Club captain Virgil Van Dijk has labelled Liverpool’s loss to Nottingham Forest a disappointing defeat.

The Reds hosted the Trick Trees at Anfield in their return from the international break. The visitor proved too tricky for the hosts and ended up snatching all three points thanks to Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal which ended a 55-ear losing streak at Anfield for Forest.

Speaking after the game, Van Dijk shared his disappointment at how the day went and other thoughts.

What has been said

“First of all, it was a very disappointing day,” the captain told reporters post-match. “The result, and also most of the performance was too rushed and we lost too many second balls.

“We know how direct they are, so playing against a big striker you can sometimes lose a challenge and you have to be ready for the second ball and every time there was a second ball they were on the right side of it.

“They got momentum in terms of winning the right challenges and they did the job very well and in terms of ourselves we weren’t good enough. That’s the disappointing point of it.

“It’s difficult for me to say [if the international break didn’t help]. Everyone is coming back from different places and playing a different way but still I think even today when we were not at our best we created chances and it should have gone better.

“But it is a performance we are definitely not happy with, we expect a lot better from ourselves and losing at home is something that can’t happen. We have to turn it around pretty quickly and that will be the focus.

“We still tried but I think we were too rushed, we put the ball in the box a bit too quick or overplayed it and then you don’t get the momentum you want to get.

“Overall it was a disappointing afternoon, something we didn’t want to happen but we have to turn this around and make this a sort of reality check to be better for the rest of the season because if you want to achieve things this season the contrast between the games we played is too big.”

What next for Liverpool?

The Reds return to the upper echelons of European football with their first UEFA Champions League match in a year against AC Milan in Italy. Speaking on Liverpool’s next challenge, Van Dijk said:

“Obviously everyone is disappointed, like we all should be, but we also remind ourselves that Tuesday is another big game.

“If you want to dwell on things it is only going to backfire on yourself. We all should be disappointed but in a couple of hours we will already be thinking about recovery and being ready for Tuesday. That’s how we live our lives and that is what we have to do but the disappointment is still there.”