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Virgil van Dijk has urged his Liverpool teammates to improve following back-to-back defeats, but has insisted there’s no need for them to panic.
The Reds fell to a 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in Istanbul on Tuesday - their first in the Champions League this season, and their second loss in just a matter of days following their first reverse of the campaign at Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Once again, it was a disappointing display from Arne Slot’s players, who rarely looked like getting back into the game following Victor Osimhen’s first-half penalty, and it produced more headaches for the Liverpool boss than just the defeat.
Alisson Becker and Hugo Ekitike both gave the Reds major injury scares as they were both forced off during the second half. Although there isn’t as much concern over the latter, Slot has already ruled Alisson out of Saturday’s trip to Chelsea, with the full extent of the goalkeeper’s problem yet to be revealed.
It’s the manner in which Liverpool fell to a second defeat in just a matter of days though that has a lot of supporters concerned, with a number of stars still not reaching their potential this season.
Speaking to Amazon Prime after last night’s game, Van Dijk said: "It is difficult to say at the moment [if Galatasaray deserved the win]. They got the penalty and opportunities through our mistakes. A bit sloppy.
"We took the risk in possession and tried to find the spare man in midfield. That comes with risk.
"We broke through to the last line many times, and we maybe have to do better there. In those moments, we made the wrong decisions, they break on us and become dangerous.
"Losing is bad, these two games don't feel nice. I have been in the game a long time, it's about working and keeping your head down."
Liverpool will be hoping to bounce back immediately as it returns to Premier League action on Saturday, although a tough trip to Chelsea will provide another stern test for a group of players that still haven’t found their feet.
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Asked how far his side was from the authority it showed last season, Van Dijk responded: "I think we have showed it already in many games this season, but we haven't shown it for the full 90 minutes yet, unfortunately. I
"t is absolutely normal and nowadays you don't get the time from the outside world, so you have to be strong mentally.
"I am very confident, we have to keep working and sticking together. We had a good start this year in terms of points tally.
"There shouldn't be panic, but improvement is needed."
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