Virgil van Dijk | Performances

Bubz27

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Studio making out like he's never made a mistake before tonight now.



 

evil_geko

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The best defender of the last 2 years, but there's quite a distance between him and the greats in history. Surely people don't claim he's in the 'greatest' category for defenders?
There were comparisons with him and Paolo Maldini. Yeah.
 

VP89

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Studio making out like he's never made a mistake before tonight now.



Quite sure they'd be referring to his performances in a Liverpool shirt. He's obviously made mistakes even then, but relatively very little to his peers.

Why is this thread so petty :lol:
 

Bubz27

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Quite sure they'd be referring to his performances in a Liverpool shirt. He's obviously made mistakes even then, but relatively very little to his peers.

Why is this thread so petty :lol:
I love being petty.

But on a serious level, the reason I genuinely get annoyed is because of the level everyone puts him on. If Rio or Vidic ever made a mistake it was never made such a deal out of, and they won multiple trophies over a 6 year period. They were clearly a level above Van Dijk is at the moment. But everyone makes out Van Dijk never ever makes any mistake. Like the 'silent domination' bs about Rooney few years ago.
 

Klopper76

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You can tell when he's done something bad because this thread goes nuts.

Not sure what he was doing there tbh.
 

TheNewEra

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There were comparisons with him and Paolo Maldini. Yeah.
That's just lunacy. Maldini played for 3 decades in Milan in one of the best Milan sides ever.

He won multiple champions leagues, multiple leagues when the Italian league was at the peak of its powers.

How is VVD with 2 good seasons even comparable to Maldini? Whoever says that must have not watched football before last season.
 

Adam-Utd

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yeah.. i dont really understand the obsession here with VVD when he makes a rare mistake. He is still the best defender in the league and one of the best in the world.
Because in England the press make out like he's some sort of unbeatable colossal god that came from outer space.

While he is clearly very good, they built him up so much it's fun to laugh at him when he makes a silly mistake.

They do it enough with us and Maguire etc!
 

Bubz27

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Just saw a stat that he's made as many errors leading to a goal as Karius, Lovren and Matip since 2016/17.
 

Bubz27

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I've said this all along. He's very good but not one of the best ever of the PL era let alone the world.
It's only 2 errors in that time tbf. It's just more that when he does make mistakes, and he clearly does, he doesn't get called out anywhere but here really.

And that dribbled past stat went a long way to securing his fan boys. Lindelof hadn't been dribbled past this year, at least up until lockdown. Haven't seen since.
 

Adnan

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He's a alpha CB that has led his team to win the champions league and League title. We don't have anyone even comparable to him.
 

TheNewEra

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It's only 2 errors in that time tbf. It's just more that when he does make mistakes, and he clearly does, he doesn't get called out anywhere but here really.

And that dribbled past stat went a long way to securing his fan boys. Lindelof hadn't been dribbled past this year, at least up until lockdown. Haven't seen since.
I think the bottom line is:

Any team in world football right now would sign VVD if he was available and he'd be the first defender on the team sheet, and to say otherwise would be complete bias.

He's probably worth £120-140m as a defender currently. To back that claim up, it's because of his age, and the scarcity principle because there are very few world class defenders currently he is just worth more.

VVD obviously has such good passing it makes him like a quarterback at times.

But looking back I'd take a prime Rio over VVD, I'd also take Jaap Stam, Maldini, Nesta, Baresi, prime Chiellini, Moore, Beckenbaeur, possibly John Terry, Lucio there are so many I would take, even Thiago Silva I think would have a shout from this generation.

When it comes to the 90s defenders there are much better defenders I think, because defending has changed quiet a lot in the last 10-15 years.

For me players like Rio had a good 10-15 years at the top, VVD seemed to take quite a while to get there, perhaps from 26 onwards he's been good, but a lot of the greats were there at 21-23.

Maldini of course had a lot of mentorship, he worked alongside Baresi, had his father to help guide him a little, so not only did he have the talent but he had the players and family there so not all are created equal of course.
 

Morty_

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Tbf, a team that sits back more will have its defenders more involved.
United play good attacking stuff since the reset, but it was a different story in the first half of the season i would think.
 

James Peril

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:wenger:
Yeah this is worthless isn’t it. It’s literally a few days ago since some bloke nutmegged him like a chump and scored. What is a mistake? A mistake statistically doesn’t include «shit defending» as much as it includes a wayward backpass straight to the attacking team. Did you see him blocking our own player when Soton equalized the other day? If he lets go of his own player and jumps instead, that ball’s cleared out for throw-in. That gaffe is also not a mistake as pr the chart above
 

Skeezix

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On the 3rd goal, took out his defender
He was looking for a foul there :lol: :lol:
Class defender though. Not the best compared to other Premier League and Champions League winners like Ferdinand, Vidic, Terry, but the current best defender in the PL Now.

I hope he's reached his peak and starts declining, It will be very funny if he now turns into Lovren and Skrtel with clangers every odd game. It will be very to read RAWK's reaction on that.
 

Sandikan

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Must be a United fan.
It's an absolute stretch to suggest Maguire hasn't been at fault for a single goal this season isn't it.
I suppose we'd need to see the De Gea and Lindelof stats too.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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He's been shite since the restart, today imo he was probably worse than the Arsenal one. The amount of space Willian got in the central area is incredible and he got away with it, as soon as Pulisic & Abraham came on as fresh legs, he wasn't gonna get away anymore. Let's hope it's not because his mind is on holiday but actually a sign of declining which probably won't get my hope so much on a 29 years old centre back. But I still hope the shite performance continues next season.
 

KirkDuyt

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It's an absolute stretch to suggest Maguire hasn't been at fault for a single goal this season isn't it.
I suppose we'd need to see the De Gea and Lindelof stats too.
I'd say an own goal for instance could, with some imagination, be seen as an error leading to a goal..
 

Classical Mechanic

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For the purpose of that stats they only count egregious errors that are clearly defined like getting tackled as the last man or passing to an opponent who scores straight after. I think own goals are classed as own goals rather than errors and speak for themselves, although that was posted before Maguire scored that OG..
 

roonster09

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For the purpose of that stats they only count egregious errors that are clearly defined like getting tackled as the last man or passing to an opponent who scores straight after. I think own goals are classed as own goals rather than errors and speak for themselves, although that was posted before Maguire scored that OG..
Yeah, they don't go with subjective ones, only the clear and obvious error like pass backs, getting tackled. Usually should take these stats with pinch of salt, they dont say much.