Author Topic: Virgil Van Dijk (Cpt)  (Read 1446308 times)

Offline Ma Vie en Rouge

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6400 on: February 29, 2020, 11:59:02 pm »
That's only the 5th league defeat van Dijk has had since he joined us. Does anyone know who his CB partner was in 4 of those 5 games?

Blame it on Traore?

Offline jillcwhomever

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6401 on: March 1, 2020, 12:31:14 am »
That's only the 5th league defeat van Dijk has had since he joined us. Does anyone know who his CB partner was in 4 of those 5 games?

Yawn.
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Offline WhereAngelsPlay

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Offline Sheer Magnetism

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6403 on: March 1, 2020, 02:10:17 am »
Virg grimaced while clearing a ball quite early in the game and it looked after that like he was playing with an injury. I don't know if that's the case but he certainly didn't look as if he came near top speed for most of the game.

Offline farawayred

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6404 on: March 1, 2020, 04:51:13 am »
Virg grimaced while clearing a ball quite early in the game and it looked after that like he was playing with an injury. I don't know if that's the case but he certainly didn't look as if he came near top speed for most of the game.
It's probably true. He held his head with both hands for long periods; i had no idea if that was frustration or injury at the time...
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Offline markedasred

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6405 on: March 1, 2020, 01:26:11 pm »
He accidentally let his hair down, then the floodgates opened. In some 21st century twist on the Samson story, the loss of magic let the side down. And Lovren was playing. But the thing he was playing looked more like WWF than football.
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Offline Morgana

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6406 on: March 2, 2020, 12:07:19 am »
Troy Deeney is so in love with Virgil. Anyone catch the clip on MotD2 where he's made Virg crack a smile just before the match? He says to the Watford mascot: "If you'd paid a bit more money you could've been stood there, next to him." :lmao
« Last Edit: March 2, 2020, 11:21:33 am by Morgana »

Offline ToneLa

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6407 on: March 2, 2020, 11:27:32 am »
But the thing he was playing looked more like WWF than football.

Yeah, like a panda he didn't seem very mobile..

Offline na fir dearg

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6408 on: March 2, 2020, 12:25:59 pm »
You were shit on Saturday Virgil! Absolute shit! Hope you're reading this you big beautiful bastard!!!

Offline lionel_messias

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6409 on: March 3, 2020, 12:12:07 pm »
Virg grimaced while clearing a ball quite early in the game and it looked after that like he was playing with an injury. I don't know if that's the case but he certainly didn't look as if he came near top speed for most of the game.

No, he glanced over at Lovren. That's all that was.

Hopefully, this won't happen again, possibly ever.
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Offline only6times

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6410 on: March 4, 2020, 05:12:23 am »
Get him on the edge of the 18 yard box attacking corners rather than him being getting held and getting nish off referees.
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Offline Ghost Town

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6411 on: March 4, 2020, 12:59:16 pm »
Get him on the edge of the 18 yard box attacking corners rather than him being getting held and getting nish off referees.
True a lot of refs are comedians
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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6412 on: March 4, 2020, 01:10:36 pm »
How is it not been picked up by officials / VAR that he is constantly being wrestled at corners!?
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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6413 on: March 4, 2020, 06:57:18 pm »
How is it not been picked up by officials / VAR that he is constantly being wrestled at corners!?
Greco-Roman style seems legit.
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Offline DutchRed

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Virgil van Dijk - A Day in the Life
« Reply #6414 on: April 18, 2020, 10:27:09 am »
virgil-van-dijk-1" border="0

Good morning everyone - hope you are all wel!

Many of you might have seen me on here before - I am a long-time member and have done the occasional matchday commentary on here as well. I've come to ask for a favour now!

To shortly introduce myself: I'm a 24-year old football writer from Amsterdam. Last autumn I got the chance to write a book on our number four, Virgil van Dijk, in Dutch. Leading up to that sweet day in Madrid last season, I tried to get to the bottom of his success. I spoke with former team-mates, scouts, supporters, journalists and Liverpool FC historians of the highest calibre: the great John Williams and Arnie Baldursson, the driving force behind the great LFCHistory website. It details how Virgil was initially overlooked by pretty much anyone, how a team-mate had to act quickly to save his life and how he eventually ended up in the UK, even if he had been dreaming of somewhere else.

The book reasonably well in the Netherlands, so the publisher asked me to translate it into English, which I have done. It is available to purchase as an e-book through the link underneath and it would mean a lot to me if you would buy it. Covid-19 has left me a bit short of work - and it's the first time I publish in English, so success here would be tremendous.

Obviously I haven't closed my eyes for what is currently happening in the world. Many people are struggling a lot more than I am. That's why I have decided to team up with Fans Supporting Foodbanks. I will donate a share of the proceedings towards their brilliant work.

I would be very grateful for your support!

Cheers,

Jan

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/virgil-van-dijk#ratings-and-reviews
It's just sex and violence, melody and silence.

Offline DutchRed

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Re: Virgil van Dijk - A Day in the Life
« Reply #6415 on: April 20, 2020, 10:36:16 am »
A wee taster for you all underneath - on how Willem II, his club at the time, didn't seem overly fussed on keeping hold on Virgil as a teenager!




If FC Groningen had to conjure up a five-a-side team of their former players, they could put out Virgil alongside Luis Suarez, Arjen Robben, Dusan Tadic and Filip Kostic. Not too bad for a side from an isolated city in the north of the country. That the former member city of the Hanseatic League got to enjoy Virgil as a first-team player for two seasons, is partly down to good work by scout Grads Fühler and also owes to geographical chance.

Fühler had not been following him for a long time. The discovery occurs on Saturday, October 3, 2009. Willem II’s U18’s, at the time sharing an academy with RKC, face PSV Eindhoven. Fühler lives in Eindhoven at that time, he has a scouting trip to Belgium planned for that weekend, but decides to make a quick stop in Tilburg too after looking at the fixtures. “Virgil immediately stood out to me, he was wearing the captain’s armband too. Obviously, everybody knows about his appearance. But he also seemed to find it easy to play the game, played passes over forty, fifty yards without problems and he already found it simple to win the one-on-ones. But he did already seem to take things a little lightly, it all looked a bit lax. I got the impression that the boy needed a challenge. He needed to move to a higher level, get some training in and develop himself further. What I saw did really impress me a lot.”

But that’s just the first step. FC Groningen was a step up from Willem II on every front back in 2009, it still isn’t a widespread occurrence that a youth player moves to the other end of the country to still play in the same division. Fühler decides to go and give it a try anyway. He can’t believe his luck when he hears of Virgil’s status with the Tricolores, as if he were an art connoisseur finding a forgotten-about Monet painting lying around somewhere. “At half-time, I popped into the academy’s clubhouse. I ended up in conversation. I wanted to know how Virgil’s situation at Willem II is. The man tells me he’s an amateur, that he doesn’t train with the first team and that he only plays with the U18’s. Well, I immediately called Henk Veldmate, my superior at Groningen at the time. I said ‘Henk, I’ve spotted someone here. He’s not tied down, and I think we need to try and get him to come to Groningen.’ Then Henk went to have a look for himself. Forty-five minutes in, he calls me and confirms what I had said earlier. We were going to take action.”
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Offline Clayton Bigsby

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Offline planet-terror

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6417 on: June 26, 2020, 11:48:40 am »
In Big Virgs honor I have shaven off my




Moustache [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
bollocks

Offline Willy Poolman

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6418 on: June 26, 2020, 12:07:49 pm »
Hats off to Virgil for his outstanding contribution to this historic season. He has been a rock in the Red's defence, and he really instills confidence in me whenever I see him covering the other players. So calm and capable, he lifts the whole backline up a couple of notches. I'm grateful to Jurgen for making sure he captured this prize signing despite the frustrating setbacks. I think it is no coincidence that Bill Shankly built his very first team around a similar type of player, Ronnie Yeats.

Offline Clayton Bigsby

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6419 on: July 2, 2020, 08:31:14 am »
My player of the year and ballon d'or winner again. Played every minute of every premier league game since the start of last season and look at the impact. So good that I thinkwe actually take for granted how high his level has been. What would be a 9/10 performance for another defender would just be Tuesday for VVD

Offline RedForeverTT

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6420 on: July 2, 2020, 01:10:21 pm »
It is quite obvious that when VVD wasn't playing, we just didn't have that sense of confidence and calm.

Gomes looks like a panic machine when he is paired with Matip or Lovren. Not anywhere close to looking like an England international.

If there is one thing to pick on, I really wish Gomes could learn to be self-sufficient when VVD wasn't playing.

Offline CraigDS

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6421 on: July 2, 2020, 01:13:49 pm »
It is quite obvious that when VVD wasn't playing, we just didn't have that sense of confidence and calm.

Gomes looks like a panic machine when he is paired with Matip or Lovren. Not anywhere close to looking like an England international.

If there is one thing to pick on, I really wish Gomes could learn to be self-sufficient when VVD wasn't playing.

Fuck it, it's Gomes.

Offline Clayton Bigsby

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6422 on: July 2, 2020, 01:17:05 pm »
It is quite obvious that when VVD wasn't playing, we just didn't have that sense of confidence and calm.

Gomes looks like a panic machine when he is paired with Matip or Lovren. Not anywhere close to looking like an England international.

If there is one thing to pick on, I really wish Gomes could learn to be self-sufficient when VVD wasn't playing.

He wouldn't have had much chance as VVD always played.

Offline Oskar

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6423 on: July 2, 2020, 01:22:41 pm »
It is quite obvious that when VVD wasn't playing, we just didn't have that sense of confidence and calm.

Gomes looks like a panic machine when he is paired with Matip or Lovren. Not anywhere close to looking like an England international.

If there is one thing to pick on, I really wish Gomes could learn to be self-sufficient when VVD wasn't playing.

Like he was against Everton in January?

How many games has Gomez played without VVD when both are available?

Offline Jookie

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6424 on: July 2, 2020, 01:31:08 pm »
It is quite obvious that when VVD wasn't playing, we just didn't have that sense of confidence and calm.

Gomes looks like a panic machine when he is paired with Matip or Lovren. Not anywhere close to looking like an England international.

If there is one thing to pick on, I really wish Gomes could learn to be self-sufficient when VVD wasn't playing.

Over the last 2 seasons there has only been 4 games when Gomez has started at centre back when van Dijk hasn't.

Monterrey (W 2-1) partnered with Henderson at CB
Everton (W 1-0) partnered with Nat Phillips at CB
MK Dons (W 2-0) partnered with Lovren at CB
Arsenal  (D 4-4) partnered with Van den Berg at CB

Conceded 5 goals in 4 games and 4 of those came alongside van den Berg. Also in makeshift sides on all 4 occasions.

Where is your thought process coming from that we need Gomez to learn to be self sufficient without VvD? Interesting to hear.

In general, it's hard to say we don't have confidence and calmness when VvD doesn't play either. That was definitely true when he joined and made a big difference. However, personnel and tactics wise we are now a very different beast from when VvD joined in Jan 2018.

With the growth of Gomez, Trent and Robertson over last 2 season and additions of Alisson and Fabinho you would hope would reduce the effect of VvD not playing. It's hard to say if it would or not based on current evidence since there are very few occasions where VvD doesn't play and most of the starting XI do. Bayern at home last season (0-0) is probably the only real example.

Hope people don't take the above as my thinking VvD isn't that good. He obviously is and is easily the best centre back we have. I just don't buy the narrative that the defence would be sh*te if he was suddenly missing for 5-10 games. It would definitely get worse but you'd think the quality of the team and the overall tactical structure would see us through. Probably in the same way it did, for the majority of the time, when Alisson was missing with injury.

I think Jookie might just be the best fisherman on this thread.

Offline Sangria

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6425 on: July 2, 2020, 01:31:23 pm »
It is quite obvious that when VVD wasn't playing, we just didn't have that sense of confidence and calm.

Gomes looks like a panic machine when he is paired with Matip or Lovren. Not anywhere close to looking like an England international.

If there is one thing to pick on, I really wish Gomes could learn to be self-sufficient when VVD wasn't playing.

I have to admit, Gomes has never impressed me when he's played. Of course, that might have something to do with him playing for Everton. I'd imagine that even Joe Gomez wouldn't look that good playing in blue.
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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6426 on: July 2, 2020, 01:34:53 pm »
I have to admit, Gomes has never impressed me when he's played. Of course, that might have something to do with him playing for Everton. I'd imagine that even Joe Gomez wouldn't look that good playing in blue.

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Offline RedForeverTT

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6428 on: July 2, 2020, 01:52:51 pm »
Perhaps I was wrong to say Joe Gomez panic when not paired with VVD. He panicked even when paired with VVD.

He was great against teams who wanted to go on a foot race with him and tactically inept such as Leicester. Which at that point led me to believe he would truly develop into a starter for England.

But seeing his display against a cunning Atletico and more recently Crystal Palace, he has that tendency to drop back deep and panic when their attackers have the ball right in front of him, giving that extra 5 yards of space. The Atletico game resulted in a goal, of course helped by a jellied Adrian.

Offline CraigDS

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6429 on: July 2, 2020, 01:57:00 pm »
Perhaps I was wrong to say Joe Gomez panic when not paired with VVD. He panicked even when paired with VVD.

He was great against teams who wanted to go on a foot race with him and tactically inept such as Leicester. Which at that point led me to believe he would truly develop into a starter for England.

But seeing his display against a cunning Atletico and more recently Crystal Palace, he has that tendency to drop back deep and panic when their attackers have the ball right in front of him, giving that extra 5 yards of space. The Atletico game resulted in a goal, of course helped by a jellied Adrian.

It's posts like this which reminds me that it's not just pundits who are clueless about football.

Offline Jookie

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6430 on: July 2, 2020, 02:01:34 pm »
The one thing I find remarkable about Virgil is that he'll be 29 next week, and he's undoubtedly the best centre back in the World, but he's only got 33 international caps so far.

I thought he'd have had a lot more. Recently noticed he only got his international debut in late 2015 whilst at Southampton.

Probably a reflection of his development over the last few years.
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Offline Sangria

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6431 on: July 2, 2020, 02:07:01 pm »
The one thing I find remarkable about Virgil is that he'll be 29 next week, and he's undoubtedly the best centre back in the World, but he's only got 33 international caps so far.

I thought he'd have had a lot more. Recently noticed he only got his international debut in late 2015 whilst at Southampton.

Probably a reflection of his development over the last few years.

Didn't he take up professional football relatively late? IIRC he was working as a dishwasher or something early on in his career. He was also strolling it in Scottish football. PL football with Southampton was where he was first seriously tested.
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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6432 on: July 2, 2020, 02:13:30 pm »
Perhaps I was wrong to say Joe Gomez panic when not paired with VVD. He panicked even when paired with VVD.

He was great against teams who wanted to go on a foot race with him and tactically inept such as Leicester. Which at that point led me to believe he would truly develop into a starter for England.

But seeing his display against a cunning Atletico and more recently Crystal Palace, he has that tendency to drop back deep and panic when their attackers have the ball right in front of him, giving that extra 5 yards of space. The Atletico game resulted in a goal, of course helped by a jellied Adrian.

I like it when someone doubles down on a stupid post. This explanation is worse than the original post.

Offline El Lobo

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6433 on: July 2, 2020, 02:27:28 pm »
I like it when someone doubles down on a stupid post. This explanation is worse than the original post.

I like him the best, because he doesn’t even realise.
If he's being asked to head the ball too frequently - which isn't exactly his specialty - it could affect his ear and cause an infection. Especially if the ball hits him on the ear directly.

Offline Jookie

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6434 on: July 2, 2020, 02:53:21 pm »
Didn't he take up professional football relatively late? IIRC he was working as a dishwasher or something early on in his career. He was also strolling it in Scottish football. PL football with Southampton was where he was first seriously tested.

Think working as a dishwasher was in parallel with being at Gronigen's academy. Made his 1st team debut for Gronigen when he was 19 so not that late. Played over 60 games before he was 22. Which isn't too bad for a centre back in a top league.

No idea what he was like at Celtic. Remember him being there and remember him scoring a few belters from free kicks for them. No idea if he was head and shoulders above anyone at that level though. Got in the Scottish PFA Team of the Year twice but never won Player of there Year. Seasons he was there Kris Commons and Stefan Johansen won Scottish PFA Player of the Year and Commons and Craig Gordon won the Scottish Writer Player of the Year awards.

He's bloomed into an amazing player though. Maybe that's to be expected for centre backs. Not all good centre backs are wold beaters at 21/22. Jaap Stam was similar in terms of his career trajectory. Was playing for Willem II when he was 23/24. Only left Holland when he was 26 for United and only been capped a few years earlier (had about 20 caps at the time). Soon as he was at United it was obvious he was an elite centre back. Virgil is better but there are similarities in terms of really growing between that 24-26 age range and needing to find their feet at a lower level 1st.

It's probably why we can be so excited about Joe Gomez, despite him not being the finished article. He's regularly throwing in boss performances at the highest level of club football and he's just turned 23. Stam was at Willem II and VvD was at Celtic by this point in their careers.

I think Jookie might just be the best fisherman on this thread.

Offline Knight

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6435 on: July 2, 2020, 03:34:38 pm »
Gomez is 23? He is going to be absurdly good if he can stay relatively injury prone. I imagine he'll drop off a little quicker than Van Dijk because his size means he'll probably always rely on pace a little more but that won't be for years and years. These 2 could have another 6 years as our centre back pairing.

Offline RedForeverTT

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6436 on: July 2, 2020, 04:36:23 pm »
I like it when someone doubles down on a stupid post. This explanation is worse than the original post.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Maybe you haven't understood

Offline Sangria

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6437 on: July 2, 2020, 04:42:18 pm »
Think working as a dishwasher was in parallel with being at Gronigen's academy. Made his 1st team debut for Gronigen when he was 19 so not that late. Played over 60 games before he was 22. Which isn't too bad for a centre back in a top league.

No idea what he was like at Celtic. Remember him being there and remember him scoring a few belters from free kicks for them. No idea if he was head and shoulders above anyone at that level though. Got in the Scottish PFA Team of the Year twice but never won Player of there Year. Seasons he was there Kris Commons and Stefan Johansen won Scottish PFA Player of the Year and Commons and Craig Gordon won the Scottish Writer Player of the Year awards.

He's bloomed into an amazing player though. Maybe that's to be expected for centre backs. Not all good centre backs are wold beaters at 21/22. Jaap Stam was similar in terms of his career trajectory. Was playing for Willem II when he was 23/24. Only left Holland when he was 26 for United and only been capped a few years earlier (had about 20 caps at the time). Soon as he was at United it was obvious he was an elite centre back. Virgil is better but there are similarities in terms of really growing between that 24-26 age range and needing to find their feet at a lower level 1st.

It's probably why we can be so excited about Joe Gomez, despite him not being the finished article. He's regularly throwing in boss performances at the highest level of club football and he's just turned 23. Stam was at Willem II and VvD was at Celtic by this point in their careers.

We can be excited by Gomez because, in Van Dijk and Gomez, we have 2 CBs with the rarest and in demand of qualities: pace. Van Dijk gets neutrals salivating because of his recovery pace, but Gomez is even quicker. Add their superior reading of the game (the first five yards is in the head) and their technical ability, and you have a hell of a defensive unit for a team wanting to play football. If there are any pacy tall young players around with a brain, we should be moving heaven and hell to sign them. Even if they don't make it in their designated position, they can be useful elsewhere.
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Offline Clayton Bigsby

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6438 on: July 8, 2020, 03:49:15 pm »
Happy birthday VVD. What a signing!!

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Re: Virgil Van Dijk PFA Player of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year
« Reply #6439 on: July 8, 2020, 04:56:42 pm »
transformational signing