Virgil van Dijk has reacted to the criticism Liverpool are facing, that they should have kicked the ball out to get Wataru Endo on before Bournemouth‘s second goal.
Joe Gomez‘s collision with Alisson as Bournemouth opened the scoring left the defender with an injured knee and unable to continue.
With the centre-back limping around the edge of the pitch while Wataru Endo prepared to come on, Ryan Gravenberch filled in next to Van Dijk.
Arne Slot and Sipke Hulshoff could be seen asking their team to get the ball off so they could make a change, but seven minutes later, they still hadn’t managed it and Alex Jimenez doubled Bournemouth‘s lead.
BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - Saturday, January 24, 2026: Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk (L) speaks to referee Michael Salisbury during the FA Premier League match between Bournemouth AFC and Liverpool FC at Dean Court. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Van Dijk told Sky Sports: “When we got to 10 men you can argue that you have to maybe kick the ball out or not, but yeah, to concede that two goals in a short period is obviously not good at all.”
The captain was then asked whether Liverpool’s goalkeeper should have kicked the ball out, to which he said: No, no, no. It’s not on Alisson.
“I think as a team, maybe. Obviously, after a game, after a moment like that, it’s easy to say, ‘You should have done this or that’.
“It is a very split-second [decision]. It’s easy to discuss this and say, ‘You should have done this or that’, and I know that’s what will happen.
“But we decided to keep the ball because we had the possession, and eventually they had it and obviously a good ball from them in behind and unfortunately for us a goal conceded.”
Slot shed some more light on the situation, explaining that Gomez had initially tried to continue and once he had decided he couldn’t continue, Liverpool didn’t have a chance to put it out.
“You can’t bring a player on sooner if the ball’s not out of play,” said Slot.
“The moment when he was injured, he said he wants to keep on trying, but when he started playing he said, ‘No, no, it’s not possible. I can’t go back in’.
“We had the chance because we were quite a long time in ball possession and the moment we lost it, it took us a long time.”