Virgil van Dijk has been Liverpool’s Mr. Reliable in the backline ever since he completed a then record-breaking move away from Southampton in 2017.
Analysing the Dutchman’s performance, however, Scott Minto felt the Reds star let his teammates down massively in the first-half as he appeared to back off from chasing Dango Ouattara who raced towards the visitors’ box before supplying an assist for Philip Billing’s opener.
“The pace of Ouattara in behind, it’s a high line and a simple ball over the top,” the talkSPORT pundit noted (via HITC).
“I don’t know what Van Dijk was doing. It looked like he gave it up there. I really don’t know what Van Dijk was doing.
“He didn’t seem to stay with Ouattara at all. Of course, he’s a key member of the squad and one of the best centre-backs in world football. But he has been complaining about fitness and the schedule. If he’s not right, rest him! That’s what a big squad is for.”
The result sees Jurgen Klopp’s men squander yet another opportunity to break back into the top four at a time when qualification for Europe’s premier competition looks far from certain.
READ MORE: (Video) How Klopp reacted to drab Bournemouth loss telling as Reds take eight steps back
There are still plenty of games left in the league season to mount a successful comeback, of course, though Jurgen Klopp’s post-match thoughts hardly project the image of a club confident of its chances.
With such inconsistency remaining rampant, a solution needs to be found, and quickly, to reverse our away form and ensure that this latest poor result is merely a blip.
Dropping Van Dijk may, perhaps, not be the smartest decision we could make – certainly not for our upcoming trip to Madrid – though something serious has to change if we still genuinely harbour hopes of breaking into the top four spots.