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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
George Smith

Virgil van Dijk identifies 'only positive' from 'unacceptable' Liverpool defeat to Watford

Centre-back Virgil van Dijk is adamant that Liverpool will "strike back strongly" following Saturday evening's shock 3-0 defeat to Watford at Vicarage Road.

Liverpool suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season, and a first since January 2019, in devastating fashion, as Nigel Pearson's relegation-threatened Hornets netted three second-half goals to leave Jurgen Klopp's side stunned.

Explaining what just went wrong for Liverpool in Hertfordshire, van Dijk told Sky Sports: "If you concede three goals, that’s something we have not had for quite a while, so obviously we have to improve as a team. We will.

"Obviously it’s very tough to take this one, but I think the only positive might be that we have an FA Cup game in a couple of days again. So it is what it is."

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Since the Premier League winter break, Liverpool have been far from their best, losing to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and conceding two goals at home to West Ham United on Monday.

Though some people are suggesting that Liverpool are suffering from a dip in form, Van Dijk batted away those claims.

"The last game was one set-piece and one good goal, today we should have been better," he continued.

"If you look at the whole season we’ve been pretty good defensively, the most clean sheets in the league, but we know there is room for improvement.

"And we will, that’s the good thing about our mentality."

Shouldering the responsibilty of being captain once again in the absence of Jordan Henderson, the Dutchman issued a rallying cry to his team-mates.

He added: “We don’t walk away from this. It’s unacceptable that we lose 3-0, and the way we did as well.

"Keep going, we want to win the next game ahead of us. If we want to strike back we need to show what we’ve been doing all season.

"The whole season we didn’t last a game like this, I think they did very well but we should have done better. How I said, we want to strike back strongly, and we will as well."

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