal.
The 20-year-old fired a treble during Liverpool’s emphatic 6-1 Capital One Cup victory at St Mary’s last week to notch his first efforts for his new club.
And although Origi was named on the bench for the Reds’ last outing – at Newcastle United on Sunday – he’s confident he’ll be primed to seize the next opportunity that comes his way.
He told Liverpoolfc.com: “It shows what kind of big quality we have in the group. We musn’t forget we are still young and we are still trying to work out things together, so as a team we are learning every week and every day.
“For me personally, it’s good to be in a team like this and I think I’ll have my chances [again] soon, so I am very excited.
“The thing for me was to come here and learn. The most important thing was to progress and so I just try to learn and pick things up in training and any games I get.
“It wasn’t easy to come here, to a new country, a new system and a new type of football, but I’ve adapted and I’m ready to feature in games to come.
“We all know Anfield is a nice place to play and to be able to score there would be a dream, so I am doing everything to try to do that but I have to patient. If I stay calm then my time will come.”
Origi’s first against Southampton came when he diverted an Alberto Moreno shot into the back of the net from close range.
His second resulted when he latched onto a Jordon Ibe pass and crashed an effort into the roof of the net from the edge of the area, before he completed his treble with a neat header.
Asked to pick his favourite, Origi replied: “I’d say the second one because that’s my quality, to get behind defenders and score goals.
“I was also very pleased with the third one because I’ve worked a lot on typical strikers’ goals in training, so to be able to score a goal like this was very good and I’m happy my work paid off.”
Origi celebrated his second effort on the south coast by performing a dance – the Nae Nae – with Ibe, and it may not be the last time fans see him busting out his best moves.
He laughed: “I’ll speak with the other players – I have some other dances! But I’ll have to see and improvise!”
On a more serious note, Origi is delighted with the upward trajectory his development is taking under the tutelage of Jürgen Klopp.
The German has called upon the Belgian eight times either from the start or the bench in his 12 games in charge so far.
“I’ve learned a lot of things under the new manager,” said Origi. “I’m very pleased he’s here and he’s helped us a lot. It’s only a good thing for the club and for everybody that he’s here. We have all the ingredients to do something big, but we just have to stick together and believe.
“[After Southampton] he just said it was a good game and that we’d all played well. Personally, he told me I’d played well but I think he expects a lot of me and I just have to be motivated.
“I am very pleased and happy I could show my qualities. Now I have to show what I can do for the club and I am very excited.”