Van Dijk: Liverpool must 'look in the mirror' after chastening Forest defeat

Virgil van Dijk urged Liverpool's players to "have a look in the mirror" after Nottingham Forest piled more misery on Arne Slot's side.

The defending Premier League champions lost for a sixth time in their last seven top-flight outings, going down 3-0 to Forest at Anfield.

Murillo pounced for a first-half opener before goals after the break from Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White saw Liverpool supporters head for an early exit.

Liverpool's six league defeats are as many as they had suffered in their previous 58 games beforehand, and captain Van Dijk pulled no punches in a damning assessment of their efforts.

"Everyone is disappointed, like they should be, because losing at home to Nottingham Forest is, in my eyes, very bad," the Netherlands international told Premier League Productions.

"That's the least I can say about it. Those goals we conceded are far too easy and we all have to look in the mirror.

"I've been at this club so long now and we've been through adversity. We will bounce back but it doesn't happen overnight. I'm not a quitter and we will keep going.

"I can't decide what the supporters are doing if they leave early. I know the fans have been through thick and thin with us. They will be there with us when we come out of this because we will come out of this."

It was a familiar struggle from Slot's defence for Murillo's opener as a half-cleared Elliot Anderson corner saw Liverpool concede a ninth Premier League goal from set-pieces this season, excluding penalties.

That is as many as they shipped in the whole of last season (nine), while four of those have been from corners – one more than they conceded from such situations in the league in 2024-25 (three).

Van Dijk apportioned some of the blame for the shoddy set-piece defending, with his clearance not strong enough to deal with the initial danger.

"We concede too many easy goals. They scored obviously from a set piece again," he added. "You can ask if he was in front of Alisson, but it counted, so we're 1-0 down.

"We were not good in terms of battles, challenges, the fight, too rushed. It's a very difficult situation at the moment.

"There was nervousness after we conceded, but not before. We tried to rush things and that's human when you're in a difficult moment.

"We're in a very difficult moment. We don't get out of it by just speaking about it. It will take a lot of hard work.

"It's a problem. Everyone in the team has to take responsibility as well. Football is a team and everyone has to take responsibility.

"We have to digest this and take it on the chin. We need to work harder. We have to keep going."