Virgil van Dijk has issued a brutal statement on Liverpool's current situation after the Reds were beaten 3-0 at home by Nottingham Forest in the Premier League
Neil Docking and Ian Doyle
15:01, 23 Nov 2025
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says the champions' players are letting themselves and manager Arne Slot down
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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says the champions' players are letting themselves and manager Arne Slot down(Image: PA)
Virgil van Dijk has demanded to know whether the Liverpool squad are shouldering the collective burden of hauling Arne Slot's team out of a "mess".
The Dutch defender reckons any player lacking the stomach to battle through the current crisis is at the "wrong place" at Anfield, while confessing the team are failing their manager Arne Slot. The Reds plunged to a shocking new nadir in what has been a gruelling campaign when they were thrashed 3-0 at home by struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon.
The defeat equalled their heaviest-ever Premier League loss at Anfield and marked a sixth reverse in their past seven league outings. It is the first occasion since 1965 they had suffered back-to-back league defeats by three goals or more, following their identical hammering at Manchester City a fortnight ago.
Liverpool now find themselves languishing in the bottom half for the first time in ten years with mounting pressure on Slot to halt a decline that has sparked speculation in certain circles about a managerial change, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Van Dijk hasn't minced his words when pressed about the Merseyside club's woeful form and their support for their head coach.
It's now six defeats in seven for the Premier League champions
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It's now six defeats in seven for the Premier League champions(Image: Getty)
The Reds captain said: "We are definitely letting him down but we've let ourselves down as well. 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 questioned about whether there was fury in the changing room following the Forest loss, Van Dijk replied: "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."
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been unable to find the answers to address their woeful form
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Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been unable to find the answers to address their woeful form(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Van Dijk continued: "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."
Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool at Etihad Stadium on November 09, 2025 in Manchester, England.
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Virgil van Dijk is dismayed by Liverpool's poor form(Image: Michael Regan, Getty Images)
The Reds dominated possession with 74% against Forest yet could only muster four efforts on target from 21 attempts, marking their first failure to find the net in back-to-back league fixtures since February 2023.
The Merseyside outfit have managed just three Premier League clean sheets this campaign and, having conceded 20 goals in 12 top-flight encounters, are enduring their most porous defensive beginning to a season since 1992.
It marked merely the fifth occasion Van Dijk had tasted defeat in a home league match since his Anfield arrival almost eight years ago. He lamented: "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."