Harsh words from Virgil van Dijk, he emphasizes taking advantage of virtues

The Reds welcome West Ham United to L4 tonight for a Carabao Cup quarter-final, before Arsenal visit Merseyside on Saturday for a top-of-the-table Premier League clash. Despite tallying 34 attempts on goal in their last outing, Jürgen Klopp’s side were ultimately left disappointed by the 0-0 stalemate with United.

Nevertheless, Van Dijk wants Liverpool to use that to their advantage, starting against the Hammers. He writes in his column for the official matchday programme: It says a lot about the standards that we have set for ourselves, not just in this season, but in most of the ones before, that we can draw a game against Manchester United, maintaining our unbeaten home run in the process, and the main feeling is disappointment.

This is not something I would ever want to change, though. Keeping high standards and always looking to be better is part and parcel of playing for a club like Liverpool. If we deliver once, we have to deliver twice. Win one game and the first question is what do we have to do to win the next? I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This brings pressure, but pressure is something that we can and do thrive upon. Some of our best moments this season have come when the pressure has been at its highest. So with the games coming thick and fast and every opponent bringing a fresh challenge, we have to do everything we can to make the most of every single fixture.

Liverpool player is all about

They were frustrated at the weekend, but now we get to take that frustration into tonight’s game and look to be better in the areas where we need to improve. If we can do that there are no guarantees that we will make it through to the semi-finals because West Ham are a strong team, but it will definitely help our chances.