Virgil van Dijk has described Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday as a “reality check” following three consecutive Premier League victories.
The loss at Anfield ended their winning streak, with Callum Hudson-Odoi scoring the decisive goal.
It was also the first defeat for Arne Slot since he took over as head coach.
Liverpool now have the opportunity to quickly move past their disappointment when they face AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
However, after the match, Reds skipper Van Dijk reflected on a frustrating day for the team.
The Netherlands captain noted that Liverpool appeared too rushed in the final third and emphasized that home defeats cannot become a regular occurrence if they hope to improve on last season’s third-place finish in the Premier League.
“First of all it was a very disappointing day,” Van Dijk said.
“The result and also most of the performance was too rushed and we lost too many second balls.
“We know how direct they are so playing against a big striker you can sometimes lose a challenge and you have to be ready for the second ball and every time there was a second ball they were on the right side of it.
“They got momentum in terms of winning the right challenges and they did they job very well and in terms of ourselves we weren’t good enough.
“That’s the disappointing point of it.
“It’s difficult for me to say [if the international break didn’t help].
“Everyone is coming back from different places and playing a different way but still I think even today when we were not at our best we created chances and it should have gone better.
“But it is a performance we are definitely not happy with, we expect a lot better from ourselves and losing at home is something that can’t happen.
“We have to turn it around pretty quickly and that will be the focus.
“We still tried but I think we were too rushed, we put the ball in the box a bit too quick or over played it and then you don’t get the momentum you want to get.
“Overall it was a disappointing afternoon, something we didn’t want to happen but we have to turn this around and make this a sort of a reality check to be better for the rest of the season because if you want to achieve things this season the contrast between the games we played is too big.”
Virgil van Dijk added: “Obviously everyone is disappointed like we all should be but we also remind ourselves that Tuesday is another big game.
“If you want to dwell on things it is only going to backfire on yourself.
“We all should be disappointed but in a couple of hours we will already be thinking about recovery and being ready for Tuesday.
“That’s how we live our lives and that is what we have to do but the disappointment is still there.”
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