1 year ago
212 Liverpool have started this season brightly, but it’s obvious where their deficiencies lie at the moment.
Indeed, the Reds’ defence is, quite clearly, not up to scratch at the moment, and, as you can imagine, fingers are firmly being pointed at Virgil van Dijk.
The Dutch defender has, for so long, been Liverpool’s key man at the back, but now, his powers are, quite clearly, waning.
Speaking on his podcast, Eamon Dunphy has been discussing Van Dijk’s performances as of late, and he says that the £75m man has gotten a lot slower since his knee injury back in 2020 that cost him almost a year of his career.
Van Dijk has gotten slower
Dunphy gave his verdict on the defender’s lost pace.
“Van Dijk has lost a yard or two of pace. Van Dijk did transform Liverpool in many ways, and has been an outstanding central defender, but he has this tendency to put his hand up and play for offside, even when he did have the pace. But he had a bad knee injury and that is sometimes the end of you, even now it has taken a yard or two of pace off him,” Dunphy said.
Understandable
The reality is that Van Dijk has gotten slower as of late, but can anyone really say that they are surprised?
The Dutchman is 32 years old now, he’s no spring chicken these days, and at that age you’re bound to start losing a bit of pace, even without a potentially career-ending knee injury thrown into the mix.
Van Dijk is still quick, don’t get us wrong, but he’s not as fast as he used to be, and that does cost Liverpool at times when they try to play their high line.
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