Jamie Carragher jumped to Virgil van Dijk’s defense for Liverpool, saying he is “far better than Nemanja Vidic.”
This season, the 31-year-old has faced increased criticism, and his performance in Sunday’s 2-2 tie between Liverpool and Arsenal brought new criticism.
As he attempted to clear the ball away, Van Dijk contributed to the first goal scored by the Gunners.
Instead, the Dutch international placed the ball into Gabriel Martinelli’s path, who toe-poked the ball past Alisson Becker.
Fans and social media platforms were obviously confused by his display.
Many brought up prior comparisons with John Terry, Vincent Kompany, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and other Manchester United and Man City legends.
Carragher responded to this on Twitter by asserting that Van Dijk is still the league’s top center-back.
“VVD is far better than Vidic, who was a top center-back – have you forgotten his performances against Torres?,” Carragher commented on social media.
“Rio and JT (John Terry) had bad seasons in their careers, just like all players do, and VVD is currently having one,” Carragher continued. “No center-back has ever had the effect VVD has had on a side in the Premier League era.
“He’s not only the league’s finest center back; for the four years prior to this one, he shared the league’s best player honors with Kevin de Bruyne“.
Van Dijk has come under a lot of criticism recently.
Former Netherlands great, Marco Van Basten also criticized his Credentials as Captain simply because of his inability to pass a message across to his teammates.