Watching him play? many times he doesn't even have to defend cause he's where he's supposed to be.
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Did you know that eye witness testimony isnt always reliable and accepted?
"24 fecking pages on Liverpools centreback. What forum am I on again?" @ivaldo
"I was thinking the same" @Speedicut75
you do realise you're two of the reasons we're on 24 pages. So am I but I'm not the one complaining about it.
"I was thinking the same" @Speedicut75
you do realise you're two of the reasons we're on 24 pages. So am I but I'm not the one complaining about it.
He's meant to be a top class striker playing at home? It was a shocking display.
There were numerous occasions where Moura tried to run in behind and was outpaced by VVD, or even Gomez. Or Kane tried to assert aerial dominance and was dominated.
At the other end of the pitch, Alderweireld and Vertonghen dropped off and looked like they were shitting themselves every time we had the ball upfront.
It was a poor display. He's been rubbish for a while .. I can't remember his last dominating performance. I'm willing at the moment to put it down to fatigue post-injury, since that is when the trouble started. He simply doesn't move the same way as he used to, he was rushed back in to the team, played the world cup, played from the start in the league, it's too much. Give him a rest, re-introduce him to the team and if he's still the same then questions will be asked.
Moura was too isolated, but yeah in a proper sprinting battle the likes of Gomez and Van Djik are quicker than him. He's fast in tight spaces and has almost instant acceleration, but like most players of his height/build, his actual sprint speed is overrated. VVD made an error for our goal yet you seem to be ignoring that, both him and Gomez benefited from our predictable play which was either kick and run for Lucas, or hoof it up and hope it lands for Kane, who will always be beaten by Van Djik in the air. We were utterly woeful and flat.
We played a stupid high line against you, and the likes of Dier were dreadful and offered nowhere near enough cover. We also kept putting our defenders in danger with suicide passes. Toby/Vert are class, and on a number of occasions they showed excellent anticipation or made last ditch tackles. The problem was they were utterly exposed and sometimes left 3vs2, neither are the quickest (which is why a back 5 with Sanchez back may have been a good idea) so in this system it's not surprising they looked panicked at times.
The one time we did have a go at your defence and got a goal, we should have had a penalty which likely leaves the game at 2-2. Stonewaller.
You haven't played that much of a high line until they went 2-0 up though. I've thought you defended pretty well until then. You pretty much did what United did last season against them, sitting deep nullifying their attack and hoofing the ball up to your strikers , bypassing their press and hoping for some runners to get through. Although in the end you were lucky they didn't make it 4 or 5 because you needed to open up (which is extremely hard to defend against their front three), I don't think it was a too bad of a performance until they went 2-0 up.
Our defending was OK, but mistakes wise we were all over the place, most notably Dier passing it to Salah to run through on goal .. which last season is probably 1-0. We just looked nervy, managed to assert ourselves a bit and gain some possession (but zero penetration due to predictable play) but still handed Liverpool chances in dangerous areas with some poor passing.
Our central defenders were not the issue, they were consistently being played in to trouble.
Yet you guys are here contributing in the spamming of this thread.
I feckin hate it. Most annoyingly is that the praise for Liverpool players and team efforts far surpasses that of actual Liverpool supporters. It's sickening. Smalling played better than vvd today, but there is almost more praise coming from our fans toward vvd.
Redcafe is almost more of a general football forum than a United forum by now.
That is one of Redcafe's biggest strengths and what separates it from most Football forums.
To an extent, but it is a United forum and the leading one at that, according to its tag line. That Liverpool supporters think their players and team are the best is understandable but they almost have to take our supporters Liverpool praise down a notch, being more sensible in fact. Kudos to @Klopper76 and the likes BTW for being good posters.
Even that one is debatable. Van Dijk is an excellent defender and easily the best in the league. Alderweireld is better than Van Dijk at nothing and is soo overhyped. Good defender, but I think he's still leaving off that great spurs season.
Well I mean, statistically he made the most accurate long passes out of all players in the league. So in terms of accumulation and how many you can expect per game, that one he does come out on top.
Smalling performed better today. Fact.
? You're in the football forum. There is a united part of this site and a football forum, hence the amount of Liverpool talk. What is surprising is the amount of threads and posts on Liverpool by the mancs. The praise is surprising too.
He didn't cost 70 million and doesn't play for our feared rivals why would anybody care? Unless he is playing crap causing us goals, what is there to be scared about?
He’s also the better player.
Alderweireld hits more long balls but Van Dijk hits them just as good.
Oh good god, so it begins.
Barney Ronay put it well in his column. Van Dijk plays as if he is the game's designated adult.
Liverpool's addition of van Dijk and Alisson mean they are going to be a much bigger threat this season. If they put another top class CB in beside him they could become a real force.
Van Dijk was showing Smalling how to keep Moura and Kane quiet.
By playing in a team which was better organised on the day and not alongside Jones?
Moura wasn't kept that quiet, he should have scored. It's not hard to win headers against him. Also pity his powers didn't extend to keeping Lamela quiet.
Not giving us any credit here.
How many should of we scored against the supposed best 2 defenders in the league?
And remember Van Dijk is playing alongside a inexperienced Gomez, who was mainly playing RB for us last season.
Not giving you any credit? I said you were very well organised. Tactically you pulled off an excellent performance, helped by how inept we were but you did well.
I've said this over and over again, Alderweireld/Vert are class but when they're exposed time and time again (by a high line, or by Dier through balling it to Salah) there's nothing they can do. When they're left 3vs2 on numerous occasions, what exactly do you expect them to do? They did very well on numerous occasions yesterday, they closed off the space for shots and made it as difficult as possible.
Gomez has been very good, no matter how inexperienced he is, and he's playing in a team which is functioning very well. Van Djik is a very good central defender, but people in here are acting like he's kept Kane/Lucas shackled by himself, rather than recognising that the service in to them was terrible and predictable, and that he was playing in a side which was tactically spot on yesterday. It made his job a lot easier, Smalling would have done a similar job if you stuck him in the Liverpool side yesterday.
Why have you completely ignored Moura beating Smalling in a 1v1 for the third goal?
Lamela’s Goal has nothing to do with Van Dijk’s performance (Sturridge was already closing him down which is why Van Dijk didn’t). Van Dijk kept Kane and Moura out, Smalling didn’t.
I don’t even know why this is a debate. Van Dijk is clearly a better CB than Smalling is.
Love it when I don't even have to post to make a fool out of the dippers
I agree with most of what you’re saying but the last line simply isn’t true.
The reason that Van Dijk has been such a good signing is that he’s made our defence more organised. Smalling wouldn’t have added that leadership to our back line like Van Dijk has.
How many times was Van Djik left 1vs1 against Lucas Moura yesterday? He nearly always had cover. Smalling dealt with Lucas pretty well most times, he let him through once (due to a bit of bad luck) .. it happens. The whole 'Van Djik kept them out, Smalling didn't' is simplistic nonsense. What does Smalling have to do with Kane scoring a header from a corner when marked by Jones?
Of course he's better.
But I’ve already made a fool out of you. You said Smalling played better than Van Dijk yesterday, I said that Van Dijk kept two players quiet who Smalling struggled against.Love it when I don't even have to post to make a fool out of the dippers
I’m pretty sure I win this one.
The last full season VVD was at Southampton, 2016-17, I considered him the best CB in the league and based on his performaces since joining Liverpool I still think he is the best. I'll never understand the logic of pretending a player is rubbish because they play for a rival team.
I don't disagree that Van Djik has added other qualities to your defence (organisation etc), but in terms of how he played yesterday, I don't see much that Smalling isn't capable of. It was all far too easy for him, he's a massive bloke who was having balls lumped in the air against him.
So if Van Dijk is better than Smalling, isn’t it fair to say that sticking Smalling into our back line instead of Van Dijk would have a detrimental impact on our defence.
That would contradict what you’ve just posted.
I wouldn't try and reason. They all have a little streak of Souness in them waiting to pop out. After yesterdays performance against you he was speaking of Liverpool like the great Barca team and their front three in the same breath as Xavi, Iniesta and Messi.
This lot think VVD is Baresi, Cannavaro and Maldini all rolled into one.
Again .. so damn simplistic.
One player doesn't keep two attackers quiet, it's a question of how a team sets up, how the match goes on etc. Had we gone 1-0 up, you may have seen what happened to Smalling also happen to Van Djik, in that you would have pushed up in order to get a goal and left your defenders more isolated. Lucas probably would have been 1vs1 more, and it's perfectly possible that he gets through at least once.
There's nothing Smalling can do about the opening goal, it's Jones marking Kane at a set piece.
@SquishyMcSquish we’re having simultaneous conversations.
He's better, but he's not as good as many of your fans think, and I don't think the difference would be that stark. Other than being more familiar with the defence, and yes that leadership ability would be missed. Van Djik was mainly dealing with balls in the air yesterday, which Smalling is very good at dealing with. He's a good central defender.
What I disagree with is this ridiculous overhyping of Van Djik as if he's single handedly stopping teams scoring, no goals you do concede are anything to do with him, and he's by far the best in the league. It's boring quite frankly, he's being put on a pedestal.