Liverpool legend criticised Virgil Van Dijk after his blunder against Leeds
Liverpool won a dramatic win over Promotion Team Leeds United in the first Premier League match of the season. One note that has been highlighted by club legend Steve Nicol is the blunder made by Virgil van Dijk.
As is known, Jurgen Klopp’s troops played their first matchdays in the Premier League event for the 2020/21 season last weekend against Leeds United.
Even though the status of the two teams is quite lame, where Liverpool were the champions of last season’s competition, while Leeds were the Promotion team, in fact Marcelo Bielsa’s troops made the reds difficult.
Fortunately, in the end the hosts managed to win with a final score of 4-3, thanks to Mo Salah’s penalty in the last minute.
Apart from the final result, there was one incident that was highlighted, namely the blunder by defender Virgil Van Dijk.
The Dutch national team player did not secure the ball perfectly so it could be grabbed by Patrick Bamford, which resulted in the visitors’ second goal.
As a result of this blunder, the former Southampton player was criticized by several parties, including club legend Steve Nichol.
“I don’t care how good you are as an individual, you have to defend as a group and they don’t stay as a group,”
“I’m not talking about what’s up front, I’m talking about the real back four. Whatever the back four do, they did it together last year when they were successful. That’s the key to everything, “he told ESPN.
Furthermore, Steve Nichol emphasized that defenders are indeed tasked with guarding the defense until the game ends regardless of what happens up front.
“Whatever happens in front of them, whether good or bad, they are the back line, their job is to be the back line, they are the last line of defense,” he said.
In closing, Steve Nichol’s hope is that the same thing does not happen next season, because van Jk’s blunder really affects the performance of the other players.
“When you start thinking about yourself and not the defense then you see what happens. What a mess, “he criticized.