Agbonlahor slams Virgil Van Dijk for playing 'in second gear'
‘Ferdinand or Terry would fly out to block… Van Dijk had his arms behind his back’: Gabby Agbonlahor risks ire of Liverpool fans again as he slams centre-back for blunder against Man United and playing ‘in second gear’, following spat with Jurgen Klopp
- Gabby Agbonlahor has criticised Virgil van Dijk for lacklustre defending
- Liverpool just beat Newcastle but pundit was speaking about Man United game
- He singled out Van Dijk for his role in Jadon Sancho’s opening strike for hosts
- ‘If that was Rio Ferdinand or John Terry, they’d be flying out to block’, he said
Gabby Agbonlahor has risked the ire of Liverpool fans once again, this time for calling out Virgil van Dijk.
Despite the Reds beating Newcastle on Wednesday evening, the former Aston Villa striker chose to speak about their August 22 defeat by Man United at Old Trafford, specifically Van Dijk’s role in Jadon Sancho’s opening goal.
‘In the Man United game, he didn’t look like he really wanted to do the proper defending, you know, getting his body in front of the ball’, he said on TalkSPORT.
Gabby Agbonlahor criticised Virgil van Dijk for his role in Jadon Sancho’s goal two games ago
Ex-Aston Villa striker Agbonlahor recently became involved in a public spat with Jurgen Klopp
‘For the Sancho goal, he had his arms behind his back.
‘If that was Rio Ferdinand or John Terry, they’d be flying out to make a block. Sometimes when he’s running back and defending it’s like he’s in second gear.
‘It’s like he’s got more but he’s taking it easy, like he’s saying “you’re not going to take me on, I’m Van Dijk”, but if someone does then it shocks him and then he struggles to get back. He’s definitely got to up his game but I think that he can easily.’
Liverpool were poor in the first half against United and ended up losing 2-1 but have since bounced back with a thumping 9-0 win over Bournemouth and 2-1 victory against Newcastle.
Agbonlahor’s timing in criticism of Van Dijk appears strange and he was also recently involved in a public spat with Jurgen Klopp.
The former Aston Villa striker criticised Man United for their defeat by Brentford to the point where Klopp said he even thought about calling up talkSPORT.
‘I drove home after watching the first half here [at the training ground] and I listened to talkSPORT and Gabby [Agbonlahor],’ he said.
‘He lost against us 6-0 in my first year, so I couldn’t remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch then – but what he said about Man Utd, I was close to calling in and telling him: ‘You forgot completely that you were a player.
‘And if ex players go already like this, you can imagine how everything else is going. You have to ask yourself how you want to react in a situation like this.’
Van Dijk was on the receiving end of a tongue lashing from James Milner for his mistake
In an interview with Sportsmail, Agbonlahor responded. He said: ‘The whole “Gabby who?” thing. Him pretending not to know my surname. Why?
‘He has watched football. He will know my name.
‘And then his team lose at Man United anyway. He was talking about me not being a mentality monster. Well his team didn’t look like mentality monsters in that game did they?
‘And he is supposed to be the mentality monster king.’
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