Virgil van Dijk in action for Liverpool
Virgil van Dijk in action for Liverpool
Liverpool travel to Belgium later this month knowing their Champions League campaign needs a response after this week’s 2–1 defeat to Fenerbahce, and one experienced voice in Belgian football believes Club Brugge have already spotted the weakness that could hand them a famous night against Andoni Iraola’s side.
Hein Vanhaezebrouck, the former Gent and Anderlecht manager, has been following the league phase closely, and the picture he paints of the Belgian club is one of a team growing in confidence at the right moment, with both sides sitting on nine points from four matches after three wins and a single defeat each.
The form behind those identical records could hardly look more different, though, because while Liverpool were slipping to that surprise loss, Brugge were collecting a third straight victory by beating PSV Eindhoven 2–1, a run that also includes a remarkable 4–2 win over Inter Milan last month, with a narrow 3–2 defeat to Aston Villa standing as their only setback in the competition.
Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, Vanhaezebrouck said he genuinely believes Club can fight for a place in the top eight, and while he sees Liverpool as the only truly difficult opponent left on their schedule, he insisted that even the Reds will offer Brugge real openings when the two sides meet.
Those openings, in his view, lie down Liverpool’s left flank, where he expects Carlos Forbs to have the pace to trouble either Milos Kerkez or Kostas Tsimikas, and where the protection that should come across from the centre of defence rarely arrives, because the player he believes should provide it chooses to stay put.
“That would be Virgil van Dijk, but he won’t do it,” Vanhaezebrouck said, before suggesting that the Dutchman would rather leave his left back to deal with the danger alone than risk an opponent making him look foolish out wide.
It is a stinging charge to aim at a player whose reading of the game has shaped Liverpool’s defence for years, and Vanhaezebrouck paired it with a tactical warning, explaining that Brugge must avoid falling behind, because the high line Liverpool tend to hold suits the Belgian side, whereas a Liverpool lead usually sees Iraola’s men drop deeper and wait for the opposition, as they did against Brighton.
He also urged patience across the remaining fixtures, which end with a home meeting against Bodø/Glimt, and he reckons ten points should secure a top 24 finish, which leaves Brugge needing one more point, while seven or eight points from their final four matches would likely carry them into the top eight.
For Liverpool, the worry is that a respected figure in the Belgian game has now publicly pointed to where opponents should attack them, and unless Van Dijk and whoever starts at left back answer that criticism in Bruges, the trip could turn into another awkward evening at a time when Iraola needs his leaders to set the standard.
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