Virgil van Dijk says Liverpool won't forget brutal defeat by Man City - as Reds skipper sends message to team-mates after difficult start to season

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says it is hard to forget about results like the one that saw his team well beaten by Manchester City on Sunday.

The Premier League champions are eight points behind Arsenal in the title race and go into the November international break eighth in the table.

And Van Dijk says the squad must not forget about the 3-0 loss and poor performance at the Etihad Stadium – instead they must use it as a springboard to get better.

‘You don't forget about results like this,’ he said. ‘If you forget about these things then you don't get better. You cannot only think about the good things all the time.

‘You have to think about what went wrong today and how we can improve it. You have to feel that responsibility, I definitely do. What could we have done better? And you take that into the next games.’

Those next games see Liverpool play bottom-half opposition in seven of the next nine in the league, which suggests the Reds could still have a strong season if they put a run together this side of New Year.

‘I don't think there is any reason to get carried away,’ he said. ‘We faced some difficult opponents this week and we got two wins from three and we have to just keep going.

‘It's a difficult season so far for many reasons but I am confident we can turn this around. It doesn't happen overnight, we have to keep working and we need everyone to be fit to keep helping us, so that is the key for all of us in the dressing room.’

The Dutchman added: ‘There's no point looking at the table for us, that is it. If you lose as many games as we have lost, I don't think we can look at the table at this point but I have been in the game quite a long time (to know) that seasons aren't decided in November or December.

‘It's when it comes to March time, April, when it starts to become very interesting how it all shapes up up there. 

'We want to be there but there's a long way to go and a lot of hard work to be put in. So we have to stay humble and we have to keep working and that is the only aim.’