Virgil van Dijk has said Liverpool's previous campaign was 'unacceptable' and admitted it may take time for the squad to adapt to Andoni Iraola's methods. The Reds drew 2-2 with Newcastle on the opening day of the new season under their new Spanish coach.
Van Dijk calls for improvement
Writing in his programme notes ahead of Saturday's home match against Nottingham Forest, Van Dijk said the team is working hard to implement the new coach's ideas quickly. He described last season, when Liverpool finished fifth in the Premier League before Arne Slot was sacked, as tough and unacceptable.
"When you have a new coach with new plans and new ideas, it is always going to take a bit of time to put those into practice," Van Dijk wrote. "But it is down to us to do that as quickly as we can. I can tell you that we are working extremely hard every day on the training ground, because we all want to improve, we want to be better and more consistent."
Non-negotiables for Forest clash
Van Dijk also highlighted four non-negotiables his teammates must show against Nottingham Forest: togetherness, hard work, desire and commitment. He acknowledged the difficulty of the fixture and stressed the need for a strong performance to secure three points.
"Like I say, we showed some good things against Newcastle. St. James' Park is always a tough place to go, and though obviously we were not happy with the goals we conceded," he added. "I think we showed good character to twice come back and we worked extremely hard as a team to take something from the game. It wasn't a victory, which is what we wanted of course, but it was a deserved point in my opinion, and we take that and move on."
"This will be another tough game, make no mistake. We know how dangerous Nottingham Forest can be, and we will need to perform at our best if we want to get the three points. Again, it starts with the basics; togetherness, hard work, desire and commitment. If we have those – and we will – then we will give ourselves the best possible chance to show our quality and get the result we all want."
