If Virgil van Dijk was feeling the pressure after a chastening week for Liverpool, he wasn't showing it in the bowels of Selhurst Park on Saturday evening.
As ever, the Dutchman fronted up with statesmanlike stoicism on behalf of his team-mates after a goalless affair at Crystal Palace saw the Reds miss the chance to really turn up the heat on fourth-place Tottenham before they beat Chelsea at home on Sunday afternoon.
A 5-2 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday night in the first leg of their last-16 tie in the Champions League was the eighth time Jurgen Klopp's players had conceded three goals or more this term and was their heaviest home loss in their storied European Cup history.
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Such was the collective defending against los Blancos that it brought out a strong criticism from the legendary Jamie Carragher in what amounted to a scathing assessment in his role as Champions League analyst for CBS last week.
“It’s not acceptable what we're watching this season,” Carragher said. “We keep looking for reasons and excuses, but no, it’s nowhere near good enough. What makes me laugh, I’m not that bothered but Virgil van Dijk said I wouldn’t get in that back four about two months ago – I think I’d take his place at the moment!
“Some of the players there…Joe Gomez tonight, we’ve all had bad nights as players and maybe I shouldn’t kick someone when they’re down because I’m sure he’ll feel terrible. But we keep talking about midfield players Liverpool need – and that’s right – I think Liverpool need defenders as well."
Having secured a third successive Premier League clean sheet at the weekend, Van Dijk insisted such critiques, both from a personal and a team perspective, do little to knock him out of his stride.
"What do I think of [criticism]? Nothing," he says. "It doesn't hurt. It's not easy, let's keep it that way. If you watch our games, you can see everyone is trying their best. As football players and a club, you can always have a difficult situation and we shouldn't forget that as well. It's how you deal with the situation.
"The last four or five years we have been spoiled with everything that has been going on, winning all the trophies available. We had a season last year where we were competing until the last day for all the trophies so to have this bumpy season so far is a big shock to everyone, especially everyone connected to the club and people around Liverpool and for us as well."
For all the talk of Van Dijk being below his best at times this term, he is still, by a considerable distance, the most dependable centre-half Jurgen Klopp has. A crisis of confidence has taken hold of both Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, while Ibrahima Konate has struggled with injuries all season, which has limited him to just five Premier League appearances as a result.
It is also no coincidence that Van Dijk's return to the team after six weeks out with a hamstring problem has resulted in clean sheets against Newcastle and Palace, even if Matip and Gomez helped shut out the limited threat of the inexperienced Ellis Simms in the Merseyside derby prior to that.
Liverpool enjoyed a strong, settled centre-back department last season. With Van Dijk back to his imperious best after ACL surgery in October 2020, Konate emerging as one of the finest young centre-halves in Europe and an injury-free Gomez providing high-quality back-up alongside Nat Phillips at a time when Matip was enjoying his longest stretch without any fitness concerns, Klopp had an embarrassment of riches at the back.
Things are considerably different this time around, even if the same players remain. Talk of the need to improve the options has gathered momentum in recent weeks, with RB Leipzig's impressive youngster Josko Gvardiol being linked as a result.
A fully-fledged star of the Croatia national team at just 21, the World Cup semi-finalist is currently operating at a high level with RB Leipzig, a club who Liverpool share a healthy relationship with. It would be no shock if Gvardiol is someone who the Reds' recruitment department have assessed.
Whether the anticipated Anfield rebuild reaches the defence this summer remains to be seen, but if Klopp does decide to rejig his options at the back, Van Dijk will still be counted on to lead from next season onwards.
And while the Netherlands captain says he feels fine after that setback suffered in the first half of the defeat at Brentford on January 2, he also accepts he is being judged against his own often otherworldly standards, set during much of the past five years as a Liverpool player.
"I am fine and I try to play as much as I can at the highest level I can but we have set quite high standards and people try to hold me to that and that is what I try to do. It's not just for the people who keep me to the highest standard," Van Dijk adds as he speaks pitch-side after the Palace game.
"I do it for the football club and try to be in the best shape. I try to make sure of that every day and that is what nobody sees, coming back from the injury and the big injury before and now this one, six weeks out, and when you're playing full games at 90 minutes is something I am very proud of and I work very hard for that.
"Obviously we're Liverpool and we want to win and that is what we tried. It's a difficult place to come and we are fighting this season and it is a bumpy season so far, so yes, to get a clean sheet away from home is a very positive thing. We come here to win because we want to qualify for the Champions League again and that is what we didn't do. We recover now and focus on Wolves. We try to find consistency and that is all we can do. Like I said, a clean sheet was a positive thing today."
The post-match chat, inevitably, turns to Liverpool's now overriding aim of reaching the top four in the Premier League. With no FA Cup left to chase and a Champions League miracle needed in Madrid next month, the Reds surely have just the top four available to them to ensure there is at least some reward for their efforts.
"We kept a clean sheet so I am happy with that but I think about the football club and I want to win," Van Dijk says. "I want to be able to qualify for the Champions League and this football club belongs in the Champions League. So that's my main focus and if I am playing right and the rest of the team is playing right then we get results and that is what we try.
"Can we make it? Yes. But we need to step up and get results. Today was an important game and we didn't lose but it was a game we wanted to win very much, especially after wanting to bounce back from the midweek game. Now we want the chance to have two home games in a row. We need the fans, we need big performances and we need a result as well. So we will prepare.
"Of course [we're in this together], it's the only way out of this and we realise that. And we have to show that on the pitch and there have been games this season where we have been good and we get what we deserve but obviously there have been games where we haven't been good enough or the luck wasn't on our side.
"That is part of this bumpy season but the only way to get over this is to be positive, focus on the next game and enjoy ourselves in the moment being out there. It's a privilege to be out there and that is what we need to realise as well."
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