Club captain urges his side to shake off the negativity from their recent loss and keep working hard
Virgil van Dijk has called on Liverpool to quickly get back to winning ways, after the Premier League champions suffered their first league defeat of the season against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Palace’s Eddie Nketiah struck late to claim victory for Oliver Glasner’s Eagles, after Federico Chiesa had briefly drawn Liverpool level in the closing minutes.
The result meant that the champions’ perfect start to the season, a run of seven victories in all competitions since the loss in the Community Shield, was brought to an end.
“I don’t think there is any reason to worry,” said Van Dijk. “But we have to improve pretty quickly because obviously we play in Turkey [against Galatasaray in the Champions League] on Tuesday.
“We have a very difficult game there as well, so we have to be ready.”
Liverpool were second-best for long spells against Palace, particularly in a first half where the homes side created several chances and should have gone into the break with more than just the one-goal lead.
Ismaila Sarr fired the Eagles ahead just less than ten minutes into the game and only their profligacy and a string of saves from Alisson Becker kept the game within reach for the champions.
Van Dijk said he hoped Saturday was “the only day this season” they would have such a poor first half where they struggled to get even the basics right. The Liverpool captain then urged his side to shake off the negativity from the performance and keep working hard.
“There are loads of challenges throughout the whole season,” said Van Dijk. “Everyone has to deal with it in their own way, but obviously as a team we have to deal with it as well.
“The biggest challenge now is to stay calm. I mentioned it many times: never get too high or too low. Just work and don’t listen to the outside world too much.
“You know when you can do better and today everyone knew that. We have another opportunity on Tuesday in a very interesting stadium, big crowd, Champions League, to turn it around again and focus on the next one and next one.”
