Garth Crooks thinks Virgil Van Dijk was the best player on the pitch during Liverpool’s breathless 2-2 draw with Manchester City yesterday.
Crooks included Van Dijk in his Team of the Week column for BBC Sport. Justifying his selection, the pundit praised the defender’s coolness in such a frantic game.
“The Manchester City match wasn’t a game for the faint-hearted. You need focus and nerves of steel to get through this sort of fixture and Virgil van Dijk has plenty of both,” wrote Crooks.
Crooks went on to highlight a moment between Van Dijk and Raheem Sterling that hammered home just how good the Liverpool man is.
“There was a moment in the second half when Raheem Sterling was one on one with Van Dijk and Sterling couldn’t out run him, wrong foot him, or out-power him,” he said.
“In the end Van Dijk dispossessed Sterling and brushed him to one side. This was an outstanding football match with outstanding players and Van Dijk was the pick of the bunch.”
Just another example of why Virgil is irrefutably the absolute best in the business.
Growing into the game
Despite Crooks’ praise, Van Dijk actually looked uneasy during the opening exchanges of yesterday’s game. He certainly wasn’t alone in that from those in red, but it was strange to see him looking somewhat rattled.
However, like his teammates, the Dutchman seemed to regain his composure the longer the game went on.
His battle against Sterling looked like a mismatch whenever the City winger tried to take him on with the ball.
In the incident that Crooks is referring to, the England man looked to be in a dangerous position bursting through one-one-on with Van Dijk.
Sterling was lively all afternoon and is in decent form for City. But Virgil never looked in any trouble at all, he simply stepped across the attacker and slammed the door shut.
Jurgen the brave
Liverpool’s insistence on playing a high defensive line was put to the ultimate test at the Etihad.
Against a team as quick and agile as City, it was incredibly brave of Jurgen Klopp and his players to stick with the controversial tactic.
With someone as technically gifted as Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings, Liverpool were always going to be caught out at times. And they were.
As a result, The Reds probably looked a little more ragged than usual. Although if any other team in world football played that way against Pep Guardiola’s team, it would probably be a bloodbath.
But no other team have the best defender on the planet in their back four. Liverpool do.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
