Virgil van Dijk details 'angry' Arne Slot reaction to Wolves loss with blunt Liverpool verdict

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was left frustrated by his side dropping more points in the race for the Champions League spots, squandering an opportunity against Wolves

Virgil van Dijk during Liverpool's 2-1 defeat at Wolves.(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Virgil van Dijk says Arne Slot was rightly furious after Liverpool conceded a match-winning goal in stoppage time for the fifth time in the Premier League this season, this time at Wolves.

Mohamed Salah, scoring for the first time in the league in three months, had pulled the Reds level after Rodrigo Gomes' opener, but it was Wolves that ended up scoring a second after a basketball finish ensued.

"Yeah, he was angry," Van Dijk told reporters at Molineux. "Of course. He had every right because we played poorly.

"That was already the case in the first half. Second half maybe there was more urgency but it still wasn't good enough. He had every right to be angry. We have to pretty quickly turn this into full focus on Friday. That's our responsibility physically and mentally.

"Based on our performance up until they scored their first goal, we deserved to go 1-0 behind. We were very poor.

"We were too slow and predictable in possession. We made the wrong decisions. We didn't concede any big chances up to that point. Defensively, we were still solid.

"But towards the end, when the game started to open up, any team can become dangerous and that's what happened."

With Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa all playing later today — the latter two facing each other at Villa Park — Liverpool missed a huge chance to establish a strong position in the Champions League spots.

It is in the middle of an easier run of games, at least on paper, compared to its top five rivals, but that will only prove to be an advantage if it wins the fixtures that it should.

Mohamed Salah scored for Liverpool.(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

"The stakes are very high," Van Dijk said. "Listen, if you play for Liverpool, it's always been like that. It's down to us, together with our fans, to get the results we need to get into the Champions League. Either we get it and we deserve it or we don't get it and we don't deserve it.

"We're also still playing in the Champions League and the FA Cup this season and trying to make it successful. Now the decisive period starts. We have to just go for it. We have to take this on the chin, no matter how hard it is to take."

Liverpool has only scored in the first half in 11 of its 29 Premier League games this season, and another slow start proved costly here, allowing Wolves to go in front with its first shot on target in the 78th minute.

"It's a combination of things — playing against Wolves, who obviously sit back," Van Dijk said. "Even from my position or from the stands, it's easy to analyze.

"But you have to try to drag them out to one side and then move it as quickly as possible to the other side to create one v ones or runners in behind. Our decision-making was not good. That's a combination — down to us and down to Wolves.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images)

"We could have created more and gotten into a lot more promising positions than we did tonight. That's what we have to show on Friday if we want to beat them and go through in the FA Cup.

"The fact is that it was wide open at times. Maybe we wanted to force the winner too much.

"Our defensive structure has looked so good over the past few weeks and today as well until they went 1-0 up. But then it became so open, we made a couple of changes, and it all played a part. It looked and felt very much like a basketball game in those last five to 10 minutes."

Asked if that was because in games like these, a point is not good enough, Van Dijk was blunt.

"Of course, with all due respect, it's Wolves away," he said. "You score the equalizer and you feel like you've got the momentum to push on.

"But we just weren't good enough tonight, especially in that sense. We had opportunities to hurt them on the break but we couldn't find the last pass. That was the reality to me.

"Four (wins in a row before tonight) was decent. Four good results in difficult games. With the season that we're having, I don't think there was a lot of optimism in that sense.

"But we found a way to win, to defend well, and to score from set-pieces. Tonight we lost and that's all down to ourselves. It's very disappointing. It's down to us to learn from it and turn it around but it's tough for us to take and it's tough for our fans to take. We have to keep going.

"We come back here on Friday and we want to go far in the FA Cup. So we have to turn up here on Friday with a totally different quality and different performance on the pitch.

"The standards we've set over the past few weeks, especially in terms of defending as a unit, tonight it wasn't good enough, especially in the last 10 minutes. Before that, we were solid, but at the end, we were too eager to score the winner and then it opened up massively."