Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk had been talking for two minutes and 10 seconds without interruption but still had one more thing to add: “Sorry for the long answer.”
The admirably composed centre back had nothing to apologise for after calmly dismantling the hysteria which has swirled around the reigning Premier League champions over the past month. Van Dijk, in his role as club captain, has been exposed to the brunt of public scrutiny during his frequent, unwanted, media duties at a time of unprecedented struggles for Liverpool in the modern era.
Five consecutive defeats to English opposition for the first time in 72 years had fans, pundits and even some Liverpool players fearing the worst.
A convincing 2–0 victory at home to Aston Villa on Saturday night helped dampen some of the doom-mongering and served as the platform for Van Dijk to take aim at these “ridiculous takes.”
“Even in good times, you have to still keep going and don’t take our foot off the gas,” the Dutch skipper told TNT Sports. “What I’ve noticed over the last few weeks is that there’s a lot of noise that you have no control over and we have to deal with that as a team. Some of the takes are ridiculous, but you deal with it.”
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher notably warned that it was “crisis time” for his past employers after they were meekly undone by Brentford’s direct approach last weekend. Van Dijk revealed that this very high-profile criticism can penetrate the sanctity of Liverpool’s squad, but stressed for level heads going forward.
“Outside noise can reach certain players,” he admitted, “but we stick together. We are not going out on the pitch to lose games or leave fans disappointed, we want to work our socks off and win games. But it’s not a guarantee, the Premier League is the highest level.
“Now it’s time to start working, never get too high or too low. We live in a world where everyone can have their own opinions on so many platforms and they know better. We have to stay away from that and focus on the hard work we are doing.
“Last season, we did some negative stuff but everything was all sunshine and rainbows everywhere. Now it sounds like we’re going to be in a relegation battle—that’s how it works in the world.”
To underscore the many salient points Van Dijk made, that solitary win took Liverpool back up to third in the Premier League table.
Arne Slot: Liverpool Got Lucky
While Van Dijk took Saturday’s win as a moment to shoot down some critics, Liverpool manager Arne Slot was in no mood for grand displays of confidence.
“The margins are small every single game—today after five minutes they hit the post,” the Dutch boss fretted to Match of the Day. “We didn’t concede a set piece, which was helpful, but also we got a bit lucky which hasn’t happened recently. Our second goal was a deflection.”
For all Slot’s attempts at circumspection, Liverpool were well worth their win. Mohamed Salah put the hosts in front at the end of a first half they had dominated, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Ibrahima Konaté missing clear chances before the Egyptian forward fired in.
Ryan Gravenberch added another in the 58th minute during a second half which was defined by that familiar sense of control Liverpool exerted for so much of last season. There was precious little goalmouth action and that was just how Slot wanted it.
“The good thing about being 1–0 or 2–0 up [is] you can control the game a bit better with more possession, but if you are down you have to chase the game and take risks and get counter-attacked,” Slot mused.
“I think everyone who was here today felt the importance of the game, the players and fans as well. We showed character and won the game.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Virgil van Dijk Delivers Brutal Takedown in Two-Minute Monologue.
