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10th April 2023
12:19pm BST
Virgil van Dijk has certainly lost his air of invincibility, of late. The Liverpool defender was unlucky to deflect the ball towards Gabriel Martinelli for Arsenal's opener, at Anfield, but he was all at sea for their second.
With Ibrahima Konatè pulling over to the right-back area, covering for Trent Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk got caught under a cross and seemed to have no idea where Gabriel Jesus was.
On Sky Sports, as Liverpool trailed 2-1 at half-time in a game they would go on to draw, Roy Keane declared: "Really poor defending. Liverpool not at it. No intensity. Jesus standing in the middle of the box. Van Dijk's ball watching. There's no pressure on the ball. Far too easy for Arsenal. I bet he can't believe his luck.
"Robertson's efforts to get back - you've got to do better than that. Liverpool's defending is like a pub team. They're all over the place. They are a mess."
Keane was not the only person pointing out some creaks in van Dijk's game, with many noting the Dutchman has not been the same since his Achilles injury in October 2020. When he returned to action, the following season, he said, "My point of view, knowing my own body, [is that] obviously there are plenty of things to improve but I am not a robot. I cannot be back to 100% immediately."
The concern many have is that van Dijk's game has been altered forever by his Achilles injury, and that he may never fully return to his towering best. But former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher rode to the 32-year-old's defence after a day of criticism of, and speculation about, the Dutch defender.
There was plenty of social media and punditry chat about the centre back after Liverpool conceded their 54th and 55th goals of the season.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was drawn in by one tweet that read, 'Virgil Van Dijk's drop off is actually insane. People were comparing him to [John] Terry, [Vincent] Kompany, Rio [Ferdinand] and [Nemanja] Vidić."
Over two tweets, Carragher replied: "Virgil van Dijk is far better than Vidic, who was a top centre-back, but have you forgot his performances against Fernando Torres?
"Rio & JT had poor seasons in their career like all players, VVD is having one now. No CB in the Premier League era has ever had VVD’s impact on a team."
"Never mind the best CB in the league,' Carragher added, "he’s been the best player in the league along with Kevin de Bruyne for four years before this one. We have never spoken about about other CB’s being the best player before, that shows the level he was at."
There was a strong argument that Virgil van Dijk could be put up against the likes of John Terry, Vincent Kompany, Nemanja Matic and Rio Ferdinand as the Premier League's best defender, but his peak could well have been that 2017 to 2020 period before he was injured.
Carragher's argument does fall down by bringing John Terry's name into it, as the former Chelsea captain was, like van Dijk, voted by his peers as PFA Player of the Year when he was in his prime.
Others will always bring up trophy counts when 'best ever' debates are ongoing. Van Dijk's biggest honours are a Premier and Champions League win while Terry has five league titles and a Champions League to his name, as does Vidic, while Ferdinand has an extra Premier League winners' medal. Kompany won four league titles when he was at Manchester City.
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