Nice assist for Rashord's second. 
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
- Thread starter Samid
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Nice marking for the Mata chance.
£30m Bailly is still a better and younger defender than £75m VVD.
He has been good for Liverpool but, because of the price tag people will expect him to walk on water and slay dragons.
At fault for first goal think he played rashford on side though I do need to see a replay again.Thought he had a good game today but had fires to worry about on his right where Lovren was.
Probably our most threatening player offensively today.
Done well but not going to solve all your problems.
Is big threat at st pieces with salah delivery.
We have about 6 bodies over 6’ in our side and literally no one who can take a decking corner
Based on what evidence?
I thought Bailly spends more time on the treatment table.
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Same. Our set piece delivery was poor today. I think we had something like 10 corners and only threatened with two of them.
I thought your delivery from corners was good today. Beats our 'hitting the first defender every time' crap.
Some were too close to De Gea or missed the area they were supposed to hit. We were definitely aiming for Van Dijk.
I think the set piece defending is the only area you struggled a bit with today.
Bailly has only missed 20 more days due to injury than VVD since he came to United.
Based on performances, especially taking the respective age gap and transfer fees into notion.
So basically your opinion, you were right though Bailly is younger, and in my opinion a promising centre half but it’s maybe a little premature to say he’s better than Van Dijk especially based on a transfer fee.
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75m is a joke. I really like Van Djik as a football-player but he's not a true top-cb and never will. His defensive awareness is terrible, it seems like he's just lazy and this has always been his problem. A great example of this can be seen if you follow his entire movement on Mata's overhead-kick chance.
Looks like he should be in a dance troupe alongside Ashley Banjo
Massively over paid here didn't they?
Probably considering Laporte cost 57 million and younger
Moving from one PL club to another will always be more expensive than buying from other leagues.
£75m is too much.. but to be honest, I wouldn't mind Van Dijk here at United. Him and Baily partnership can be like the good old days of Rio and Vidic.
Van Dijk Baily
De Gea
That would be a tough wall to get through.
Waking up from my dream, I would be glad to see Van Dicjk fail
£75m is too much.. but to be honest, I wouldn't mind Van Dijk here at United. Him and Baily partnership can be like the good old days of Rio and Vidic.
Van Dijk Baily
De Gea
That would be a tough wall to get through.
Waking up from my dream, I would be glad to see Van Dicjk fail
You guys get to hung about transfer fees. Van Dijk has improved their defense and was probably the best CB they could sign.
True. Although it’s hard when every day there’s a new article about Pogba costing 89 million.
I thought he played well, strong in the air and once he started marking Lukaku (not sure why Lovren was marking him in the first place) Lukaku didn't get a sniff. Would've loved to see him here partner Bailly.
Is there a more dominant CB in the air?
He's a physical specimen.
He's a physical specimen.
How do he and Smalling compare purely physically? Same height, very rare to see anyone consistently trouble Smalling in the air, happened with VVD on Saturday, though much of that is delivery and run. Who has the greater natural spring? VVD looks a little stronger in the upper body, Smalling might be a touch quicker.
Yeah, the same hight but VVD looks much bigger and I'll guess stronger.
The way they move looks so similar. You know when you have watched a player so much you can identify them from their running gait alone? VVD and Smalling are very similar in how they move, that same inelegant, gangly style.
Don't know the numbers but I would guess VVD is a good 5 KG heavier than Smalling.
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I will be the first one in a while to open this after a good performance. Liverpool defense has looked a lot better since he joined. The transfer fee will always look insane but, he is a quality CB with all the qualities you want in a modern CB.
They’ve made really good signings this year. Keita looks like he’s going to be a cracking signing too.
Best centre back in the league for me. We should have signed him from Celtic.
I didn't think he played very well yesterday, but he's definitely had a calming effect on the defence more generally, which has resulted in better collective performances.
I think not having Mignolet is also a good thing. Im still not sure about Karius but maybe with time he will get there (dont know too much about him). But Mignolet is not a goalkeeper you want behind you if youre a defender.
Without him, Liverpool would have beaten loads of times with miserable Lovren. Everyone know Lovren doesn't deserve to stay in the Premier league. Second division team would suit him better.
I don't think people said he would be horrendous but he's not a 75m defender.
Someone like Smalling has been better imo. If Chris made the mistakes VVD made v Spurs and Utd he would still be getting crucified to this day.
Someone like Smalling has been better imo. If Chris made the mistakes VVD made v Spurs and Utd he would still be getting crucified to this day.
You can't honestly be serious?:') his "mistake" vs Spurs was kicking an offside player in the leg who came from his blind side while attempting to clear the ball. Not even sure what mistake you're referring to against you guys, unless you mean not fully tracking Mata?
He's been absolutely class, there's not even a question about that. I refuse to believe you've watched much of us since he's joined if you don't realise that. Or your bias is hugely clouding your judgement. He's brought a calming presence to our defence, great on the ball, wins most of his aerial duels, reads the game extremely well. He's made us look way more secure on opposition corners and way more dangerous on our own corners. His passing range is top drawer and while doing all this manages to organise and control our defence and goalkeeper. How anyone can say differently baffles me and the only explanation is you've barely watched us. There's not a chance in hell we'd have been able to hold City out yesterday without him organising our defence and keeping our line. The only game this season he's been sub par was West Brom which I can let him off for as he'd only just joined and the entire team were terrible, other than that he's been good every game.
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Keita will have a similar impact on their midfield. At the end of the day you want to improve, and both of them improved/will improve them. They still have room for further improvement individually and Klopp gets a lot of his transfers right. Mane, Van Dijk and Keita are perfect examples of players suited to the manager and the teams style. I rate van Dijk and he doesnt seem to be popular with everyone on here, but once they improve their midfield a bit and their defense settles more, he will be immense for them.
@Jayus20
It wasn't his blind side and VVD wouldn't have known Lamelas big toe was offside when he booted him in the thigh.
It wasn't his blind side and VVD wouldn't have known Lamelas big toe was offside when he booted him in the thigh.
Well it clearly was, you can even see it in the original video that he didn't see him coming. As soon as he did he was already swinging, tried to pull out but couldn't in time. Van Dijk himself even said he didn't see him coming, it's not even a question tbh. But don't let the facts get in the way of your narrative of course!
@Jayus20
Maybe he should have seen him coming? Is sudden, partial blindness really an excuse for not having a clue as to who is around you in the box?
Maybe he should have seen him coming? Is sudden, partial blindness really an excuse for not having a clue as to who is around you in the box?
It's all good as the talent spotting legend Van Gaal opted for Blind instead.
any similarities with Rio ? They both seem commanding.
Maybe he should have but maybe the linesman should have flagged him offside and we wouldn't even be having this discussion. As I said before, been a top CB near enough every game since he's come in. You either don't watch us much, or you're allowing your bias to cloud your judgement. He's brought a hell of a lot to this team and in my opinion he's been well worth the £75m we've paid for him for the reasons I stated above. I can only imagine how much better he'll get after a proper pre season with us and playing next to a better defensive partner than Lovren (who we will hopefully buy this summer).
Not really, VVD is his own type of defender, he seems to have decent composure although his positioning seems a bit off at times, Rio was a different entity entirely.