Van Dijk

Salzburg rollercoaster provides timely reality check for Liverpool

I must admit, I feel a bit daft. It was only recently that I wrote something, somewhere about how Liverpool's players are the epitome of the mentality monsters that Jürgen Klopp christened them as only last season. While that's still not so far from the truth, the Reds certainly have reason to believe that they are...

Liverpool Survive Scare in Anfield Goal Bonanza

A Mohamed Salah brace and goals from Sadio Mané and Andrew Robertson saw Liverpool clinch a 4-3 win over Red Bull Salzburg in an Anfield goal bonanza. The defending champions raced into a three goal lead, thanks to goals from Mane, Robertson and Salah. But the Jesse Marsch coached Austrian side managed to claw the...

Player Ratings as Liverpool best Chelsea at the Bridge

Six in a row, 15 in a row, five points clear and all the jazz that comes with it. 'Lucky Liverpool' were at it again, the whole winning thing, at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. First-half goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino giving the Reds enough room to hold off a Chelsea fightback in the...

Why Virgil Van Dijk is better than Sergio Ramos

Twitter can be a strange place. In the past, it was a place to share opinions. Now the majority use it as a platform to ridicule them. Football Twitter has seeped into normal, everyday Twitter. People want to either trigger you or they stick on a mask and start looking for easy retweets and...

Napoli 2-0 Liverpool: What went wrong?

This is the second year in succession that I'm sitting down to ponder how Liverpool were beaten at the Stadio San Paolo, but the circumstances feel different. Last season, it was more or less a case of a wretched team performance, but on the whole the Reds turned in a decent display at this time,...

Reds Rue Referee Replay Refusal in Reversal

A contentious Dries Mertens penalty and a late Fernando Llorente goal saw Liverpool start their European Cup defence start with a 2-0 defeat to Napoli in Italy. Jurgen Klopp made three alterations to the team that defeated Newcastle on Saturday, with James Milner and Jordan Henderson returning to the midfield in place of Georginio Wijnaldum...

Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle: A Tactical Breakdown

International breaks can often pose a challenge for teams on a winning streak, with an unnecessary interruption to the rhythm of the side. Against Newcastle, for the opening 15-20 minutes at least, it seemed that was the case. Newcastle opted to launch balls into the wide channels, and fight for second balls, but it...

Is Van Dijk the Premier League’s best-ever centre-back?

Has a Liverpool player ever received as much endless praise over a sustained period than Virgil van Dijk? The Dutchman has been an almost godlike figure at Anfield from the moment he arrived in January 2018, powering home a header in front of the Kop on his debut, against Everton no less. Since then, Van Dijk...

Fabinho: Banishing Ghosts of Emre Can – And Then Some

When Emre Can was allowed to leave Liverpool to move to Juventus in 2018, many questioned whether Liverpool had made a mistake. The German midfielder allowed his contract to run down before inevitably joining Juventus on a free transfer, leaving many fans scratching their head as to the club's decision to let him go. However, fast...

Tactical Analysis: Van Dijk Shines as Reds Pass Turf Moore Test

The stage was set for Liverpool to drop their first points of their new campaign. No sooner had the referee ushered the ball towards the centre circle to kickstart proceedings, than Sean Dyche was seen gesticulating towards his players to kick the ball long towards the Liverpool defence. Why? Well, as Sean Dyche pointed...