Roy Keane lauded Virgil van Dijk following Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United yesterday – and rightly so.
The Dutchman was the best player on the park for us, although captain Jordan Henderson was named Man of the Match.
Not only did van Dijk score our crucial opening goal with a towering header over Harry Maguire, but his defensive performance was sensational and none of United’s attackers really got a sniff.
Keane explained in fantastic terms why he rates Liverpool’s no.4 so highly.
“Beast of a player, beast of a man, my goodness what a player,” the Irishman told Sky Sports, cited by the Echo.
“He’s got a good habit of being in the right place at the right time.
“You think of the difference he and the goalkeeper has made since he has come to the club. To me, they were the final pieces.
“Liverpool were decent to watch, they were scoring goals but you really still thought goalkeeper, centre-half, in terms of winning league titles, they’re short.”
Joe Gomez is also performing exceptionally alongside van Dijk – and combined – they’ve now racked up seven consecutive Premier League clean-sheets.
At the beginning of the campaign, we couldn’t get through a game without conceding a goal, but now that has completely reversed.
In fact, Alisson is only one clean-sheet behind Kasper Schmeichel in the race for the Golden Gloves, despite missing ten games through injury.