Speaking on his podcast, Gary Neville has shared an observation he made about Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk against Manchester United.
Liverpool were sensational against the Red Devils, but one man who didn’t have his best game was van Dijk.
The Dutchman was uncharacteristically lax in possession early in the second-half, and Neville noticed that Jurgen Klopp gave him a dressing down on the touchline.
However, it wasn’t just Klopp who lost their temper with van Dijk on Tuesday, Nevile noted that Andy Robertson turned on his teammate after his lapse in concentration.
What’s been said?
Neville says that Robertson had a go at van Dijk during the game on Tuesday.
“You can have that togetherness and spirit, and they have that in abundance. The demand of each other. Jurgen Klopp gave van Dijk a rollocking after three minutes of the second-half and van Dijk took it, Robertson, again, he absolutely turned on van Dijk, that’s what you see in a winning team, a winning mentality,” Neville said.
How to win
As Neville says, this is a sign of being a winning team and having a winning mentality.
In certain teams, star players are untouchable and egos can run wild, but that clearly isn’t the case at Liverpool as even van Dijk isn’t immune from a telling off from time to time.
To be fair, it’s not often that van Dijk needs to be set straight by his manager or his teammates, but when his standards slip slightly, his peers make sure he knows about it.
As long as this mentality is present at Liverpool, they’ll continue to challenge for the top trophies.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
