Virgil Van Dijk responds to criticism of his poor performance against Leeds United

After a below-par performance against Leeds United which saw him make a mistake in the build-up to Patrick Bamford’s goal, Virgil van Dijk has been accused of being arrogant in Liverpool’s opening day victory and the defender has now responded.

Given the remarkable form of Virgil Van Dijk since he moved to Liverpool from Southampton, any mistake that the centre-back makes will be highlighted and discussed.

In a way, that’s testament to his performance levels because a mistake from the Dutch defender is a rarity.

However, during the match, Jamie Carragher said that Van Dijk’s error in the build-up to Leeds’ second goal was due to him being too arrogant when dealing with the diagonal ball.

In commentary, Carragher said: ‘It’s a brilliant game. I said hopefully after 17 minutes we’d get 90 minutes of this. This could be 7-7 at the end of the game. Alisson is not happy, he gets between the centre backs there. Virgil van Dijk, that’s just too arrogant.”

Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor echoed this sentiment during an interview on talkSPORT.

“Everyone knows Virgil van Dijk is an unbelievable defender. On the ball he can switch the diagonals, and defensively no one wants to come up against him. But I felt yesterday’s performance was, from Van Dijk, arrogant; that flick he made in the goal he gave away, it felt like ‘we are playing Leeds United, it’s going to be an easy game and I can let my standards drop. And in that game, he did [let his standards drop],” said the former Villa striker.

Agbonlahor added: “Van Dijk is a great defender, and he will be one of the greatest defenders to ever play the game, but when people start putting him in the Vincent Kompany and Rio Ferdinand bracket… I think people forget how good certain players were as time goes by. Virgil van Dijk is an amazing defender, but you can’t put him in that category of Rio Ferdinand and Vincent Kompany yet.

Well, during an interview with BeIn Sports, Van Dijk was asked about his error.

Speaking with BeIn Sports after the game, Van Dijk was asked about the uncharacteristic mistake and said: “It was one of those… they are situations that can happen. I always try to do my best and that’s what I did. Unfortunately, a goal came from it but I don’t worry about that,” he said.

During the match, the defender headed Liverpool in front on 20 minutes from Andy Robertson’s corner but was caught out at the other end shortly after.

However, a hat-trick from Mo Salah ensured that the champions made a winning start to the new season.

You can view Van Dijk’s interview in full here.

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