BBC pundit Garth Crooks has praised the way Virgil Van Dijk reacted to a telling off from Liverpool teammate James Milner last week.
Van Dijk was berated by Milner after Manchester United’s first goal at Old Trafford on Monday night. The defender could have done more for the goal, a point which Crooks concedes. Regardless, he says Van Dijk’s handling of the ‘provocation’ was ‘extremely professional.’
“I thought he handled himself extremely professionally under enormous provocation from team-mate James Milner at Old Trafford last week,” wrote the pundit, after including Virgil in his Team of the Week for BBC Sport.
“I’m not saying Milner didn’t have his reasons for berating Van Dijk for Manchester United’s first goal. But there are better ways of doing it. However, Van Dijk and Liverpool seem to have put that performance very much behind them and took Bournemouth apart as a consequence. As for Scotty Parker and his team, this defeat will take some getting over.”
Van Dijk does his talking on the pitch
After Monday night’s debacle against United, Van Dijk came in for his fair share of criticism. Some of it seemed over the top, but it’s hard to argue that he hadn’t started the season poorly. A response was needed.
Thankfully, both Liverpool and Van Dijk provided that on Saturday. It may have been a walk-over in the end, but that was never a guarantee.
Liverpool made it so with the way they went straight for Bournemouth from the kick-off.
Van Dijk played his part in that, shepherding the awkward Kiefer Moore with ease for the whole game. He’ll also have been delighted to find the back of the net in the first-half.
Hopefully that can draw a line under the opening few games of the season. Both collectively and individually, Liverpool should now be able to move on from a disappointing first three games.
The timing is good, with games coming thick and fast until the mid-season break for the World Cup. Liverpool now have six games over the next 20 days. After their slow start, they could do with winning them all.
With Van Dijk in-form, the chances of doing that are greatly enhanced. He provided the reaction he needed to at the weekend. We’ll hope to see more of the same throughout the rest of the season.
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