'What I said' - Virgil van Dijk lifts lid on…

'What I said' - Virgil van Dijk lifts lid on conversation with Liverpool team-mates after poor start

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk insists that everyone in and around the club must pull together while the team works through a difficult moment.

The Reds' underwhelming start to the new season got much worse on Wednesday evening after their Champions League Group Stage campaign began with a humbling 4-1 defeat at the hands of Napoli. Van Dijk was part of a defensive back-four that has come under fire for conceding three goals in the opening 45 minutes in lacklustre fashion as the Italians took full advantage of Liverpool's current defensive frailties.

But the Dutch international has called for a unified spirit while the players get to grips with their evident current shortcomings and look to put things right.

Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com after the match, he said: "(I'm) disappointed, of course. Tough one to take. We're not in the best shape, best situation but we're going to make this right – that's the confidence I have. We need each other, we need to stick together – not only us as players but the whole club.

"Obviously we've been through it all and that's the message. Obviously we're all human beings, we want to try to perform as good as we can, sometimes you can have a bad patch and at the moment we're in it. But I'm confident we can get out of this and enjoy our football again."

Liverpool have only won two of their first seven matches in all competitions this season and one of which was sealed with the last kick of the game against Newcastle United. It had been hoped that Jurgen Klopp's side could park their patchy Premier League form in order to get their Champions League quest off to a solid start, but that was not the case and with the home team smelling blood, Napoli conjured themselves up a famous victory in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Van Dijk - a Premier League and Champions League winner with the Reds - accepts standards must improve and explained how the team must approach turning their current form around.

He said: "Stick together, don't point fingers. Everyone knows that everyone can do better. What I said, we're not robots, we're trying to perform and you can have bad moments. It's how you deal with them and now we'll definitely have a good look at what happened tonight together, speak with each other and focus on the game ahead of us. It's good for us that there's a game quite quickly after this and hopefully (we) get a great performance and result."

Liverpool face Wolves at home in the Premier League next on Saturday before resuming their Champions League campaign at home to Ajax, where the Reds will now be looking to put the misery of Naples behind them by picking up a vital three points. Despite the below-par start, Van Dijk pointed out that there is a long way to go in the season.

He added: "It can change, definitely. There are so many games still to play but you wanted to have a good start. The situation is how it is. Next game in the Champions League will be Ajax at home and we need the fans, we need a good performance from us. It starts obviously on Saturday with a good opportunity against a good side as well, so we'll give everything.

"What I said, the key is to be together. We need everyone. If you start blaming others and don't look at yourself or create negativity around the club, then you're not getting out of this. I'm fully confident that we'll turn this around together."

READ NEXT

Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.

Already a member? Sign in here