Van Dijk lifts lid on "hard talking" amongst Liverpool stars after Man City loss
Virgil van Dijk admitted there had to be some “hard talking” among Liverpool's players after their Manchester City mauling.
Defender Van Djik said some home truths needed to be said after the debacle at the Etihad, ahead of Tuesday's Premier League trip to Chelsea.
“If you're losing the way we lost, then definitely there will be some hard talking,” said Van Djik. “That's really normal, we're grown men and we'll see.
“It was a tough afternoon, definitely. Very frustrated. That's the feeling.
“We're going to have a meeting together, but the turnaround is quite quick, with Chelsea on Tuesday, so tomorrow is a big day.”
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After demolishing Manchester United 7-0, the expectation was Liverpool would kick on and produce a big finish to a tough season.
But they have lost their last three games, with Van Djik unable to explain their failure to find their form.
“We're trying,” said Van Djik. “Today was frustrating. I think the first-half was quite even, obviously a fantastic goal by Mo, then they scored a good goal as well.
“Second-half at 2-1 was a big blow and a very frustrating second-half.”
Liverpool were well beaten at the hands of Man City at the Etihad (PA)Asked about Liverpool's top-four chances after defeat to City , Van Djik said: “We'll see, game by game. First let's recover, then regroup and then we'll focus on Chelsea.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp shared Van Dijk's frustrations with the second half performance. He branded their collapse "unacceptable" and picked out just four players who did "OK " in the game.
"About four performances were OK," Klopp said. "The two midfielders, Hendo and Fab, worked a lot to try to close gaps. Cody, especially in possession, and Ali of course. That is very difficult if you want to get something from here."
Klopp pulled no punches after watching his side collapse in "unacceptable" fashion (Getty Images)He added: "City [were] completely in control after that and we were open and they could do whatever they wanted, we were lucky they were not in a greedy mood," Klopp went on to say.
"That they only scored one more goal is, well, thank you. It could've been different and that's really bad news for us. In the end, we had moments but in general how we lost everything, unacceptable.
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"3-1 down is difficult here but there was nothing more there, four-ish players had an OK game and the rest were somewhere I don't know. Three days and we play again against another strong team. Tomorrow is a big day for us because we have to work with what we saw today because we see it more often now."
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