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Virgil van Dijk has been accused of arrogance in Liverpool’s opening day loss to Leeds United.
Mohamed Salah’s late penalty salvaged all three points for the Reds at Anfield, as the Egypt ace scored a hat-trick to lead his team to a 4-3 victory.
Leeds impressed on their return to the top flight after 16 years, coming back from a goal against three times before Salah, their second penalty of the match, condemned them to an opening-day defeat.
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Salah got the ball of the match and saved his underperforming teammates with a good hat-trick
While Liverpool’s attack was as strong as ever, their defense was surprisingly sub-par and they delivered a performance that had not been seen since before Van Dijk moved to Anfield in January 2018.
The Reds’ bottom line was transformed overnight when the Dutch ace joined from Southampton, as Liverpool went from dire to calm and porous to incomparable with just one signature.
But Liverpool’s defensive woes resurfaced Saturday night as Leeds crossed their bottom line with ease, and former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor has accused Van Dijk of being arrogant and failing to put in the effort required against Marcelo’s team. Bielsa.
“Everybody knows that Virgil van Dijk is an incredible defender,” began Agbonlahor at talkSPORT’s Weekend Sports Breakfast. “With the ball he can change the diagonals and, defensively, nobody wants to face him.
“But I felt that yesterday’s performance was, by Van Dijk, arrogant; That move he made on the goal he gave away, it felt like ‘we’re playing Leeds United, it’s going to be an easy game and I can drop my standards.’
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Van Dijk made a big mistake that directly resulted in Patrick Bamford’s goal for Leeds
“And in that game, he did [let his standards drop].
“Even Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right was also poor defensively.
“Van Dijk is a great defender, and he will be one of the best defenders to ever play the game, but when people start to put him in the Vincent Kompany and Rio Ferdinand box …
“I think people forget how good certain players were as time goes by.
“People forget how good Rio Ferdinand was in its prime; You wouldn’t even want to go to the same side of the field as him!
“It was the same with Kompany and John Terry too; you just wouldn’t want to face them because you wouldn’t stand a chance.
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“Virgil van Dijk is an incredible defender, but he still can’t put himself in that category of Rio Ferdinand and Vincent Kompany.”
Agbonlahor actually broadened his criticism by stating that ALL of Leeds’s defense was arrogant against Leeds on Saturday night.
“I feel like today was Liverpool’s arrogance on defense,” he added at Sports Bar Weekender. “As if they didn’t realize how good the Leeds team is.
“I feel like a lot of teams that watch Leeds will be more cautious about how they play, and this can also be a wake-up call for Liverpool.”
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