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Lovely assist that!
Lovely assist that!
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
- Thread starter Samid
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Will really annoy me if he wins the Ballon D’or.
Worst winner ever.
Thought that was simply a very good cross personally.
Yeah that cross was just class, don't see any centreback getting to that from his position. If he'd been farther back to begin with then maybe
Not worse than Cannavaro for sure
About as bad, neither are fit to even lick the sweat off Messi’s jockstrap. VVD being crowned the best in the world would be an affront to common sense and decency.
Yeah, he's the weakness.
He’s more the deserving than Modric was, but both will go down as terrible blips in the history books.
We'll see if he's not the "1 great season-and that's it" kind of player.
The best ever peak in a season for a premier league defender. We well see if he can keep it.
Too late as he's been great for the past few seasons.
You know what I meant.
Yeah, he won't get another EPL PotY or contend for the Ballon D'Or again. One-off season and the latter will be seen as an oddity in a few years.
I thought cannavaro was brilliant in 2006, who you think deserved it more that season?
Told yous he was shite. Better off with Mike.
One good season thus far.
Rio's 07/08 was better, albeit not by much. Kind of forgotten (both then and now) because we had Ronaldo scoring what seemed at the time a ridiculous 42 goals in the same season.
I have never seen a defender having this much smoke blown his way after having one(albeit excellent) season. You have the likes of Kompany coming and saying he is the best defender to have played in the PL.
Ridiculous amounts of jealousy on here and pantomime outrage after one mistake in like a year. He’s one of the best defender in the world and also human.
Him winning the Ballon D'Or over Messi would be the biggest farce in the history of the award.
The starved petty moaners really found a bread crumb to seize on here. Christ.
Last night he was excellent prior to that mistake, probably his best game this season.
Generally, however, he hasn't been as good as last season. Alone vs Burnley he was dribbled past twice by world beaters like Barnes and Rodriguez. Opposition forwards were played on side by him on several occasions. He's cracking up
Generally, however, he hasn't been as good as last season. Alone vs Burnley he was dribbled past twice by world beaters like Barnes and Rodriguez. Opposition forwards were played on side by him on several occasions. He's cracking up
He had one bad moment, it happens. Still the best CB in the world.
He shouldn't win the Balon D'or over Messi but still is easily second best last season.
He shouldn't win the Balon D'or over Messi but still is easily second best last season.
Let's not get carried away. There have been quite a few better.
Vidic 08/09? 14 PL clean sheets in a row and a PL winner.
Vidic 10/11? Premier League player of the year. PL winner.
Rio 07/08? PL and CL winner. We didn't concede more than 2 goals all season in any match.
Terry 04/05? Only 15 goals conceded all season. PL winner.
Is Virgil just the first brilliant CB season we have seen for a while around Europe? I think he's top, but over-hyped. Other defenders were at the top level for years. Ballon d'or talk is ludicrous.
Rio is up there, Terry played in a way more defensive system and Vidic doesn't have the wide range of qualities in terms of ball ability and pace, Rio is the one who could argue.
Players have to take risks when chasing a game in injury time, particularly when winning the ball. It’s not simply enough to clear the lines and I tend to give a pass to anyone who loses the ball like that. It’s a mistake but symptomatic of the position Liverpool were in at the time.
Probably the greatest ever tournament performance from a defender. Never saw the controversy over that call. He came off the back of a domestic campaign where he was the best defender and player in Serie A. And his influence over Italy’s success was enormous, while his main competitors for the award in Ronaldinho and Henry failed to catch fire.
The hype is partly deserved because for years we've been subjected to claims of the best defender being a player who can't actually defend, but scores penalties
VVD was good for Southampton already.
He wasn't playing at the level he is now though. His rise to POTY level has been fairly unexpected based on his Southampton form.
Would you say Van Dijk improved noticeably in 2018/19 compared to the 2nd half of the 2017/18 season? I know he played just 14 games for you guys in that period, but I thought he performed pretty similar to the following year with the main difference that your squad fixed some weaknesses (especially GK)
Yeah probably but I'd say the hype for him comes from comparisons between our defending in the years/months prior to him signing vs how our defensive record was after he signed.
He's definitely remained at a fairly consistent performance level since he signed though.
He's a brilliant player. Even at Celtic his talent was obvious. It might be because I live up here / watch loads of Scottish football, but there are some players that over the last 5 years or so I'm amazed the top sides in England didn't take a punt on. Right now if I was United, I'd be looking at Ajer and Eduoard for example.
He deserves the Ballon D' Or this season. One game isn't going to change that.
If he were to win it a certain Chris Sutton would be grinning ear to ear
Does it matter? As a defender, it's his job to defend, and he obviously did great. He can be slow or whatever as long as he did his job it's all that matter right? He was also our captain in 10/11, scored 5 goals and his team actually won the title. Also 14 PL clean sheets in a row in 08/09? That's an amazing defending achievement.
I didn't watch enough Terry but only 15 goals conceded all season is marvelous. It's true that he played in a more defensive system but he was an integral part of that system and greatly contributed to it's strength. Baresi always plays in a great defensive system but we can't say because of that, his peak is less than Van Dijk, can we?
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Like tons of players. Last season was his first full one at the proper top level.
Pace isn't relevant. How you actually defend is. You can argue about all of the great PL CBs like Terry, Vidic and Rio and favourably too.
He was playing in the same league, against the same opposition for Southampton. And was no less impressive. Which is why Liverpool signed him.
He's been world class for them for a season and a half, by the way. Not just a single season.