Virgil van Dijk insisted Liverpool should not panic despite back-to-back defeats for only the second time under Arne Slot at Galatasaray. Injuries to Alisson and Hugo Ekitiké added to Liverpool’s worries as their head coach defended the performance and his decision to rest Mohamed Salah in Istanbul.
Victor Osimhen’s first-half penalty condemned Liverpool to defeat in the Champions League. The Premier League leaders had relinquished their 100% winning start to the season at Crystal Palace on Saturday but Van Dijk was adamant that a remodelled team will recapture title-winning form.
The Liverpool captain said: “I think we have showed it already in many games this season but we haven’t shown it for the full 90 minutes yet unfortunately. It is absolutely normal and nowadays you don’t get the time from the outside world so you have to be strong mentally.
“I am very confident. We have to keep working and sticking together. We had a good start this year in terms of points tally. There shouldn’t be panic, but improvement is needed.”
Slot confirmed that the goalkeeper Alisson will miss the trip to Chelsea on Saturday with a muscle problem. Ekitiké was also withdrawn in the second half with an unspecified injury, after going down holding the back of his leg late on.
“Alisson felt something when he sprinted back,” Slot said. “Normally when a player sprints back and feels something and goes to the floor and doesn’t come back to the pitch – which by the way they did 112 times being injured and coming back on the pitch without any pain – then I fear the worst and that is what happened with Alisson. He will not be able to play Saturday, 99.9%.”
As for Liverpool’s latest defeat, the head coach said: “For me it was a different loss to the one we had against Palace because there was a lot more to like, especially in the first half.
“In the second half it became harder and harder for us to create because first of all they were fighting with all they had and you have to give credit to them, and secondly the ball was hardly in play in the second half.”
Slot said he rested Salah until the 62nd minute to avoid risking injury following the forward’s recent workload.
