Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk Defends Teammate's Rant After Disappointing West Brom Draw

Liverpool centre back Virgil van Dijk was uncompromising in his assessment of his side's performance in last Saturday's 2-2 draw away to West Bromwich Albion, the Premier League's bottom club. 

The Reds squandered a 2-0 lead as West Brom's Jake Livermore and Salomón Rondón both capitalised on hesitant defending by the away side.

Quoted by the Mirror, the Netherlands defender said: "No one wants to concede at the last, even concede at all. The way we conceded those goals is something to be angry about."

Liverpool's James Milner furiously berated his teammates on the pitch after the game - and Van Dijk revealed that angry words were also exchanged in the dressing room afterwards.

However, Van Dijk insisted such heated exchanges were sometimes necessary for the club to achieve its goals.

"We need to be honest with ourselves and everyone was," he said, adding: "We need to do better. You have to tell each other the truth, you cannot be nice and happy when we want to achieve so much as a team, as a club."

The Dutchman - who became the world's most expensive defender when Liverpool signed him from Southampton for £75m in January - insisted that there was "no reason to panic", even though he acknowledged that a draw at the Hawthorns was "not good enough".

Nevertheless, his side's slapdash defensive display will surely be a source of encouragement to AS Roma, who will be the Reds' next opponents in the Champions League semi final at Anfield on Tuesday.

The Italians have scored eight goals and conceded just one in a four-match unbeaten run which began with the remarkable 3-0 win over Barcelona. Their last match was a 3-0 away win over SPAL in Serie A on Saturday.