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Virgil van Dijk has admitted Liverpool was unable to stop Brentford’s scoring from set-pieces on Saturday, despite working on that in the build-up to the Premier League encounter at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Reds were beaten 3-2 in West London, a result that extends the club’s losing run to four Premier League matches, while Liverpool has now lost as many league games this term as it did in the entirety of the 2024/25 campaign.
Dango Ouattara gave Brentford the lead after just five minutes when he acrobatically volleyed the ball beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili, while Igor Thiago netted from the spot in the second half after Van Dijk conceded a soft penalty.
Liverpool was also caught by Brentford’s other strength — quick counter-attacks — in the final stages of the first half when Mikkel Damsgaard’s through ball to Kevin Schade cut the Liverpool defense open.
Perhaps most worryingly, Van Dijk admitted that Liverpool had worked on nullifying Brentford’s strengths but was simply unable to stop the Bees.
“Obviously, a disappointing night,” the Liverpool captain said to reporters at the Gtech. “We conceded two goals again in the first half, in what we obviously trained on as well, because their throw-in are obviously very dangerous.
“I think the first one we defended well, but we gave them opportunity after opportunity after that to put it back in.
“The second one was on transition, which is obviously a strength of theirs as well. So yeah, disappointed, but we scored a good goal just before the break. And then you have to keep going.
“I think we gave maybe 10 throw-ins away in the first 20 minutes,” Van Dijk added. “And if that's the strength of the opponent, then obviously you're asking for trouble. So, it's disappointing, but more disappointing that obviously we can't keep a clean sheet at the moment.
“You know, something that I'm obviously also part of, like the rest of the team. It's not only one player or the back line, it's everyone that's responsible for that and we have to improve in order to get back to winning ways in the league.”
This was another performance in which Liverpool looked shaky at the back. Van Dijk endured some difficult moments against the robust Thiago, Milos Kerkez was sloppy once again, and there was a clear lack of midfield cover.
“Well, obviously second half we're trying a lot more, we're taking risks, so it will be more chaotic at times because you're pushing and you're trying and you are forcing,” was Van Dijk's assessment of the disjointed display.
“The matter of fact is that we lost four Premier League games in a row and that we want to turn that around asap.
“The aim was obviously to build on the performance that we had in Germany, but unfortunately, we couldn't do that today. So we have another opportunity on Wednesday to try and get a good performance in, find a clean sheet hopefully and win the game.”
Van Dijk was also frustrated at the penalty that was awarded against him. Although referee Tim Robinson had originally awarded a free kick, replays showed the foul was committed on the line, and VAR gave a penalty.
The Dutchman felt that if that was awarded, Cody Gakpo should have been awarded a spot kick in the first period after he was tripped in the box.
“I don't think it was too clear and obvious, but listen, the fact is he gives it and we have to deal with it,” the 34-year-old explained.
“But my opinion, then you have to also give the first one to Cody. But it is what it is, we can't change it. And it is a situation that these decisions at the moment don't fall our way, but we have to deal with what we can control and that's to improve because that's needed, all of us.”
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