Where’s @TheReligion? Thought he would all over this.
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) look forward to a new life under Ruben Amorim. What system will we be playing? What players will impress? and how will it all go? We also say goodbye to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and review United's 3-0 win at home against Leicester City.
Klopp must be thought he got Hummels's second coming in Van Dijk but instead he got Lovren's second coming.
I think he's a good player but genuinely Phil Jones is better. For the price Liverpool paid for him, that's just not good enough.
When he's compared to Smalling, it doesn't mean he is crap. Rather, he's only as good as Smalling. Just as Smalling isn't worth 75 mil, neither is VVD.
I'd rate VVD as equal to our set of CBs, solid without being world class. Jose would get a tune out of him, but Klopp is absolutely not the right manager to improve his game.
I'd rate VVD as equal to our set of CBs, solid without being world class. Jose would get a tune out of him, but Klopp is absolutely not the right manager to improve his game.
Yes, it also shows how weak the standard of the position is world wide. The requirements have changed because of how attacking players have changed but as a generation, when it is compared to the 90's or 00's the position is in a terrible state. Interestingly so is the standard of strikers, discussion there about what caused it(wide forward being the new key role for me)
I am not certain there is a genuine world class CB in the PL. Jones with a stable body would be there for me but outside of him? Alderweireld and Vertonghen always get mentioned as if they were an elite pairing, don't see it from either one.
The general worldwide level has decreased like you said. Can the "world class" tag be applied with us using previous standards or do we need to lower expectations ?
Yeah, I don't know where the hype comes from. He obviously looks a good player but you'd think he'd single-handedly made Southampton rock solid defensively.
Fair play to him. Normally it takes a new signing a while to adapt to his new side but Van Dijk has settled in to the Liverpool defensive system straight away.
I dont really see where the Smalling and Jones comparison comes from. Personally i think hes more of a ball playing CB than either of our CBs... Which is exactly his problem in that Liverpool team. Given how much they get exposed in games they really need a destroyer whos going to dominate the opposing attackers not back off
A fair point, I suppose it has to shift with the contemporary standard. Makes cross era comparisons a pain.
Oh I'm here.
Just waiting for those trying to justify his price to appear. He's a good centre back nothing more. Certainly not top tier in the world. Hopefully this is obvious now.
Not for me
Not to mention they were forced to apologize to Southampton FC.
Humiliated in the whole saga.
And the money was funded by selling their one great player. No offense salah is not quite there yet.. But still..
Let.that.sink.in.
75m down the drain..
He’s awful positionally and is a criminal ball watcher.
He looks like a player who needs some serious coaching to iron out the deficiencies in his game.
Coaching he won’t get at Liverpool. And coaching he shouldn’t need at this stage of his career, given his price tag.
A lot of knee jerk reactions after a couple of games. He’s a class player but i’m sure it will take him time to settle
Well I will never uderstood spending so much money on CB, especially on player like VVD who isn't WC defender. Defending is much more about organization, Liverpool are just not organized in defence and tbf to VVD no player could change that. On the other hand he is in my opinion just another overated player from midtable PL club. Based on quality he is below Jones and Bailly level and about same level then Smalling and Rojo (judgement is still out with Lindelof). Simply put he is at a level when if organisation around him is good he will look like a great defender (like Smalling 2 seasons ago and Rojo last season) but if it isn't his vulnerability will be exposed and it will surely be exposed at Liverpool.
It's not like he's come over from another league. He needs time to settle with his team mates but that won't help him with errors in his own game. I can't remember ever being wowed by him at Southampton either. He seemed to magically become a good player when it was known Liverpool wanted to sign him. That's not usually a good sign in itself. For the money paid you'd expect an established top class player. Not someone a few people have dubiously decided played well for Southampton a few times.
He's not worth the money Liverpool paid for him in my opinion, He's overrated as well.
He is obviously a good defender and in the long term he will make a difference, even if £75m was far too much.
What I find hilarious though is that many Liverpool supporters told us that he will solidify their defence straight away, by organising and commanding the defence all by himself. Well that's goals conceded in his first 3 games.
There is a lot more to building a defence that signing one good CB. Maybe they should start to give more credit to Jose as he is a master as it. Klopp has a lot to learn in that department.
What I find hilarious though is that many Liverpool supporters told us that he will solidify their defence straight away, by organising and commanding the defence all by himself. Well that's goals conceded in his first 3 games.
There is a lot more to building a defence that signing one good CB. Maybe they should start to give more credit to Jose as he is a master as it. Klopp has a lot to learn in that department.
This is a great point. Are there genuinely any world class defenders left in the mode of Ferdinand, vidic, terry, Nesta, Cannavaro, puyol etc? Every defender is so far off that group imo that we have to accept VVD may be near the top of the current list.
Klopp is going to make him worse 
Hope this guy gets scrutinised and has his individual performances micro-analysed by the media as much as Pogba had.
I think it has more to do with the football being more attacking and faster, in addition to attackers being protected more, rather than defenders being worse.
It's part that, part coaching at youth level got much much worse for the position
Rio had a poor start for us despite being a top defender in the league for some time. It can happen. Problem is with the system rather than him. Just because he will replace Lovern and as a result remove some of the individual defensive mistakes from Liverpool's game, he will improve their defence. But overall as long as Klopp is there, it is unlikely that Liverpool will ever be a defensively solid team.
Pawson had to use VAR because he couldn't believe how shit he is.
Maybe but surel the current "top" CBs are more clueless and less specialized in the art of defending as in 10 years ago for instance
I think that great defenders of the past would look equally clueless in the era of superteams, attacking fast football and the referees who are happy to give fouls/penalties at any contact.
Nah I cannot agree. Vida/Rio/Terry/Nesta/Puyol etc etc.. haven't retired that long ago anyway for football to have evolved this much. There is a clear lack of top quality specialist in the current era.
He's taken to LFC style defending like a duck takes to water
He’s not a player I’ve watched a lot so I could be way off on this but I feel a lot of his reputation has been built off the back of scoring a few goals. Similar to how everybody thought Vermaelen was great when he first went to Arsenal because he scored goals.
I'm sure he's better than what they had but there could be a bit of that. Was definitely the case with Vermaelen who i was always skeptical of.
I think centre back is a hard position to judge how good a player is compared to say a striker. For example a defender caught out of position but rushing back and making a crunching recovery tackle will get more praise (hype) than a defender in an identical situation that was positioned well in the first place and dealt with the danger no problem.
There's a reason why city, chelsea and us who were all looking for a centre back in the summer passed on him and it isn't just the price. He is technically excellent but he isn't a good defender. He doesn't sense danger very well (poor reader of the game). I mean lindelof isn't any better but at least he was cheap.
Seems to believe his own hype. Thinks he's Koeman or something.
I wonder if the transfer market will regress a bit. Sure a superstar like Neymar makes sense but not clubs risking 75m on players that would have gone for 30m a couple of seasons ago. Maybe the superstars are worth a higher premium but the rest are still not worth such exhorbitant outlays. For 75m you should be getting one of the best tried and tested defenders in the world not VVD. Owners must wake up at some point and pull the plug.
He cost more than Bonucci!
Bonucci is wank in all fairness.