Weird anti-Van Dijk agenda continues as pundit calls for ‘sloppy’ Liverpool man to be binned
Sometimes we really have to wonder just why there’s such an agenda against Virgil van Dijk among a plethora of Dutch pundits.
From Marco van Basten to Ruud Gullit and many more in between, the Liverpool and Netherlands captain is inexplicably a lightning rod for fierce criticism among the media in his homeland.
To that list we can now add Henk Spaan, who blamed the 33-year-old for Nathan Ake’s yellow card in the Oranje’s 2-1 win over Turkiye in their Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday night.
Follow Empire of the Kop on Instagram (@empireofthekop) HERE
Speaking on the Hard Gras podcast, he vented: “I actually think that Stefan de Vrij is now the leader of the defence. Van Dijk, it’s the same as with Memphis [Depay]… You can see that there is skill, but it is so inconsistent and erratic.
“He even gets Nathan Aké a yellow card because he loses a headed duel that he shouldn’t. He [Van Dijk] gets a yellow card because he cannot win a duel. It is all very sloppy.”
Fellow podcast guest Hugo Borst also put the boot into the Liverpool skipper, saying: “If you’re completely honest, he should just be [dropped]. Actually, Micky van de Ven would be a more obvious centre-back with De Vrij at this moment.”
if the likes of Spaan and Borst bothered to analyse the match as a whole rather than zoning in on one incident to fit their agenda, they’d see that Van Dijk was actually an instrumental figure in Netherlands coming from behind to book a semi-final date against England.
As per Sofascore, the centre-back won a team-high seven duels (out of 10), completed 86% of his passes and five out of eight attempted long-balls, and he made a whopping seven clearances in keeping Turkiye at bay.
The 33-year-old has performed solidly throughout the tournament, winning more aerial duels (3.6) and making more clearances (six) per game than anyone else in Ronald Koeman’s squad and recording the second-most long balls per match (3.6) for the Oranje (WhoScored).
The figures show that Van Dijk has been a pivotal player for his country at Euro 2024, and if he’s the one raising the trophy aloft in Berlin next Sunday – just as Gullit did in Munch 36 years ago – surely then the naysayers will finally cease and desist.
Then again, considering the anti-VVD agenda which persists among some Dutch pundits, they’d probably still find fault with him even if he becomes a European Championship-winning captain. At least he’s appreciated for his true worth by Liverpool supporters.
EOTK Close-up with John Welsh: ‘a local lad who lived his dream’ and Slot’s LFC predictions
The post Weird anti-Van Dijk agenda continues as pundit calls for ‘sloppy’ Liverpool man to be binned appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.