Virgil van Dijk was visibly furious on the pitch as Liverpool slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Wolves and gave a scathing assessment of their performance post-match.
After a run of four consecutive wins and three in a row in the Premier League, the Reds lost predictably to the league’s bottom side on Tuesday night.
They created very little over the course of the game and were only spurred into action after Rodrigo Gomes’ goal in the 78th minute, with Mohamed Salah quickly responding for 1-1.
But after conceding another late goal to hand Wolves a 2-1 victory, Van Dijk could not hide his disappointment when speaking to TNT Sports.
“I think it’s down to ourselves,” he began.
“We were slow, we were predictable, sloppy in possession and wrong decision-making.
“Obviously we didn’t concede chances, but if you perform like that then a result like this could be a result of that, and that’s a fact and that’s disappointing.”
After breaking the narrative with a quick start against West Ham at the weekend it was back to the norm for Liverpool at Molineux.
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 3, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk reacts to conceding the opening goal during the FA Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Liverpool FC at Molineux Stadium. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Liverpool’s Slow Starts in 2025/26
Liverpool have only scored in the first half of 11 of their 29 league games this season.
The Reds have scored just five goals in the opening half-hour of Premier League games.
Asked about their slow starts the captain said: “The thing is there’s not one reason why that’s the case.
“The game nowadays in general will be overanalysed, why things are happening on the pitch.
“We as a team, we want to start the game as well as we can.
“Last game we did, today we had the majority of the possession but we were still making the wrong decisions and couldn’t find the end product.
“In the end it’s just disappointing that we lost it today.”
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 3, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk (L) and Wolverhampton Wanderers' goalkeeper and captain José Sá during the FA Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Liverpool FC at Molineux Stadium. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It is a quick turnaround for Liverpool and that could be seen as a positive as they return to Wolves on Friday night for an FA Cup fifth-round tie.
Clearly a response is needed and, as Van Dijk gave his verdict, the loss on Tuesday acts as a reminder that, despite their upturn in form of late, the Reds are still far from where they need to be.
“It was always going to be an ups and downs season for multiple reasons and the league is strong, the league is demanding, every three or four days it’s a big battle,” he continued.
“We need everyone at their best, we need a big squad in this sense and we need results.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve had the results and today we didn’t. It says that we still have work to do. That’s pretty obvious and what we should focus on.”
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