Virgil van Dijk did something captains rarely do in public. Hours after his loose header at Anfield handed Villarreal the lead inside four minutes, the Netherlands international posted on social media: “Not my best start to a match, I take the criticism on the chin.”
He added that he was “incredibly proud” of the response from his team-mates, who hauled Liverpool back from two goals down to win 4-3 and keep their perfect Champions League record intact.
Georges Mikautadze punished Van Dijk’s misdirected header in the fourth minute and Sergi Cardona made it 2-0 just before the half-hour. Only an Alexis Mac Allister strike before the break and a stoppage-time equaliser from Ronald Araújo stopped the first half becoming a rout. Mac Allister struck again on 65 minutes and Florian Wirtz added a fourth three minutes later, before substitute Tani Oluwaseyi set up a nervy finish in the 87th minute.
Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool held on, but the Spaniard was blunt about how close his side came to throwing it away.
“When we’ve relaxed a little bit at the beginning of the game, or when you score the 4-2, you think, ‘ok it’s done’, it has cost us,” Iraola said after the match.
‘Mentally fatigued’
The sharper language came from the studio. Troy Deeney, an analyst for CBS Golazo, picked apart the 35-year-old’s performance rather than any single lapse.
“It seems like he is mentally fatigued,” Deeney said.
“He still has qualities, but that mistake at 0-1… That is not Virgil van Dijk, this is normally not in his dictionary.”
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Deeney tied both of Villarreal’s early goals to the same pattern.
“He completely misjudges it and also for the second goal against, he steps in for no reason. He looks frustrated.”
The John Terry parallel
The comparison that cut closest was with John Terry’s final years at Chelsea, when the captain’s reading of the game disguised legs that were no longer what they had been.
“For every footballer there comes a moment like this in his career,” Deeney said.
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“He never put himself in danger, but that was because he had Cahill and Azpilicueta next to him and could organise things well.”
“Van Dijk has so much athletic ability, but his speed is decreasing. And he coaches his team-mates less than Terry did. Look how easily Liverpool concede goals.”
Three goals shipped at home to a Villarreal side under new head coach Iñigo Pérez leave Liverpool with questions at the back as the group stage continues.
Liverpool host Brighton at Anfield on Sunday, 25 October.
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