Virgil van Dijk says Liverpool’s defensive improvement is down to a collective effort
Virgil van Dijk insists he and centre-back partner Joe Gomez cannot take all the credit for Liverpool’s recent defensive improvement.
Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United, which extended the Reds’ lead at the top of the Premier League to 16 points with a match in hand, was their seventh successive clean sheet in all competitions.
Van Dijk and Gomez featured in six of those matches – both sat out the FA Cup win over Everton – and since Gomez came into the team as a regular starter on December 14 their record is eight clean sheets in nine games.
However, the Holland captain insists it is a collective effort.
„Everyone is involved in that. We have a fantastic goalkeeper, the full-backs doing their job, our midfielders and stars obviously up front so it is a whole collective thing,“ said Van Dijk.
„But obviously as a defender we are very pleased to keep clean sheets because we all know that with us if we keep a clean sheet there is a big chance to win the game so it is a good feeling.“
Liverpool have lost just one of their last 61 league matches and need just 10 more victories to lift a first title in 30 years.
But for Van Dijk and his team-mates it is just business as usual.
„We can’t deny that we are in a good situation but we don’t get carried away,“ he added.
„These things don’t mean anything at the moment, only at the end of the season. Hopefully it does mean something at the end of the season.
„We all know why we are doing it. We all know why we work so hard for each other. I think the very good thing about this is that we are always trying to find a way.
„It will never be easy, we all know that, but I think the good thing is we know it is never going to be easy so you can adapt to deal with certain situations.
„Also the mentality we have we know there are going to be setbacks in games, we know there will be difficult moments in games, but if you are ready to face them it makes it a little bit easier.“
The next challenge to Liverpool’s invincibility comes at Wolves on Thursday.
„They give everyone a big test. Massive respect for them, how they play and how they are doing it at the moment,“ said the Dutchman.
„Good team, fantastic manager. It is always going to be tough. They showed it against everyone already in the league. We have to be ready again.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.
