Virgil van Dijk has dismissed the scrutiny of Liverpool’s form by “ex-players” in expert roles, while praising the “one and only Joel Matip” for their latest winner.
After the 4-1 defeat against Napoli last Wednesday, an inquiry was made through the media, among the fans and even inside the locker room.
Jurgen Klopp described it as the worst defeat of his tenure, while the players admitted the blame with Jordan Henderson, who did not feature in Italy, taking responsibility for the Reds’ dismal form.
Fortunately, they showed a reaction when Matip’s late header sealed a 2-1 victory over Ajax in the Champions League, and Van Dijk was grateful that his partner in central defense was able to seize one of the many chances that came his way. They presented a set piece.
“I should have scored,” he admitted.
“We felt like we were dangerous on every set piece. It was our responsibility for us to turn one, and luckily, the one and only Joel Matip did it!”
On the overall victory, Van Dijk added: “Obviously, coming back from the horror show in Naples, it was very important for us to show a positive reaction.
“It’s not easy to turn it around, but this is a step in the right direction in my opinion.
I think during the game [we had] great moments, something to work on.
“It was very important to win today and have that good feeling ahead of the international break.”
The emotion on Matip’s face, and that of his teammates, made it clear how relieved it was to regain victory after the tie had seemed to fade to a 1-1 draw.
It keeps Liverpool firmly in the Group A race, and could serve as a huge boost on their return home to Brighton on 1 October.
Had they lost again, of course, it would have been a long three weeks to reflect on their recent results, and Van Dijk took offense at the criticism from former players in the media.
“Not listening to the outside world, that’s the most important thing!” He explained.
“Sometimes it’s funny, you know, because there are a lot of ex-football players out there and they know exactly what we’re going through, but they say a lot of things to try to bring us down.
“We know exactly that last week was unacceptable, it was very bad and we tried to correct it.
“This is a step in the right direction, don’t get carried away of course, because we played so many games, now is the time to focus on the national teams, or take a well deserved break for a while, and then get on with the rest.
