Van de Beek: We needed to speed the game up

The game was the visitors’ seventh match of 2020/21, including friendlies, and Roy Hodgson’s team appeared much the sharper side throughout.

But our new signing said the gulf between the teams surprised him, and stressed that the Reds could have done much more to change the course of the match.

“My first day for the club and a day you want to win, it doesn't matter how you win, and I'm really disappointed that we lose 3-1 at home,” lamented the former Ajax midfielder. “It's really bad.

“Last week in training we did really well,” he continued. “We did really good, so my feeling was very positive, but yeah, today we played too slowly, we were too long with the ball, and I think against an…