Virgil van Dijk gave a brutally honest reaction to Liverpool's stunning 3-0 defeat to Atalanta, admitting "it feels bad" for the Reds.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Liverpool thumped at AnfieldHave an immense mountain to climb in ItalyVan Dijk astonished by performanceWHAT HAPPENED?
Atalanta stunned Liverpool with an incisive performance at Anfield, as Gianluca Scamacca scored twice and Mario Pasalic also found the back of the net in an exhilarating display. The Reds now face a huge task to overturn the deficit in Italy and Van Dijk did not hold back when asked for his thoughts on the performance, admitting it "hurts".
AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Liverpool are engaged in a pitched battle at the top of the Premier League table, sitting level on points with leaders Arsenal, and one has to think that their title ambitions informed Jurgen Klopp's team selection. First-team regulars Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Diogo Jota and Luiz Diaz all started the game on the bench, but were called upon in the second half, although they could not inspire a comeback.
WHAT VAN DIJK SAID
The Netherlands international said: "Obviously it's not great. A very, very disappointing evening. Too many individual mistakes and we got punished for it. It feels bad.
"With the man-marking system they do, we have to do much better. When we have the ball we have to do better and be much stronger. The spaces were open and they punished us immediately.
"A very disappointing night for all of us but we can't dwell on it for too long. We need everyone to look forward to another big game. We have to switch back onto getting results. We were wide open. It's more that we conceded the goals because we lost the ball in difficult areas. It hurts. But it can't put us down. We have to react pretty quickly.
"It hurts of course. We haven't lost here for a long time. But we shouldn't take the credit away from them. They punished us for being sloppy in possession. We still had chances to score one or two and unfortunately we didn't.
"If you don't believe, there's no point going to Italy. We have made it very hard for ourselves going there 3-0 down. But the way to bounce back is by winning the game on the weekend. We need everyone to switch it back on. Then we can focus on putting out at least four goals over there."
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT?
Liverpool face Crystal Palace this weekend in the Premier League before the return leg against Atalanta. Given they desperately need a victory, one has to imagine that rotation will not be the order of the day.