Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has not looked himself in recent weeks and wasn’t great against PSG, but some of the criticism thrown his way is just reaching.
Surprisingly, it was the Dutchman who looked most out of sorts in a back three during Liverpool’s 2-0 loss to PSG. He didn’t have a great game and continues to look like he’s lacking in confidence.
That being said, the thing that annoyed Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit was nothing to do with his play. Rather, he took issue with Van Dijk ‘bossing’ his teammates around on the pitch — here’s why that is a nonsense take.
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Emmanuel Petit is criticising Virgil van Dijk for being a captain
If Petit were to limit his criticism to the clear deficiencies in his performance against PSG, that would be fine. Van Dijk found it tough in Liverpool’s 3-5-2, and wasn’t his usual sturdy self.
But he has a problem with how the Dutchman was communicating with his teammates.
As he explained on AFTER FOOT: “What annoys me most about Van Dijk is that you have the right to be on the decline after being brilliant for so many years, he’s still a benchmark defensively, such an unbeatable defender in one-on-one situations, he always played that defensive game, constantly dropping back, he was extremely good.
“But what annoys me, what annoys me, is seeing him constantly bossing around his teammates. He’s always waving his arms around like that, saying, “Get back into position, do this, do that.” Just do your job instead of just talking, you know?”
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The Frenchman played at the very highest level, and surely knows the importance of leadership in a side. If this were Mo Salah or Hugo Ekitike screaming at their teammates, I could understand.
But the Liverpool captain?
If anything, this team needs more of that. Sometimes as fans, we want to scream through the television set to get them to wake up.
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The behaviour he is referring to was clear to see at the Parc des Princes, but Van Dijk was right to yell at Ekitike to get in position, or at Milos Kerkez to get out to his man. I’m struggling to see the issue.
Petit is a World Cup winner, so disagreeing with him might put me in the minority here, but the last thing I’m going to criticise Van Dijk for is trying to whip this lethargic side into shape.
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