Virgil van Dijk Player Thread (D)

So he's a Aussie beast??

No, he's a RED Beast.

Just a beast. Calm and natural leader. He plays the the game in his head. He anticpates a lot, that's why he do less tackles than other defenders. He just lacks some pace in my opinion due to his structure.

Hands down. It wasn't just the performance. Watch the way he barks orders, he is absolutely the BOSS back there. The moment the ball goes out of play, he's telling everyone what to do, he bawls players out when they need it. He's fookin immense. And to top it off we've gone and got a proper keeper to play behind him! So he doesn't have to tell Karius when to come and collect the ball every ten minutes at the top of his voice.

Always talking to players around him, brother first mentioned it to me during the Southampton game last season before he moved here.

Stunk the place out yesterday. Distribution was awful as was his positioning the way he gets done before the Gomez block was amateurish.

Most concerning for me was how heavy legged and sluggish he looked. Whilst being strong in the air (expected for a lad his size) he didn't look anywhere near reassuring.

Don't rate how he is always waving his arms about too even when one of our lads makes a mistake.

Well, it’s taken since his arrival for him to actually put in a poor performance. Not bad, every player has an off day and Van Dijk has proved no different.

Stunk the place out yesterday. Distribution was awful as was his positioning the way he gets done before the Gomez block was amateurish.

Most concerning for me was how heavy legged and sluggish he looked. Whilst being strong in the air (expected for a lad his size) he didn't look anywhere near reassuring.

Don't rate how he is always waving his arms about too even when one of our lads makes a mistake.

Still even on off day Virgil can make world class defensive actions like his immense headed clearance right at the death.

Every player is entitled to an off day as long as they bounce back from it the next game.

I'm very confident Virgil will do so.

Stunk the place out yesterday. Distribution was awful as was his positioning the way he gets done before the Gomez block was amateurish.

Most concerning for me was how heavy legged and sluggish he looked. Whilst being strong in the air (expected for a lad his size) he didn't look anywhere near reassuring.

Don't rate how he is always waving his arms about too even when one of our lads makes a mistake.

I've never seen you once come on here and praise him for his good performances, you're always here posting when he has an off game.

He wasn't at his best but he wasn't bad either, one sloppy pass doesn't mean he had a bad game. Sh*t happens.  His reading of the game and distribution was still good, other than Alisson's mistake dallying with the ball he would have kept another clean sheet.

I've never seen you once come on here and praise him for his good performances, you're always here posting when he has an off game.

He wasn't at his best but he wasn't bad either, one sloppy pass doesn't mean he had a bad game. Sh*t happens.  His reading of the game and distribution was still good, other than Alisson's mistake dallying with the ball he would have kept another clean sheet.

I have and will praise him in due course. I'm not going to pretend I'm inspired or comfortable that we have our defense sorted as some are lead to believe when the worlds most expensive defender puts in performances like that.

Understand the " bad day at the office" comments but his mobility or lack of has had me worried previously also.

For what it's worth whilst Allison dicks around with the ball Virgil sends him a long way to fetch it and puts him under pressure immediately.

I have and will praise him in due course. I'm not going to pretend I'm inspired or comfortable that we have our defense sorted as some are lead to believe when the worlds most expensive defender puts in performances like that.

Understand the " bad day at the office" comments but his mobility or lack of has had me worried previously also.

For what it's worth whilst Allison dicks around with the ball Virgil sends him a long way to fetch it and puts him under pressure immediately.

What are you even talking about?

VVD is a world class Rolls Royce of a defender the best in the PL in my opinion.

Our defence has improved MASSIVELY since he signed.

Yea he's not the quickest in the world but he's 6ft 5 and no slouch either. His game doesn't rely on pace as he is so intelligent.

It was one bad day at the office.

We move on.

Says it all about him when if it wasn't for Alisson attempting to join the harlem globetrotters he'd have kept a clean sheet despite have an average game.

I have and will praise him in due course. I'm not going to pretend I'm inspired or comfortable that we have our defense sorted as some are lead to believe when the worlds most expensive defender puts in performances like that.

Understand the " bad day at the office" comments but his mobility or lack of has had me worried previously also.

For what it's worth whilst Allison dicks around with the ball Virgil sends him a long way to fetch it and puts him under pressure immediately.

Seriously? Our defense has massively improved since we signed him. We've kept more cleansheets, conceded less goals and we look more solid at the back.

His mobility isn't as bad as you think it is, but he isn't lightning speed either, but who the f*ck cares. Hyypia was slow as f*ck and was slower than VVD but he was a world class defender because he made it up with his intelligence and reading of the game. Like I said, if Alisson just cleared the ball it would have been another clean sheet and that would have been 4 clean sheets in a row.

I've never seen you once come on here and praise him for his good performances, you're always here posting when he has an off game.

He wasn't at his best but he wasn't bad either, one sloppy pass doesn't mean he had a bad game. Sh*t happens.  His reading of the game and distribution was still good, other than Alisson's mistake dallying with the ball he would have kept another clean sheet.

Re-watched the match, and yeah, VVD was actually immense, perhaps better than Gomez (i voted motm after first viewing), however, I didn't think his composure was as good as it has been, but I'm pinning it down to not having Wijnaldum in front of him.

Stunk the place out yesterday. Distribution was awful as was his positioning the way he gets done before the Gomez block was amateurish.

Most concerning for me was how heavy legged and sluggish he looked. Whilst being strong in the air (expected for a lad his size) he didn't look anywhere near reassuring.

Don't rate how he is always waving his arms about too even when one of our lads makes a mistake.

Stunk the place out?

Have a day off.

Stunk the place out yesterday. Distribution was awful as was his positioning the way he gets done before the Gomez block was amateurish.

Most concerning for me was how heavy legged and sluggish he looked. Whilst being strong in the air (expected for a lad his size) he didn't look anywhere near reassuring.

Don't rate how he is always waving his arms about too even when one of our lads makes a mistake.

Wow, bit harsh he's been a rock ever since he's been here.

If you think that about VVD wonder what you think about Lovren?

I have and will praise him in due course. I'm not going to pretend I'm inspired or comfortable that we have our defense sorted as some are lead to believe when the worlds most expensive defender puts in performances like that.

Understand the " bad day at the office" comments but his mobility or lack of has had me worried previously also.

For what it's worth whilst Allison dicks around with the ball Virgil sends him a long way to fetch it and puts him under pressure immediately.

Mate, yes he did not was on top form but was 7/10 performance and it was enough. Ok, his backpass was not that good but Alisson should have kick the ball anywhere in the stand.

Mate, yes he did not was on top form but was 7/10 performance and it was enough. Ok, his backpass was not that good but Alisson should have kick the ball anywhere in the stand.

Don't forget Hendos dodgy pass to VVD that started the rot.

Still no excuse for Becker though ( can't call him Alisson as my Sisters name is Allison) 

Wow, bit harsh he's been a rock ever since he's been here.

If you think that about VVD wonder what you think about Lovren?

I think Lovren can be sh*t and deserves to be called out when he is and I haven't been shy in doing that.

I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend any player should be absolved from criticism. He's the worlds most expensive defender  and I don't expect to see fundamental errors in his game.

If you're so intent on trying to connect dots that aren't there I will reverse the question. What would you be saying if that was Lovren that made that back pass and amateurishly dived in for the chance blocked by Gomez?

I think Lovren can be sh*t and deserves to be called out when he is and I haven't been shy in doing that.

I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend any player should be absolved from criticism. He's the worlds most expensive defender  and I don't expect to see fundamental errors in his game.

If you're so intent on trying to connect dots that aren't there I will reverse the question. What would you be saying if that was Lovren that made that back pass and amateurishly dived in for the chance blocked by Gomez?

Those sort of back passes are made all the time during the 90 minutes so even if Lovren had made the back pass that goal was purely down to Alisson.

The other error fair enough.

I think Lovren can be sh*t and deserves to be called out when he is and I haven't been shy in doing that.

I'm not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend any player should be absolved from criticism. He's the worlds most expensive defender  and I don't expect to see fundamental errors in his game.

If you're so intent on trying to connect dots that aren't there I will reverse the question. What would you be saying if that was Lovren that made that back pass and amateurishly dived in for the chance blocked by Gomez?

This was big Virgs first mistake, which wasn't helped by Jordans shitouse pass to him.

All I'm saying is give the big lad a break.

Lovren on the other hand has made many mistakes and there's no way he would have even made up the ground to get to that block that Gomez made.

With VVD and Becker, I think and am hoping will learn from their mistakes. Lovren would just make another one.

This was big Virgs first mistake, which wasn't helped by Jordans shitouse pass to him.

All I'm saying is give the big lad a break.

Lovren on the other hand has made many mistakes and there's no way he would have even made up the ground to get to that block that Gomez made.

With VVD and Becker, I think and am hoping will learn from their mistakes. Lovren would just make another one.

I've given the lad a break or does he get preferential treatment and is forever exempt from criticism?

I've hardly said he's sh*t and should be binned I'm merely providing personal insight and observation on his performance. Suggest people jump in the Henderson and Lovren threads for criticisms of all sorts.

I've given the lad a break or does he get preferential treatment and is forever exempt from criticism?

I've hardly said he's sh*t and should be binned I'm merely providing personal insight and observation on his performance. Suggest people jump in the Henderson and Lovren threads for criticisms of all sorts.

I've jumped in the Hendo thread and done that, hoping I don't have to go in the Lovren thread at all.

I've given the lad a break or does he get preferential treatment and is forever exempt from criticism?

I've hardly said he's sh*t and should be binned I'm merely providing personal insight and observation on his performance. Suggest people jump in the Henderson and Lovren threads for criticisms of all sorts.

No one is saying he gets preferential treatment or he is exempt from criticism. but ''stunk the place out''? really? he didn't even have such a bad game that he warrants such a description. He wasn't at his best either but he wasn't that bad either!

Yeah stunk the place out isn't the phrase I would of used, did what he needed to do, might not of been on top form, but like a lot of others did what needed to be done.