Alan Shearer takes aim at Virgil van Dijk and claims there's 'big problems' at Liverpool

Alan Shearer wasn't at all impressed with Virgil van Dijk or Liverpool during the Reds' defeat to Bournemouth, with the Match of the Day pundit delivering a blunt verdict on the performance

Alan Shearer wasn't at all impressed by Liverpool in its defeat to Bournemouth(Image: BBC Sport)

Alan Shearer took aim at Virgil van Dijk and his fellow defenders as he claimed Liverpool has “gone soft” following its defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

It was yet another disappointing result in the Premier League as the Reds’ poor season suffered another low with a 3-2 defeat at the Vitality Stadium. Amine Adli scrambled the ball home in stoppage time to sentence the visitors to a seventh league defeat already this season after Van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai had brought them level from 2-0 down.

Although it was Liverpool’s first defeat in 14 games across all competitions, Arne Slot’s side has now won just five of its last 18 league outings, leaving yet more questions as their top-four bid continues to falter.

Despite his goal, it was an afternoon to forget for Van Dijk. The Liverpool captain was certainly at fault for the opener after failing to clear a long ball into the penalty area, and he didn’t cover himself in glory for either of Bournemouth’s other goals.

The Dutchman came in for some heavy criticism from former Newcastle and England striker Shearer on the BBC’s Match of the Day, as did the rest of Liverpool’s back four.

“Liverpool have gone soft, and certainly today were far too easy to play against, particularly defensively,” Shearer said.

It was a night to forget for Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool against Bournemouth(Image: Getty Images)

“I mean, the first goal, there are so many things wrong with it, it’s incredible. Yes, we’ll have a pop at Van Dijk for his two errors here. He should clear it, there’s no doubt about that, and then he should block it after his error, and he doesn’t.

“Every problem Liverpool had stems from this situation. Yep, we’ve had a pop at Van Dijk, and rightly so, but just watch the two fullbacks, [Milos] Kerkez and [Jeremie] Frimpong, and [Joe] Gomez in the middle here.

“I mean, I don’t know what Frimpong’s thinking, where he’s going. Smell the danger, sense the danger, look at Kerkez.”

It wasn’t just Liverpool’s defenders that came in for criticism from Shearer, with Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo also in the firing line after wasting a number of promising openings.

“I just wonder where the killer instinct has gone,” Shearer continued. “The two goals they got today were set-pieces, fine, but they got into some decent positions as well and I’m thinking ‘okay, put the ball in the back of the net’.

“They get into good positions, but they were so wasteful, and that’s why I say they’ve gone soft.”

The Reds have taken just four points from their last five league games as they’ve failed to strengthen their hold on the top four, and with Manchester United, Chelsea, Brentford and Newcastle all playing on Sunday, they could find themselves as low as eighth by the end of the weekend.

“Those results, I know they’re draws, but when you’re not beating Leeds, you’re not beating Fulham, you’re not beating Burnley, the Arsenal performance was a good one, but that tells you there’s big problems at Anfield,” Shearer concluded.