Virgil van Dijk has hit out at his Liverpool teammates following their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Everton on Wednesday night. The defeat leaves the Reds with their title chances in tatters, and the skipper conceded that they have ‘no chance’ of lifting the Premier League trophy unless they improve.
Arsenal moved back to the top of the table earlier this week with a 5-0 demolition of Chelsea on Tuesday, but Liverpool weren’t able to emulate that level of performance at Goodison Park. A comedy of errors in the 27th minute saw Jarrad Branthwaite stab Everton in front in the Merseyside derby and send the home crowd into a frenzy.
Liverpool pushed for an equaliser but were toothless in the final third, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin made them pay with a towering header in the 58th minute to put the game to bed and stop Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour in its tracks.
The Reds were frustrated when the full-time whistle sounded, and Van Dijk was not afraid to throw his teammates under the bus when discussing the display with Sky Sports during his post-match duties. The Netherlands international said: “Listen, very disappointed in so many ways and I think everyone has to look at themselves in the mirror and look at their own performances and if they really gave everything and do they really want to win the league?
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“We are still fighting and still have games after tonight, but if we play like we did overall in the game like today, not winning challenges and giving the ref an opportunity to give free-kicks like he did many times, we have no chance to win the title. It’s a tough one and obviously we have to do much better against a side who is fighting against relegation. We have to focus on the 12:30 kick-off again.”
Asked on what went wrong with the performance, the ex-Southampton defender continued: “I wish I had a proper answer for that. We are in this position because we have been consistent all season, even with all of the injuries that we have had. The players that have come in and the young players that have come in have put us in a good position.
“I think anyone at the start of the season would not have thought we were competing for the title, but listen, I don’t care what anyone said at the start of the season. We are here now and we all have to do much better. It sounds pretty simple but it starts with the fight and the will to win your challenges and be confident in scoring a goal. That is what we have been lacking and it’s a combination of a lot of things.
“Today in so many ways, I don’t want to speak about the referee because that is not an excuse. We have to be much better. If we play like today then we have no chance to consider ourselves in the title race. We have to just focus on the next game, and that will be a tough one as well, and then we will see.”
