Virgil van Dijk delivered a furious assessment of Liverpool’s collapsing season after their 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest, admitting the team is “in a mess” and questioning whether all players are taking responsibility for the club’s alarming slump.
The loss — Liverpool’s sixth in seven league matches and eighth in 11 across all competitions — left the defending champions in the bottom half of the Premier League with a negative goal difference. Club chairman Tom Werner was at Anfield to witness another dismal performance, as Forest, who began the day in the relegation zone, outworked and outpaced Arne Slot’s side.
Van Dijk criticised Liverpool’s “unacceptable” start to the second half, saying the team panicked after conceding early to Murillo. The opener was the ninth set-piece goal Liverpool have allowed in the league this season. “We are definitely letting him [Slot] down, but we’ve let ourselves down as well,” the captain said. “At the moment it is a mess – that’s just a fact.”
The Dutchman’s post-match comments were unusually fierce; his raised voice echoed through the Anfield tunnel as he demanded accountability from his teammates. Asked if everyone was taking responsibility, he replied: “I don’t know. But you have to do that. It’s the main thing I want the boys to do.”
Liverpool spent nearly £450m last summer to refresh the squad, but major signings such as Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong have struggled to make an impact. Van Dijk stressed, however, that the problems extend beyond new arrivals, pointing instead to basic collective failings, inconsistency, and a lack of cohesion.
“We concede far too many goals, we are losing battles and everyone is responsible,” he said. “You have to be a man and face the toughness and go again, again and again. If you want to give up then you are at the wrong place.”
Liverpool face PSV in the Champions League midweek before travelling to West Ham next Sunday. Van Dijk vowed to keep pushing: “What am I going to do, go home and cry? No. I’m going to think about how we can turn this around — and hopefully everyone else is too.”
