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Liverpool duo Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have come out of their rough spells over the last couple of games.
That's the view of former Chelsea star Gus Poyet, who believes the pair may have relaxed after signing new contracts earlier in the year. Van Dijk and Salah faced criticism for their performances at the beginning of the campaign, but the Reds produced two of their best performances of the season, against Aston Villa on Saturday and against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Salah scored in the win over Villa, while Van DIjk was part of a defense that has kept two clean sheets in a row after previously going seven weeks without one. “When talking about Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, you need to remember the situation last year, when both players needed their contracts renewing,” Poyet told BetWright.
“Nobody knew what was happening behind the scenes, and there was a lot of uncertainty – but they both ended up staying at the club and won the league in Arne Slot’s first season.
“Both Salah and Van Dijk continue to hold a lot of responsibility at the club; one is the leader at the back of the pitch and the other is the leader at the front, who is responsible for making the difference and scoring goals.
"When a player signs a new contract, they relax a little bit because the negotiations are over and everything is signed. But you can’t afford to relax in the Premier League!
“Salah and Van Dijk are two incredible professionals, and I think they know they’ve had a few poor games, but I think their rough patch is over based on what I saw in their last game.”
Poyet also addressed the struggles of most of Liverpool's new signings — the Reds spent heavily over the summer, but Hugo Ekitike is the only new player who has hit the ground running.
“Normally, when we see a coach like Jurgen Klopp leave a club, we expect the succeeding manager to struggle a bit to ‘fill the void’ left by the previous manager,” he said.
“But that didn’t happen with Liverpool and Arne Slot; they went and won the league!
"Then they spent a lot of money in the transfer window, and the expectation was that they’d go and do it again – but now we’re seeing the opposite in their performances and results.
“The players they brought in needed time to adjust to the new style of Slot and the Premier League – that process is hindered when you lose one or two games, and then before you know it, you’re in a spiral.
“Something fans don’t normally pay too much attention to is the impact of a transfer on foreign players. It’s not easy to adjust to the Premier League and everyone is different, in terms of character, families and clubs.
"Some players might need a few weeks to adjust, others maybe months! So it’s never as simple as a player not performing well just for the sake of form; there’s always other factors at play.”
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