Virgil van Dijk Player Thread (D)

Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk is to see a specialist to assess the extent of his hamstring injury.

The Netherlands defender, who has played in every Liverpool league game this season, was substituted at half-time in Monday's defeat at Brentford.

There is no timescale on how long Van Dijk will be out for but the injury appears worse than originally thought.

After the defeat by Brentford, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said: "Virgil felt a little bit the muscle and said it is fine, and he is a very good judge of these kind of things. But I didn't want to take any risks.

"The physios looked quite happy when I said we don't take risks. It's not an injury, he just felt the intensity."

We shall see soon enough, still unknown how bad it is.

Where'd you hear "out for a couple of weeks"?
I heard it was his hammy, which usually means longer on the sidelines....

Deffo a month or longer.

Might not even be back for first leg of Real game.

He's been not in great from all season but we'll probably miss him much more than you would think.

He's been not in great from all season but we'll probably miss him much more than you would think.

Particularly if Matip/Konate can’t keep fit for more than a couple of games at a time. For all you could say about Virgil this season, he’s been ever present.

Will be missed but a forced break may help him.

Is Virg back in training this week?

Is Virg back in training this week?

Yes, trained yesterday.

Yes, trained yesterday.

Hopefully the rest has done him good both mentally and physically. I feel he's coasted this season. I want to see him more like he was ... a leader ... aggressive and strong and organising. I'd start him and hendo on Monday.

Is there any scenario where you shop him? I know that sounds crazy, but it's better to sale a player a year to early than a year too late. He's been poor form this season and has regressed each season since his injury. TAA with his head on tight still hasn't reached his peak and Allison is in top form and no way we sale him. VVD is the only other player who could garner you a big fee to help use to rebuild, but I doubt that happens.

Unfortunately the only person I could see being shopped is Fab. About 6 more need to be, but won't be. What's are your thoughts of VVD being shopped?

Is there any scenario where you shop him? I know that sounds crazy, but it's better to sale a player a year to early than a year too late. He's been poor form this season and has regressed each season since his injury. TAA with his head on tight still hasn't reached his peak and Allison is in top form and no way we sale him. VVD is the only other player who could garner you a big fee to help use to rebuild, but I doubt that happens.

Unfortunately the only person I could see being shopped is Fab. About 6 more need to be, but won't be. What's are your thoughts of VVD being shopped?

No

He plays with Konate for a few more years.

Unless you think cracking on with Matip and Gomez will bring success.

You can't sell all your best players and still hope to be competitive!!

No

He plays with Konate for a few more years.

Unless you think cracking on with Matip and Gomez will bring success.

You can't sell all your best players and still hope to be competitive!!

Matip will be sold in the summer. Gomez will probably stay 😔

I'd play Phillips over Joe.

Konate is your big building block down low. So young and huge upside. Only issue with him are injuries.

VVD just isn't the same any longer. He's vulnerable in a sprint and in a high line is vulnerable over the top. He's still class, but he's slowing down. I'm not saying sale him, but if you got a 70-80 mil pffer from PSG or RM would you not take that?

This is all for not, as it won't happen, but im watching UTD win the league cup and need a distraction so I made this crap up

This is all for not, as it won't happen, but im watching UTD win the league cup and need a distraction so I made this crap up

That is a fair point

The 2022 FIFPro Men's #World11

🇧🇪 Thibaut Courtois

🇲🇦 Achraf Hakimi
🇳🇱 Virgil van Dijk
🇵🇹 Joao Cancelo

🇧🇪 Kevin De Bruyne
🇭🇷 Luka Modric
🇧🇷 Casemiro

🇦🇷 Lionel Messi
🇳🇴 Erling Haaland
🇫🇷 Karim Benzema
🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappe

Looked a complete passenger last night for the Dutch. Very concerning. Being 2 down early he'd have felt deja vu no doubt.

The pace and the movement of the French up top was too much for him.

We really need to switch formation and play 2 in front of our centre backs.

Looked a complete passenger last night for the Dutch. Very concerning. Being 2 down early he'd have felt deja vu no doubt.

The pace and the movement of the French up top was too much for him.

We really need to switch formation and play 2 in front of our centre backs.

Didn't think he was at fault really for any of the goals but did not see full match. What I have noticed is he is reluctant to engage and tends to avoid being exposed hoping someone else will get back or cover whereas before his injury he just cruised it

Certainly not the player he used to be, whether he gains any sort of form, remains to be seen.

Certainly not the player he used to be, whether he gains any sort of form, remains to be seen.

People keep saying that and I don't understand where this is coming from. Took us to the final day of the league campaign last year and we ended up missing out on the trophy by 1 point while maintaining the best goals against record in the league (with City). That GA record is 6 goals better than the one we won the league with a couple of seasons before. We also made it to the CL final and we won two other trophies with him as our main CB.

It's almost like people can't accept that we're having team issues and need to take it out on certain players, individually. Everyone looks off form this season, but I think it's important to keep a cool head and not constantly single out players and pass judgments like those ones. Yes he's been off form, but watching him, you can clearly see he's still world class and once we're back to playing the way we do, with the same energy levels and things tick back into place he's gonna be the rock he always was for us.

I mean at the rate some are calling it a day for those players why even bother with who we get in midfield? We need 25 new players based on that logic.

People keep saying that and I don't understand where this is coming from. Took us to the final day of the league campaign last year and we ended up missing out on the trophy by 1 point while maintaining the best goals against record in the league (with City). That GA record is 6 goals better than the one we won the league with a couple of seasons before. We also made it to the CL final and we won two other trophies with him as our main CB.

It's almost like people can't accept that we're having team issues and need to take it out on certain players, individually. Everyone looks off form this season, but I think it's important to keep a cool head and not constantly single out players and pass judgments like those ones. Yes he's been off form, but watching him, you can clearly see he's still world class and once we're back to playing the way we do, with the same energy levels and things tick back into place he's gonna be the rock he always was for us.

I mean at the rate some are calling it a day for those players why even bother with who we get in midfield? We need 25 new players based on that logic.

If you watch VVD pre injury and then watch him now and think that he hasn't lost a step, then I don't know what to tell you  ..... Slower and less likely to engage. Still very cerebral, just doesn't have the speed or confidence to close guys down one on one anymore

If you watch VVD pre injury and then watch him now and think that he hasn't lost a step, then I don't know what to tell you  ..... Slower and less likely to engage. Still very cerebral, just doesn't have the speed or confidence to close guys down one on one anymore

All of what you're describing I've seen it...this season only. Last year he looked just like the regular Virgil Van Dijk to me. Smart, quick, decisive, confident. This year, he looks slow, sluggish and always one step behind everything around him, but that is true with about 90% of the squad this season. Part of the problem, specifically for the backline, is how our press has been very very poor from top to bottom. In the system we play, when your frontline doesn't lead an exemplary press, it forces the midfield to try and compensate and you immediately lose your compactness, the midfield is then easily bypassed and the whole backline spends the game on the backfoot because of the acres of space left between them and the midfield.

Its not a coincidence that TAA also, all of a sudden, looks so bad. Our defensive setup relies on the rest of the team leading an excellent press or else they spend the game making runs back towards their goal that 90% of the other backlines in world football don't have to do and that would make any defender look bad. Combine this with the fact VVD himself is, this season, affected by the same lack of energy and form the rest of the squad is affected by and I think we don't have to worry too much about him suddenly being finished.

Some are having it worse than others, some are racking up very descent numbers despite their form, but if you look at the whole, squad player by player during a game, everyone looks slower and one step behind the opponent (both mentally and physically). The few players I could say are part of the exception are Alisson, Konate, Bajcetic, and to a certain extent Nunez and Gakpo. 

The Mr cool thing isn't going to work any more, I want to see him flapping and making dangerous last tackles not see his oh look at me I never broke a sweat, get the f**k on the pitch and give it your all, not little oh look I don't slide in and whatever, get the sodding hell stuck in, just like you give an actual sh*t about the club or even your mad wage. He's playing like a third of the player he is.

At best going through the motions.

At worst he deserves as much criticism as some of the other players are getting.

Been a great player for us but is defo in a decline. 32 this year personally I would sell whilst there’s a bit of value this summer.

Not the player he was, need to be ruthless and not sentimental. It’s about what’s happening now not what he done on the past.