Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has hit back at Wayne Rooney for his ‘lazy’ criticism of the Dutchman and Mohamed Salah.
The Reds bounced back to winning ways on Saturday night by beating Aston Villa 2-0 after a seriously sticky patch for the Premier League champions.
Arne Slot’s side had lost 4 top flight games on the spin before that win over the Villains, also being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Crystal Palace and suffering a surprise defeat within the Champions League to Galatasaray.
The poor run of form and results attracted loads of comment and Rooney felt that their two most senior players weren’t leading the team as they must be.
The previous Red Devils and England forward suggested Van Dijk and Salah had lost something since signing their latest contract earlier this yr.
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‘It is a time where the manager and the leaders within the team must figure it out in a short time,’ he said on The Wayne Rooney Show before Liverpool’s win over Villa.
‘Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they’ve signed latest deals but I don’t think they’ve really led that team this season.
‘I believe body language tells you loads, and I believe we’re seeing barely different body language from the 2 of them. They’re the highest two players in that team and if their body language isn’t right, that affects everyone else.
‘I is perhaps fallacious on this, but when I used to be a Liverpool fan or the manager, that may be a giant concern for me.’
That criticism was put to Van Dijk after the victory at Anfield on Saturday and he felt it was a poor conclusion to attract by Rooney.
The Dutch defender said: ‘I didn’t hear him last yr. It doesn’t hurt me.
‘Just to return back to this particular player, obviously a legend, a giant player of the sport who inspired so many, I can say only positive things, but I feel that comment is only a little bit of a lazy criticism.
‘It’s easy in charge the older players but he knows in addition to everyone else that we do it together and take a look at to assist one another to get out of this. There are such a lot of platforms nowadays that everybody can say whatever they like and it gets blown up.’
The Reds skipper did admit that criticism can hurt players, saying it is a component of the team’s job to assist one another through those times.
‘What I actually have noticed over the past couple of weeks especially is that there’s loads of noise that you’ve no control over and that we’ve to cope with as a team,’ he said. ‘A few of those takes are absolutely ridiculous. But you’ve to cope with that. It’s outside noise that may reach certain players, the group. It’s about sticking together.
‘And when there are difficult moments, I attempt to help my teammates. I attempt to put them in front of me and have the desire to make them perform as in the very best possible shape after which when things don’t go well then that’s the world we live in and folks query a great deal of stuff, especially whenever you lose.’
‘I believe everyone who was here felt the importance.’
Slot told the BBC of an important win for his side: ‘The margins are small each game. After five minutes they hit the post. We didn’t concede a set piece, which was helpful, but additionally we got a bit lucky, which hasn’t happened recently. Our second goal was a deflection.
‘Once they hit the post, that was their biggest probability. Over the previous couple of weeks, each time that ball went in but this time it didn’t. Our second goal was a little bit of luck, something which we haven’t had in the previous couple of weeks.
‘The benefit of being 1-0 or 2-0 up is you can control the sport a bit higher with more possession, but should you are trailing then you’ve to chase the sport, take risks and risk being counter-attacked.
‘I believe everyone who was here felt the importance of this game – the players and the fans as well. We showed character and won the sport.’
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