Virgil van Dijk disagrees with Premier League statement as Liverpool captain slams decision

Virgil van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool were denied a legitimate goal at Manchester City as the reigning Premier League champions slipped to eighth in the table after a 3-0 defeat at the Etihad on Sunday.

Reds captain Van Dijk thought he had equalised after Erling Haaland had headed home the opening goal but the skipper's leveller was chalked off with Andy Robertson judged to have been in an offside position and interfering with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma's attempts to make the save.

The goal was disallowed, according to Premier League's official Match Centre account, because Robertson was "deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper".

Van Dijk disagrees with that assessment while he accepts Pep Guardiola's City were deserved winners on the day, the Reds' centre-back says the decision changed the course of the game.

Van Dijk

"I don't know who was on the VAR, Michael Oliver? I think therefore, the officials at the stadium and the couple behind the screen have to make the right decisions for the game,"

“Today it was decided the goal wouldn't stand because Andy Robertson was, for any reason, hindering Donnarumma but I think the goal should have stood, that is all I will say.

“But I am not the one who is making the decisions.”

"I think [the explanation] was just hindering the goalkeeper or something like that?

“But someone showed me a clip that Man City scored last year against Wolves and the referee was [Chris Kavanagh] back then as well.

"I don't know, I've already said too much because the thing is, the decision has been made, we lost 3-0 and we don't make excuses in that sense.

“We lost 3-0, we have to take it on the chin and move on. How tough it is is obviously a hit but we have to keep going."

Van Dijk now heads off for Netherlands duty with the Reds eight points behind league leaders Arsenal and while international action affords the Liverpool squad the chance to move on from a chastening afternoon at the Etihad, there are lessons to be learned from a fifth defeat of the term, according to the club captain.

Van Dijk added: "You don't forget about results like this. If you forget about these things then you don't get better. You cannot only think about the good things all the time.

"You have to think about what went wrong today and how we can improve it. You have to feel that responsibility, I definitely do. What could we have done better? And you take that into the next games.

"I don't think there is anty reason to get carried away, we faced some difficult opponents this week and we got two wins from three and we have to just keep going.

“It's a difficult season so far for many reasons but I am confident we can turn this around.

"It doesn't happen overnight, we have to keep working and we need everyone to be fit to keep helping us, so that is the key for all of us in the dressing room.

"There's no point looking at the table for us, that is it. I don't think there is any point for us.

“If you lose as many games as we have lost, I don't think we can look at the table at this point but I have been in the game quite a long time [to know] that seasons aren't decided in November or December.

“It's when it comes to March time, you know, April, when it starts to become very interesting how it all shapes up up there. We want to be there but there's a long way to go and a lot of hard work to be put in.

"So we have to stay humble and we have to keep working and that is the only aim and the only thing we should focus on.

"[Recent results] is why it feels maybe a bit more disappointing at this point because you work so hard on those two games as a whole, as a team to get the clean sheet and the goals that we scored.

“At the end of the day, games - and especially these games - are decided by small margins.

“I think you can see there was some brilliance today, with the third goal especially from Doku, who is in the shape of his life, but the second goal was a little deflection which was unlucky and that is the reality.

"Now everyone is going to their respective countries and they have to perform because there are still some big games left and many players still want to qualify for the World Cup and then when we come back, we have a big run of games where we need everyone in their best shape.

"And that is the opportunity that we are looking forward to as a team to show to our fans and ourselves what we have been doing in the last two games (before City). We want to find the consistency in order to be successful this season."

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