Virgil van Dijk insists that Liverpool’s players will rally round striker Darwin Nunez, following his red card shame on his Anfield debut.
The experienced Reds defender argued that the £85m club record signing faces a steep learning curve in the tough, cynical environment of the Premier League, where he must swiftly get his emotions under control.
And he said bluntly: “He has to control himself, definitely.
“Obviously he was disappointed and also probably with himself. I think that’s a separate thing, he has to manage himself, he has to be aware that these things can happen, especially in the Premier League.”
Yet van Dijk suggested there will be sympathy and support for the Anfield star, especially given the heightened competition in the Premier League. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp claimed after the game that Nunez was “provoked” by Palace defender Joachim Andersen, with the two tussling throughout the contest.
The Denmark international went down theatrically when Nunez put his head in the defender’s face, prompting Klopp to say: “Ok, provocation, and definitely the wrong reaction.” And van Dijk reiterated that, by explaining that the entire Liverpool squad will offer their support and experience of the Premier League to Nunez in the coming days.
“It’s a learning curve and obviously we will always back him. He’s got the backing from us and he knows it should not happen again and hopefully it will be that way,” he said. “Like I say, it will be a learning curve for him and hopefully it will never happen again.” Nunez’s moment of madness meant Liverpool were always up against it as they trailed to a breakaway Palace goal in the first half.
But they showed spirit to fight back with a brilliant Luis Diaz equaliser, and could easily have won the game, with Mo Salah twice coming close in the closing minutes. It still meant dropped points in the two opening games, but van Dijk is adamant there is no need to panic. “I think with 10 men we played outstanding, we put them under pressure, and obviously we’re disappointed to draw and not get the win, for sure,” he said.
“We had injuries, but I don’t want to blame different things. We want to perform well but it’s funny because we played the Community Shield and won and everyone was saying loads of other things and now we have drawn twice and people will write us off. We’ve played two games so far this season and there’s still a long way to go so anything can happen. That’s been shown over the last years so we’ll focus on ourselves.
“We don’t read what the others from the outside say about us because nobody knows what’s really going on. We concentrate on what we can influence and that’s our performance – we keep going.” (Mirror)