ReactionVirgil van Dijk's verdict on Liverpool's defeat at Brentford
Read Virgil van Dijk's reaction after Liverpool were beaten 3-2 away at Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday night.
Arne Slot's men fell two goals behind against the Bees in the first half and then hit back through Milos Kerkez on the cusp of the interval.
Igor Thiago's penalty on the hour restored the hosts' cushion, however, and Mohamed Salah's 89th-minute effort was not enough for the Reds to take anything from Gtech Community Stadium.
Post-match, Liverpool captain Van Dijk gave his verdict on the encounter to TNT Sports. Read the Q&A in full below.
On how he would sum up the game...
Disappointed. Disappointed for losing here. We know obviously what their strengths were and what they obviously look to try to do. The first goal is something obviously we knew, so we have to be spot on in that - it's a quality of them. Then the second goal to concede is obviously not great. Then the penalty. It was just a very disappointing night overall for us. It's tough to take but it's the reality and we have to keep going.
On his view of the decision to award a penalty against him...
I don't know. The referee said the ball was on the line, but then he put the spot first two metres outside the box. So, I didn't know what really was going on. In the end, he gives it. That's obviously not great.
On whether this feels like 'a big setback' after winning in the Champions League in midweek...
It's the reality that we lost today, and that's the only thing. We have the next game on Wednesday against an opponent that made already our life difficult this season. We have to turn our mindset pretty quickly in order to be ready for that, because they'll come to Anfield to try to hurt us even more. Obviously this is a tough one to take, we can't deny that. It's been not an easy moment. We were trying to build on the performance that we had in Frankfurt but unfortunately this was not a nice evening to have.
On it being nine games without a clean sheet for Liverpool and what is 'concerning' him about recent performances...
It's difficult to say. The fact is that we didn't keep clean sheets for nine games. It's easy then to blame a particular person or the back line or set-pieces, but it's a collective thing in the end as well. Everyone has to look in the mirror, including myself. That's what we all do and that's what we all have discussed as well. I'm sure we will get out of this, but we don't get out of this just by talking about it. Obviously I have to come here because you guys ask me to come here, otherwise I would just focus on trying to get back on track with my team. We'll try to improve, that's what we work on; it's not that we're doing nothing in training or nothing behind the scenes. We all want to improve, that's why we're on the pitch as well. But it's tough at the moment. We need each other, we need the support, we need the people that were celebrating with us as well last year to be there for us now even more, and then I'm very confident that we will get out of this because we have the quality offensively, defensively. But the reality is we are looking for a clean sheet but definitely for a win again. That's the reality.