Goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Van Dijk helped Liverpool beat Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham at Anfield. Liverpool came from behind to beat them 1-0 in the first leg of their semi-final.
Liverpool dominated from the first minute and their dominance was so great that Tottenham did not have a shot on target all game, but Van Dijk was still a little disappointed with his team in the first half.
"We needed a more complete performance. I still think at half-time we can raise the intensity and put more pressure on them, and that's what I said to the team.
But winning at Anfield is great for the team and now we will focus on the FA Cup,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports after the match.
Asked to elaborate on his comments, Van Dijk said: "Obviously you want to start with high intensity and I think the game was interrupted a few times in the first half. That made our play not go as we wanted.
We felt we could do more and make it more difficult for Tottenham because we obviously knew they had the ability to play football. They wanted to control the ball in midfield and they could play different types of football.
So if you play with intensity, anyone can make a mistake. I think in the second half we did that and it was a great win today.”
The result keeps Liverpool's chances of winning all four major trophies alive, as Arne Slot's side open a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League, heading into the Champions League last-16 and facing a trip to champions Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round on 9 February.
Slot said he was particularly pleased with his players' performance against Tottenham. He said: "Liverpool's performance today was what pleased me the most. Liverpool are used to playing finals, but we are still working hard every day to try to improve the players.
We know how difficult the final will be because we played Newcastle and they played very well against Arsenal. But there are still many games to play before the final and that is what we have to focus on.”
The final Newcastle vs Liverpool will take place on March 16.
