Virgil Van Dijk on Liverpool’s 4-0 win: We should have played better

Liverpool outclassed a blunt Tottenham Hotspur team 4-0 on Sunday to book their spot in the Carabao Cup final, but captain Virgil van Dijk said he was disappointed with aspects of his side’s performance during the dominant win.

Goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Van Dijk saw Liverpool thrash Ange Postecoglou’s toothless Spurs team at Anfield.

Liverpool were on top from the first minute and their dominance was such that Spurs failed to have a shot on target in the match, but Van Dijk was critical of their first-half display.

“We needed a complete performance. I still think at half-time we could get a level up in terms of the intensity and put them even more under pressure and that’s what I’ve said [to the team] as well,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports.

“But to win here like we did tonight is great for the team and the club and now we focus on the FA Cup.”

Pushed to elaborate on his comments, Van Dijk said: “You wanted to start obviously with loads of intensity and I think the game got interrupted a couple of times in the first half. It ruins a little bit of momentum that was there.

“We still did it now and then but I felt like we could do a little bit more and make it even more uncomfortable for them because obviously we know they have the quality to play out. They want to play through the middle and they have these patterns and stuff and if you bring intensity to the game then anybody can make mistakes. I think in the second half we did that and it was a beautiful win today.”

Van Dijk is one of three Liverpool stars who are out of contract at Anfield in the summer. Van Dijk, Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are free to negotiate with non-English clubs and sign a pre-contract agreement that would see them join a new team one day after the expiry of their deal.

The Netherlands international said he had no updates over the prospect of him signing a new contract with Liverpool and that anyone who says they know about his future “are absolutely wrong.”

“The only thing I’m focusing on is the game ahead of me, and I’m feeling good,” Van Dijk said. “I think everyone can see that, and what the future brings, at the moment, I’ve got no idea. “So anyone who says they know it, they are absolutely wrong. But we’ll see what happens.”

The result keeps Liverpool’s chances of winning all four major trophies alive, with Arne Slot’s team holding a six-point lead over Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, looking forward to a round of 16 tie in the Champions League and facing a trip to Championship side Plymouth Argyle in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.

Slot said that he was particularly pleased with the physical effort his players showed against Spurs.

“For us to be so aggressive without the ball … It doesn’t tell you anything about Tottenham. That should tell you about our work rate without the ball. I think that was what stood out for me, to play against a team that is so good at creating chances, not conceding hardly any [shots]. In the end a good accomplishment,” Slot told a news conference.

Liverpool will face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final on March 16.