Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk has been coming in for some unfair criticism over the opening weeks of the season.
That’s according to TalkSPORT pundit Dean Saunders. Speaking after Van Dijk gave another wobbly performance against Manchester United last night, Saunders said the centre-back deserves to be cut some slack.
“Van Dijk’s getting a bit of stick but he’s played with Konate, Matip, Gomez, Nat Phillips last week so he’s playing with a different player every week trying to play a high-line,” said the pundit. “You know what it’s like, you’ve got to both be on FM. To play that high-line, you’ve got to have a telepathic understanding.”
It’s a point worth raising from Saunders, but it doesn’t excuse the Dutchman’s below-par displays of recent games.
Virgil not his usual self
It wasn’t just Van Dijk’s failure to block Jadon Sancho’s goal that had supporters upset last night. The 31-year-old was lethargic in the extreme all night.
Unfortunately, that has been the norm from Virgil in the three Premier League games so far this season.
We’re not used to seeing him look so beatable, but from the first game of the season, he hasn’t seemed like the same player.
Still, it’s very early days. Van Dijk is still the very best around, he’s proved that over the last five years. But we need to start seeing that again immediately. Without him at his best, Liverpool suddenly look incredibly vulnerable.
The way Liverpool like to defend, with the notorious high-line, very much depends on Van Dijk’s quality. Without his recovery pace and excellent positioning, there’d be no way they could do it.
That’s all fine when the no.4 is his usual self. But if he’s slightly out of kilter, as he has been, then it becomes a seriously dangerous tactic.
Some of Van Dijk’s poor form can be excused from a lack of rhythm, as Saunders says. He’s good enough for it not to necessarily matter who he’s playing next to, though.
Whatever the reasons behind his dip, they need to be addressed in training this week. As a result of injuries to the other players, we know he’ll be partnered by Gomez again on Saturday. Between the pair of them they must improve on Saturday. No excuses.
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