Like Lovren, Lallana and Mané? Who are all regular starters for Liverpool who play considerably better football than us and are top of the table?
Virgil Van Dijk
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Signing this guy should be a no brainier. Physical, good with the ball and some leadership at the back. Pops up with a few goals. Would be the ideal partner for Bailey.
He is unattainable in january, and will cost about 40-50m in the summer. No point in even bidding in january though.
I was thinking more Shaw and Schneiderlin. But even then lets not pretend that its been plain sailing with Lallana and Lovren.
Get him in in January. Wanted him here since his Celtic days when everyone deemed him not good enough for the big stage.
What a load of rubbish that turned out to be.
What a load of rubbish that turned out to be.
If you give them time like Lallana and Lovren, they'll come good.
Lovren is easily the weakest outfield player in the Liverpool side and Lallana took two seasons.
He just looks a player, to me at least, with the right mentality to be at a big club. I feel that's one thing Schneiderlin is missing currently.
He looked quality today.
Talk about what?
We need a new CB to be the first choice partner for Bailly, and I think this guy is one of the better options.
Great recovery there vs Mane
Was a pen and red but absolutely brilliant aside. What a player.
How do you feel about him compared to Smalling? I'd say Virgil still has a bit to prove (remember that game against Belarus?).
Seems too obvious. We need a CB, we have injuries in the CB position, there is an established CB available for a lesser club who is Premier League proven.
Bet we'll end up signing Gimenez for 60mil in the summer instead before realising he's not as good as we thought.
Bet we'll end up signing Gimenez for 60mil in the summer instead before realising he's not as good as we thought.
Rio like.
His form recently has been brilliant imo. He is such a good all round defender and seems smarter and even physically more dominant than Smalling, better on the ball as well. But Smalling showed some top class level as well under van Gaal, maybe he can get back to his form.
Yeah, I'm still not completely convinced, obviously because playing well for Southampton is something different, but maybe I'm focussing on Virgil's questionable matches too much. He was pretty good at Groningen (bet you're still angry Ajax somehow ended up with Van der Hoorn instead of him), but somehow he's never struck me as really, really special, like some people in this thread make him out to be. He's no Bailly.
Smalling has that pace and agility over Virgil, and I wouldn't know if Van Dijk is actually physically stronger than Smalling either, obviously he's a bit better on the ball but I'm not always that impressed with his passing and build up play. And then he would probably cost more than Bailly too, while I'd say Virgil (who was still at Groningen around the age Bailly signed for us) is nowhere near as naturally talented.
I also think, based on a couple of his more unconvincing matches for Holland, where there's a completely different kind of pressure, Virgil would need some time to settle in at a massive club like United. If anything, I think we need to either sign the next Bailly (young and extremely talented), or maybe some top class proven CB around the 28-31 age mark, if we really want proper improvement for our team.
I think he has been class for the Dutch NT team recently, he has been constantly the best defender in defence for months. There is just almost no getting past him, a form Smalling had for a while too. But I'd also prefer a Bonucci, Godin type of signing if that was possible. A defender who'd make our whole defence an unit.
Absolutely shocking we didnt go for van Dijk, was a no brainer really. It was also shocking how long he was neglected for the NT and every Ajax debutant got a look in immediately. As if the forces were against him.
I would love to sign up, but he's not what we need.
We need more experience, a level head amongst our young squad to organise the backline.
We need more experience, a level head amongst our young squad to organise the backline.
Yeah, not just Danny Blind and Hiddink, but Van Gaal too during his time as NT coach. Bruno Martins Indi I can somehwat understand because he was pretty good at Feyenoord when Van Dijk was playing well at Groningen (though massive credit for Virgil, he's improved much more than BMI and is a much better player now), but then even Joël Veltman went to Brazil while Virgil was completely ignored
Southampton's owners are very open to money/sales
If you wanted him you could get him
If you wanted him you could get him
Schneiderlin absolutely looked like he had the 'right mentality' at Southampton too. I remember him absolutely bossing Chelsea's midfield in his final season there and was constantly used as a talking point when we were linked. The difference between playing at a club like Southampton and us is just something you can't explain away until it actually happens.
Are you suggesting van Dijk will be a snip or something? Southampton can and will hold out for an exorbitant fee.
Depends when we buy him. If its during the winter then the fee would be a lot more as they are in no need to sell. In either case, he sounds like a good buy since we could use a good defender and if not us, then surely one of the other big clubs will snap him up.
Get this guy ASAP. Smalling has become a liability along with Jones and Rojo. If Bailey doesn't return quickly, we're gonna hit bottom half of the table soon.
The next Bailly? The current Bailly is only just in the door
It was insane, one experienced CB im super impressed by is Sokratis from Dortmund, he's one of the best defenders in the world imo. Such a composed, mobile defender.Yeah, not just Danny Blind and Hiddink, but Van Gaal too during his time as NT coach. Bruno Martins Indi I can somehwat understand because he was pretty good at Feyenoord when Van Dijk was playing well at Groningen (though massive credit for Virgil, he's improved much more than BMI and is a much better player now), but then even Joël Veltman went to Brazil while Virgil was completely ignored
And he knows that he knows nothing plus he won't want a lot as he will be content with the least for content is the wealth of nature
I'd love to have him at OT
And the fact that almost every other big team in the league needs a CB and will be interested in him will raise his price considerably.
Have we been linked? Haven't seen Saints since we beat them early on but can't remember him. Would he suit Bailly?
I'm pretty certain if we don't sign him, Liverpool will. They've been scouting him and you can be sure after the way he performed against them yday, they'll want him in January.
If Liverpool get him in Jan, it strengthens their bid to win the title.
Def upgrade on Smalling for me.
He is very good but he's 185 or something? He isn't much of a physical presence TBH. Don't think it would work very well for us having both of our CB under 187 cm.
Think Chelsea will beat them to him. Their Dave is a liability and Van Dijk would fit perfectly in that back 3 system Conte is forcing.
Could be, its nice to have some length but Cannavaro and Puyol prove that timing and jumping is more important than anything.
They did in a league that isn't physically as dominant nor demanding as EPL is.
There we get that again, what about the CL and Euro Cups/World Cups they won.
Mate they didn't have to wrestle big, physically imposing strikers 38 games without any break. Somehow you concluded from my post that my opinion on normal size CB's is that they are useless.
Far from it, i just said that it's not wise to have 2 CB's that aren't physically imposing as it was the case yesterday. Plenty of people here seems to just read what they would like it is written.
People talk about mentality and compare Schniederlin and Shaw to Clyne and Mane etc. It's not the players, it's the environment they've gone in to. Mane and Clyne play in a settled, organised team who know what they want to do and generally do it.
Shaw and Morgan come into a team completely unsettled and lacking identity. It's no surprise players going into a settled team perform better.
Shaw and Morgan at Liverpool would look better players, I'd guess.
It's not about the players, it's about the environment they play in. We need to sort the environment.
Shaw and Morgan come into a team completely unsettled and lacking identity. It's no surprise players going into a settled team perform better.
Shaw and Morgan at Liverpool would look better players, I'd guess.
It's not about the players, it's about the environment they play in. We need to sort the environment.
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