Roy Hodgson says he wasn’t happy with 32-year-old Liverpool player’s behaviour today

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Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson was furious with Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk this afternoon.

Van Dijk put in a top performance for Liverpool, helping them to a dramatic 2-1 win at Selhurst Park on Saturday. But not everyone was happy with the Dutchman.

The Reds No.4 was involved in one of the game’s biggest talking points having been at the centre or Jordan Ayew’s first of two bookings on the day.

Standing over the ball preparing to take a Liverpool free-kick, Van Dijk’s path was blocked by Ayew. With the Palace man stood right in-front of him, Virgil then took the free-kick early. The referee wasn’t happy with Ayew’s time-wasting and gave him a booking. Fair enough.

But talking to TNT Sports afterwards, Hodgson was clearly aggrieved by the incident. The Palace boss went as far as blasting Van Dijk for some ‘very disappointing’ behaviour.

“Van Dijk took the opportunity to get him the first yellow card from two yards away that’s very disappointing,” said the 76-year-old. “I think if you’re Liverpool Football Club, you don’t need players of Van Dijk’s quality and status in the game to try and get a player a yellow card by just kicking the ball against him.”

Hodgson blasts Van Dijk

This is genuinely a pathetic response from Hodgson. For those who watched his time as Liverpool manager in detail, that will come as no surprise.

But to question the integrity of a player such as Van Dijk is beyond the pale even for him.

Of course, Virgil made a point to the referee that Ayew was blocking him. He was blocking him. With Palace a goal up, it was an obvious attempt at time-wasting from the Ghanaian and deserving of a booking.

What would he have done had Van Dijk have waited for him to move? Why should Van Dijk wait for him to move? This is all completely on the Palace striker.

Furthermore, the absolute last person on the planet who should be lecturing Liverpool Football Club on their standards is Mr Roy Hodgson.

The former England manager insulted and belittled his way through six months at the club and showed himself to have absolutely no idea what Liverpool FC is all about.

Van Dijk on the other hand, has been a perfect fit for the Reds since day one. A perfect captain, too.

We can understand Hodgson’s frustration at a soft red card for Ayew. But the two people to blame for that are the referee and the player himself. Leave our Virg out of it.