Virgil van Dijk admitted it was hard for Liverpool to lose in the humiliating manner as they did against Aston Villa.
Virgil Van Dijk has reacted to his side’s 7-2 drubbing at the hands of Aston Villa.
The Premier League champions were stunned at Villa Park, conceding seven goals and only scoring two in reply in a shocking defeat.
Van Dijk was captaining the side in the absence of Jordan Henderson. He could only watch Liverpool torn to pieces all over. From goalkeeper Adrian to Joe Gomez, the Reds only had themselves to blame and were victims of multiple individual errors.
Speaking after the game, the Dutchman gave credit to Aston Villa and admitted himself and his teammates must take responsibility for the defeat.
“It’s hard to lose the way we lost tonight,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports.
“First and foremost, well done to Aston Villa. You have to give them the credit they deserve.
“But if we are looking at ourselves, it felt like it was one of those performances where we just weren’t 100% at it. From the start until the finish.
“The goals we conceded – we should have done better. But also the chances we had. We had many. We should have done better [with those] as well.
“Overall we are very disappointed. We shouldn’t lose with the numbers we did.
“And now it’s key to stick together and [not] let this happen again.”
Van Dijk was asked if there was a specific reason why the standards slipped so markedly this evening.
He replied: “I don’t know. You can’t take the credit away from Aston Villa. Well done to them.
“We should have been more clinical. In all aspects of the game, we should have done much better.
“We have to be very hard to each other. And we will be.
“It’s key not to get crazy or anything. But we have to be stepping it up.
“The performance level between the last game against Arsenal [in the league] and today was too big. All of us – everyone has to take responsibility.”
Van Dijk and Liverpool will now carry the burden of a heavy defeat for two weeks. After the international break, they will face a high-flying Everton at Goodison Park for the first Merseyside derby of the season.
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