MY ACCOUNT
Virgil van Dijk has been on the receiving end of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp’s ire “plenty of times”.
The Reds defender made the admission when speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap about Klopp’s demeanour in the Anfield dressing room.
Van Dijk and Liverpool have had a difficult start to the season, which included a shock 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on Saturday to leave them eighth in the Premier League.
But Van Dijk has been one of Liverpool’s top performers since joining from Southampton in January 2018, winning Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup honours under Klopp.
The Netherlands centre-back does not always avoid his manager’s dressing downs, though.
“Oh yeah plenty of times,” Van Dijk replied when asked if he had been shouted at by Klopp.
“Not in my face because I feel like screaming in someone’s face could be a little disrespectful but when it’s needed he will definitely do it, but he shouts a lot.
“The thing is and what I like is that someone does that because someone really cares about you or the situation and wants to make sure it improves or get anyone else sharper.
“So, I really enjoy that in a way and it helps me personally.”
Van Dijk recalled Liverpool’s poor performance in the season-opener against Fulham, a match that finished 2-2, and how he deliberately ignored Klopp knowing a telling off was coming.
“I was trying to go more direct and he was shouting at me that we had to play a little bit more,” Van Dijk added.
“I know he was shouting from the side so I wasn’t looking at him or trying to acknowledge him because I knew for a fact that he was going to go after me. It is what it is.”
