Virgil van Dijk claims he understands why there are doubts over Liverpool’s prospects for the upcoming season.
The Reds have lost several senior players this summer following the exits of James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Jordan Henderson and Fabinho have also departed Anfield to the Saudi Pro League. Jurgen Klopp has only made two signings following the arrival of £95m midfield duo Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szobozslai.
Pre-season results and performances have been mixed and the search for a new defensive midfielder continues after three failed bids for Southampton’s Romeo Lavia.
“Yeah, I can definitely understand it in some ways. But I’m not a very negative person, so obviously it’s not in my mind to think like that,” Van Dijk said.
“But obviously when a lot of players are leaving, when your captain is leaving, your vice-captain is leaving, and at the moment there are only two incomings, and the way we have been playing – in possession really good, but defensively when you concede goals it’s not as good – I can understand some people having doubts.”
The new Liverpool skipper added: “But the most important thing as we’ve seen over the years is the consistency, as a group, everyone in the squad. Let’s see if more players are coming in, and then we have to be ready again for a long season. It will be very tough if we look at the teams around us, but we want to be up there again, we want to be challenging again, and the only way to do it is with the consistency that we’ve shown over the previous years, apart from last year which was very disappointing.
“We have to be confident, we should be confident and we should still be learning each and every day. We should be excited. I’m very excited, so let’s give it a go.”
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