For someone who was supposed to be the pantomime villain and walking into a hostile atmosphere Virgil van Dijk spent an awful lot of time smiling. The boos were loud and the language colourful on occasions yet Van Dijk could hardly have looked more comfortable as he strolled his way through his first return to Southampton since an acrimonious transfer that was far more problematic than anything he came up against on the pitch here.
A fifth appearance for Liverpool in all competitions delivered a first clean sheet and a near faultless performance from the world’s most expensive defender, who was a model of composure throughout and never remotely affected by the abuse that rained down from the stands. If anything, Van Dijk played as if he was rather enjoying the stick, so much so that he could be seen laughing at the first sound of the boos that greeted his every touch.
That ill-feeling at St Mary’s goes back to the start of the summer, when Southampton reported Liverpool to the Premier League for an alleged illegal approach. Liverpool later released a statement, apologising to Southampton for any “misunderstanding” regarding Van Dijk and confirming they had ended their interest in the player. Yet the issue was never likely to go away and a couple of months later Van Dijk submitted a transfer request, only to be told he was staying put.
Van Dijk eventually got his wish, when Liverpool parted with £75m on the eve of the January window, and it has been a lively start to his Anfield career, featuring a debut goal against Everton, back-to-back defeats against Swansea and West Brom, and that injury-time penalty he conceded against Tottenham a week ago. This was an occasion, however, when he was on cruise control as he looked totally at ease in a Liverpool shirt.
“He did really well and dealt with the situation fantastically,” Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, said. “We had a little chat before the game, asking him what he thought. I didn’t want to make him nervous but obviously he wasn’t. The crowd is there to make life difficult for the opponent but it wasn’t too difficult for him.”
The flak was entirely predictable, yet Van Dijk never looked flustered and there was a smile on his face as he headed a ball back to Loris Karius early on. The grin was even wider about 10 seconds later when Mohamed Salah capitalised on a poor mistake by Wesley Hoedt to set up the opening goal for Roberto Firmino after Karius had fed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, one of five former Southampton players in the Liverpool squad. “Born to play for Southampton, then be sold to Liverpool,” read a banner held up by a young home supporter. Although Liverpool looked vulnerable defensively at times in the first half and were indebted to Karius for making a couple of decent saves, Van Dijk gave the impression he was in complete control. Joel Matip, on the other hand, was nothing like as convincing in that opening 45 minutes and it still feels as though Liverpool have work to do in that department when it comes to the summer transfer window.
The real problems at the back here were in the centre of the Southampton defence. Hoedt had already made an error before the mix-up that prefaced the first goal and when Firmino’s backheel carved Southampton wide open for Salah to score a second it was hard to see a way back for a beleaguered home team. Stood just inside the Southampton half when Salah registered his 22nd goal of the season, Van Dijk shrugged his shoulders.
In truth it felt too easy for the 26-year-old for much of the afternoon and when he galloped forward on the left with 15 minutes remaining, trying to slip the ball through the legs of Cedric, it was tempting to wonder whether he had got bored at the other end of the pitch. By that stage the home supporters were far more annoyed with Mauricio Pellegrino, the Southampton manager, for his substitutions than anything their former central defender was doing.