Virgil van Dijk has questioned whether the Liverpool squad are shouldering the collective burden of hauling Arne Slot’s team out of a “mess” the captain admits should not be afflicting the reigning Premier League champions. The Dutchman insists that any player lacking the desire to battle through the present difficulties is in the “wrong place” at Anfield, while accusing the squad of failing their manager.

The Reds descended to a dismal new depth in a torrid campaign when they suffered a 3-0 home defeat to struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon. It equalled the heaviest home defeat in their Premier League history and marked a sixth defeat in their past seven league fixtures, and the first occasion since 1965 they had lost back-to-back league games by at least three goals, having been hammered by an identical scoreline at Manchester City a fortnight earlier.

Liverpool now find themselves in the bottom half of the table for the first time in 10 years, with mounting pressure on Slot to halt a decline that has sparked speculation in certain circles about a managerial change.

Van Dijk has spoken candidly when asked about the Anfield club’s dismal run and their support for the head coach.

“We are definitely letting him down but we’ve let ourselves down as well,” he said. “You look at yourself first and then you help each other get out of this mess because at the moment it is a mess – that’s just a fact.

“As the champions we can’t be in the situation we are in right now but it’s a fact. What are we going to do about it? We’re going to try to turn it around and that’s the mentality everyone should have.”

When questioned about the atmosphere in the dressing room following the Forest defeat, Van Dijk admitted: “Yeah, you should be angry. The main thing for me is that everyone has to take responsibility.

“Are people doing that? I don’t know. But you have to do that. It’s the main thing I want the boys to do. It’s not easy during difficult times but we have to do it if we want to get out of this.

“What I want is for everyone to take responsibility on the pitch. We have to do that in order to push each other, to make each other better. When someone is pressing, you have to follow the press.

“It’s basic things but it’s not happening enough. We have to get back to that. It’s easy to maybe just think about your own situation rather than the collective side when things are not going well.”

Reflecting on the past year, Van Dijk said: “Thinking about last year, which I don’t like to do that much, we had a new manager and no-one knew what to expect and the consistency we had was incredible.

“This season we don’t have any consistency, we concede far too many goals, we are losing battles and everyone is responsible for it and I hope everyone sees that. We have to take responsibility to turn this around and it is easy to point fingers but you have to do it together.

“We have been through it together and won the league and everyone was part of it and happy and when you go through 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, again and again because if you want to give up then you are at the wrong place in my eyes because this club has been going through many adversities over those years and we’ve always come out of it.

“But it doesn’t mean it is easy, it’s tiring but there is no other way. Wednesday (against PSV Eindhoven at home in the Champions League) is another game 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 turn this around and hopefully that is what everyone is doing as well.”

Liverpool dominated possession with 74 per cent against Forest yet mustered just four shots on target from 21 attempts, marking the first time they’ve failed to score in back-to-back league fixtures since February 2023.

The Reds have managed only three Premier League clean sheets this campaign and, having conceded 20 goals in 12 top-flight matches, are enduring their worst defensive start to a season since 1992.

For Van Dijk, it was just the fifth occasion he had tasted defeat in a home league match since his arrival at Anfield almost eight years ago. He lamented: “Was it as bad as it’s been this season? Yeah. You can’t lose 3-0 at home. If you see the 30 minutes we played that says we still had a very good performance but football isn’t played over 30 minutes and that showed.

“We conceded and panic kicks in. As a team, you have to try to stay calm and do the right things. But we didn’t do that and that’s hard to accept. We were nervous in the way we played. We were trying to force things.

“And the way we started the second half was just unacceptable. Going into half-time you discuss what you want to do in the second half. Then to concede such an easy goal and find yourself 2-0 down, it’s a totally different story. It’s difficult.

“You have to be mentally strong and keep going. You have to find the calmness to create chances and be clinical in front of goal. But we didn’t do that and Forest were also physically winning so many battles against us.

“Overall a very disappointing afternoon and something that is hard to take. It’s the reality. I’m not a quitter. I will never quit. I will keep going but it doesn’t mean it isn’t tough to take. The realisation is we are in a very difficult moment.”