Micah Richards has claimed that Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk has been subject to some ‘nonsense’ criticism this season.
The former Manchester City defender was speaking on BBC 5 Live’s Monday Night Club after the Reds beat his former team on Sunday. Looking back on the game, Richards says he was annoyed by what he’s been hearing about Van Dijk recently.
“I’m glad Van Dijk had a good game because I heard a lot of nonsense around him being no good anymore,” said the pundit.
“For his confidence and a player I believe is top notch. When people start saying he’s no good and he can only play a certain style of play. The slander for Van Dijk and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] has been awful this season.”
Amen to that, Michah.
Van Dijk’s ‘aura’ returns to spook Haaland
One of the best things about Sunday’s win for Liverpool was the sight of Van Dijk back to his best.
What Richards points out is true – the criticism of the Dutchman has been predictably overblown. But some of it was also justified.
Virgil hasn’t been on top of his game at times this season. That’s fine, really. The 31-year-old has been superhumanly good over the last five years and was bound to have a wobble at some stage. Particularly on the back of a 10-month injury absence.
Unfortunately for him though, a lot of his teammates have had a poor patch at exactly the same time. This may or may not be a coincidence, but the upshot is that Liverpool find themselves 14 points off the top of the Premier League.
Disappointing as that is, if Van Dijk can continue this form, Liverpool will shoot up the table in no time.
He isn’t a one-man team, not at all. But he’s still the very best defender on the planet. When you’ve got such a player in your side, it can make an enormous difference. It certainly did on Sunday.
A lot of the post-match praise has focused on Van Dijk’s centre-back partner Joe Gomez. That’s absolutely fair, Gomez played a huge part in shackling City’s Erling Haaland.
But it’s also probably fair to say that Haaland was likely spooked by the presence of Van Dijk. Plenty of jokes have been made about the Liverpool man’s so-called ‘aura’ but the psychological effect he has on strikers is undeniable. That hasn’t been visible in recent months. Hopefully after Sunday, it’s about to return in spades.
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