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van Dijk

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He was dizzy looking for a foul yesdy and it certainly game me palpatations for the remainder of the half...

But on the whole nobody could argue that we are looking really damn good at the minute and a certain amount of that can be accredited to VVD.

The last time we were in the semis we were a pretty damn boss side... and we deserve to be there... and I think we are boss...
 
To recover from that howler in the first minute was immense. Our defensive unit is transformed - he has added about 15-20m in value to our RB, CB, LB, GK and DM!
 
I thought criticism of him yesterday was way OTT. Someone gave him a 6/10 FFS. In fact he marshalled our defence superbly, always directing and forcibly demanding players move as he directed, Sane wasnt offside 6 times by accident. And did he / we lose a single header in the box? He was immense.
 
Frogfish said:
I thought criticism of him yesterday was way OTT. Someone gave him a 6/10 FFS. In fact he marshalled our defence superbly, always directing and forcibly demanding players move as he directed, Sane wasnt offside 6 times by accident. And did he / we lose a single header in the box? He was immense.
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If people gave him 6/10 they are bonkers. If we did not have him then it is for certain we would have conceded a corner from their 25+ crosses. He is the main key in the defensive line. I worry what would happen to us if he gets a booking and we lose him for a game.
 
Someone mentioned last night that before his mistake, Virgil actually signalled to Karius to NOT pass/throw it short but Karius went with it anyway and the kerfuffle to City's goal ensued.
 
Regardless of what karius did, Virgil should not be waiting for the ref to blow. It's lazy and naive

To recover was fantastic though
 
Yup. Terrible mistake. And exacerbated by him looking at the linesman when he was knocked over rather than instantly busting a gut to get back.

He wouldnt have made it but its not the point.
 
With it happening on such an occasion and under such scrutiny I can see it being one of those things he never comes close to doing again. Huge fuck up but takes a big man to continue to be a rock afterwards.
 
One of the few negative things about our performance was the number of occasions when players didn't play to the whistle. To effectively take yourself out of the action like that during a game of this importance is outrageous. VVD did it once, while Mane - who's making a habit of it - did it multiple times. It really could have cost us. Hopefully Klopp makes it clear that from now on it's verboten.
 
Frogfish said:
I thought criticism of him yesterday was way OTT. Someone gave him a 6/10 FFS. In fact he marshalled our defence superbly, always directing and forcibly demanding players move as he directed, Sane wasnt offside 6 times by accident. And did he / we lose a single header in the box? He was immense.
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I gave him a 6.
I gave Lovren a 9 because he was fantastic for 90 minutes.
VvD had a tough few minutes, and he was terrible in the goal - so instead of a 7/8, I gave him a 6. Harsh? Maybe, but he'll forgive me I'm sure! 🙂
 
VVD made a terrible error that could've and almost did very nearly cost us dearly. That goal gave City so much confidence and clearly put us on the backfoot.

The big positive to take away from it is that he didn't fall apart as others have done (hello Lovren) after making howlers like that before him.
 
LeTallecWiz said:
I gave him a 6.
I gave Lovren a 9 because he was fantastic for 90 minutes.
VvD had a tough few minutes, and he was terrible in the goal - so instead of a 7/8, I gave him a 6. Harsh? Maybe, but he'll forgive me I'm sure! 🙂
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I know it was you I just didn't want to seen to be attacking you
Never a 6 though
 
keniget said:
VVD made a terrible error that could've and almost did very nearly cost us dearly. That goal gave City so much confidence and clearly put us on the backfoot.
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To be fair to him, you could see him motioning to Karius that he didn't want the ball, but when it did come to him he should've just blasted it forwards. A real brain fade by keeper and CB. But generally he's brought such a sense of calm and order to the defence. Worth every penny.
 
gkmacca said:
To be fair to him, you could see him motioning to Karius that he didn't want the ball, but when it did come to him he should've just blasted it forwards. A real brain fade by keeper and CB. But generally he's brought such a sense of calm and order to the defence. Worth every penny.
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I think karius was in the unfortunate position of disregarding his coach or his centre back.

He made the wrong choice this time, but even then a pass like that shouldn't end in a goal. It's like I said in the last game with Virgil, where he steamed forward to intercept and failed a few times. Errors like that, and last night's one, can be punished by the best
 
It says so much about us, and him, that the only time we conceded over both legs was from a fuck up of our own making. How our defence has improved under his leadership is quite something.
 
It's predictable but the same pundits who (rightly) gave our defence massive criticism earlier in the season probably won't now give them as much praise, but they deserve it. A few months ago it seemed like a corner was almost as dangerous as a penalty to concede. Now we clear most of them in a very disciplined manner. And the blocking yesterday - wow! Just about every defender and midfielder got in some vital blocks. In that one aspect I'm not sure any team has bettered them all season.
 
gkmacca said:
It's predictable but the same pundits who (rightly) gave our defence massive criticism earlier in the season probably won't now give them as much praise, but they deserve it. A few months ago it seemed like a corner was almost as dangerous as a penalty to concede. Now we clear most of them in a very disciplined manner. And the blocking yesterday - wow! Just about every defender and midfielder got in some vital blocks. In that one aspect I'm not sure any team has bettered them all season.
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Milner had 4 blocks yesterday, AA had 6 interceptions - more than the whole City team. Our defence was awesome and a huge part of that is the organisation VvD has brought.
 
gkmacca said:
It's predictable but the same pundits who (rightly) gave our defence massive criticism earlier in the season probably won't now give them as much praise, but they deserve it. A few months ago it seemed like a corner was almost as dangerous as a penalty to concede. Now we clear most of them in a very disciplined manner. And the blocking yesterday - wow! Just about every defender and midfielder got in some vital blocks. In that one aspect I'm not sure any team has bettered them all season.
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The contrast is striking.
 
He kept his composure and continued to the lead the defence even after his own howler. We are used to players crumbling after a mistake like lovren did at united. Vvd showed his quality
 
gkmacca said:
One of the few negative things about our performance was the number of occasions when players didn't play to the whistle. To effectively take yourself out of the action like that during a game of this importance is outrageous. VVD did it once, while Mane - who's making a habit of it - did it multiple times. It really could have cost us. Hopefully Klopp makes it clear that from now on it's verboten.
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Agreed. Salah did well for his goal and played to the whistle. Had he done what 90% of players do, and appeal for a penalty when Mane went down, we might not have scored and gone through.

That ref wouldn't have given the penalty either. He was shocking for both sides.
 
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