Virgil van Dijk | Performances

I do think it’s harsh to call him slow for not being able to catch up to Mbemo, there was only ever one winner in that race. That being said, he’s definitely not quite as quick as before, but after his injury, that’s no surprise plus he’s now the wrong side of 30.. as are the most important players in each part of the field for Liverpool

Salah 30
Thiago 31
Van Dijk 31

That’s also their 3 highest earners. All going through a patch of bad form. What horrible luck :angel:
 
CM10 said:
It actually was an injury then. Not that they'll miss him much with the form he was in, they looked more assured in the second half without him.
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He will miss the FA cup game that Klopp has never cared about and be back for the next EPL game on the 14th. Injury my arse he’s just taking the heat of him.
 
Looks like he's had a delayed impact to his injury a bit like Valencia did. He came back flying for a year and a bit after the injury then was absolutely terrible after.

VVD was still very impressive last season after the returning but he's been a joke this season. You could see it right from the start when Mitrovic did him with the slowest dribble early in the season and Sancho's goal where he was playing musical statues.

I hate every pool player but it is a bit sad to see him suddenly look so shite due to injuries no less because an even bigger cnut injured him.
 
Buchan said:



Michael Owen: Van Dijk is the best centre-half of all time.

:wenger:
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Did he have the best overall career a CB has ever had? Not at all. Not even close.


But honestly Prime Virgil Van Dijk is the best centre back I have ever seen. So complete and influential to his side that it was unreal. Those few peak seasons he was ridiculously and effortlessly fantastic. He simply hit a higher level individually than some of the popular CBs on this forum.
 
El Jefe said:
Looks like he's had a delayed impact to his injury a bit like Valencia did. He came back flying for a year and a bit after the injury then was absolutely terrible after.

VVD was still very impressive last season after the returning but he's been a joke this season. You could see it right from the start when Mitrovic did him with the slowest dribble early in the season and Sancho's goal where he was playing musical statues.

I hate every pool player but it is a bit sad to see him suddenly look so shite due to injuries no less because an even bigger cnut injured him.
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I don’t think VVD came back flying following his injury. He’s not looked the same player and has gradually deteriorated.
 
FriedClams said:
I do think it’s harsh to call him slow for not being able to catch up to Mbemo, there was only ever one winner in that race. That being said, he’s definitely not quite as quick as before, but after his injury, that’s no surprise plus he’s now the wrong side of 30.. as are the most important players in each part of the field for Liverpool

Salah 30
Thiago 31
Van Dijk 31

That’s also their 3 highest earners. All going through a patch of bad form. What horrible luck :angel:
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Firmino and Matip are also both 31 and Henderson is 32. Even Fabinho will turn 30 soon after the next season starts and has already been showing some signs of slowing down, though not sure at the moment whether he can still bounce back or if it's an early sign of a more permanent decline.

They've addressed a part of their coming rebuild with the signings of Nunez, Jota, Diaz and Gakpo in the attacking positions who are all of a good age profile for years to come but completely unclear whether those four can even remotely replicate the success of Salah and Mane, which considering the performances of the latter two is a very big ask.

Soon enough they'll have a full midfield overhaul on their hands and at some point they need to start thinking about new CBs as well.

All of that is going to be very expensive, and probably played a part in FSG's decision to put the club up for sale. If they land an owner who's willing to invest heavily they can definitely be fine but at the moment there's a lot of uncertainty with Liverpool for the next few years.
 
romufc said:
1 good season and he was the best PL defender ever. I think this is exactly why we need to judge that after their career is done.

Players like Rio, Terry, Vidic, Adams etc.. have had numerous years as being the top defender. He was the best defender on form for 1 season.

He is 31 and has had 18 months of being the best.. there is levels to this.
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Andy Cole is the best PL foward ever. He scored 34 goals in a single season, yet to be bettered.
 
Not been the same since the knee injury. Was it the same injury as Vidic? If i recall, he also looked a shadow of him former self after a year out.
 
GifLord said:
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That's not a proper race, in fairness to him.

Mbeumo is at full speed going past him. Van Dijk has to turn and accelerate. He was never going to catch up.

He can be criticised for not being alert to the danger and dropping back further to prevent it though.
 
Liverpool will improve in his absence to be honest. Some time on the sidelines might be good for both parties.
 
Shane88 said:
That's not a proper race, in fairness to him.

Mbeumo is at full speed going past him. Van Dijk has to turn and accelerate. He was never going to catch up.

He can be criticised for not being alert to the danger and dropping back further to prevent it though.
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You can easily tell that VVD is accelerating well off the pace. Normally, you would also think he would at some point catch up with hum considering how much further Mbuemo ran and the pace VVD is renowned for. Do you see Varane losing in a similar fashion? And of course, not anticipating is part of the foot race.
 
FriedClams said:
I do think it’s harsh to call him slow for not being able to catch up to Mbemo, there was only ever one winner in that race. That being said, he’s definitely not quite as quick as before, but after his injury, that’s no surprise plus he’s now the wrong side of 30.. as are the most important players in each part of the field for Liverpool

Salah 30
Thiago 31
Van Dijk 31

That’s also their 3 highest earners. All going through a patch of bad form. What horrible luck :angel:
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Thiago isn't in bad form. He's the only one holding our midfield together currently. Salah isn't struggling either in terms of goal scoring. I think tactically he's playing far too wide for my liking, but his output in terms of goals and assists is very good (16 and 6).
 
thepolice123 said:
He looks slow but that Brentford player was already at full pelt before the pass was made. It looked like he was caught between two minds trying to play the offside and chasing back.
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Yeah I don't understand most people points on here.

The take-away point here shouldn't be his pace. I don't think this video really highlights a lack of pace, not saying it covers him in glory either. . Mbeumo is in full pelt running in a straight line. VVD is in two minds and his momentum goes forward which mean he has to declerate and start the phase of accelerating all over again whilst Mbeumo is already at top speed. The fault he makes here is trying to play an imaginary offside trap in the oppositions own half and then getting his feet stuck on the half turn when he realises. If a CB like Maguire had made that mistake, he would be 20-25 yards behind by the time he got his shot off.

Terrible defending by VVD but not a moment that highlights a lack of pace for me.
 
Another major dent to Liverpools season. Reports suggest ,VanDijk has a confirmed hamstring injury that’ll side line him for another couple of months.
 
Klopper76 said:
Thiago isn't in bad form. He's the only one holding our midfield together currently. Salah isn't struggling either in terms of goal scoring. I think tactically he's playing far too wide for my liking, but his output in terms of goals and assists is very good (16 and 6).
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I guess bad form versus their usual standards.
 
MadDogg said:
I'd say Rio's 07/08 and Nesta's 02/03 were better. But yes, I do think VVD's absolute peak was arguably the third best since the turn of the century.

The issue for him is that it only lasted a couple of seasons. Technically you could say the same about Rio (06/07 and 07/08 were his only seasons as THE best before the back injury dropped his level), but he was still very good after that and was one of the better defenders around. He was also very good before that, albeit with the occasional mind lapse. Whereas VVD's previous form wasn't 'that' good, and he also seems to have dropped off a lot more.
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I still think VvD 18/19 was better than Nesta 02/03 and Rio 07/08. The absolute peak of VvD is the best centre-back I've seen play. And I've seen many of the best.

Of course, he doesn't even compare to the longevity of others. But his absolute peak is unprecedented. At least in this century.
 
kaku06 said:
Don’t mean to be condescending so genuinely asking how old are you? I refuse to believe any adult who have seen the likes the Nesta, Cannavaro, Stam etc in their peak against the quality of strikers in that era would come up with such garbage of a statement. I was in awe of Alessandro Nesta, how imperious he was as a defender. Van dijk isn’t fit enough to lace his boots even at his peak .
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Name even one year of Nesta, Canavaro, Stam, etc... in which they played equal to or greater than VvD in 2019? There is not. You can argue against the career and I will agree. But against VvD's absolute peak of 2019, there was no centre-back in that century who matched his year.
 
Jordan_mufc said:
A prime does not last 2 seasons, a prime is typically a good 4-5 years. That's the issue.

Also we've had Stam, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cannavaro, Kompany and many more this century. He's nowhere near that
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The peak of R9 was 96 to 98 right? The peak of R10 was from 04 to 06 right? Maradona's peak was the 86 world cup right? Why does a peak have to be "4-5 good years"? Don't confuse absolute peak with high level. R9 still played at a high level at Real Madrid. But nowhere near the level of his absolute peak at Barcelona/Inter.

Name a single year that Stam, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cannavaro, Kompany played equal or better than VvD in 2019? There is not. Of course they played longer at a high level. But the absolute peak of VvD was better than any of them.
 
Isafim said:
The peak of R9 was 96 to 98 right? The peak of R10 was from 04 to 06 right? Maradona's peak was the 86 world cup right? Why does a peak have to be "4-5 good years"? Don't confuse absolute peak with high level. R9 still played at a high level at Real Madrid. But nowhere near the level of his absolute peak at Barcelona/Inter.

Name a single year that Stam, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cannavaro, Kompany played equal or better than VvD in 2019? There is not. Of course they played longer at a high level. But the absolute peak of VvD was better than any of them.
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By that metric, Cannavaro shits all over Van dijk in his 2006 World Cup peak.

You are so disillusioned by that 1year Van dijk period because he was shite before and shite after so, that period of his so called peak is so much elevated in your head that is making you believe it’s the greatest peak of any defender in the history. Bloody laughable. It’s the same sort logic Michael Owen used when he called him the best defender in history of football. I’m not even going into details and arguments about the quality of the strikers in this era otherwise he won’t even come close to even the good defenders forget about the likes of your Nestas and Thurams.
 
Isafim said:
Name even one year of Nesta, Canavaro, Stam, etc... in which they played equal to or greater than VvD in 2019? There is not. You can argue against the career and I will agree. But against VvD's absolute peak of 2019, there was no centre-back in that century who matched his year.
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There is the flaw in your argument. You think that 1 year of Van dijk was so great that no other defender comes close. You know why? Because he wasn’t great before and isn’t great after whereas defenders like Nesta, Rio etc had a consistent peak for many years so it doesn’t shine as much.

Let me ask you what was so unique about this Van dijk’s peak? What was so great about it? What did you see in him that you didn’t see in any other defender ever? A peak Rio set a record for a number of minutes without conceding. A peak Terry conceded the least amount of goals in the premier league. I think it was just 15. A peak Cannavaro won italy the World Cup. What did peak Van dijk do so great than any other defender? Please tell me. Good yes. Great yes. Best peak ever in history. Give me a break.
 
Sammy McIlroys fan club said:
He has a 5 yard start there and gets skinned, bloody hell. I can see why people were giving him Maguire comparisons.
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Not very surprising is it? When the running starts, he's standing still and is starting to run while the Brentford attacking is already running and about to reach top speed.
 
Isafim said:
The peak of R9 was 96 to 98 right? The peak of R10 was from 04 to 06 right? Maradona's peak was the 86 world cup right? Why does a peak have to be "4-5 good years"? Don't confuse absolute peak with high level. R9 still played at a high level at Real Madrid. But nowhere near the level of his absolute peak at Barcelona/Inter.

Name a single year that Stam, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cannavaro, Kompany played equal or better than VvD in 2019? There is not. Of course they played longer at a high level. But the absolute peak of VvD was better than any of them.
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We've been through this already. Your definition of "peak" is silly as it only covers a very short amount of time. It's like me saying Dimitry Payet's peak (6 months) was the best ever in the league.

But Stam 98/99, Cannavaro 05/06, Ferdinand 2007 - 2010, Kompany 10/11 + 18/19. There's no way I'm having that no one this century has hit a higher peak than Van Dijk.

All subjective anyway so no need to carry on this silly debate.
 
Isafim said:
Name even one year of Nesta, Canavaro, Stam, etc... in which they played equal to or greater than VvD in 2019? There is not. You can argue against the career and I will agree. But against VvD's absolute peak of 2019, there was no centre-back in that century who matched his year.
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Sorry but this is ridiculous :lol:
 
Isafim said:
The peak of R9 was 96 to 98 right? The peak of R10 was from 04 to 06 right? Maradona's peak was the 86 world cup right? Why does a peak have to be "4-5 good years"? Don't confuse absolute peak with high level. R9 still played at a high level at Real Madrid. But nowhere near the level of his absolute peak at Barcelona/Inter.

Name a single year that Stam, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cannavaro, Kompany played equal or better than VvD in 2019? There is not. Of course they played longer at a high level. But the absolute peak of VvD was better than any of them.
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Aren't you 24 ?

Therefore, have you actually seen these other players peaks you speak of that aren't comparable to your boy VVD ?

No offence meant.
 
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Terry Chango said:
Aren't you 24 ?

Therefore have you actually seen these other players peaks you speak of that aren't comparable to your boy VVD ?

No offence meant.
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He probably saw a few highlights on Youtube and jumped to conclusions.
 
Van Dijk in 2019 did have a higher peak than pretty much every centre back this century - could have easily won the Ballon d’Or. He was almost the perfect CB and allowed Liverpool to play a higher press that impacted their entire game because he could chase anyone down in behind and win every ball in the air.
 
KeanoMagicHat said:
Van Dijk in 2019 did have a higher peak than pretty much every centre back this century - could have easily won the Ballon d’Or. He was almost the perfect CB and allowed Liverpool to play a higher press that impacted their entire game because he could chase anyone down in behind and win every ball in the air.
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Or, Liverpool played a very high and very intense press conference which in turn meant that van Dijk had half as much work as the defenders of yesteryear.
 
KeanoMagicHat said:
Van Dijk in 2019 did have a higher peak than pretty much every centre back this century - could have easily won the Ballon d’Or. He was almost the perfect CB and allowed Liverpool to play a higher press that impacted their entire game because he could chase anyone down in behind and win every ball in the air.
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I'd argue that what Italy did with Cannavaro, who did win the Ballon d'Or, was more impressive. That was an Italian team filled with recently relegated Juventus players.
 
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