‘Poor show’: Garth Crooks names the only Liverpool player who actually played well vs Luton

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Liverpool only had one player who turned up during their 1-1 draw against Luton Town on Sunday.

The Reds were lethargic throughout the game and were fortunate to scrape themselves a draw in the end, Luis Diaz heading home to rescue a point in added time.

And as well as praising the mental strength of Diaz after a distressing couple of weeks, BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks says Virgil van Dijk was the only other Liverpool player to emerge with any credit. The Dutchman was the sole Red included in Crooks’ Team of the Week.

“To see Luis Diaz raise his shirt, revealing a message requesting freedom for his abducted father after scoring a late equaliser as a second-half substitute, will be one this season’s abiding memories,” says the pundit.

“To even see him on the pitch, in view of everything else that is going on with his life, says volumes about the player’s strength of character. It was just as well, because the only Liverpool player who brought his A-game to Kenilworth Road was Virgil van Dijk. What a poor show this was by the six-time European champions.

“Luton, on the other hand, showed a lot of guts with a spirited performance. They defended resolutely and manager Rob Edwards and his coaching staff had clearly spent some time preparing his team for this fixture. It nearly paid off.”

Van Dijk resurgence continues

Crooks is well known for making some quite ludicrous claims at times, but he’s absolutely bang on the money here.

In the wake of such a poor team performance, it’s actually nice to see that Van Dijk is getting his dues. With others so desperately below par at Kenilworth Road, the captain stood up to be counted.

Without Virgil, there’s no question that Liverpool would have lost on Sunday.

It marks the latest in a quiet return to form for the 32-year-old. After a poor season last time out, some had written Van Dijk off as being past his best.

But ever since being handed the captaincy at the start of the season, the Dutchman has raised his game pretty significantly.

He isn’t yet back to being the player who ran Lionel Messi so close for the Ballon d’Or in 2019. But the truth is that he probably won’t ever hit those heights again. Nevertheless, Van Dijk has been doing a good impression of that player all season long.

If the Reds’ No.4 can maintain this kind of standard for the rest of the campaign, then Liverpool will be there or thereabouts.

In the end, Van Dijk’s quality was perhaps the difference between the Reds getting no points and picking up one. Translate that across a season, and you can see just how crucial he is. Keep it up, Virg!