Virgil van Dijk has not held back when talking after Liverpool's dreadful Premier League defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon
Virgil van Dijk has issued a warning to his Liverpool team-mates(Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)View Image
Virgil van Dijk has questioned whether the Liverpool squad are taking on the collective responsibility of dragging Arne Slot's side out of a "mess" the captain accepts should not be happening to defending Premier League champions.
And he believes any player who doesn't have the appetite to fight through the current adversity is in the "wrong place" at Anfield while admitting the team are letting down their head coach.
The Reds slumped to an abject new low of a tortuous season when they were beaten 3-0 at home by lowly Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon.
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It matched the margin of their heaviest-ever home Premier League defeat and was a sixth loss in their last seven top-flight games, and the first time since 1965 they had lost successive league matches by a margin of at least three goals having been thumped by the same scoreline at Manchester City a fortnight ago.
Liverpool are now in the bottom half of the table for the first time in a decade with the pressure building on Slot to arrest a slide that has prompted talk in some quarters of a change in the dugout.
And Van Dijk has pulled no punches when quizzed on the poor form of the Anfield side and their backing of the head coach.
"We are definitely letting him down but we've let ourselves down as well," he said. "You look at yourself first and then you help each other get out of this mess because at the moment it is a mess – that's just a fact.
"As the champions we can't be in the situation we are in right now but it's a fact. What are we going to do about it? We're going to try to turn it around and that's the mentality everyone should have."
When asked if there was an angry mood in the dressing room after the Forest defeat, Van Dijk responded: “Yeah, you should be angry. The main thing for me is that everyone has to take responsibility.
"Are people doing that? I don't know. But you have to do that. It's the main thing I want the boys to do. It's not easy during difficult times but we have to do it if we want to get out of this.
"What I want is for everyone to take responsibility on the pitch. We have to do that in order to push each other, to make each other better. When someone is pressing, you have to follow the press.
"It's basic things but it's not happening enough. We have to get back to that. It's easy to maybe just think about your own situation rather than the collective side when things are not going well."
Van Dijk added: "Thinking about last year, which I don't like to do that much, we had a new manager and no-one knew what to expect and the consistency we had was incredible.
"This season we don't have any consistency, we concede far too many goals, we are losing battles and everyone is responsible for it and I hope everyone sees that. We have to take responsibility to turn this around and it is easy to point fingers but you have to do it together.
"We have been through it together and won the league and everyone was part of it and happy and when you go through a tough time you have to stick together and not point fingers, you have to be a man and face the toughness and go again, again and again because if you want to give up then you are at the wrong place in my eyes because this club has been going through many adversities over those years and we've always come out of it.
"But it doesn't mean it is easy, it's tiring but there is no other way. Wednesday (against PSV Eindhoven at home in the Champions League) is another game so what am I going to do, go home and cry? No, I'm going to go home and try to think how we can turn this around and hopefully that is what everyone is doing as well."
Liverpool had 74% possession against Forest but managed only four shots on target from 21 they attempted, and have now failed to score in consecutive league games for the first time since February 2023.
They have kept only three Premier League clean sheets this season and, with 20 goals shipped in 12 top-flight matches, have had their worst such defensive start to a season since 1992.
It was only the fifth time Van Dijk had been on the losing side in a home league game after arriving at Liverpool almost eight years ago.
And he said: “Was it as bad as it's been this season? Yeah. You can't lose 3-0 at home. If you see the 30 minutes we played that says we still had a very good performance but football isn't played over 30 minutes and that showed.
"We conceded and panic kicks in. As a team, you have to try to stay calm and do the right things. But we didn't do that and that's hard to accept. We were nervous in the way we played. We were trying to force things.
"And the way we started the second half was just unacceptable. Going into half-time you discuss what you want to do in the second half. Then to concede such an easy goal and find yourself 2-0 down, it's a totally different story. It's difficult.
"You have to be mentally strong and keep going. You have to find the calmness to create chances and be clinical in front of goal. But we didn't do that and Forest were also physically winning so many battles against us.
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"Overall a very disappointing afternoon and something that is hard to take. It's the reality. I'm not a quitter. I will never quit. I will keep going but it doesn't mean it isn't tough to take. The realisation is we are in a very difficult moment."