Virgil van Dijk has appeared to issue a telling message to FSG after Liverpool were beaten on penalties in the Community Shield on Sunday.
It’s the second time in five months that the Reds have tasted disappointment at Wembley, having also lost the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle in March, and the Premier League champions twice surrendered a lead to Crystal Palace this afternoon.
Debut goals for Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong weren’t enough to secure the first silverware of the new season for Arne Slot’s side, and their captain didn’t hold back with some of his post-match assessments.
Van Dijk calls for further transfer activity
Alex Crook of talkSPORT spoke with Van Dijk shortly after the final whistle, claiming that the Liverpool defender feels the addition of another forward this month is a must after the sales of Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz.
The reporter posted on X: “Virgil van Dijk very open with me on talkSPORT: ‘I hate losing and I’ve lost my last two games at Wembley’. Bemoaned defensive mistakes although said he ‘wasn’t worried’ moving forward. Said after losing Nunez and Diaz they need another forward. Sounded like a ‘go get Isak’ plea.”
Will Van Dijk’s pleas be heeded by FSG this month?
The captain’s assessment appears to be at odds with that of Slot after the match, with the Reds’ head coach telling TNT Sports that his team’s attacking play was ‘better’ today than it had been against the same opposition last season.
As per BBC, Palace had more shots than the Merseysiders at Wembley (14 to 12) but the defeated side had more on target (five to four). However, Ekitike will feel that he ought to have done better with two chances early in the second half, while Mo Salah endured an ‘anonymous‘ display which was way below his usual standards.
The Eagles were a match for Liverpool across the 90 minutes of normal time and had a particularly dominant spell in the second half before equalising, with Van Dijk unfortunately culpable for giving away the first-half penalty that Jean-Philippe Mateta converted.
While the Reds could do with adding another forward this month after selling Nunez and Diaz (and losing Diogo Jota in tragic circumstances in July), the biggest transfer priority for August must surely be a new centre-back, with LFC worryingly light for numbers in that position.
The concession of two goals and a few more chances at Wembley today serves to underline the need for defensive improvement from Slot’s side if they’re to retain their Premier League title. Van Dijk didn’t have his best afternoon in the Community Shield, but hopefully it was merely a rare off-day from the skipper.
Virge is right we need at least an other quality attacker and a defender before the seasons window closes
I have been pushing this point for some time now, and now the chickens are coming home to roost at the expense of LFC losing. I have been pushing for LFC to get two defenders in this transfer window, mainly Guehi and Dionamde given we lost out on Branthwaite, Hato, Kuleba and Hincapie!! I don’t understand why Ousmane Diomande is not in the frame of backline recruits for LFC! Baleba is another player we should hijack for the future by doing a deal now similar to what we did with Marmardashvili. Then there is Isak, whom we have been pursuing for some time. Get the deal done, failure to do so will send a loss of confidence in LFC message!!! Then the fourth player can be either Rodrygo or Fofana (why LFC did not pursue Leao is beyond me). Lastly, LFC must play the youngsters, particularly Ngumoha, Nyoni Wright and Doak, the Community Shield was the ideal platform to introduce at least Nyoni and Ngumoha to the Kop and world stage!!
Andreas Christensen from Barcelona please