Some claims in football take time to land, and Liverpool’s win at West Ham quietly underlined an argument our captain has made.
Sky Sports highlight defensive shift as Van Dijk issues praise
Richard Morgan’s Sky Sports analysis described how Joe Gomez “finally gives Reds an air of defensive stability” after a turbulent run that included defeats to Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven.
It was noted that our long-serving defender made his first league start in almost a year, stepping in on the right side of the back four and immediately restoring structure to us.
No Liverpool player made more interceptions in east London, while the England international also created the second goal for Cody Gakpo with the kind of controlled delivery we have missed during recent injury problems.
That assessment strongly echoed what Virgil van Dijk said in his programme notes ahead of tonight’s game, when the captain wrote that the No.2 was “outstanding on the day” and that “we are going to need everybody to be ready to play their part”.
This all ties neatly to Don Hutchison’s comments, when the former midfielder insisted that the defender “just defended well. Nothing flashy on the ball.”
With Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong both injured, the 28-year-old looks on course to feature again when Sunderland arrive at Anfield.
Why Van Dijk’s leadership matters heading into Sunderland
Liverpool have lost just one of their last 25 midweek Premier League games, winning 19 of them, while Sunderland haven’t won at Anfield since 1983.
The Opta supercomputer makes us 68.7% favourites, and if results go our way we could move back into the Champions League places — not bad considering the recent dip before the trip to West Ham.
Gomez reaching his 250th appearance for the club would be a significant moment, but the bigger picture is how the defensive unit looks when he plays alongside Ibou Konate and Van Dijk.
With fitness permitting, the expectation is that he will continue on the right flank, giving us a stable platform for our attacking players to take control of the game.
And with Van Dijk already publicly championing him, this feels like the moment where our defensive line starts to look like itself again.
You can watch Slot’s post-West Ham press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
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