Liverpool's defensive woes have been exposed in recent weeks, with Virgil van Dijk facing particular scrutiny following the Reds' stalemate with Sunderland, though this isn't the first occasion the club or the celebrated center-half have encountered such criticism.
Arne Slot's squad will be eager to restore momentum to their campaign against Leeds this weekend, hoping to avoid repeating the defensive vulnerabilities displayed when these sides clashed in September 2020.
That encounter marked the opening fixture of the 2020/21 campaign and Liverpool's inaugural match as defending champions. They overcame their newly-promoted rivals 4-3, with Mohamed Salah netting a hat-trick and Van Dijk also finding the scoresheet, yet defensive concerns lingered.
"You've got Liverpool's backline trying to push up, almost on the halfway line. That's not 'well it was one of those days' type of things, that is a huge, fundamental problem," former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol said at the time.
"I don't care how good you are as individuals, you have to defend as a group and they're not defending as a group I'm not talking about what's in front of the backline, I'm talking about the actual back four. Whatever the back four did, they did it together last year when they were successful. That's the key to it all.
"What they're doing now is they are all over the place. It's an absolute shambles and it's huge. You get this wrong and you're going to lose goals for fun. When you start thinking about yourself and not the line, then you see what happened. Absolute and utter shambles."
Jurgen Klopp with Virgil van Dijk
Jurgen Klopp with Virgil van Dijk (Image: Shaun Botterill/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Van Dijk faced scrutiny for his role in Leeds' second goal after his attempted clearance was cut out by Patrick Bamford. Nevertheless, the Reds' then-boss Jurgen Klopp dismissed criticism of his defensive unit following the victory.
"I didn't see us struggling defensively but the way they play you cannot defend 100 per cent of the time," Klopp said. "For the first goal both full-backs were deeper than the centre-halves and that should never happen in football. The second goal was a misunderstanding between Virgil and Ali (goalkeeper Alisson) and I don't think we will see these situations very often."
Matters appeared to deteriorate further for Liverpool just three weeks later when they endured a crushing 7-2 defeat away at Aston Villa. Van Dijk then sustained a cruciate ligament injury in the following match against Everton, ruling him out for the rest of the campaign.
Virgil van Dijk during Liverpool vs Sunderland in December 2025
It hasn't always been plain sailing for Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool (Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
The Dutch centre-back returned with renewed vigour, eventually leading the Reds to Premier League triumph last season. He has encountered greater challenges this term, however, and faced questions after turning away from a Chemsdine Talbi effort on Wednesday, only to see the ball ricochet in off his back.
"Virgil van Dijk last season couldn't make a mistake. Every game he was imperious, but right now he's making mistakes and second guessing himself," former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp commented on Sky Sports.
"Virgil panics [for Sunderland's goal], backs off, show him too much respect and turns his back on it, which I don't like to see a centre-back do, and these are the mistakes that creep into Liverpool's game all the time."