Virgil van Dijk hits back at Wayne Rooney over 'lazy' Liverpool criticism

Virgil van Dijk hits back at Wayne Rooney over 'lazy' Liverpool leadership criticism

Virgil van Dijk responds to criticism from Wayne Rooney after the Manchester United legend questioned the Liverpool captain's leadership

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Virgil van Dijk has hit back at Wayne Rooney's comments over a lack of leadership at Liverpool. The Reds captain branded the Manchester United legend's analysis as "lazy criticism".

Liverpool ended a run of four successive Premier League defeats on Saturday night as they beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield to move up to third in the table, level on points with second-placed Bournemouth ahead of their trip to Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.

Such a sequence was the worst of the Netherlands international's time at the club since his January 2018 move from Southampton.

And former United, Everton and England striker Rooney was critical of Van Dijk at the top of the week on his BBC podcast as he said: "Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they've signed new deals but I don't think they've really led that team this season."

Van Dijk offered a measured reply following Saturday's win over Villa, saying it is easy to lay the blame at the door of the team's most experienced operators.

"I didn’t hear him last year," Van Dijk said. "No, it doesn't hurt me to be honest. Just to come back to this particular player, obviously a legend, a big player of the game who inspired so many, I can say only positive things, but I feel that comment is just I would say it's a bit of a lazy criticism.

"That's my personal opinion. It's easy to blame the older players but he knows obviously as well as everyone else we do it together trying to help each and every one of us to try to get out of this and, like I said as well, last year when things go well you don't hear that at all. It is what it is.

"[Pundits] have to do that job as well, so it is what it is. Like I said, he has an opinion and we have to deal with it. And there's no hard feelings, by the way. I don't take it personally whatsoever."

Van Dijk added: "I think it's a funny thing, isn't it? Because last year we didn't hear anything about this [criticism], because obviously things were going well, and we were also seen as the leaders, and this year when things are not going as well as we want so far the last couple of weeks, then we're not doing our job properly.

"So that's the life we live. We feel that responsibility. We want to lead by example. Obviously I can only speak for myself in this case, by the way. I know I'm the captain, I know that if we do not have the best results or not great performances, then myself and the manager will definitely always be questioned. That's part and parcel, you know.

"And that's what comes with it. I want to perform, not for myself, but for the team, for the club. That's what I've been doing for all those years. I want to win things, I want to win games especially, and I've been very fortunate to win so many games with the club, especially here at home.

"And when there are difficult moments, I try to help my team-mates. I try to put them in front of me and want to make them perform as in the best possible shape and then when things don’t go well then that's the world we live in and people question loads of stuff, especially when you lose.

"How many did we lose? Six in the last seven, yeah. So you know, there are so many platforms nowadays that everyone can say whatever they like and it gets blown up.

"I've mentioned it after previous games, we have to stick together, focus on the task ahead, winning games, that's the only thing we can control. And it's very, it's not easy to do that for everyone, but for me I'm mature enough and I have a very stable life that I will be able to do so."

Goals from Salah - his 250th for the Reds - and Ryan Gravenberch got Arne Slot's side back to winning ways ahead of a huge week that sees Real Madrid return to Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday before a visit to Man City in the Premier League next Sunday.

Supporters across Anfield aired their vocal support for the under-fire Slot on the night and Van Dijk believes it was a message that the fans are firmly behind the head coach and the players as they look to get their campaign back on track.

"I heard the fans [singing for Slot]," Van Dijk said. "Obviously I've heard the reports as well about him being under pressure and stuff, but I don't think we play at the club that makes rash decisions.

"I think we all felt, and I think you all can agree on that, that we can work our way out of this. Obviously it's not a guarantee, but we can do it together. As long as we believe, as long as we stay humble and keep working, I feel like we can do it, and we all have that feeling.

"We have to keep going and obviously you never know what happens, it's football, this is the life we live. But we have to go on and I feel like internally there's no doubt that we can do this together.

"It's a team thing, isn't it? You need everyone to be at their best to win games and obviously today I think we played a solid game and we got the well-deserved three points. Now we go home, recover and we focus on Real Madrid."

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