'Not at all' - Virgil van Dijk fires blunt message…

'Not at all' - Virgil van Dijk fires blunt message back to critics over Liverpool theory

Virgil van Dijk has dismissed suggestions Liverpool are suffering a hangover from their gut-wrenching end to last season and believes they must bring the "joy and freedom" back to their game.

The Reds ' underwhelming start to the campaign continued on Saturday with a 3-3 home draw against Brighton and Hove Albion that has left them 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand.

Liverpool clinched the League and FA Cup double last season only for their hopes of an unprecedented quadruple to be thwarted by missing out on the Premier League title by a point to Manchester City on the final weekend, after which they were beaten 1-0 by Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

But Van Dijk is adamant last term is having no bearing on the travails of Jurgen Klopp's side this time around, which he has hinted is restricting the Reds' usual approach.

“No, no not at all, there is no hangover from that," said the centre-back. "Teams obviously are getting better, we play in the best league in the world where all the teams are able to compete with each other, and we have to get back to that consistency (of last season), and play with joy and freedom.

"But it all starts with doing it together and working hard. We have to find that moment. You have to get in the moment, and that consistency is the most difficult part of football. You have to do that together, and deal with setbacks together, and keep doing the same things you want to do.

“We have to find that moment, and obviously we know we have tough games ahead. Rangers in the Champions League, then Arsenal, Rangers, City, West Ham. So let’s just go for it, get the confidence back, get the consistency back and we know we will get there.

"Obviously we’ve had some setbacks, and it is difficult to react the right way if you are not in the best possible shape, all of us. But I’m confident that we will be. What is it, four months ago we were playing for all the titles? Now we are not in the best moment - but we will get there."

Liverpool have now conceded 15 times in 10 games this season and, including the end of last season, have kept only three clean sheets in their last 17 matches.

And when told the finger is being pointed at the defence, Van Dijk said: “Yeah, from the outside, that’s fine. But it’s more complex than that. We all know we have the responsibility of defending, but also attacking. Defending starts from the front and attacking starts from the back, and that’s how we have our principles, and we have to go back to that, to that consistency, and I am confident we will turn this around."

Van Dijk admits Liverpool were initially taken by surprise by Brighton's gameplan in the Seagulls' first match under new boss Roberto De Zerbi and pointed to how teams are now regularly changing their approach to combat the Reds.

“We tried to find out really what they were doing, because obviously it was a new manager, so we had no idea really what to expect," he said. "They had a lot of runners in behind, and we didn't have much pressure on the ball, things we have to do much better.

"Teams are adapting to us as well, trying to go a little bit more direct at times and go in behind, and trying to put a second runner, because teams know we are having a high line. Obviously we changed that a little bit as well.

"How do we stop teams getting in behind? Pressure, and that is always what we try to do. Get in the right spaces and do it all together. We’ve been doing it for four years, five years on a consistent basis, and we have to get back to that consistency, all of us. And we have to stick together."

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