Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk hit out at the “ridiculous takes” and negative “outside noise” he and his players have had to deal with during their losing run.
The Reds ended a run of four straight defeats in the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday night thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch at Anfield.
They had also lost six times in seven games in all competitions, with plenty of criticism coming the way of the champions, including from former defender Jamie Carragher who branded their run of form a “crisis”.
Speaking about the negative reaction to TNT Sports after the game at Andield, Van Dijk said: “What I have noticed over the last couple of weeks especially is that there is a lot of noise that you have no control over and that we have to deal with as a team.
“Some of those takes are absolutely ridiculous. But you have to deal with that. It’s outside noise that can reach certain players, the group. It’s about sticking together.
“We’re not going out there on the pitch to lose games, we’re not going out there to be disappointed after games or leave fans disappointed going home, we want to work our socks off and win games. But there’s no guarantee.
“You play in the Premier League, the highest level, in the biggest league in the world, and it’s difficult to stay calm but you have to do if you want to get back to where we want to be. That’s up there. But that’s something for later in the season to look at.
“Now it’s time to keep working, never get too high, never get too low.
“We live in a world now, for footballers at least, because that’s the only thing I can speak about, where everyone can have their opinion on so many platforms and everyone knows it better. We have to try to stay away from that and focus on the hard work we’ve been doing.
“Last season we didn’t hear much negative stuff. Everything was sunshine and rainbows everywhere. Now it sounded like, by the outside world, we’re going to be in the relegation battle, so that’s how it works in the world.”
Slot: The fans helped us
The nerves were palpable early on at Anfield when Villa, who were on their own winning run of four games, hit the post twice, before a calamitous error from Emiliano Martinez just before half-time allowed Salah to open the scoring just before half-time to settle the nerves, with the Reds assuming control from that moment.
“A lot, of course,” said manager Arne Slot about how much the fans helped. “Especially because it happened at 0-0, so not when you are leading and not when you are top of the league but when you are in a difficult situation as a club, as a team and because I’m definitely a part of that, it’s also a difficult situation for me.
“And then to get the support the players got but also I got, that is something that makes this club special, I think. They don’t forget if you’ve been part of something special and they help you especially if things are difficult.
“And that’s what it was the last few weeks, things were difficult, we were not winning, by the way, we were losing. And so they felt the players, maybe even me, needed a bit of support and that’s what you get from these fans.”
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