Virgil van Dijk says Liverpool’s set-piece problems are a ‘killer’

“This is something we need to improve. I would say at least 75% of the time, if not more, it’s not even about the first contact. It’s the second phase that is the killer.”

“Is this a mental thing? I hope not. If it’s in your head, then that’s a problem. Personally, it’s not in my head.”

Excluding penalties, Liverpool have only scored three goals from set pieces in the league. Their difference of minus nine is their worst season in the Premier League.

“We defended many set pieces very well. But we conceded too many goals like this and it hurts. We have to improve on this. The only way to get better at this is through training,” added Van Dijk.

“It’s not good enough. We’re all aware of it. We’ve talked about it. We need to turn it around. That’s why we’re working on it almost every practice.”

Liverpool manager Slot said: “Unfortunately, we are perhaps the only team that almost never scores goals from set pieces and, even worse, constantly concedes goals.

“But I think I said two, three or four weeks ago, when things go against us – it could be a lull, it could be other things – we still have to make sure we find a way to win.

“We conceded from set-pieces in the last two games but we managed to win and there haven’t been many this season. That’s progress for me, but it’s clear there’s still a lot we need to improve on and this is definitely one of them.”

“I think we’ve been unlucky with our set-pieces on many occasions. It’s 18 games now and we need to improve.”

Liverpool’s third consecutive league win moved them into fourth place in the table.