Jamie Carragher was not alone in drawing attention to the poor performance of Virgil van Dijk in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
Former Red Jose Enrique also pitched in on Twitter after the loss to express his confusion at the Dutchman’s outings so far this term.
I don't know what's going on with vvd this season. The 3 games is been bad. Never seeing him playing like this for us pic.twitter.com/FsoT5VUatU
— José enrique (@Jesanchez3) August 23, 2022
The Merseysiders are set to next take on newly-promoted Bournemouth this coming weekend with the Reds still searching for their first league win of the 2022/23 campaign.
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There were plenty of poor performances to go around and all just as worthy of critique as the former Southampton man’s, though it’s hard to overlook his latest outing given how important a role Van Dijk plays in regulating the backline.
With both Trent Alexander-Arnold and the Breda-born centre-half’s heads dropping, there seemed a total lack of leadership in the backline when a commanding presence was required to stem the tide.
Whatever’s ailing our world-class defender – be it a hangover from our failed title and Champions League attempts or the constant changing of centre-back partners – we’ve no doubt it will be sorted in due time.
Van Dijk’s simply far too good of a defender to allow mediocrity to seep in on a consistent basis.