One Liverpool player was hailed as a ‘Rolls-Royce’ following his performance in the 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday.
Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah netted the goals to give the Reds all three points, although there were star performers all over the pitch for the home side, and the victory owed plenty to an imperious display from Virgil van Dijk.
Holt: Van Dijk was outstanding for Liverpool against Man City
Writing in the online version of the Daily Mail, Oliver Holt was waxing lyrical over the performance of the Dutch defender, who practically reduced the Premier League’s top scorer Erling Haaland to the role of bystander.
The journalist gushed: “There were outstanding individual performances all over the pitch but the best and most imperious of them all came from Liverpool’s captain and central defender, Virgil van Dijk. If Mo Salah is the team’s Ferrari, Van Dijk is its Rolls-Royce.
“In the hurly-burly of a breathless game that Liverpool dominated, Van Dijk was so good that he looked as if he were playing in slow-motion. He reads the game so adroitly that he senses danger at its inception and snuffs it out before it has a chance to develop. Sometimes, he makes the game look too easy.”
Van Dijk was crucial to massive Liverpool win
Aside from one negligent moment when he gifted the ball to Kevin De Bruyne and was bailed out by a brilliant save from Caoimhin Kelleher, Van Dijk was indeed outstanding in Liverpool’s win over Man City.
Holt later referred to one instance where the Reds captain effortlessly produced a perfect interception to prevent a long-range pass from dropping to Haaland in a dangerous position, a sumptuous cutout which typified his overall display.
As per Sofascore, the 33-year-old won four of his seven duels, completed 93% of his passes, struck the post with an early header and made a whopping 13 defensive contributions on Sunday. He also lost the ball only four times from his 58 touches.
It was a contender for Van Dijk’s best performance of the season, but it wasn’t completely out of the blue for a player who’s been excellent right throughout the campaign, and yet finds himself just seven months out from the end of his current Liverpool contract.
Transfer insider Graeme Bailey recently claimed that a new deal should be agreed before the end of December, and on the evidence of the captain’s display against Man City, FSG must go all-out to try and keep him at Anfield beyond next summer.
