Van Dijk: 'Utter nonsense' I pushed for Netherlands back five

Virgil van Dijk called it "utter nonsense" that he had pushed for the switch to a back five that preceded the Netherlands' World Cup exit. He was speaking at a press conference before Thursday's Nations League fixture against Germany.

The Netherlands went out to Morocco on penalties in the first knockout round. Ronald Koeman had used a back four in the group stage but changed to a back five for that game. The Netherlands led through Cody Gakpo until a stoppage-time equaliser took the match to penalties. Koeman lost his job afterwards, and Ronald Koeman now has the side.

De Telegraaf's Valentijn Driessen wrote that Van Dijk and Koeman "betrayed everything our national team stands for". He also suggested the formation was chosen to protect the captain. Asked what went wrong at the tournament, Van Dijk said: "One of your colleagues also said, of course, that it was my idea to switch to playing with a back five. That is utter nonsense. The fact is we simply failed at the World Cup; those are the hard facts."

He added: "We didn't play a good World Cup. It's not about me. You perform together; you're a team. Your claim that I destroyed Dutch football after the World Cup – that sort of thing is completely baseless."

Driessen replied that Van Dijk did not seem himself and appeared "a bit curt, as if the media is still getting under your skin." The Liverpool captain hit back again.

Klopp, who managed Van Dijk at Liverpool, said the defender had been singled out. "I think you yourselves know that you are quite critical. Virgil should tell you that," Klopp said. "Our German journalists are pretty good too, but you might not even be that much worse. I haven't really followed the Dutch press, but I assume you weren't happy with the elimination. Then the captain gets more criticism too."

If the Netherlands' results under Ronald Koeman hold up, the argument over Koeman's tactics may lose some of its force. The tension between Van Dijk and the Dutch press, though, looks likely to last for as long as the captain keeps the armband.