After a dismal week, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has set the bar high for his teammates ahead of Sunday’s Premier League match at Anfield against Brentford.
Liverpool’s forwards need to be more merciless, according to Virgil van Dijk, following their dismal performances against Toulouse and Luton Town.
The Reds will welcome Brentford at Anfield on Sunday following their shocking midweek loss to Toulouse; this defeat occurred only a few days after they battled valiantly to earn a point at Kenilworth Road against one of the Premier League’s struggling teams.
Liverpool has had a great start to the 2023–24 season despite those results thanks to some astute hiring during the summer transfer window. Similar to Jurgen Klopp, Van Dijk is excited by Liverpool 2.0’s potential and insists that there is still a lot more to come from a young team.
“There are definitely areas for improvement – individually and collectively – but this is totally normal, especially having made so many changes during the summer,” Van Dijk said in his programme notes prior to Sunday’s game against Brentford.
“We have demonstrated more than anything else that we are all in this together,” he continued. While there have been difficult times and games that could have easily gone away from us, most of the time we have managed to achieve a successful outcome, and this is something we can surely build on moving forward.
After a dismal week away from home, the Dutchman—who was elected Liverpool captain in the summer—turned his focus to the Reds’ attackers and urged them to display their ruthlessness.
“We must undoubtedly be more ruthless with the opportunities we present. We will continue to work toward making the necessary adjustments and to provide the best possible service for this club because there are certain aspects that you would like to preserve and others that aren’t quite up to grade.
Liverpool knows going into their match on Sunday that, depending on Manchester City’s outcome, a victory could potentially tie them for first place in the Premier League with Arsenal and Manchester City.
With their loss in France, Van Dijk wants Liverpool’s strikers to be more merciless against Brentford, while Klopp has asked for his team to play with greater “aggression” this weekend.
“We cannot have what happened in Toulouse,” he stated in a statement following the Toulouse loss. We didn’t act with enough aggression. If we believe that Anfield is necessary, Brentford will arrive, and they will be physically present, so we must be prepared. I want us to learn from this. We can lose a game. But we have to use it to learn the right things.”
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