TERRY CLARKE

🚨 Virgil van Dijk on Liverpool’s defensive performance against Brighton under Andoni Iraola: “After the game, somebody mentioned that Brighton had 17 shots and more possession than us. I said, ‘Okay, and how many times did they actually trouble Alisson?’ He told me they had one shot on target. I said, ‘Well, there you go.’ People sometimes look at possession and think it tells them which team was in control. But there’s a difference between having the ball and knowing what to do with it. Brighton are a very good side. They’re comfortable in possession, they move the ball quickly, and they’ve got players who can hurt you. You can’t just turn up and expect to keep them quiet. We knew that before the game. Andoni was very clear with us during the preparation. He said, ‘They will have periods where they keep the ball. Don’t get frustrated. Don’t start chasing players into areas where they want you to go.’ That was important. Because sometimes when a team keeps passing the ball around you, the temptation is to go after it. One player steps out, another follows, and suddenly there’s a space where there wasn’t one before. That’s what Brighton wanted. I remember one moment when they were moving the ball across our midfield, trying to draw somebody out. I could hear the supporters getting impatient because we weren’t pressing immediately. But we stayed where we needed to be. They went backwards, came forward again, switched the play, and eventually tried a ball into the box that we dealt with. I turned to Jeremy and said, ‘That’s fine. Let them keep doing that.’ We weren’t trying to win every individual moment. We were trying to win the game. At half-time, Andoni told us not to change our approach just because we were ahead. He said Brighton would come out with more urgency and try to make the game uncomfortable. And they did. But that’s where you have to trust the work you’ve done during the week. You could see them trying different things. They came through the middle, they went wide, they tried shooting from distance. We didn’t give them the spaces they wanted. And I think that’s something people are beginning to understand about this Liverpool team. We don’t always have to dominate the ball to dominate the match. Under Andoni, everybody has a responsibility. The forwards know when to press. The midfielders know when to hold their positions. The defenders know when to step forward and when to stay. It’s not 11 players making eleven different decisions. It’s one team. After the final whistle, I saw the statistics again. Brighton had more possession, more shots, more touches in our box. But Liverpool had two goals, and Brighton had none. That’s the statistic I was interested in. Andoni is still building his team. We’re still learning things about each other, and there are areas where we can improve. But when you can face a team as dangerous as Brighton and make them work that hard just to get one shot on target, it tells you the players are starting to understand exactly what the manager wants. That’s how you build something that lasts.”