Virgil van Dijk hits out at 'sloppy' Liverpool stars and defends Arne Slot

Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk issued a battle cry to his teammates, admitting they must ditch their “sloppy” performances to stay in the title race. The Reds captain stressed the need for determination as they prepare for the Mersey derby, with coach Arne Slot’s side yet to suffer a defeat this season.

Following the intense 3-3 draw with Newcastle at St James’ Park, where Liverpool fought back valiantly only for Fabian Schar to score a last-minute equaliser, both Slot and Van Dijk have pinpointed the team’s subdued first-half showing as an area for improvement. They exchanged stern words at half-time, which appeared to trigger a powerful second-half response.

With the Premier League campaign fraught with potential pitfalls, Van Dijk emphasised the importance of “winning battles, winning duels, winning 50/50 challenges” to maintain their momentum. While addressing his contract renewal, the Dutch centre-back revealed there was “nothing” new to report but focused more on the collective performance, concluding: “It was a poor first half as a collective, with and without the ball, second half I think we showed what we’re capable of.

“We started winning our battles and 50-50 challenges and obviously scored the goals but unfortunately we couldn’t get over the line.”

Van Dijk explained that the Reds’ first-half struggles at St James’ Park were down to their failure to win individual battles on the pitch. He said: “What was lacking? Challenges. You know when you play here they have an extra edge to their game, their fans feed them, they win their challenges and we were not good at that at all and Newcastle created momentum. At times we were sloppy in possession but we had 50 minutes to put it right and we did but unfortunately didn’t get over the line.

“At half-time I had a few things to say and others as well. You can talk about tactics but it was about winning battles and duels and second ball fights and putting them under pressure. We did that in the second half but it wasn’t enough to win the game.”

Looking ahead to the Everton game, Van Dijk was reminded that the Toffees’ win at Anfield last season effectively ended Liverpool’s title challenge. He replied: “Who said that? The Everton fans can chant whatever they want!”

“I knew already that we were going to have ups and downs throughout the whole season. This is not a real down, but it feels a bit disappointing. We go home now and tomorrow we’ll be back fresh and ready to attack the next challenge.”

Van Dijk has stoked the competitive fires insisting the title race is far from over, as Liverpool close in on the leaders with a critical seven-point gap.

“You have to maybe say it to all the people who are speaking about the gap we have created,” he commented. After Mohamed Salah’s stellar performance that featured two goals and an assist for Curtis Jones’ strike, Van Dijk praised his teammate: “I want him to be important like he was for us again in the second half and Saturday is another big one so he can keep going.”

The Liverpool defender also had words of encouragement for goalie Caoimhin Kelleher following his last-minute error leading to Newcastle’s goal: “These things unfortunately happen in football and he has to keep going. Don’t listen to the reaction of people, they will be very harsh on him in my opinion. There will always be people out there … but he’s had an outstanding season so far he has to keep going and we need him ready and fully focused again to be out on the pitch in how many hours is it now? He’ll learn from this like we all have to learn from the first half especially to be ready for a very, very big one on Saturday which is going to be very tough.

“You have to maybe say it to all the people who are speaking about the gap we have created.

“I want him to be important like he was for us again in the second half and Saturday is another big one so he can keep going.

“These things unfortunately happen in football and he has to keep going. Don’t listen to the reaction of people, they will be very harsh on him in my opinion. There will always be people out there … but he’s had an outstanding season so far he has to keep going and we need him ready and fully focused again to be out on the pitch in how many hours is it now? He’ll learn from this like we all have to learn from the first half especially to be ready for a very, very big one on Saturday which is going to be very tough.”