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The Liverpool skipper has issued a blunt evaluation of the club's woeful championship campaign, confessing the reigning champions are in disarray and failing head coach Slot while questioning whether every player is owning up for the team’s slump.

Van Dijk struggled to hold back his frustration after Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest, a result that saw the Reds in the bottom half of the top-flight standings with a negative goal difference. The club's chair was present at Anfield to observe Liverpool’s latest loss in seven league games, their eighth loss in eleven fixtures across every tournament, and a display that unravelled against a Forest side that began the match in the drop zone.

“Unacceptable” Start and Set-Piece Woes

The captain described Liverpool’s opening after halftime as “not good enough” and admitted “panic kicked in” as soon as Murillo gave Sean Dyche’s team the lead. The first goal was the ninth goal Liverpool have allowed from dead-ball situations in the Premier League this season.

“We had a great build-up to the match but in a fixture you are dealing with facts and the facts are we gave away a set piece in the first half and a poor concession at the beginning after the break,” said the defender. “We are definitely failing the manager, but we’ve disappointed ourselves as well. Start with self-reflection and then you help each other, you help each other get out of this mess because at the present time it is a mess – that's the reality.

Van Dijk’s Demands: Take Responsibility

The skipper usually speaks the media after a match as part of his role as team leader. This time was distinct, however. His voice was more forceful – so loud that any teammate in the stadium corridors could hear him – and he expressed visible fury while urging the squad to react. “You should be angry,” he insisted. “The key point for me is that everyone has to take responsibility.” Asked whether that is happening, Van Dijk answered: “It's unclear. But you have to do that. It’s the main thing I expect the boys to do. It's challenging during tough periods but we have to do it if we aim to recover of this.”

Summer Signings and Broader Issues

Liverpool invested almost £450 million to strengthen a championship-winning team in the summer but have regressed, with several high-profile signings failing to make an impact so far. The captain maintained that Liverpool’s issues go beyond the new recruits. “It’s tough for all involved,” he said. “What I want is for everyone to be answerable on the pitch. We have to do that in order to motivate one another, to make each other better. When someone is pressing, you have to follow the effort. These are fundamentals but it’s not happening enough.”

Call for Unity

Van Dijk added: “This season we don’t have any steady form, we allow far too many goals, we are being out-fought and all share the blame for it and I trust everyone sees that. It's vital to take responsibility to reverse the situation and it is easy to assign blame but you have to do it together. We have been through it together and claimed the title and all contributed, and during a tough time you have to stick together and not point fingers.

“You have to be a man and face the toughness and go again, repeatedly because if you want to give up then you are at the wrong place in my view, because this club has been going through many adversity over those years and we’ve consistently emerged of it. But it doesn’t mean it is straightforward, it’s exhausting but there is only one path forward.”

Next Fixtures

The upcoming match in the Premier League is a trip to West Ham next weekend, after the midweek visit of PSV in the Champions League. He said: “The next game is another opportunity so what am I going to do, go home and cry? No, I’m going to go home and try to think how we can improve results and hopefully that is the collective focus as well.”