Mark Lawrenson has justified Virgil van Dijk’s poor recent form as a natural drop-off - but added that Liverpool’s main problem is that too many key players are experiencing the same poor spell.
Liverpool have endured a slow start to the new season, winning just twice in the league and struggling to kickstart their Champions League campaign. The Reds beat Ajax 2-1 at Anfield last night to bring welcome relief, but still looked some way short of the electric side of the last few seasons.
Reasons for the poor start have been widely debated, and while injuries certainly have not helped, there can be no avoiding a clear drop in form of certain key players, most notably Dutch centre-back van Dijk. But fellow defender Lawrenson knows that the drop in form is just temporary - the issue, however, is that other key players are experiencing the same problem.
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“Never ever tell me players don’t read newspapers and they do,” Lawrenson told Off The Ball . “The people who go on Twitter and slaughter Van Dijk are basically numpties. Yes he’s not playing well, he knows he’s not playing well.
“He knows he didn’t play well at Old Trafford, he knows he messed up in one of the other games. The thing with football, you can’t be absolutely outstanding every week and occasionally, your form drops off.
“The problem with Liverpool is, a lot of them, their form has dropped and that’s why they are where they are in terms of the Premier League and Champions League at the moment.”
The Liverpool legend was also asked about Darwin Nunez, after the Uruguayan was left out of the starting lineup for Tuesday evening’s win against Ajax. The 23-year-old has been in-and-out of the team since signing from Benfica in the summer - partially because of suspension, but also through Jurgen Klopp’s selection.
And Lawrenson believes the striker does need an injection of confidence when adapting to a new league, but added that he didn’t help himself by getting sent off against Crystal Palace.
"He does (need confidence) but he’s not helped himself by getting sent off against Palace,” the former Reds man added. “Had he not, he would have started most of the games. It’s one of those, he’s a new player getting used to everybody, the language and those kinds of things but at the moment, he wouldn’t be in the starting line-up.
“No one should be particularly worried though because he is a class act and eventually will come through. There’s nothing wrong with calling players out, they know themselves. What he’s got, Jurgen Klopp, is a very honest bunch. Don’t get carried away when they win and when they lose, they’ve a good, honest group. A good dressing room, calling them out they will have known if it was coming.”
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