Van Dijk understands fan frustration over lack of transfer activity

08/08/2023

Virgil van Dijk says he understands Liverpool fans’ concerns over their lack of transfer activity, with Jurgen Klopp scratching his head over a midfield conundrum and defensive frailties ahead of Premier League start

A number of experienced senior players have left Liverpool this summer
The Reds have signed just two new players with Premier League start days away
Captain Virgil Van Dijk can ‘understand some people having doubts’

If you were choosing one word to sum up Liverpool going into the new Premier League season, it would be ‘undercooked’.

With six permanent departures from Anfield this summer, Jurgen Klopp’s side have lost a staggering 1,776 worth of Premier League appearances.

Five of those exits were midfielders, with just two signings through the door to replace them and the club labelled ‘embarrassing’ by legend Jamie Carragher for a drawn-out saga to sign a replacement No 6 in Romeo Lavia, from Championship club Southampton.

And Virgil Van Dijk, the new captain after long-standing Jordan Henderson controversially jetted off to Saudi Arabia, says he understands Liverpool fans’ anxieties going into the new season, with defensive frailties shown in pre-season and ‘big characters’ no longer at the club.

Asked whether fans’ uncertainties are valid, Van Dijk said: ‘Yeah, I can definitely understand it. I’m not a very negative person, so obviously it’s not in my mind to think like that.

Virgil Van Dijk has admitted he can understand why some Liverpool fans might have concerns about the club’s summer transfer business

The Liverpool squad has been bolstered by just two new arrivals, and a leaky defence has conceded 11 goals in five pre-season matches

‘But when a lot of players are leaving – your captain and vice-captain – and at the moment there are only two incomings… and the way we have been playing, in possession really good but defensively not as good, I can understand some people having doubts.

‘Let’s see if more players are coming in, and then we have to be ready again for a long season. It will be very tough if we look at the teams around us, but we want to be up there again, we want to be challenging.’

So can Liverpool do as Van Dijk wishes and challenge for the title? Although they look sharper than this time last year, it feels like Klopp enters the new campaign with more questions than answers, most notably around the makeshift midfield and Trent Alexander-Arnold conundrum.

With Henderson, Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain no longer at the club, Klopp has been left scratching his head over who starts in the holding midfield role. In pre-season, Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister have all featured there.

Each of them have redeeming features but it is not enough for a team serious about a title charge. Conor Bradley played at right-back during friendlies in Germany, with Alexander-Arnold starting in midfield, but the Northern Irishman, 20, is now injured.

So Jones or Mac Allister have played there, with Alexander-Arnold roaming into midfield areas from full-back. This leaves gaping holes behind, which teams have exploited. The system Klopp is trying to play is not dissimilar from the shape in which Manchester City used last season.

But Liverpool lack two key things in which City’s Treble winners had in that system: the incredible recovery pace of Kyle Walker to cover spaces left behind by John Stones, and the tactical discipline of Nathan Ake or Manu Akanji, who were willing to stay back and form a back three.

Instead, with Alexander-Arnold in midfield, Liverpool are left with Andy Robertson unsure whether to stay put or bomb forward with his customary runs down the left. On the other side, Ibou Konate is too often left covering too much space and the Reds become overwhelmed.

And so as bizarre as it might sound, Liverpool’s successes this season might rest on the signing of a 19-year-old from a second-tier club. Lavia has a bright future and would not solve all of these problems but he would provide a defensive shield that has been lost in summer exits.

Jurgen Klopp has seen 1,776 worth of Premier League appearances depart in recent weeks, including captain Jordan Henderson

Liverpool’s transfer business

IN

Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton) £35million

Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig) £60million

OUT

James Milner (Brighton) Free

Naby Keita (Werder Bremen) Free

Roberto Firmino (Al-Ahli) Free

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Released)

Fabinho (Al-Ittihad) £40million

Jordan Henderson (Al-Ettifaq) £12million

Liverpool have shipped 11 goals in five pre-season games but more worryingly have leaked chances and needed last-ditch interventions too many times. To solve the open back line, Klopp conducted a lengthy video session on Sunday, which was said to be ‘clear and direct’.

‘It is not just the midfield or strikers or just the defenders, it is about the way we try to put the opponent under pressure,’ added Van Dijk. ‘If they are under pressure they cannot play the ball in behind so easily.

‘There have been characters leaving, players who have played a big part in the success… but others have to step up. That’s a nice challenge. We should be excited. I’m very excited, so let’s give it a go.’

In terms of Liverpool’s attack, there are reasons to be excited and cheerful – Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota have had a pleasing pre-season, while 17-year-old Scotsman Ben Doak has been a shining light – but in the defensive half of the pitch, there are reasons to be fearful.

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