Virgil van Dijk came off as somewhat annoyed by the criticism put forth against him by Dutch legends Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit.
The No.4 did acknowledge that his season with Liverpool had been far from perfect, though was keen to remind the ex-pros that a dip was perfectly natural within a career, whilst it would be impossible for him to ‘set the bar unrealistically high’.
“This is of no use to me. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion these days, that’s the case,” the former Southampton star told Ziggo Sport (via Sport Witness).
“Did I set the bar unrealistically high? How is that possible? It was never perfect, consistent is the right word. We’ve had a lot of success with the team. Football players, they know that better than anyone, have high peaks and deep lows.
“It’s quite normal that you can’t always play consistently. That you have a phase as a club or player where you are looking for your level. People should not forget that. It is normal that people make mistakes, that it is part of football and that it is very human.
“Regardless of who gets a platform and is allowed to say what, so that things are made big. You know better than anyone when you are doing something right or not.”
It’s not the first time the 30-year-old has taken exception to critique this term, having hit back at commentators at the start of the campaign on BT Sport (via the Echo).
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Whilst we can point out that the centre-half has been far from at his brilliant best this term, it’s worth pointing out the direct correlation with our struggles in the midfield.
A lack of protection from the middle of the park, as senior legs have struggled to provide the same level of cover and intensity, has had huge ramifications all over the pitch.
As such, there’s a clear need for the club to invest properly in the summer, building on the emergence of exciting holding midfielder Stefan Bajcetic with the signing of at least a couple more young midfielders capable of meeting Jurgen Klopp’s sizeable demands in the department.
Succeed in that mission and we’d be genuinely surprised to see Van Dijk’s struggles persist over in the next campaign.