Virgil van Dijk insists Liverpool will not panic after their opening-weekend draw at Newcastle United, but says a "reaction" is needed based on last season's failings.Liverpool began life under Andoni Iraola with a 2-2 draw at St. James' Park, with Dominik Szoboszlai's stunning 99th-minute penalty snatching a point at the death for his team.The Reds twice fell behind through strikes from Anthony Elanga and Joe Willock, with Iraola cutting a frustrated figure on the touchline as his team struggled to control the game. Arne Slot in 2024-25 is the only one of Liverpool's last seven managers to win their first Premier League game in charge of the club, and the need for improvements was evident. Liverpool finished fifth in the Premier League last season and, as a result, sacked Slot before appointing Iraola. Van Dijk described last term as "unacceptable", but he called for patience with the new regime at Anfield ahead of welcoming Nottingham Forest to Merseyside this Saturday."It's absolutely normal in any type of profession, if you come in new, and you have new plans and new ideas, then it takes a bit of time with new players," said Van Dijk."It's down to us to do it as soon as we can, as soon as possible, because we want to improve, we want to win and we want to be better. That's what we are going to try to do."We need to show a reaction from last year, that we are much better than last year, because this was very unacceptable."It's so early on in the season. I think if we start panicking regardless of what could have happened, then obviously you won't be in a good place."We work on the training ground a lot of hours and have a lot of discussions on the pitch about how we want to do better, what we want to do and what the manager wants to see."Hopefully, next week, it will be very close to what he wants us to do. There were some good things in the game, but obviously also things that we have to improve."Back home on Saturday pic.twitter.com/McByHKxTrt— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 26, 2026Forest are another side under new management this season, with Oliver Glasner taking the reins at the City Ground, though it has been far from the ideal start for the Austrian. After losing to Leeds United on the opening day of the Premier League, Forest were dumped out of the EFL Cup in midweek by the same opposition, who won 2-0. Forest have lost their opening match of a league season in six of their last eight campaigns (W1 D1), while as a top-flight side, they have now won just one of their last 10 EFL Cup matches against fellow top-flight teams, losing seven of those (D2)."Tough, tough night. Tough defeat. Of course, a start where we that we wished differently, but on the other side and this is what we have to accept," Glasner said."It's the reality of where we are right now. If you lose both games against Leeds in three days, we must accept they were better."They are together now two or three years now and are adding one or two or three players and that is what we could see."It's much more stability in the team, whereas we were struggling in a few moments. We made too many mistakes."It was really playing with the pressure, we knew but we took many wrong decisions and gave them the chances."PLAYERS TO WATCHLiverpool – Dominik SzoboszlaiSzoboszlai has had a hand in 11 goals across his last 16 Premier League appearances (five goals, six assists), netting Liverpool's 99th-minute equaliser against Newcastle.Since the start of this run (24th January), only Bruno Fernandes (16), Morgan Gibbs-White (13), Jarrod Bowen (13), and Joao Pedro (12) have more goal involvements in the competition than Szoboszlai.Szobo from the spot pic.twitter.com/N9jlE4bsL7— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 24, 2026Nottingham Forest – Morgan Gibbs-WhiteGibbs-White missed Forest's midweek defeat to Leeds with an injury, but Glasner insisted the club were doing everything possible to have their captain available this Saturday. He has either scored (two) or assisted (one) three of Forest's last six Premier League goals at Anfield, while he has also netted the most Premier League goals overall this calendar year (12).MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WINDespite being favoured by the Opta supercomputer, Liverpool have lost their last two home league games against Forest, more than they had in their previous 30 (W24 D5 L1). They have never lost three in a row against them at Anfield.The Reds have, however, won their first home game in 12 of the last 13 Premier League seasons, drawing the other 1-1 with Crystal Palace in 2022-23. They have not lost their first Anfield match of a league campaign since 2003-04 (1-2 v Chelsea), remaining unbeaten in 22 since (W17 D5).But Liverpool have failed to win any of their last five Premier League games (D3 L2), last enduring a longer winless run between May and September 2012.And they come up against a Forest side who, since returning to the Premier League in 2022, have produced more league wins (three) against Liverpool than any other side.Forest have also won their last two Premier League away games against Liverpool, with Palace the last visiting side to win three consecutively at Anfield (2015 to 2017).However, Forest have won their opening away game in just one of the last eight league seasons (D3 L4), with that win coming at Southampton in 2024-25. The Tricky Trees did win three of their final four Premier League games on the road last term (L1), though.OPTA WIN PROBABILITYLiverpool – 62.7%Draw – 19.5%Nottingham Forest – 17.8%The post Van Dijk wants ‘reaction’, not panic at Liverpool ahead of Forest test appeared first on SoccerNews.