Virgil van Dijk hits back at Wayne Rooney’s ‘lazy’ criticism of Liverpool

Virgil van Dijk has called Wayne Rooney’s criticism of him and Mohamed Salah this season “lazy” and has hit out at “ridiculous takes” during Liverpool’s recent run of bad form.

Rooney, talking on his BBC podcast, had said there had been a lack of leadership from the Liverpool captain and Salah this season and that their body language had not been right. From late September to late October, Liverpool lost six times in seven games, including at home to Manchester United and away to Crystal Palace.

Van Dijk has responded to the former United and England striker yet admitted some criticism does get to his teammates. The Liverpool captain said of Rooney: “I didn’t hear him last year. It doesn’t hurt me. 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 a bit of a lazy criticism. It’s easy to blame the older players but he knows as well as everyone else that we do it together and try to help each other to get out of this. There are so many platforms nowadays that everyone can say whatever they like and it gets blown up.”

Wayne Rooney questioned Virgil van Dijk’s leadership during his BBC podcast. Photograph: John Walton/PA

However the 34-year-old did say some players can be affected by the talk around the Premier League champions, who are seven points behind the leaders, Arsenal. “What I have noticed over the last couple of weeks especially is that there is a lot of noise that you have no control over and that we have to deal with as a team,” he said. “Some of those takes are absolutely ridiculous. But you have to deal with that. It’s outside noise that can reach certain players, the group. It’s about sticking together.

“And when there are difficult moments, I try to help my teammates. 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.”

Liverpool got out of their results rut on Saturday night with a 2-0 home win against Aston Villa – in which Salah scored his 250th goal for the club – and Van Dijk highlighted how some people’s tune had changed since the losing run started. He said: “I think it’s a funny thing, isn’t it? Because last year we didn’t hear anything about this, 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, 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 have not the best results or not great performances, then myself and the manager will definitely always be questioned. That’s part and parcel, you know.

“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 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.”