1 day ago
6
Liverpool is not attracting too many plaudits at the minute.
Hard-fought win at Inter notwithstanding, Arne Slot's side has been in the trenches. The Premier League table does not make for pleasant reading. Months after securing the title, Slot finds his team in 10th, behind the likes of Everton and Man Utd, and 10 points off the summit.
So the Reds will take praise wherever they can get it, even if it comes from one of the players who finds himself below Liverpool in the standings. Xavi Simons will have hoped for better when he moved to Spurs in the summer (amid previous links to Anfield) — and it seems that none of his new teammates have made quite as much of an impression on him as Virgil van Dijk.
Like the team as a whole, Van Dijk is having to face up to some heavy scrutiny. His defensive work is legitimately under the microscope for more or less the first time in his Liverpool career, with a soft deflected goal against Sunderland after a cheap giveaway something of a personal nadir.
Not only that, but his leadership is being tested to its limits. Van Dijk hit back at Wayne Rooney after the former Man Utd man suggested the captain was not doing enough to set the standards, but he has certainly had his work cut out, with Mohamed Salah throwing a grenade into the camp by going rogue with his comments after the draw with Leeds.
But while it might be a testing time for Van Dijk, he retains recognition within the game as one of the very best around. Simons, who is an international colleague of the Liverpool captain, recently name-checked him as the strongest player he has ever seen.
Asked by the Spurs TikTok account to build his dream player, Simons had no hesitation in selecting Van Dijk for his strength. His picks for other categories included Lionel Messi (left foot), Neymar (skill), and Kylian Mbappe (speed).
This is illustrious company for Van Dijk, underscoring exactly the kind of regard in which he is held by his fellow professionals. Admittedly, Simons' picks of Luuk de Jong for heading and Frenkie de Jong for intelligence point to something of a national bias, but there is no real doubt that the 34-year-old will one day retire as one of the very best to ever do it.
The Spurs social media team might also have been hoping for one of Simons' current club colleagues to make the list. But even amid his current struggles, there are few who would dispute that Van Dijk would comfortably get into just about any team in the league, Tottenham included.
If Liverpool is having one or two jitters about the decision to extend Salah's contract, there should be no such regrets about Van Dijk. Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards will have been well aware that the terms of the deal would likely take the captain beyond his peak years, but it was a calculated bet that even a sub-prime version of the Dutch colossus could still contribute a lot to the team.
Nothing from this campaign has particularly dispelled that notion, even if Van Dijk would be the first to say that he expects more of himself. And there is every chance that he will look back to something close to his best as and when the team's collective levels start to rise.
After all, there were no bones to be picked in the recent win over Inter. And it's probably no coincidence that this was the first game in some time where Ibrahima Konate looked truly assured alongside Van Dijk.
Moreover, Van Dijk has generally been celebrated while away with the Netherlands with Simons (although he has not entirely escaped criticism). It is being treated as a given that he will lead his nation into the World Cup a little over six months from now.
Ultimately, Liverpool will get out of this mess together. But as it sets about doing that, it cannot hurt to have one of the strongest players to ever play the game among the ranks.
English (US) ·