In the aftermath of Liverpool crashing out of the Champions League, courtesy of a 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid, Michael Owen had his say on why Virgil van Dijk has endured such an underwhelming season.
After the contest, Rio Ferdinand said that unlike other legendary centre-backs, Van Dijk has had a ‘season off’, albeit due to the Reds having their fair share of problems that have affected his game.
It seems like Michael Owen has the same opinion on Virgil van Dijk, as he broke down his struggles after Liverpool were beaten by Real Madrid yet again.
Michael Owen breaks down Virgil van Dijk decline after Liverpool lose to Real Madrid
While analysing why Liverpool lost to Real Madrid 6-2 on aggregate, Michael Owen had his say on Virgil van Dijk on BT Sport.
“When Liverpool are playing well, they don’t really have loads to do. They’re pressing from the front. How many times did you see Liverpool, when they’re at their best winning the ball up at the top? But the problem is, they leave themselves exposed, we all know that.”
Read Related Also: Australia's sharemarket slumps after Credit Suisse turmoil
Michael Owen went on to empathise with Virgil Van Dijk after Liverpool succumbed to another Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid,
“So, it’s a difficult place to play, it’s a difficult position to play if your team aren’t functioning well. He’s getting exposed all the time 1v1 all the time and because he’s not dealing with it well, it’s getting worse and worse and worse as a team.”
“But when Liverpool are playing well, you don’t even notice that because he mops everything up and he rarely gets called upon.”
Michael Owen presents a balanced argument about the Dutchman because as the case with Liverpool was as a whole against Real Madrid and has been over the season, their collective flaws have also affected his undeniably poor displays.
In other news, Sky pundit comments on Vincent Kompany after Burnley’s transfer embargo & Tottenham links
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘677672980820926’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
