Former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy singles out Virgil van Dijk for Liverpool’s poor from
According to Jason Cundy, who played for Chelsea between 1988 and 1992, Virgil van Dijk is overlooked despite his poor performances (as spoken on talkSPORT) [h/t Liverpool Echo].
The 31-year-old Dutchman has had a tough run of form this season and has not looked at his best. Cundy additionally insisted that Virgil is “happy to blame” Trent Alexander-Arnold for the poor performance.
Liverpool have looked off-beat this season, and in particular, a few players including Van Dijk have caught attention for a string of poor performances.
Returning to the fold last season following a career-threatening ACL injury, the Dutchman played an integral role in the Reds’ success domestically and in Europe.
This season seems a tad bit different for the defender. In the nine appearances he has had this season, the Netherlands international has not been up to the mark. Particularly in the league fixture against Fulham, the former Celtic man was guilty of giving away penalties.
Both penalties ended up influencing the outcome of the game. In his time at Liverpool, it was the first time Virgil gave away a spot-kick to the opposition.
Van Dijk’s form should be a concern for Liverpool
Even in the Reds’ first UEFA Champions League fixture this season, against Napoli, Virgil was guilty of giving away a penalty. Liverpool saw themselves obliterated by the Italian team’s forward line.
Cundy thinks that the Dutchman is being discounted as he has Trent Alexander-Arnold and his other defensive counterparts to blame for the loopholes in Liverpool’s defence.
“He’s getting overlooked because he’s happy to blame Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and Gomez and Tsimikas comes in. The mainstay right now is Van Dijk and he’s nowhere near it.”
The former Chelsea man’s comments seem to be coming from a place of bias. Even though one might argue that Cundy is right partially, his comment on Van Dijk blaming Trent for Liverpool’s mistakes as a team comes through as rather immature.
Trent plays on the right side of the defence, and Van Dijk is a left-sided centre-back. Joel Matip is on the forefront more often than not in case Trent is caught off position. Moreover, most of Van Dijk’s mistakes have been individual and do not concern any of his teammates.
But to be fair, the Groningen academy graduate has not been on the best of forms and needs to step his game up by a level or two to reach the standards he has set for himself.
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It is harsh to shift all the blame on the defence, and one defender particularly given even the midfield has been off-colour the whole season. Van Dijk is one of the world’s Best and hopefully, he will show the rest of the Premier League his level sooner than later.
