Virgil Van Dijk: Most Important Thing Is Full Focus On What Is Ahead Of You
The Liverpool captain does not want his side to dwell on what many consider a “statement” win over Bournemouth as the Reds set the pace for the Premier League title.
There was great anticipation ahead of the match Liverpool played at Bournemouth on Saturday. Liverpool have been unbeaten in the league since a stumble against the tricky trees of Nottingham Forest in September. The Cherries. meanwhile, entered the match on an 11 match unbeaten streak, including a 5-0 thrashing of Forest the week prior.
It was a scintillating match, with both sides playing without fear. Liverpool pulled out a deserved 2-0 win despite some good attacking play and pressure from Bournemouth. Club captain Virgil van Dijk felt the squad managed to stay calm and focused despite the pressure, which he credits in large part to the core of experience players who have been through some of the intense campaigns for the Reds in the past.
“Of course we [2020 title winners] have to share our experience,” said the Dutch defender.
“That is part of life in general, not only football. Cody mentioned as well that I said we have to stay calm. It is important. The most important thing is to put all your full focus on what is ahead of you. That is what we did. Majority of us had rested but all had focus on Bournemouth.”
“We deal with every opponent with the utmost respect because they deserve it. They won 5-0 against Nottingham Forest last week which said a lot, we had to be ready to suffer here and show our quality.”
Despite the solid win over a very worthy opponent, van Dijk does not want to prescribe additional value to the match while there is still so far to go across the various competitions. Instead, van Dijk says the squad will return to training and refocus on the next match. After the season is over, THEN he may consider which matches were statement wins.
“Hopefully at the end of the season we can say that [this was a statement win at Bournemouth]. There’s so many games to play now, different competitions and we need everyone. Now we have a couple of days off and we focus fully on turning the tie around against Spurs at home which will be difficult. But I am looking forward to it. Then we will see at the end if certain games are statement wins but there is no point to put a label on any game. Anything can happen.”
“Yeah, it was a big one. A big win, a difficult win. This is a team in very good form with a clear idea of playing. Even when they have had a lot of injuries we have seen how difficult they make it for the traditional big six and other teams. Today was always going to be tough and we have done well. 2-0 and a clean sheet is very nice.”
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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