‘Lucky’: Virgil van Dijk makes UEFA Super Cup admission and hints at defensive improvement being required

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Virgil van Dijk has admitted that the Reds got lucky on a few occasions during the UEFA Super Cup victory over Chelsea in Istanbul.

Having gone behind to a goal from Olivier Giroud, the Reds equalised and then went in front thanks to two strikes from Sadio Mane, who was making his first start of the 2019/20 season.

Chelsea levelled through a Jorginho penalty, which should not have been awarded, but even so, Van Dijk believes the Reds need to improve defensively as they got lucky a few times with offside calls.

Speaking to LiverpoolFC.com post-match, he said: “I think at times we lost the ball a little bit too easy and the gaps were too big and they did well, they countered on us in a couple of moments and became dangerous.

“[We had] a couple of moments that were a bit lucky with the offside trap and stuff, but after the break, we did very well.”

Jurgen Klopp instructed his side to play with a very high line, which is a slight risk, though with VAR, there will be no injustices with decisions. If the Reds get it right, it’s a ploy that will pay dividends.

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Chelsea, though, particularly with Christian Pulisic, got around the high line a few times, or were marginally offside more by luck than judgement on the Reds’ part.

Over the coming weeks, the Reds will need to improve on that with tests against the likes of Southampton and Arsenal just around the corner. Retaining the ball better than they managed last night will also be crucial.

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