Roy Keane on Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk: 'Always start with the man in the mirror'

After another Liverpool loss the Dutch defender said it was important the team stayed calm, but Keane feels the Dutch defender needs to take a look at himself

STRESSED: Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk. Pic: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Roy Keane has questioned the performance of Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk during the club's ongoing slump in form.

The Premier League champions suffered their fourth successive loss in all competitions on Sunday as they were beaten 2-1 by arch-rivals Manchester United at Anfield.

After the game Van Dijk said it was important the team stayed calm, but Keane, the former United skipper, feels the Dutch defender needs to take a look at himself.

The Irishman, working as a pundit for Sky Sports, said: "Liverpool did look edgy. They do look like they're forcing things. They do look like the balance, the chemistry, is not quite there.

"When you're the centre-half and you're a big player, and last year we were on about who's going to stay and he signs the big contract, and then you're giving up loads of goals, then I'd be looking at him.

"I'd be looking (and thinking), 'What are you doing?' I think a couple of years ago he spoke about Man United coming here and parking the bus and being critical of United.

"Well, they've scored two today, they scored two last year, and you're the centre-half of this team. Always start with the man in the mirror, because he's a big leader.

"If you're the centre-half and your team are all of a sudden giving up loads of goals, you've got new people coming to your club, you've got to have a good look at yourself, (and say) 'Am I really helping these lads? Am I getting a grip of people?'

"Little incidents we saw with the (first) goal there - yes, we'll give United plaudits - but I do look at him going, 'Are you really sprinting back?'

"United's attacking players, certainly, had a bit of a swagger about them, whereas Liverpool, they struggled to deal with that."

Van Dijk told Sky Sports: "We conceded a very sloppy second goal. We worked so hard to get back into the game, we created opportunities to score the winner, but if you concede the second goal like that, obviously, that's the disappointing part.

"Overall, if you look at the game, we were far too rushed. I think we were making wrong decisions.

"It's an interesting time now. We have to stick together, not only us as players, but together with our fans and everyone that wants us to win.

"It's about staying very calm. When things get tough, it's important that we keep that same mentality of being there for each other. It's still a long season."

Harry Maguire was delighted to end Manchester United's "embarrassing" wait for back-to-back Premier League victories.

The Red Devils celebrated a first victory at Anfield since January 2016 as the towering defender powered home shortly after Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo's early opener.

United last won back-to-back league games in the same season at the end of the 2023/24 campaign and Maguire told the BBC: "It's embarrassing really. It's not a stat that we should even be speaking about, because it is an embarrassing stat to have.

"Now that's out of the way, let's try and make it three on Saturday against Brighton, because we have to start putting a bit more consistency together.

"The last three or four years we'd put in a performance like this and the following game we come down again.

"We have set a benchmark. There are a lot of areas we can do more, we were hanging on there and defending for the last 30 minutes or so. We'll analyse it. The manager strives for perfection, so I'm sure he will want us to play better than we did in the second half. Great fight, big spirit, big win, but we have to go again."

Amorim echoed those sentiments as United turn their attention to Brighton's visit.

"Of course it is really important - I don't have many wins in Manchester," the Portuguese said.

"It is really important that it is back to back, that it is at Anfield. Every detail of this game it is something I've been speaking about for a while - the spirit when we suffer a bad moment or a goal, maintain the composure.

"Today all the small things today were perfect. Let's try to do that next week. That is really important."

Sunday's result dealt another gut punch to Liverpool as the champions suffered a fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

"I think as a manager you constantly face challenges," boss Arne Slot said ahead of Wednesday's return to action in the Champions League at Eintracht Frankfurt.

"Now we have lost four times in a row and that's also a challenge, so the life of a football manager is an ongoing challenge.

"If you win games, you want to keep winning. If you lose games, you want to start winning again.

"Do we lose confidence? I cannot see it yet, because every single game we've lost we were able to create in the second half an unbelievable amount of chances.

"If you look at the three games we lost in the Premier League, if you put all the highlights behind each other you would say it is hardly possible that they lose this game.

"So, if we can keep producing what we are doing and do a few things a little bit better, then there is every reason to expect that we start to win football games again."

Slot said Ryan Gravenberch suffered a twisted ankle and fellow midfielder Alexis Mac Allister needed four stitches after being caught by Virgil van Dijk.

Mbeumo scored after play continued despite Mac Allister's head injury and Slot said: "The main thing I should do now is not complain, blame or do these kind of things.

"We could have done much better after Macca was on the floor, we should have done better, but the health care of the players is something that is important and, if a player needs four stitches, you would hope everyone understands he needs immediate treatment.

"It didn't happen, but again we could have done better, so that is not the reason we lost today. The reason is we missed far too many chances to win a game of football."