Virgil van Dijk won't do what he's never done before with Darwin Nunez

Virgil van Dijk won't do what he's never done before with Darwin Nunez - 'that should be the message'

Captain Virgil van Dijk has a message for Darwin Nunez after a turbulent few days for the Liverpool striker

Darwin Nunez celebrates scoring with Virgil van Dijk during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD3 match between RB Leipzig and Liverpool FC at Leipzig Stadium on October 23, 2024 (Image: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images )

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has challenged Darwin Nunez to pick himself up after a turbulent few days at Anfield, insisting: "We're all in this together". The Reds striker was guilty of missing a huge opportunity with the scores level in Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa when he side-footed Dominik Szoboszlai's pass across goal over the bar six yards.

Arne Slot admitted in his Thursday press conference that he was unhappy with how the No.9 reacted to that glaring miss and questioned the work-rate levels that the Reds boss felt noticeably dipped after the chance had gone.

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Nunez posted on social media shortly after Slot's media dealings with a defiant refusal to throw in the towel at Anfield and club skipper Van Dijk refused to point a finger at his team-mate for the failure to convert what was a massive opportunity in the second half at Villa Park as the Reds aimed to go 10 points clear of Arsenal in second.

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"I think there's no point talking about the individual," Van Dijk said. "I think I've never done it and I will never do it. We're all in this together.

"And I know for a fact that by the end of the season, if we hopefully get rewards for our hard work throughout the whole season in whatever kind of competition, everyone will be happy with him as well.

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"So we need everyone. Obviously he had an opportunity, unfortunately he missed it and it's on to the next and that's part of football.

"Like I said, the main thing is we're all in this together and that should be the message to everyone connected to Liverpool otherwise there's no point in being there.

"Listen, I think we had opportunities to take all three points there. I think it was pretty clear. I think we could see the first goal was a free-kick that was obviously unlucky. One header to the left and another header, then another header and obviously that's very disappointing.

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"Obviously 2-1 down and then coming back and obviously having the chances obviously to score the second, third, maybe even the fourth. And obviously in the end we were a little bit open and they obviously created one more chance in the end.

"So it's not a great feeling if you get two chances against you and they score two goals. But we had the opportunity to finish off ourselves and that's something we have to try and do better, I think."

The Reds might find their lead cut down to five points when they travel to Manchester City on Sunday with Mikel Arteta's Arsenal hosting West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.

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Van Dijk added: "Every game in the Premier League is hard work and we know that. We've seen it and obviously experienced it over the last couple of years. We just have to keep going.

"It sounds very easy, there will be setbacks, to Manchester City as well. We just have to keep going. We all have a big dream in the Premier League and I know that our Liverpool fans are the same but we need to win this together."

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