Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has hit out at English pundits for ‘too much’ criticism aimed towards the Reds’ players following their dismal run of results. The Reds have struggled to attain consistency with positive results this season, collecting just 3 wins from 8 games in all competitions so far. Their constant short-comings in the defensive area of the pitch too have come under the scanner of many.
While Van Dijk was frustrated by the harsh words against his Liverpool team, BT Sport pundit and a former center-back himself Rio Ferdinand gave a befitting reply to the Dutch international over his words. Ferdinand is just one of those pundits who have not been impressed by Virgil van Dijk’s displays in recent games. The former Man United defender went on to defend the pundits’ criticism claiming nothing is personal but professional.
They say a lot to get us down- Virgil van Dijk fires shots at pundits
Liverpool managed to shrug-off their blues from the Napoli game with a 2-1 win against Ajax at home, after they were thrashed 4-1 by the Italian side in their Champions League opener. Though they earned their first win of the European competition, it wasn’t an easy affair. It took Joel Matip’s 89th minute winner to help the Reds clinch all three points after Mohammed Kudus had cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s lead in the first-half.
The Merseyside club’s backline was again criticised for not covering up enough with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold failing to track Steven Berghuis on his flank who set up Ajax’s equalizer. Virgil van Dijk too looked off pace as he has since returning from his long lay-off due to a cruciate ligament injury.
However, speaking in his post-match presser on BT Sport Van Dijk said:
“Coming back from the horror show in Naples it was very important to show a positive reaction. It’s not easy to turn it around, but it is a step in the right direction. It was very important to win going into the international break. We are not listening to the outside world. A lot of ex-football players, who know exactly what we go through, they say a lot to get us down, but we know the last game was very bad and this was a step in the right direction.”
“If I thought [criticism] was wrong, or I thought it was personal, then I’d get the hump. But if it was deserved, then do you know what, I’d hold my hands up and say it. Listen, the performance in Naples, if they’re honest every single one of the players would [admit that] it was a bad day at the office and we deserved the criticism we got. But again, we re-iterated on the night, we weren’t saying they’re a bad team overnight, no one was saying they’re bad players overnight. It was a bad performance.”