Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk accepts responsibility for slump

LONDON: Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has insisted that there is no problem related to unity in the team. He admitted that, as Premier League champions, we have not been good enough consistently and have to accept the criticism.

Liverpool have struggled so far this season and are sixth in the Premier League. The Reds have secured their first victory after five winless games in the league on Saturday as they sank Newcastle United 4-1.

For the past few weeks, Liverpool’s manager has been criticised a lot, and Van Dijk said that criticism is part and parcel of the game. “It’s like us players as well — if you don’t perform you get criticism and that’s part and parcel of the game,” Van Dijk said.

“We have to perform. That’s what we didn’t do on a consistent basis but we speak about that every three or four days unfortunately. “On Saturday was a good performance and the same for midweek [against Qarabag]. Now it’s down to us to work this week on Man City and do that again.” Virgil van Dijk added that, as Premier League champions, we have not performed well and we have to accept the criticism.

He said that there has been no issue about unity in the camp, but accepted that there are challenges and everyone is dealing with them. “The matter of fact is we are Premier League champions and we have not been good enough on a consistent basis. That’s just a fact. The criticism comes and that’s something we just have to accept. We just have to keep going,” Van Dijk added.

“I don’t think there has been any question about [togetherness] internally. I don’t think there’s any disharmony. There are obviously challenges that happen and everyone is dealing with certain situations in a different way.” Web Desk