Virgil van Dijk | Performances

Pep has been saying a lot about his players getting soft due to all the success they have had.

I feel a similarly thing is happening at Liverpool.

It’s not easy to perform at such a high level consistently year after year.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Pep has been saying a lot about his players getting soft due to all the success they have had.

I feel a similarly thing is happening at Liverpool.

It’s not easy to perform at such a high level consistently year after year.
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Thats why Sir Alex is the GOAT. Kept his players hungry despite winning silverware nearly every season.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Pep has been saying a lot about his players getting soft due to all the success they have had.

I feel a similarly thing is happening at Liverpool.

It’s not easy to perform at such a high level consistently year after year.
Click to expand...

It also doesnt help to get assaulted and broken by Jordan Pickford.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Pep has been saying a lot about his players getting soft due to all the success they have had.

I feel a similarly thing is happening at Liverpool.

It’s not easy to perform at such a high level consistently year after year.
Click to expand...

Not sure that's the case with him or the rest of the Liverpool team. They've actually won feck all, they just look physically and mentally drained from years of non stop high intensity football.

As for VVD, I think he just looks like he's not physically capable of doing what he was able to before Pickford took him out. Add to that the players in front are all wiped out and he's just getting exposed more and more, over and over again and he just can't handle it anymore.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Pep has been saying a lot about his players getting soft due to all the success they have had.

I feel a similarly thing is happening at Liverpool.

It’s not easy to perform at such a high level consistently year after year.
Click to expand...
What overly amount of success have Liverpool had?
 
RuudTom83 said:
Pep has been saying a lot about his players getting soft due to all the success they have had.

I feel a similarly thing is happening at Liverpool.

It’s not easy to perform at such a high level consistently year after year.
Click to expand...

There is a difference, a major one.

Liverpool have a season off here and there whilst City since Pep's second season have had 1 season off.

Liverpool are up and down, they haven't won anywhere near what Pep's team have won.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Pep has been saying a lot about his players getting soft due to all the success they have had.

I feel a similarly thing is happening at Liverpool.

It’s not easy to perform at such a high level consistently year after year.
Click to expand...
Doesn't help that the team you are up against is cheating.
 
Probably oversimplifying this but see it as real missed opportunity, just wished we’d signed both Van Dijk and Mane from Southampton whilst we had the money to do so instead of splurging it on Pogba and Maguire.
 
He's a really strange player, mediocre in his youth, average/good in his mid 20s, absolutely world-class in his upper 20s and now he's fallen again.

I doubt history will remember him, take out those 3 seasons and he doesnt have much to brag about. Certainly not enough to consider him one of the best in premier league history.
 
Ruud Gullit has also weighed in on Van Dijk’s displays and accused the Liverpool defender of playing safe.

“It’s walking backwards,” Gullit said. “In England they have already criticised him

I don’t know if he’s doing it, but it doesn’t look like he’s speaking. He plays so safe. Come on now, you’re so big
 
He looks washed now, after that nasty injury I doubt he will ever be a top defender again.
 
SAFMUTD said:
He's a really strange player, mediocre in his youth, average/good in his mid 20s, absolutely world-class in his upper 20s and now he's fallen again.

I doubt history will remember him, take out those 3 seasons and he doesnt have much to brag about. Certainly not enough to consider him one of the best in premier league history.
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Agree good assessment of him..
 
That Van Basten quote is savage. Does he have a history of being that vocal?
 
For such a short period, but he was the best/most complete Premier League era CB I've ever seen.
 
Netherland NT should start building the defense around de Ligt. VVD is already declining. It doesn't look like just bad form. They should have prepare themselves for near future without him. It's not like he playing like this would help them getting result.
 
Bubz27 said:
That Van Basten quote is savage. Does he have a history of being that vocal?
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Marco van Basten? He says what he wants and doesnt really sugarcoat anything. He isnt afraid to go against narrative. He also isnt a big fan of modern football. I do like him on tv, he is harsh, says it how he sees it, can be sarcastic but also doesnt mind making fun of his own career as a manager. A lot of people on tv are carefull with what they say, he isnt.

He also makes some mistakes sometimes. During the Madrid derby Reinildo Mandava fell to the ground and van Basten called it playacting and got really annoyed by that playacting. Turns out Reinildo had a very serious cruciate ligamant injury.

If your question is if Virgil is vocal, he is. Atleast from what people say, he was heard coaching and being vocal a lot when the lockdown forced games to be played in empty stadiums. The Dutch narative during Liverpool their excellent period was that Virgil put everyone in the right place and thats why Liverpool could defend well with a limited CB partner next to Virgil and with a RB who cant defend very well either.
 
Stadjer said:
Marco van Basten? He says what he wants and doesnt really sugarcoat anything. He isnt afraid to go against narrative. He also isnt a big fan of modern football. I do like him on tv, he is harsh, says it how he sees it, can be sarcastic but also doesnt mind making fun of his own career as a manager. A lot of people on tv are carefull with what they say, he isnt.

He also makes some mistakes sometimes. During the Madrid derby Reinildo Mandava fell to the ground and van Basten called it playacting and got really annoyed by that playacting. Turns out Reinildo had a very serious cruciate ligamant injury.

If your question is if Virgil is vocal, he is. Atleast from what people say, he was heard coaching and being vocal a lot when the lockdown forced games to be played in empty stadiums. The Dutch narative during Liverpool their excellent period was that Virgil put everyone in the right place and thats why Liverpool could defend well with a limited CB partner next to Virgil and with a RB who cant defend very well either.
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Thanks.
 
Stadjer said:
Marco van Basten? He says what he wants and doesnt really sugarcoat anything. He isnt afraid to go against narrative. He also isnt a big fan of modern football. I do like him on tv, he is harsh, says it how he sees it, can be sarcastic but also doesnt mind making fun of his own career as a manager. A lot of people on tv are carefull with what they say, he isnt.

He also makes some mistakes sometimes. During the Madrid derby Reinildo Mandava fell to the ground and van Basten called it playacting and got really annoyed by that playacting. Turns out Reinildo had a very serious cruciate ligamant injury.

If your question is if Virgil is vocal, he is. Atleast from what people say, he was heard coaching and being vocal a lot when the lockdown forced games to be played in empty stadiums. The Dutch narative during Liverpool their excellent period was that Virgil put everyone in the right place and thats why Liverpool could defend well with a limited CB partner next to Virgil and with a RB who cant defend very well either.
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I think Van Dijk’s instructions in the past were how other players should revolve around him, which works when you’re regularly closing things down as the last line of defence. But he no longer offers that security. Now he has to organise others to put them into the best position rather than himself, taking into account his own inadequacies, he seems completely lost. The Milner moment established his loss in status very clearly. He’s just too arrogant to deal with it properly.
 
Isotope said:
That's if you zoomed out for the whole career, of course there's no comparison.
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Rio’s peak was higher. He was ridiculous. At one point he didn’t concede a foul for something like 30 matches.
 
Pexbo said:
Rio’s peak was higher. He was ridiculous. At one point he didn’t concede a foul for something like 30 matches.
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Yeah, probably. I just didn't see Rio, not just dominating the defence but also influencing the game from the back as good as VvD on that few years. And VvD was always a threat from corner also, which Rio had never been.

It's probably just the way United was setup at Rio's time, but that's just speculating.
 
He's an interesting case.

For 2, maybe 3 seasons, he was superb. Strikers basically gave up against him. But do you need a longer span of greatness to be considered a true great?
 
Shane88 said:
He's an interesting case.

For 2, maybe 3 seasons, he was superb. Strikers basically gave up against him. But do you need a longer span of greatness to be considered a true great?
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Now, he certainly was phenomenal but I think that players bought into this myth that "he couldn't be dribbled past" and played the easy ball because they didn't want to lose the ball against a high flying Liverpool team.

No sooner did players have a go at him and his level dropped.
 
TAA clearly being targeted and had his fair share of individual mistake, but someone like VVD didn't help the matter. For example, the second conceded goal, VVD could do with a tactical foul. He shrugged off his responsibility, thus easily let Mahrez to cut inside and pass through thus City was able to switch play over to the other wing almost training ground like.
 
He’s the equivalent of a striker who’s relied heavily on their pace and then an injury takes that away. They become useless after that. His ability to defend, positioning and awareness weren’t challenged when he had pace to always recover or never be beaten one v one. Now he just lacks everything. He’s actually a liability.
 
SAF is the GOAT said:
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This is from that same interview where they criticized his performance vs France, no idea why the quotes are being recycled over and over.

Regarding VVD, Gullit and Van Basten are absolutely correct - VVD is an overrated pillock who used to drive me insane with the media adoration (having grown up watching Baresi, Maldini, Nesta, Cannavarro regularly seeing VVD a wing mentioned in the same breath is an absolute travesty).

That’s why Gullit and Van Basten’s criticism sticks - they’re absolute legends of the game who won a lot more than Virgil will ever dream of AND played with some really good defenders week in week out (Baresi, Maldini, Tassoti, Cosracurta etc) so they have a pretty good basis of comparison of what’s world class and what ain’t. The English media pundits don’t, other than a vague interest to hype the premier league and milk the benefits from hyping one of its stars.
 
Shane88 said:
He's an interesting case.

For 2, maybe 3 seasons, he was superb. Strikers basically gave up against him. But do you need a longer span of greatness to be considered a true great?
Click to expand...
3 seasons is stretching it. He’s been a very good defender but does he belong in the top tier company of players that won multiple titles, showing their talent and quality over a long period? No way.
 
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