‘Really bad’: Player says Liverpool were far worse than his World Cup side this season

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Virgil van Dijk moved to calm criticism over the Netherlands’ World Cup form by pointing to Liverpool. The Reds were ‘really bad’, he says.

The Netherlands haven’t quite found their stride at the World Cup. They squeezed out a win over Senegal in their opener but looked very poor against Ecuador, drawing the game and earning criticism.

Virgil van Dijk has now talked about that criticism and his side’s sluggish form. He calls for perspective, however – things could be worse. Just look at Liverpool.

“Sometimes it helps to put things in perspective,” he told Algemeen Dagblad. “To take a little more time for the children, for at home. I’m just human too, right? I also just have a very normal life.

“It helps to think about that a bit more. To realise that in the end it is just a game.

“But the dip we had at Liverpool, especially after that match against Napoli, was a bit more extreme, wasn’t it? Then we were really bad. We really weren’t ourselves for a while.”

Virgil van Dijk on World Cup criticism

Well, he’s right. The Netherlands are highly unlikely to put in a performance as bad as Liverpool’s in Napoli. That was one of the very worst in the Jurgen Klopp era – it was truly shocking.

Van Dijk never really seems phased anyway and it seems that the World Cup won’t knock him off his stride. But seeing how bad Liverpool were, especially after last season, will give him the perspective he needs to keep the Netherlands on track.

After all, the Reds have still found some big results despite not firing on all cylinders. Van Dijk will hope that the Netherlands can do the same, providing they beat Qatar and get out of the group.

He knows how quickly things can turn around – in both directions.