The Dutchman knows that he has a huge job on his hands taking over from Jurgen Klopp.
However, he is pleased with how the players have been adapting to his methods so far.
He told reporters: “Like you said, many things will stay the same when it comes to playing style. But of course there will be a few adjustments because every manager has his own ideas. But general playing style will probably look quite familiar for you guys. I think every player, especially if they had a few weeks off, they need to adapt to playing with the ball again. Taking that into account, I think we have made some steps compared to where we started.
“But that has maybe not so much to do with implementing new ideas but also to do with players getting used to playing with the ball again. But I'm very happy with the energy the team is giving every single day, which is normal in pre-season because everywhere around the world you hear the same thing: the players work really hard. But that's also with us. Until now, I've been happy with the way they did and we're looking forward to the game tomorrow to see if we can bring some positives to the game as well.”
On how long he spends studying his players and opposition teams, he added: “I think that changes during the season. At this moment, the full focus is on our own team. All our meetings are, 'What do we have to improve? What can we do better? What do we do really good already?' And then during the season when Ipswich comes up or Brentford or all the other teams then you implement the opponent towards your idea as well.
“But in football there are a few systems to play against, so it could be 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2 but there are not 15 to 20. In these upcoming weeks, we try to prepare them for all the systems you can face during the season in terms of how you want to do build-up and how you want to press those teams. Combined with (that) in this part of the season, it's very important that players stay fit, stay available and go to a next step in terms of match fitness.”