Liverpool boss Arne Slot addresses Virgil van Dijk’s team meeting | Football | Sport

Liverpool will be confronted with a poignant reminder of their recent illustrious history as they strive to reinvigorate their faltering Premier League title defence on Saturday. Former Reds captain Jordan Henderson will be lining up against them for the first time since his departure in the summer of 2023, when Arne Slot‘s team take on Brentford.

The Reds managed to stave off a fifth consecutive defeat and their worst run in 72 years by trouncing Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 in the Champions League midweek. However, three successive Premier League losses have seen Liverpool fall four points behind leaders and new title favourites Arsenal.

A disheartening 2-1 home defeat to fierce rivals Manchester United last Sunday led current Anfield skipper Virgil van Dijk to convene an impromptu players-only meeting the next day to discuss what was going wrong.

Slot, however, believes his fellow Dutchman was correct in providing a different perspective to the struggling squad.

“What Virgil did and what I did is what you need to do, what all the players did,” said the Liverpool boss. “None of them should accept a loss against United, especially after already losing three games. That was something I was not happy about.”

“It would not be good if the voice they were hearing was always me. That is why they hear my assistants too.

“And I don’t think it was like Virgil brought them over and said (gestures working on a tactics board): ‘From now on we must play like this’.

“We have five players who are captains of their national team. Virgil was not the only one who said something. You need that with experience, all of them can have a proper conversation.

“I encourage them to take responsibility and talk to each other, whether they are in the sauna or swimming pool, or when they are standing around with five or six of them.

“But if we have a leader like Virgil with so much respect in the group, then it is a good thing.”

Slot continued: “I have had this experience maybe 250,000 times. If they are sitting upstairs at the coffee bar now, do you think they talk? I think they do.

“They constantly talk, sometimes that is done with everybody and sometimes just the leadership group.

“They talk and they should do. They feel what happens on the pitch. But when it comes to tactics, that is my territory.”

Henderson’s impact – the only Liverpool skipper to lift six separate trophies – remains visible at the club’s AXA Training Centre, where a rousing message from the England star adorns the wall behind Slot’s press conference..

Van Dijk – set to lead Liverpool out for the 150th occasion this evening – took over from Henderson two years ago and guided the Reds to League Cup glory in 2024 before securing the Premier League crown last term.

Slot said: “For me he has been the most influential captain I have had since I became a manager. That is meant as a compliment, but most of mine in the Dutch league were 22 or 23 because if they did well, they would go somewhere else after good performances.

“Virgil has done what I expected of him with his own performances. He has been a leader throughout my period here. Every single day, I can see he is the leader.

“If we start a session I can always hear him. I could not have asked more from him in that role. He has been very good successor.”