Liverpool secured a much-needed win when they beat Ajax 2-1 in Champions League Group A on Tuesday night. Virgil van Dijk told BT Sport after the win it was a fact that Liverpool’s players had tried to shut down the criticism that had been leveled at the team after last week’s humiliating 4-1 loss to Napoli.

The performance at Napoli was described by manager Jürgen Klopp as his worst in almost seven years in charge at Anfield, but his side bounced back from disappointment in Italy with a much better performance against group-topper Ajax before yesterday’s game.

Goals from Mohamed Salah and Joel Matip ensured the three points held at Anfield. Van Dijk himself came close to scoring several times during the match.

A clear message for the critics

– We haven’t listened to the outside world. “I think it’s important,” the Dutchman told BT Sport when asked how Liverpool managed to bounce back after the difficulties they had at the start of the season.

– There are a lot of expert ex-footballers around, and they know exactly what we are going through, but still they say a lot of negative things to try to destroy us. “I find it a bit odd,” he added, with a clear address to Liverpool’s critics this fall.

Van Dijk admits it was hard to swallow that Ajax equalized just ten minutes after Mohamed Salah had given the hosts a first-half lead.

– Ajax scored on their first chance. After the bad game at Napoli, it was important for us to show a positive reaction. It is not easy to reverse a negative trend, but it is a step in the right direction. We had some good periods in the game and it was important to win this game.

The national match will be the next task

– We won’t lose touch with the ground because of this. We will play an incredible number of games. Now we have to focus on the national team for a while, and keep going.

Liverpool will not play another game until against Brighton on October 1, after next weekend’s match against Chelsea was postponed due to Queen Elisabeth’s funeral. As such, it is the international fixtures that most Liverpool players are concerned about in the coming weeks.

– Now we can bring good feelings into the national team, concluded the Dutchman.

The win means that Liverpool and Ajax are both on the books with three points after two games, but Liverpool are ahead of Ajax in the head-to-head table, although the Reds have a much worse goal difference. The group leaders, however, are Napoli, who also have three points, and who have a chance to take a three-point lead over their two toughest rivals in Group A when they host Rangers in Glasgow this evening.