West Ham star admits Virgil van Dijk plan failed miserably in Liverpool defeat

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Liverpool IconLiverpool FC NewsFeaturesVirgil Van DijkWest Ham United midfielder Mateus Fernandes has admitted that Nuno Espirito Santo's Virgil van Dijk plan failed miserably in its defeat at Liverpool in the Premier LeagueMateus Fernandes of West Ham United.(Image: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)Liverpool relied heavily on set-pieces as it beat West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday, with visiting midfielder Mateus Fernandes admitting that his side's plan for Virgil van Dijk failed.With Liverpool already 1-0 ahead through Hugo Ekitike's smart finish early on in the game, Van Dijk doubled the Reds' lead around halfway through the first half with a header from a corner.Dominik Szoboszlai swung the ball into the box and Van Dijk powered home, evading those around him in a crowded penalty area to put Liverpool in a commanding position. "We worked this week about Van Dijk.

We have another game, we need to win the game."We are getting better every week. Liverpool won the game 5-2.(Image: Getty)"That’s very pleasing," Arne Slot said when asked about his team's newfound prowess from set-pieces."First of all, because that’s the reason why we won [and] second of all, because when I was just standing around your colleagues people said, ‘Well played, well played,’ and I said, ‘In my opinion, we’ve played better this season.’"We played OK to good — so, we were OK to good but it wasn’t the best game of the season.

We’ve played better when we’ve lost [and] we’ve played better when we conceded set-pieces."But as I always said, things went back to normal. We created quite a lot of chances from set-pieces in the first part of the season and almost every set-piece we conceded went in, and today you could see exactly the opposite happening.Get LFC's 2025/26 season home and away kitsThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it.