I'd agree with this - certainly good but nowhere near the best in the league - top 5 possibly but debatable.
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
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I'd agree with this - certainly good but nowhere near the best in the league - top 5 possibly but debatable.
Top 5 is still miles better than what we had!
Top 5 CB needs to have a complete consistent year for Liverpool before talks of him being the best in the league.
Intelligent but also strong and quick enough that if he does make a mistake he may be able to bail himself out
Intelligent but also strong and quick enough that if he does make a mistake he may be able to bail himself out
Smalling is at a similar level defensively. Both physical monsters who do make defensive mistakes occasionally, although certainly not as much as some make out. However obviously there are miles of difference between them in terms of ability and comfort on the ball. It's a huge weakness of Smalling, while VvD is one of the best in the league.
I dont think anyone is disputing he is better than what you had
Fair enough. Can I ask, out of interest, who would you rate as the best 5 CB's in the league?
Oh yeah not disagreeing with that - he has been a good signing and is your best defender.
Smalling nowhere near VvD imo.
Big thing about him is his composure. He isn't fazed by making mistakes. Makes a huge difference to rest as well how calm he is.
Contrast to Lovren, who loses his head once he's in a bad way. If he's looking shaky the first 20, you can be sure he'll only get worse the rest of the game. The game against England is one of the few times I've seen him turn it around really.
Class player and definitely one of the top CB's in the league!
I cannot understand why we were not after him, Jose loves himself a good CB.
Good acting
I’ve never been a fan of the Top 5, Top 10 type discussions, they’re kind of arbitrary and based off people favouring their own players. What I would say is that there are exactly zero players in the league that I’d swap him for.
The improvement he brings, the leadership, the organisation, all add on top of what he brings as a player. We basically went from a defensively rocky team, that could not cope with playing the type of attacking football we were playing, to a balanced side that could. That’s with zero personnel changes.
He’s strong, very quick, calm, positionally excellent, imperious in the air, and tactically astute in his reading of the game and direction of others. He’s not perfect, no player is; he’s very good, though. There’s nobody I’d prefer.
The improvement he brings, the leadership, the organisation, all add on top of what he brings as a player. We basically went from a defensively rocky team, that could not cope with playing the type of attacking football we were playing, to a balanced side that could. That’s with zero personnel changes.
He’s strong, very quick, calm, positionally excellent, imperious in the air, and tactically astute in his reading of the game and direction of others. He’s not perfect, no player is; he’s very good, though. There’s nobody I’d prefer.
We chose Lindelof instead.
I like the NFL ALL OR NOTHING shows, but I couldn't watch the City one. It would just piss me off.
Love how the article ignores individual errors made in games like the CL final and the game in Rome. You can have prime Ferdinand and Vidic in defence and it won’t make a difference if the keeper is throwing them in the net.
We used to look like a nervous wreck defending against anyone, now we don’t. A lot of that is down to Van Dijk’s arrival.
This lad is something else.
Joe Gomez looked good alongside him.
Tbf gomez looked a talent at 17 before breaking his leg.
There were also individual errors prior thought so it evens out. I think everyone agrees he's a good defender but the yo-yo of how we rate a player is so rapid these days, I think some folks are a bit bemused why he's suddenly being referred to as best in the league when nothing really changed when he came in statistically speaking. What is evident but can never be measured is that he is a chilled out dude and mentally, he does seem to bring a calmness that Lovren, the perma turtle head, cannot.
Great centerbacks often makes the other centerback play better.
Un ber lieabable!! Finally found our Stam/Rio/Vidic. Been too long in coming. If you want to know how much I'm happy that Klopp is a hypocrite my other hand is getting very tired.
I was not trying to disparage Gomez. I rate him as a player. I mentioned him since I think he also deserves credit for how Liverpool's defense has looked so far.
He looks brilliant
Gutted.
Gutted.
Alisson and Keita look good too.
I bet they'd look awful under Mourinho.
I bet they'd look awful under Mourinho.
Ah okay, I read it wrongly as he is making joe gomez look good alongside him.
He was great at Saints, great now. Surprise. Always said so on here, but a lot of posters just called him average when he was very good most of the time before his move.
Funny to read some of the comments now, most United fans were pissing themselves laughing at the fee when it happened, now a lot of you wish you'd gone in for him.
He was overpriced but exactly what Liverpool needed. They play in such a way that you need CB's like him, quick,, great 1v1 and technically sound. They also needed a leader at the back and somebody to install some composure and confidence in the rest of the players around him, which he does.
He was overpriced but exactly what Liverpool needed. They play in such a way that you need CB's like him, quick,, great 1v1 and technically sound. They also needed a leader at the back and somebody to install some composure and confidence in the rest of the players around him, which he does.
How? Name me five centre backs that are significantly better than him. We're not talking peak PL era where we have the likes of Ferdinand, Vidic, Terry in the league, there's really not many great defenders and Van Djik has pretty much everything you would want.
He's easily top five for me, or at the very least deserves to be in the conversation, he's certainly not 'nowhere near'.
I have a friend that said this guy was gonna be a star back when he was still at celtic. I hate seeing said friend because he always brings it up. the worst part is that he posted it in a forum around the same time and has screenshots of the posts on his phone, so whenever he’s speaking of a random player being good for the future he always pulls that shit out
Be right lads we've got Bailly
Gomez was/is a top talent. Injuries stalling him (sadly/not sadly if you're a United fan).
The thing about VvD that annoys me is the talent was so obvious when he was at Celtic, it’s mental that we never paid the £12m for him.
In recent years, VvD, Wanyama and now Tierney have all looked levels above the SPL. I’d have all 3 in our side.
In recent years, VvD, Wanyama and now Tierney have all looked levels above the SPL. I’d have all 3 in our side.
Gomez is a decent player for sure, and can prove to be a very good player given time. I'm only stating that it helps playing alongside VvD. If he was playing alongside Lovren or Klavan then he would not perform so good.
Same with Lovren at Liverpool before and after VvD came in, seemed like different players.
Cough* Blind Cough*
Cant believe we sold him after not giving him a chance at CB after his great season. Considering how we are letting in goals now - no matter his pace (which could be sorted by playing 3 at the back), he would not let in as many goals.
Blind suited LvGs style of play since we focused heavily on possession and Blind was a great passer. Today we sit low, not that interested in keeping the ball, allowing a lot of crosses to be made against us and this does not suit for a defender of Blinds abilities.
We've conceded less than Liverpool because we've played 11 men behind the ball and everybody has tracked back. DDG had a lot of saves to do...
Liverpool are playing an attacking football. VVD is a very good CB for me. He's physically imposing, fairly fast, leader. It's easier to fit into a team that's on a positive dynamic. We buy young defenders with potential, we put them in a team in doubt, with the pressure to be effective immediately. As soon as they make a bad game, we put them on the bench. How can this work?
After, some say, it was necessary to take such player before he goes in such a team. Look how good he is now! The truth is that even if our young players can become as good if not better, we will never know because we do not put them in the right conditions to progress and we are not patient enough with them. The other good young players were not good right away. They played week in week out despite everything, their clubs trusted them and they progressed.
Yes, I think the most frustrating thing is that some of our players may be worth it, but we'll never know.
Unless we played 3at the back - when the last person we want is another plain defender to add merely to the numbers at the back. To this day our best formation is 352 - Jose just hasn't the balls to give it a go for more than a game; a game we most of the time win. Blind would have been absolutely insane in a back 3 being the one who initiated the counter attacks.