Virgil van Dijk makes 'absolutely honest' admission in fiery post-Man Utd interview
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk gave a brutally honest verdict of the Reds’ 2-2 draw against Manchester United.
The Reds extended their advantage at the top of the Premier League to six points with a game in hand after United came from behind to earn a point against a Liverpool team that wasn’t at the races for large parts of the game.
Despite maintaining their advantage over Arsenal at the top of the league table, Van Dijk was far from happy with the performance of the team and suggested that Liverpool were fortunate to have left with a point after a late Harry Maguire miss and a number of key saves by Alisson throughout.
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"It could have been a lot worse if we are absolutely honest with ourselves,” Van Dijk admitted to BBC Radio 5 Live. “They had a big chance in the end that could have been a lot worse than where we are now. I'm definitely disappointed with dropping points at home but it is what is and we have to move on and we will."
"We found the 2-1 and then it is about trying to manage the game and keep the ball for longer than three and four passes. We lost the ball too easily at times and then we were more open than we should have been. We're not perfect, we're still learning and we have to learn from this as well."
Van Dijk was then asked whether the noise around a struggling United side, who entered the game in 14th place and off the back of four consecutive defeats, saw the team underestimating their opponents. "That's all the media. Media talk. It's nothing to do with us,” he replied. “We prepared for a very tough game like we have seen today. We didn't think any of that."
The Dutchman cut a frustrated figure during the game, none more so than towards right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold who endured a miserable game amid the speculation linking him to Real Madrid growing stronger. The 26-year-old was fruitless going forward and a liability defensively, seeing his captain vent his anger towards his wretched performance.
Alexander-Arnold gave the ball away cheaply for United’s opener and found himself all at sea covering Ibrahima Konate for Amad Diallo’s equalizer before he was eventually hooked off with five minutes and on a yellow card. Moments before he was substituted, Van Dijk became enraged with the Englishman as he lacked urgency in taking a throw-in with the game all square.
While the point is less than what many Liverpool fans thought they were heading for before kick-off, Liverpool still hold control in the title race. But Van Dijk insisted that the Reds aren’t focusing on the current state of the table. "We look at the next game, we don't look at the league table," Van Dijk added.
