Wayne Rooney believes Virgil van Dijk’s comments within the wake of Liverpool’s defeat to Nottingham Forest must be a cause for ‘concern’ amongst the fanbase.
The Reds’ wretched begin to the season slumped to a brand new low as they fell to a limp 3-0 loss on home soil, with Murillo, Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White finding the online against the champions.
The hosts had nothing by the use of a response at Anfield and Sean Dyche’s Forest held firm to go 4 matches unbeaten in all competitions, despite ending with just 25 per cent of the general possession.
The result – Liverpool’s sixth defeat in 12 league games – leaves the club languishing down in eleventh place within the Premier League table at this early stage of the top-flight campaign.
At the identical point last season, the Merseyside giants were 13 points higher off having won ten of their opening 12 matches with only one defeat to their name.
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Arne Slot might be eager to put things right on Wednesday night when his Liverpool side return to motion within the Champions League away to PSV Eindhoven.
‘We were just not good by way of the battles, the challenges, the second-ball fight, too rushed,’ a despondent Van Dijk told BBC Sport shortly after the ultimate whistle.
‘So it’s a really, very difficult situation for the time being.’
Analysing Liverpool’s latest setback on Match of the Day, legendary ex-Manchester United forward Rooney suggested it was as much as the leaders within the dressing room to assist steer the club out of their malaise.
On Van Dijk’s post-match remarks, Rooney said: ‘That’s a priority when your captain is speaking like that concerning the players lacking fight and never winning second balls or challenges.
‘Nottingham Forest allowed Liverpool to return onto them early on and so they were sucking Liverpool into traps all afternoon.
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‘It’s a transparent message [from Van Dijk] to his team-mates I feel.’
Rooney added: ‘Liverpool are a superb team and so they’re going through a really difficult moment on the minute and Van Dijk is the captain, the leader, and that could be a strong message to his team-mates.
‘Perhaps it’s meant for players who haven’t been there, who weren’t there last yr, who didn’t win the league with Liverpool.
‘That’s the message: the standards at Liverpool have to be higher than what they’re on the minute.’
In accordance with Rooney, Liverpool even seemed to be ‘struggling’ in games after they went on a winning seven game winning run at the beginning of the season.
‘They’ve been going through a tricky time all season really,’ the previous England striker continued.
‘Even originally of the season, they won games but they were scuffling with performances.
‘I’ve said this throughout the season that it’s the leaders in that dressing room that need to select the players up because, if not, we’ve seen it over time with Manchester United and last season with Tottenham, they’ll slip down the table.’
Chatting with Sky Sports within the immediate aftermath, Slot took full responsibility for the defeat while admitting that his squad were in a ‘very bad spell’.
‘If things go well or things go bad, it’s at all times my responsibility,’ the Liverpool head coach said.
‘We weren’t in a position to create enough. I attempted to regulate a couple of things that didn’t really work out. We weren’t in a position to rating a goal.
‘We’re in a really bad spell. It’s that straightforward. We also know in a couple of days we play Champions League. Keep our heads up, work incredibly hard, and take a look at to show things around.
‘It’s my job to get the perfect out of them. I’m not for the time being. That’s why I say it’s my responsibility.’
After a midweek trip to the Netherlands to face PSV Eindhoven, Liverpool return to Premier League motion on the London Stadium against West Ham.
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