Arne Slot was the angriest I've ever seen him after Liverpool performance - he had every right to be

Van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk admits Arne Slot was the angriest he has been at Liverpool during half time of Saturday's 3-1 win over Southampton.

the Reds captain says the head coach had every right to be after a disappointing first period that saw the rock-bottom Saints take a shock lead.

Will Smallbone capitalised on a mix up between Alisson Becker and Van Dijk in first-half stoppage time to give the visitors the prospect of a major upset

Darwin Nunez equalised with his seventh of the campaign shortly after the restart before two Mohamed Salah penalties sealed the win

Van Dijk conceded Slot was furious during the 15-minute break and accepted his boss was within his rights to call out the performance

Van Dijk said

"I think he wasn’t happy and he had every right to not be,"

"No-one was really happy with the first half performance but like I said, we are all human beings and we had no intention to play the first half like we did but, unfortunately we did, but we turned it around. And that’s part of football.

“Yes [it was the angriest I've seen him] but if you look at the first half, he had every right to be angry.

“And I think from his point of view as well, it was even more frustrating to see. But we did what we all wanted in the second half and what he wanted as well and now we move on.

"It was both [physical and mental]. No-one wants to play the first half as we did but sometimes, as footballers and [because of] the opponent, you have a first half like we did today. It’s down to us as players to turn it around and I’m glad we did.

"Sometimes these things can happen in football, unfortunately. Apart from that I don’t think there were many problems at all but unfortunately these things happen and it was just miscommunication."

"I think it was a bit too slow, everything, we couldn’t get into the rhythm.

“Obviously, they played a bit different to what they have been doing during their season. So they waited for us to lose the ball and we weren’t as comfortable on the ball.

"We passed the ball a couple of times into open space and they made a good counter on us. I don’t think it was down to tactics or anything.

“It just wasn’t good enough in the first half. Luckily football is more than just 45 minutes and you could clearly see, the second half was outstanding, from the first second to the last."

On Harvey Elliott, who turned in another eye-catching performance off the bench

Van Dijk added:

"I'm very pleased for him. After the game in Paris I said nice things about him.

"But everyone who is not playing or starting, it must be frustrating because everyone is working so hard, but we are at the decisive part of the season and everyone has to keep working and when your time is there, when your moment is there, you have to make the most out of it and show your qualities and he obviously did that in the last game and today he was solid in the second half as well.

"And he has to keep going, there are only a couple of months left until the end of the season and we need everyone to be at their best.

"I think in the second half everyone showed their usual self again and Lucho (Luis Diaz) was very important.

“He obviously did an assist for the first one, the penalty incident he was involved in as well. It’s pretty obvious that we need everyone at their best and hopefully Tuesday he can show it again."