The Reds were left disappointed as they fell to a 2-0 loss to Everton on Wednesday night, with goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin handing them a first loss at Goodison Park since 2010.

And afterwards Van Dijk reflected on an evening of frustration and admitted his side’s performance had fallen short of the required standard.

“[It was] unnecessary,” the captain told Sky Sports. “These games especially are always a big fight, and something that we shouldn’t have lost, in my opinion.

“But we did, and now we have to pick ourselves up and be ready for an early kick-off [against West Ham United] on Saturday.”

Van Dijk continued: “[In the second half] you try to force things, and I think we gave too many crosses where they could just clear easily. I still think in the first half we had clear-cut chances that we should have scored.

“But eventually, we weren’t good enough. It starts with the fight, and we all have to do much better. We can’t let the season go out like tonight and the first half against Crystal Palace especially, which was also very disappointing. We have to do much better in every sense. It’s a tough one today.”

Liverpool fell behind when Branthwaite squeezed in the opening goal after 27 minutes, and having threatened an equaliser both before and after half-time, they then saw Calvert-Lewin head home 13 minutes into the second period, a goal that proved to be the last of the night.

The defeat means Liverpool miss the chance to move level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, and Van Dijk has called for improvements all round as the Reds prepare for their last four games of the season.

“We are in this situation because we have been very consistent throughout the whole season, even with all the injuries that we had,” he said. “Players that came in did the job and young players contributed and obviously we are in a good position.

“I think anyone at the start of the season would never have thought we would be competing for the title. But I don’t care what anyone says, we are here now, and we all have to do much better.

“It sounds pretty simple, but it starts with the fight and with the will to win your challenges, and be confident in scoring a goal.

“That’s what we have been lacking a little bit. It’s a combination of a lot of things not falling into place. The Fulham game I think was an improvement but today again, in so many ways, we have to do much better.”