‘I’m responsible’ – Slot shoulders the blame as Liverpool dismantled 3-0 at Anfield
Video credit: SNTV
Virgil van Dijk delivered a scathing assessment of Liverpool’s season after Saturday’s chastening 3-0 Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest.Arne Slot’s side succumbed to a sixth defeat in their last seven league games, leaving their title defence in disarray.It is a far cry from the optimism which surrounded the club following their big-spending summer in the transfer market, after bolstering a title-winning squad with the acquisitions of Alexander Isak, Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez, taking their spending to almost £450million.
But Liverpool could now be 11 points adrift of league leaders Arsenal if they beat Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, and Van Dijk called upon his players to overturn their current slump.
He said: “We are definitely letting him [Slot] down, but we’ve let ourselves down as well.
“You look at yourself first, and then you help each other, 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. 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.”
The Dutchman insists now is not the time to “point fingers,” and says that togetherness is now needed to get past their tough patch.
“It is easy to point fingers, but you have to do it together,” Van Dijk said.
“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.
“It’s easy to maybe just think about your own situation rather than the collective side when things are not going well.
“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 gone through much adversity 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.”
Focus now shifts to the UEFA Champions League and a clash against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield on Wednesday – live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
The Reds have fared better in Europe – winning three and losing one of their four league phase matches to date, providing an ideal opportunity to bounce back quickly.
He added: “Wednesday [at home to PSV Eindhoven 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.”
When asked about the prospect of holding another players’ meeting, having previously done so in the aftermath of October’s defeat to Manchester United, he replied: “These things I don’t plan now, but let’s see how I am when I think about it, and hopefully the rest of the guys also think about how we can turn this around because I think the realisation is we are in a very difficult moment.”
