Unreal player, he was their best player at both ends of the pitch.
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
- Thread starter Samid
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But... he's a big old unit though, innit.
So, doesn't like being drawn out of the middle. Needs Gomez rather than Lovren on the scene for the mobility.
Did you notice how shattered Alexander-Arsehole (I can't stand him) was in the 2nd half?
Also he fancies himself far too much, has got ''Virgil'' on his shirt & plays for Liverpool.
So, doesn't like being drawn out of the middle. Needs Gomez rather than Lovren on the scene for the mobility.
Did you notice how shattered Alexander-Arsehole (I can't stand him) was in the 2nd half?
Also he fancies himself far too much, has got ''Virgil'' on his shirt & plays for Liverpool.
Best defender in England by miles.
There are 6'4 defenders who may as well not be there (e.g. Matip).
Then there are 6'4 defenders who dominate everything around them like VVD.
I'm just shocked for such a monster of a player he's ridiculously fast too. Holland vs Mbappe and Vs Chelsea when Willian got away if anyone remembers.
There are 6'4 defenders who may as well not be there (e.g. Matip).
Then there are 6'4 defenders who dominate everything around them like VVD.
I'm just shocked for such a monster of a player he's ridiculously fast too. Holland vs Mbappe and Vs Chelsea when Willian got away if anyone remembers.
He is, but as is usual with Liverpool players he is being hyped up to be better than he is. In actual pure defending the difference is not that huge, they both play a similar way and have similar and fairly obvious flaws. Smalling in form and in a well functioning team can do pretty much everything VVD can defensively.
VVD is miles ahead on the ball and in his ability to organise and lead. He also seems to have more mental strength. I expect we are going to have a few shockers from Smalling now his confidence has been dented.
Good highlight video of his performance yesterday.
Definitely should’ve scored at least once but defensively he’s outstanding. Showed good pace to recover against Mkhitaryan at one point too.
Ignore the cheesy video title.
Definitely should’ve scored at least once but defensively he’s outstanding. Showed good pace to recover against Mkhitaryan at one point too.
Ignore the cheesy video title.
Worth every penny. If he keeps this up he's building himself a reputation as the best centreback in the world.
Comparisons with Smalling are just silly.
Comparisons with Smalling are just silly.
VVD is a better decision maker and that makes a lot of difference
Best CB in the world on current form or at least on a par with Chiellini and Ramos... £70m+ well spent.
He's also way stronger and infinitely better in the air.
Frightening when you consider that he could have ended up at Man City.
They "settled" for Laporte so not that frightening.
Andy Robertson is 24 and arguably the best left back in the league, he's very good but he's not carrying the team by himself. He does bring valuable organisation to that defence which is probably his biggest asset.
Van Dijk is a big reason why that team is a 'well functioning' team though.
I tend to agree, but Virgil is an infinitely better name than Van Dyke. Doubly so in England.
Not sure if serious
Not sure if serious
Sarcastic, obviously.
Koulibaly is up there as well. I don't rate Ramos that highly as a defender. He's quite suspect when forced to defend.
He's looked decent in the 25 league games he's played at Liverpool, he's never won anything outside Scotland though.. Far too early to judge best CB or compare to Ramos, Chiellini imo.
He might end up one of the best but everything still to prove.
He is, he is leading the back line very well. Talk of him being the best CB in the world...mind boggling, and very Liverpool.
Not really that mind boggling. Not many cbs if at all performing better than him.
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If I could have any Liverpool player I'd have Van Dijk first pick every day of the week.
All of Gomez, Robertson, Alisson and Van Dijk look like top class defenders that have closed the book on any hypothetical notions of wanting to improve on them.
It's a remarkable transformation of a backline that, a year ago, had Mignolet, Moreno, Lovren and Matip/Klavan as the starting players.
It's not a Liverpool thing. It's a parochial media thing that happens a lot in the Premier League. Some lazy ex-pro appreciates just how well Van Dijk is playing and cannot imagine any other defender matching him - mostly because they don't watch football anywhere else - and makes the proclamation.
To be fair he looks a notch above anyone else in the league and right up there in a group of the top CBs in Europe. His pedigree is thin gruel though compared to the other members of that group though.
hahaha...look at Wijnaldum at the end. Can barely touch it with his hand.
It is arguable, not mind boggling.
22 caps, zero in major tournaments, part of a Holland team that failed to qualify for Euro 2016 and the last world cup, 25 league games for Liverpool and zero trophies outside of Scotland makes it arguable? Because Liverpool made it to the champions final where they got comfortably beaten?
I'd say it's a symptom of the hysteria that surrounds the premier league and football generally... Yes he's a good player, he hasn't actually achieved anything yet though, not even a full league season of games at Liverpool.
Ha, I thought we were talking about performances, skills, talent and all that.
What's mind boggling is he has more pages to his thread than a lot of the player performance threads.
I've really liked what I've seen of him. Have to say it annoys me that Liverpool have signed the likes of Mane and VVD from other clubs in the PL despite our ability to easily out muscle them towards those deals.
That book doesn't close though. The player's form and level is subject to constant change. And it's not really been that long that your team has been defensively solid. Although fair to say it has been very solid in recent times which is a testament to the manager (and players).
True, you only have to look at their attack to see that .. last season blowing everybody away, sensational to watch, this season thus far it's a damp squib with the likes of Salah (last season the leagues best) a shadow of what they were.
Maybe that's because you hold this 'arrogant' belief that every single player on the market - given the choice - would choose Manchester United over most other clubs, especially in the PL. Klopp's interest in VVD was well documented well before he signed so the opportunities were there to snatch him from right under noses. So the question is, why didn't United, or City for that matter, take him ? Perhaps Jose & Pep weren't convinced he was worth £75m, or perhaps he'd already committed to wanting to play for Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. Lets not forget that at the time most on here felt we'd been mugged by paying as much as we did for him.
Salah's overall game has still been pretty good this season and he's easily been our best attacker. His final ball has been the only thing really lacking (important part I know, but I think it'd be different if he'd just been average overall).
He's been doing stuff on his lonesome though with Shaqiri the only proper foil. He's been making the difference the past few weeks. If Firmino finally wakes up I think he's set to kick on again. He's not far behind his numbers from last season at this stage.
Firmino and mane have been much further from their level last season than salah has.
Hasn't Mane got like 6 goals so far this season (compared to 10ish last season)?
I've watched nearly all your games, and I think he's been a shadow of what he was with a number of genuinely awful games. I haven't seen him being your best attacker all too often.
I see it another way, that he's been doing pretty well numbers wise but his performances have not been good. He gives the ball away a hell of a lot, it's even been frustrating to watch him as an opposition fan at times. Perhaps he has overall had the edge over Mane/Firmino, but that says a lot about how poor your attackers in general have been in comparison to last season. The main think I think you've been missing is that chemistry going forward, it doesn't seem like your attacking play is 'clicking' in the way it did where it used to be electric to watch.
Perhaps singling out Salah was harsh (it was more because he was the star last season) but the overall point was that Liverpool's attacking players were some of the best in the league last season, but this one they just aren't. Big drop off in level.
Despite how much VVD cost, The total cost of our back four is ridiculously cheap for the 2nd best defensive team in the league. Or joint best if you look at goals conceded.
I mean less than 90m...
I mean less than 90m...
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Not if you include the goalkeeper, which most people do when considering the entire defensive unit. In which case you've spent shit tons.
Poaching. Even his 1s touch, normally immaculate, has been off. His overall game has been uninspired to say the least.
It's also not even that impressive ..
The backline at Spurs for example (Davies, Toby, Vertonghen, Trippier) cost around 40 million or so ffs, with Lloris still less than 50.
I'm not saying it's better than Liverpool's (it very clearly isn't this season) but 'less than 90 mill' isn't all that impressive when you consider one of the players came through the academy anyway. Robertson/Gomez were excellent pickups but overall Liverpool have spent good money and benefited from it.
The backline at Spurs for example (Davies, Toby, Vertonghen, Trippier) cost around 40 million or so ffs, with Lloris still less than 50.
I'm not saying it's better than Liverpool's (it very clearly isn't this season) but 'less than 90 mill' isn't all that impressive when you consider one of the players came through the academy anyway. Robertson/Gomez were excellent pickups but overall Liverpool have spent good money and benefited from it.
I'm talking about our back four, not sure what Alisson has to do with that as I was talking about the cost of our starting defenders. They cost us a total of abour 87m and I'm pretty sure they are the youngest defensive unit in the league. Average age of just under 23.