LIVERPOOL NEWS: VIRGIL VAN DIJK ISSUES REDS WARNING AS JOHN BARNES MAKES CONTRACT STATEMENT

Liverpool have had a weekend to forget with Nottingham Forest ending their perfect start to the season.

Optimism has been growing at Anfield with Arne Slot making an instant impact, but he and the club were dealt a reality check when they were hit with a shock reverse. Their loss has been made worse given the fact Manchester City and Arsenal have both landed three points.

It leaves Liverpool needing to respond ahead of their Champions League campaign beginning at AC Milan. Talk also continues to swirl over some of their leading lights, several of whom will be out of contract come the summer.

Here's the latest from Merseyside.

Van Dijk's reality check

Liverpool's centre-half admitted their reverse on Saturday should serve as a reality check. The Dutchman tasted a rare loss at Anfield but concedes the levels between their best and worse games is too large.

He said: "We have to turn this around and make this sort of a reality check to be better for the rest of the season, because if you want to achieve things the contrast between the games we played is too big.

"We know how direct they are so playing against a big striker you can sometimes lose a challenge and you have to be ready for the second ball and every time there was a second ball they were on the right side of it. They got momentum in terms of winning the right challenges and they did they job very well and in terms of ourselves we weren't good enough. That's the disappointing part of it."

Forest's party

Nottingham Forest had waited over for half a century to win at Anfield - and they made sure to celebrate it in style - with Slot literally having to face the music.

Dance tunes boomed out of the away dressing room and echoed through the corridors of the stadium as Forest players toasted their first success on the red half of Merseyside since February 1969, owing to Callum Hudson-Odoi's second-half winner.

Reds boss Arne Slot was forced to walk through the party atmosphere as he undertook his post-match media duties following his first experience of defeat, with Forest stars keeping the celebrations going. Slot had overseen three wins in his opening three games, but was beaten in just his second home outing.

Barnes on contract saga

John Barnes believes it is "unthinkable" that Liverpool won't have held talks with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk over extending their contracts at Anfield.The trio are all out of contract in the summer of 2025 with new deals yet to be agreed, despite all three still being integral figures.

Salah claimed recently that he'd had no dialogue and viewed this as his last season, but former Red Barnes claimed there's no doubt the club have a plan in place, even if that means allowing one of the three players leaving on a free transfer.

He told Ladbrokes: "It'd be virtually unthinkable for there have been no conversations at all between club and players. I just cannot see it. So they'll have a handle on it. They're not stupid. I'm sure they've got it under control."

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2024-09-16T02:02:28Z dg43tfdfdgfd