4 hours ago
3
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has supported Virgil van Dijk's decision to dismiss Wayne Rooney's comments about Liverpool's early-season performance, describing the Reds captain's response as "brilliant."
Rooney had suggested that there was "a lack of leadership" from Van Dijk and fellow Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah during the team's subpar start to the season. He criticized the pair's body language following a disappointing run of six losses in seven matches across all competitions.
However, speaking after Saturday's 2-0 victory over Aston Villa, where Salah netted the first goal, Van Dijk retorted and labelled Rooney's remarks as "lazy." The Dutchman said: "I didn't hear him last year. It doesn't hurt me.
"Just to come back to this particular player, obviously a legend, a big player of the game who inspired so many, I can say only positive things.
"But I feel that comment is just a bit of a lazy criticism.
"It's easy to blame the older players, but he knows as well as everyone else that we do it together and try to help each other to get out of this.
"There are so many platforms nowadays that everyone can say whatever they like, and it gets blown up.
"What I have noticed, over the last couple of weeks especially, is that there is a lot of noise that you have no control over and that we have to deal with as a team.
"Some of those takes are absolutely ridiculous. But you have to deal with that. It's outside noise that can reach certain players, the group. It's about sticking together."
Ferdinand has now backed Van Dijk for defending himself and his team following the criticism.
On his 'Rio Ferdinand Presents' podcast, while discussing Van Dijk's response to his former United and England teammate, Ferdinand stated: "I absolutely love that Virgil van Dijk, the captain of Liverpool, is coming out and saying, 'I ain't having what people are saying, I don't agree with that and I don't agree with that.'
"I think it's brilliant. This is what you want. This is what you need.
"You need players of character, a bit of personality.
"Whether you agree with him or not, it's a different conversation, but I like the fact that he's prickly and he reads it and he sees it, he hears it and he goes, 'No, I'm not having that and I want to call it out.'"
English (US) ·