I feel a bit sorry for Van Dijk, where is the rest of the team, especially the defence on set pieces? Why if Van Dijk gets marked out of it does the opponent get a free header, its a shambles.
That was our strongest back 5 and they looked like they'd never played together.
They had hardly played together before, certainly not this season!
Their set-pieces were insanity on our behalf though. You could see Tarkowski instructing all their players to step six yards towards the back post and our players didn't react at all.
My job is to guard this square of grass and I will do so no matter what attitude. Virgil gets caught under the ball with the aid of some (legal) blocking and we have Trent up against their grocks at the back post.
Also, how we didn't seemingly prepare for them launching balls up to Calvert-Lewin is bewildering as it's their
only attacking option. We got given the run around by Atalanta hitting long balls up to Scamacca and getting runners off him but seemingly learnt nothing from the experience.
I think Klopp encourages more free-thinking than some other elite managers but our players still seem to lack that in-game adaptation and management at the moment. The stat that flashed up seconds before their second goal that they had won 5/5 of the first balls from corners is incredible (soon to become 6/6 and 2-0). They have some big lads but we're hardly Guardiola's Barca.
It's not all on Virgil by any means but as our most experienced defender and captain some of it is.
