Arne Slot has dismissed concerns over the form of Virgil van Dijk after a rare individual error from the skipper helped consign Liverpool to defeat at Fulham.
Van Dijk failed to deal with a high ball which allowed Rodrigo Muniz to score what ultimately proved the winning goal as the Reds slumped to a 3-2 Premier League loss at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon.
The Dutchman had escaped in midweek when a mistake sent Everton striker Beto clear only for the striker to hit the post before Liverpool went on to win 1-0.
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But Slot preferred to concentrate on the quality of the opposing forwards rather than the uncharacteristic missteps by his captain.
“I mainly give credit to other players as well,” said Slot. “If you look at Beto, Virgil wasn't the first defender to find it hard to play against him as he chases for every ball, pushes you just before you get the ball.
“The one who played there today, you have to give a lot of credit to him as well.
“I still see a lot of things that Virgil does really well. If you play 50 to 60 games a season, even for Virgil, there will be one or two moments where he could have done better. I don't worry about Virgil.”
At Fulham, Slot made just one change from the side that beat Everton four days earlier with Cody Gakpo replacing Luis Diaz.
Diaz replaced the Holland international in the second half and gave Liverpool hope of a comeback with a well-taken goal after Alexis Mac Allister’s early opener had been wiped out before the break by strikes from Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Muniz.
But when asked if he regretted not greater rotating his team, Slot said: “No, there were four days in between and we've shown many times this season that's not a problem for us.
“I don't think the errors we made had anything to do with players being tired.
“I know how it works, if you concede three goals in the first half then everyone is like 'wow, that's a disaster’.
“But if you look back at it, you will probably see a few good moments as well in the build up. After half an hour I looked at the scoreboard and it was 1-1. I was like 'okay, not our best game, but we have control’.
“All of a sudden I blinked my eyes and we were 3-1 down.”
