Yeah, thats a high number.
Virgil van Dijk | Performances
- Thread starter Samid
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So this stat probably doesn't count when your man is out headed or outreacted for a goal.
Like Lindelof on quite a few this season.
Like Lindelof on quite a few this season.
It's also pretty meaningless honestly. Over a season of 50+ games that's almost irrelevant, unless the mistakes come at bad moments
Judging defenders by how many big mistakes they make, when 3-5 is a big number is like judging a striker by how many sitters he missed. I mean, a striker that scores 50 goals could miss 50 sitters and nobody would care. Nor should
Yeah striker missing chances and defenders making mistakes is same. Ok .
Next striker missing chances and GK making error is same too.
Something ridiculous like passing the ball to the attacker or so. I mean, Maguire got nutmegged on his own box, and was dribbled like a kid against Spurs when they scored. But neither counted as a mistake.
Same for De Gea. He has I believe 2 or 3 official mistakes this year. Shit defending and shit goalkeeping are not mistakes, they are just being shit at your job apparently.
They're all worth a goal
And again, if 5 big mistakes over a whole season is a lot, well. 5 mistakes over 38 games. Unless you manage to make them all at the worst possible times, they're hardly going to matter
Yes of course big mistakes are mistakes that directly lead to a goal or at least a big chance
Being nutmegged into your box? Not a big mistake. If we count that stuff as a big mistake then even Franco Baresi would have made 20 big mistakes per season...
He must have let at least 3 easy shots in that i can think of immediately.
Wonder if someone has put a gaffe video together. Would be ugly viewing.
Below his POTY winning form. Yet still imperious.
It's 5 big mistakes which doesn't even count mistakes like Maguire did.
Yes. And it's very rare for a defender, even a shite one, to make more over a season
Again, that's almost meaningless.
It's "mistakes" like the ones you keep going about with Maguire that matter, because even the best defender ever will always make a bunch, but a great defender will make significantly less than a mediocre one
Ok
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All these passes only work if there is great movement in front, which Liverpool do better than anyone.
Utds movement is shocking.
Not giving Salah too much credit here. How many of those balls were ones that you expect defenders to deal with but the full back stood off Salah each time. Looks to me like Liverpool saw Tierney as a weakness and just passed into his space again and again. Arsenal weren't even pressing in these clips.
It reminded me of his Southampton performance against Inter. Ramos loves pinging it in a similar fashion. Although I think I prefer the way Kimpembe breaks lines with progressive passes when his body orientation is shaped one way which deceives markers into feeling secure.
I think he's just trying to echo what Arteta mentioned - ''' Van Dijk plays a 60 yard pass to Salah's chest and they are out. That's quality." In any case, I only used his tweet because the other videos were using His video.
Also, from that clip he never switches the pass left
I felt the game against Brighton (last season)Maguire/United looked somewhat promising in that regard.
I liked the way the back four contributed to offensive forays.
In the past, Smalling was criticised for making a sideways pass after ball carrying. Presently, Maguire gets criticised for doing so, by sections of the United faithful. What I liked about Lindelof in the build up to Greenwood's goal is that instead of being content with the aforementioned, he continued to go forward without the ball which led to Dan Burn matching his run, resulting in space for Greenwood. The picture I've circled is Dan Burn marking Greenwood. In the second image, you can see its Lindelof in front of Dan Burn as opposed to Greenwood. Another thing I like about this still image is how high United's line is, allowing Fernandes and Pogba to operate in the half spaces in this particular instance.
I liked the following pass from Brandon Williams. Also, appreciated the way United were able to make the transition from defence to attack in such a short time span. Two attacks, and shutting down attack in breathtaking speed.
In this example, I felt Maguire could've made a disguised pass to Pogba, and I don't think AWB needed to let the ball run across his body
Maguire acquitted himself well on the ball
I don't think that's the case.
Carrick used to switch play toward Valencia like that, and teams couldn't deal with. Clearly the quality of the ball is high, making the defender wary about misjudging trying to cut it midair, exposing the position.
Lacazette, Willian, clearly did some pressing there. Always there is a player running toward VVD in all instances. That's pressing. The further into the clip, the lower intensity their pressing became (they gave up high press).
Thing is if VVD did that in our team and to our attackers, half of those balls would be lost due do sloppiness, either from Rashford or Martial. Mane and Salah especially are absolutely fecking lethal, whenever they take the ball something is up. Maybe it's due to the quality of the build up play, which probably is a factor when I think again.
Even if the ball is lost up there, the team can start pressing, defending on front foot, rather not having ability and keeping passing at the back, never progressing up the pitch. Liverpool had that issue before VVD was bought.
As I mentioned before, even with Valencia lack productivity, having Carrick switching the play, helped us progress up the pitch, and ease some pressure. Mane, Salah, Robertson, TA ability to make something out of it is another matter.
Our team does that terribly so I can understand the reluctance to attempt those passes. Everything has a cost/reward ratio and VVD is in the perfect team to attempt those passes, he has movement, attacking full backs and great wingers/attackers, if the ball is lost, they all apply their pressing collectively in order to retrieve it fast.
As I explained, it's worst case scenario. Our players should be technical good enough to receive those passes. Carrick did it all those years. Be it Valencia, Young, Nani, Januzaj, Welbeck... it was no issue. It acts as way to stretch play. Better than cluelessly passing between defender and invite even more pressure especially teams that know how to press.
It's the quality of the pass (pace, weight, trajectory of the drop...) that favor the receiver over interceptor. We don't have that passer now.
For sure, I was agreeing with that. Maguire has been overrated at that aspect of things, he's lost confidence I think, he doesn't try them much.
Looks to me like he's climbing down from his exceptional peak. He's still easily the best defender around but thankfully doesn't look like he'll be putting in another arguably best-ever league performance again.
Is this real? I know van Dijk's from the Rio school of defending, and Liverpool were exceptionally dominant, but making just 12 tackles in a seasons sounds absurd. If his and Maguire's figures use a normal definition then it seems a really stark example of how the role of defenders has changed beyond recognition.
He made a unusally high number of long passes in that game with 22. 14 were accurate which is about a 64% accuracy. His usual rate this season is 7 accurate per game at a 56% accuracy.
Maguire in the first two games has made 5.5 long passes per game at 61% accuracy.
VVD is better but Maguire is pretty good in this regard compared to most centre backs in the league.
Maguire is more of a dribbler. He has solid short and medium ranger passing. Maguire passing is akin to Matic, while VVD range is akin to Carrick, if that makes the point clearer.
Our midfield would need to build better to compensate for the difference in passing ability. Instead, I feel like we're aimless in learning this trade of playing out from the back. Can't go long the way Liverpool does, nor as good as in short passing like City (general speaking within PL).
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It was actually Joe Gomez who was the better player last Monday, he was put under more pressure by Arsenal early and often (God knows why as they didn't do the same with VVD) but his long balls were very good too.
Hoofball merchant.
Always to the right wing? He's just a cut price Silvestre... 
I love all the praise for Liverpool players on a United forum.
It really is heart warming.
It really is heart warming.
Van Dijk doesn't really have much defending to do these days. It's rare to see an attacker ever bother to take him on. Teams send the ball elsewhere whenever possible. Combined with how much we have the ball, it's no wonder he rarely breaks a sweat.
It's a bit of a shame. I loved seeing him in duels against hopeful attackers before they just gave up on getting the better of him.
Yeah suppose that's true, why put your striker in a 1 on 1 with him when you know how it ends!
Top tacklers in the league are all full backs and on the top 10 list you've got players attempted just over 2 tackles per match. Might be a matter of definition from a statistical point of view. There are fewer tackles because the game has become much more strict on defenders. You get a yellow card now for a tackle that was considered clean just 10 years ago.
Another factor is tactics. Feels like every other yellow card is a player stopping a counter-attack on purpose, allowing teams more often to revert back to their shape. When a team is in shape then the CB will not have a reason for tackling and Liverpool are rarely out of shape.
Looked like a pub player today.
Best defender in the world btw, one of the all time greats etc.
They avoided him 7 times tonight.
Does he do anything else apart from ping it into the top right hand side of the pitch?