Is Virgil van Dijk Liverpool's weak link?

Sam McGuire

• Updated: 19 Jun 2023 19:16 BST
• 5 min read

It is no secret that Virgil Van Dijk had a difficult 2022/23 campaign.

The Liverpool centre-back didn’t look quite as assured as we’ve come to expect over recent years. He was standoffish, passive and, at times, even a little clumsy. He wasn’t the only player in red to struggle last term though as Jurgen Klopp’s men finished fifth in the Premier League.

However, claims of Van Dijk’s demise are premature. A lot of the criticisms are forced. Accounts on Twitter do it for engagement while pundits look for the sensationalist line for the attention it draws.

The recent match against Italy is a perfect example of this. The Netherlands lost the Nations League final 3-2 to Italy and Federico Chiesa scored what turned out to be the deciding goal just after the 70th minute.

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Are people overreacting?

If you have been online at all recently, you will have no doubt seen the goal.

Rafael Van der Vaart was a pundit for a Dutch outlet covering the game and, not for the first time, he was quick to blame Van Dijk.

“Virgil van Dijk is being criticised and rightly so. For 20 minutes I thought he is back, but that moment with Chiesa.. he is basically doing nothing."

Both Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten criticised the Dutch captain this season too following the loss to France, with Gullit saying: “In England they have already criticised him. He was selected for the world team of the year. He thinks he's better than the rest. 'We see things… Then I think, "you are captain, you have to solve this". But he's just commenting a little on what's happening in front of him.

“I don't know if he's doing it, but it doesn't look like he's speaking. He plays so safe. Come on now, you're so big and good. It is a positive criticism that we give. Isn't he the best? Then show it.”

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Analysing the goal

Now, at a glance, Van Dijk’s defending against Italy doesn’t look great.

Chiesa doesn’t do anything special to beat the Dutch No4 and it does seem fairly easy for the Juventus forward. But, as ever, there’s more to it than that.

Ronald Koeman’s side lose the ball deep in the Italy half and aren’t set up well enough to stop the counter.

Italy quickly move through the phases and eventually, the ball is played to Chiesa on the left. The still above shows this. It also highlights where Van Dijk is during this situation.

The Liverpool centre-back is right not to be dragged out wide though and instead holds his position centrally and waits for the Italian forward to carry the ball into his zone.

Van Dijk then shows Chiesa onto his weaker side. He’s in a position to react if the former Fiorentina man looks to cut inside onto his right foot. This is defending 101, isn’t it? If Van Dijk dives in here, there is every chance the Italy No15 works half a yard on his stronger side and curls an effort into the far corner.

Just like he did against Spain in 2020.

Van Dijk didn’t really do much wrong for the goal. His positioning actually forces Chiesa wide (as you can see above) and onto his weaker foot. Justin Bijlow, the Dutch goalkeeper, doesn’t cover himself in glory here, allowing the shot to beat him fairly easily before nestling into the far corner.

If you watch the shot-stopper, he’s stepping forward to narrow the angle just as the shot is taken and that is why he’s not set and is slow to react.

Different standards

The reason the goalkeeper isn’t taking the brunt of the criticism is that the defender is Van Dijk. Any other centre-back in this scenario likely gets praised for showing the attacker onto the outside and forcing him to shoot from a much more difficult angle.

But because it is the Liverpool centre-back, narratives are different. In fact, standards are different.

He wasn’t at his flawless best for the Reds last season but he was still a very good centre-back for the majority of the time. For example, his aerial duel success rate 74%, practically the same as it was across the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns.

Van Dijk may have only tackled 42% of the dribblers he faced but it was the same sort of figure when Liverpool won the title in 2019/20.

Injuries have taken their toll on him but he’s still one of the best in the game right now, especially if you judge, analyse and critique him fairly.