Virgil van Dijk caused quite the stir with a claim he made in the aftermath of the defeat to Man City, and even Florian Wirtz is taking issue.
The German was actually one of the better performers on the day, at least until the fixture was put out of reach early in the second half. The overall team display has drawn plenty of criticism, with even Van Dijk suggesting Liverpool gave up.
That wasn’t received well in the media, with Nicky Butt laying into Van Dijk over his comments, as well as Steve Nicol, Paul Scholes and Phil Jagielka. Wirtz didn’t make any outrageous statement against his captain, but did go as far as to disagree.
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It’s understandable that Van Dijk was angry after the game, though a sizeable portion of the blame should be thrown his way.
As for his comment about the players losing motivation, not everyone is on that theory.
In his pre-match press conference ahead of PSG, Wirtz said: “I didn’t know what Virgil said [about giving up at City], but I don’t agree directly. We still tried to create chances to turn the game around. Of course, when the game gets longer, 80th minute and 4-0 back, it’s mentally difficult to go and go.”
It’s not something to overreact at. Wirtz made the statement with a calm demeanour, and it’s exactly what fans want to hear. Not that their team threw in the towel, even if it did admittedly look that way.
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It would be a leap to suggest this is the sign of a dressing room rift. Rather, the positive way to look at it is the 22-year-old having a head on his shoulders, willing to form and express his own opinions.
The comments made by Van Dijk were fairly criticised. It’s not how a leader should be talking.
Slot was next to speak, and he was asked about the same incident.
He backed his fellow countryman, saying: “At 4-0 City seemed to be OK with it, but I didn’t see players giving up. But I feel it is good for the captain to have a strong reaction like that, so I hope we can be strong tomorrow.”
Most likely, it was a heat-of-the-moment reaction about a poor, poor performance — one they can’t afford to repeat at the Parc des Princes.
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