Has Sadio Mane's exit resulted in Liverpool's poor form? Virgil van Dijk explains

Premier League giants Liverpool have had a disastrous start to their campaign as per their extremely high standards as they are currently in the bottom half of the table after eight games. In stark contrast, the Reds finished second in England's top-flight last season with 92 points, just one point behind eventual champions Manchester City. Following Liverpool's poor start to the new season, star defender Virgil van Dijk has explained if Sadio Mane's absence from the side has resulted in the dip in form.

Has Mane's absence resulted in Liverpool's poor form?

When asked by Sky Sports if Sadio Mane leaving Liverpool has resulted in the club's dip in form, Virgil van Dijk replied, "That’s funny, but I don’t think it’s that, personally. Obviously, Sadio was a massive player for us, but he wanted to leave, it’s not that we wanted to let him go."

The Dutch defender then went on to explain how the replacements that the Reds have gotten now are adjusting to the side by adding, "We have players that have come in. Luis Diaz is outstanding. Darwin is getting to know how we really want to defend from the front and the importance of when we have the ball and when we don’t have the ball. It takes a bit of time in this case, but I don’t think that’s the exact reason why we are not performing."

When it comes to the reason behind Liverpool's poor form, van Dijk explained that he had no idea why there was this drastic change in the club's performance levels. "Difficult start. It’s difficult to find a direct reason for it," added the centre half. "It could be multiple things, but I have no idea exactly why, and there is no point for us to think about why those games didn’t go as well as we wanted."

Van Dijk ended his comments by explaining that he is confident that Liverpool can turn things around by continuing to work hard each and every day in training. "We want to improve it now, and in order to do that we have to work each and every day in training, fight for each yard in the games, and try to win them. That’s what we try to do, and I feel and I still think that we are going to be there because we have the quality of players," concluded van Dijk.