Virgil van Dijk has frankly admitted he made a massive mistake in pushing himself beyond his limits until his body broke down.
The defender scored a vital goal against Wolves as Liverpool strive to salvage something from a shattered season, by scrapping their way back into the top four.
Van Dijk is a key figure in that fight, but he feels he has suffered in form and fitness because of his desire to play in every games for the Anfield club, despite a serious knee injury which threatened his career. The Holland captain has been heavily criticised in recent months as Liverpool’s form slumped, but he believes he’s made real mistakes in playing too often after the knee injury, and also rushing back from the World Cup.
“Coming back from the knee injury, I played all the Premier League games, because I want to be out there. But what caught up (with me) is that I played too many games at a time,” he explained.
“When it's game day I want to play, I'll do everything possible to play. Patience is not in my vocabulary, it's not in my system - I want to play and I want to be influential for this football club because I love this club, and I work each and every day to be successful for this club.
“But it caught up with me unfortunately, my body, I'm not a robot.”
Van Dijk’s cruciate knee ligament injury kept him out for eight months, and he pointed to the fact that just a few years ago, it was serious enough to have threatened his career.
“We can all go back and it was quite difficult to be playing at the highest level for players who had done this injury,” he said. “Which is why I am very blessed to still be playing at the highest level and trying to get that same level everyone is expecting from me and I'm expecting from myself.”
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But his desire to play - and his importance to the Liverpool team - proved costly, with a hamstring injury after a relentless programme since rushing back from the World Cup, which kept him out for a further six weeks.
The Dutchman knows he has made mistakes, both after the knee injury, and after playing a starring role for Holland in Qatar. “I could have also thought before the World Cup, 'Let's rest a little bit in order to be ready'. But I didn't.
“And I think going into the World Cup, having the World Cup, and then doing nothing for a week and coming back was maybe not the right decision.
“I would say that everything that happened, happened for a reason, and this six weeks (injury lay off) was a good chance for me to reflect, but also let my knee settle a little bit and get ready for the rest of the season.
“It was a tough six weeks to watch because you want to help the team and especially with a hamstring injury you have to be very patient. but I had to.”
The defender knows he leads a privileged life, given the riches a Premier League star enjoys, but he also believes those on the outside don’t see the effect such a punishing schedule can have on form and fitness.
Van Dijk has not escaped criticism, but he explained: “You try to hit consistency and try to build up momentum and, for me, coming back after being six weeks out, playing straight away four games 90 minutes in such a short space of time, I need time!
“Obviously I came back from quite a complex injury that I had two years ago now. That takes treatment, that takes time, it takes getting used to and adaptation.
“Sometimes people around will take consistency for granted and see it as normal, but it isn't. That's what I'm trying to prove but not to the outside world but to myself more.
“I'd say over the years I've been very much available, almost every game, and try to hit a very high level and that's what I try to do now as well.
“(As footballers) we are very blessed, very privileged and I really acknowledge that and know that, but you still have to make these sacrifices. That's what's going on behind the scenes and that's the life we live.”
