Disappointment was the overriding emotion for Virgil van Dijk after Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.
Kai Havertz’s first-half goal secured all three points for the Premier League champions, despite Liverpool enjoying spells of dominance.
Florian Wirtz came closest to equalising, striking the crossbar with a curling free-kick.
After the match, Virgil van Dijk gave his reaction to Sky Sports. Here is a summary of his interview.
On his emotions after the game…
Disappointment. We played at home, we had some opportunities. Obviously we tried everything. I think we could have maybe done a bit better towards the last 15 minutes of the game to get more balls in the box. But it wasn’t enough today and that’s why disappointment is definitely the feeling I’m having.
On Liverpool’s spell of dominance before half-time…
When we conceded the goal, after that we started to play much better. We created the big chance of Alexis [Mac Allister] and it could have changed the game.
“Unfortunately that didn’t happen. But obviously we all know that in the second half anything can still happen. We kept pushing, we kept going for it.
“I think it was also a clear penalty [for a shirt pull on Alexander Isak in the first half], I’ve seen it back. And I’ve seen it being given as well on other occasions, but today it wasn’t meant to be.
On VAR not intervening in that incident…
Why does he have to complain [more] when there are so many cameras? It is spotted because everyone has seen it. In the end, obviously it wasn’t given. We lose the game, unfortunately. Well done to Arsenal.
On whether he shared the frustration felt by fans with the officials on the day…
I got a yellow card towards the end, so I probably share that as well.
On if he feels ‘something is starting to grow’ with this team…
Yeah, definitely. You’ve seen it over the recent weeks especially. Sometimes you get these questions and it sounds maybe like a surprise – but when someone new comes into the building and everything is changing, it just needs time.
“It just needs working together, going through difficult moments, going through good moments, how we deal with that. That just takes a bit of time.
“I’m pretty sure that things will click and things will work out. I think our fans can see there is so much improvement already over the last recent weeks, but also we work our socks off.
“That’s the bare minimum, especially at Liverpool. But what we do need as well is results. Today, obviously that’s why I’m very disappointed, because we lost at home and I have a feeling there was a little bit more in it as well.
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