LONDON — Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk never hides during the tough times on and off the pitch and he was honest and spiky as he spoke with reporters outside Stamford Bridge following their last-gasp defeat at Chelsea on Saturday which condemned them to three defeats in a week.
MORE — Chelsea vs Liverpool recap | Player ratings | 3 things we learned
That is the first time Arne Slot has lost three games in a row in his managerial career, and Liverpool are in a tough moment as their forwards are struggling for form, new signings are taking time to settle, they’re lacking control in midfield and have been extremely disorganized defensively.
Van Dijk was asked by Pro Soccer Talk how important it is for Liverpool to not get carried away with this poor run of results, as they’ve been close to winning all three games they lost in the last week.
“I think I’ve been at the club for such a long time that we’ve been through many difficult situations, and we get out of it as well,” Van Dijk said. “So, obviously, it’s not for everyone easy to just accept it and move on, but the only thing we can do is focus on the next opportunity that we have and work on it. And now, obviously, everyone’s going to different countries. Everyone has their responsibilities to try and stay fit, do well for their countries.
“But when we come back, we have a very big game against Man United where I’m already looking very much forward to, and it’s an opportunity again that we can show what we have been showing already last year throughout the whole season, and that’s the reason why we became champions, made so many people around the world happy. And now, obviously, we need each other to get to that point again. Work is the basis to it, and finding consistency and sticking together.”
Perspective is also key. Despite losing back-to-back league games, Liverpool are only one point off the top of the Premier League table. They’ve won games late and lost games late this season amid plenty of inconsistent displays, but they could easily be perfect with seven wins from seven.
“Yeah, it’s about us seeing that perspective as players and staff. I want the fans also to see that perspective as well. But we live in a world where there’s so much noise going on, so you have to deal with that as well. And it’s down to us to keep working, to find results, stick together, find confidence,” Van Dijk said. “What I said already to you before, get clean sheets, score goals, what we have been doing last year and everyone was all happy and supporting. Now we have a little bit of a tough moment which can change pretty quickly. We have to work for it. That’s something we realize and we need to do it all together. Like we always have been doing over those years, especially when I’ve been at the club because I’ve been through up and downs. And that’s the only way out of it. It sounds maybe a bit simple, but that’s the only way to do it. Let’s go for it. Nobody wants to lose. No fan of us wants to come here and lose and go home and feel disappointed. So we have to keep going and stick together.”
Van Dijk bristled when asked questions by one journalist about Liverpool missing Trent Alexander-Arnold and trying so many different players at right back so far this season: “The right back is not the issue if you want to try and allude to that. You asked two questions about the right back. Maybe you feel like the right back is the problem.”
Liverpool are hurting and Van Dijk was asked if it’s now up to him, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and other experienced stars to step up in the days after the international break and ahead of the huge clash against Man United at Anfield, with plenty of other big games to come soon after.
“We have to make sure now that everyone stays fit and everyone has that responsibility themselves. And obviously, stay in form, or find form,” Van Dijk said. “And then when we come back, we purely focus on the task ahead, trying to beat Man United. It will be a cracking game, and I’m really looking forward to it. That’s then the focus. Now, you have to turn it to a different angle.”
It won’t feel like it for anyone involved with Liverpool at the moment, but there were positives to take from the defeat at Chelsea which can help them in a tough run of games after the international break. They created plenty of chances in the second half and could have easily won it as they went for the win late on, just like they did against Crystal Palace, and paid the price.
“Very tough, very tough,” Van Dijk said when asked how difficult the late defeat at Chelsea was to take. “It was a quite open game, of course, in the second half, especially. Both teams trying to go for the win. Obviously to concede like that it’s not a great feeling, especially going to the international break. Now, after a very tough what is it eight days it just confirmed, again, that there’s work to do. And it was always going to be a difficult season, and I’ve mentioned it from the very start already. So we have to go over this, we have to go through this as one. Not only us as players but also the staff, and our fans who celebrated being champions, which is something we shouldn’t forget. It is a bit ironic that we conceded in two different games at the last minute. There is still plenty of work to do. We know in football, every three or four days, things can change and momentum can change.”
Van Dijk was surprised when told this was the first time in Slot’s managerial career that he’s lost three games in a row — “Really? That means he did a good job in his career, eh?” — and revealed the Liverpool manager wants to focus on those positives from the second half against Chelsea to help them move forward.
“Obviously he’s disappointed that we lost in the last minute. But there are a lot of good things, especially in the second half, that we can build on,” Van Dijk explained. “But at the end of the day, we live in a results business. Losing is just a disappointment. We have to get back to work. Basically, that’s it. That’s the aim, that’s what we have to do, that’s the responsibility that we have.”