The statistics support the notion that Virgil van Dijk, a forward for Liverpool, has lowered his standards after what has appeared to be a bad start to the season.
There is no question that Van Dijk has improved as a defender in recent years; Michael Owen has even gone so far as to call him the greatest center back in history.
While most people probably wouldn’t have gone that far, the Liverpool defender has more than justified his price tag, making him briefly the most expensive defender in the world.
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The 31-year-old defender has faced increased criticism this season as things have not gone well for the Reds or him.
The criticism began after the opening weekend’s draw with Fulham, intensified after his contribution to Jadon Sancho’s goal against Manchester United, and arguably peaked in the Champions League defeat to Napoli.
The Netherlands defender, who was even criticized while representing his country abroad, has asserted that Liverpool’s team spirit is being undermined by the criticism, much like Harry Maguire did when he said that people were only “wanting clicks.”
However, it appears that the statistics may support many who have questioned the former Southampton player’s form, or at the absolute least they demonstrate that he is not performing at the highest level.
Van Dijk has undoubtedly fallen short in the majority of the crucial facets of defending, according to WhoScored, the arbitrators of all stats.
Van Dijk only needed to make 0.5 and 0.6 tackles per game in the previous two seasons, but so far this season, he has made 0.7 tackles per game.
Similar to the last example, he was expected to only make 1 and 0.9 interceptions per game in the 2020–21 and 21–22 seasons, respectively, but he has already made 1.6 in the current season.
When Van Dijk is on the field, Klopp’s team has only been able to catch opponents’ offsides 0.3 times per league game, compared to 1, 1.2, and 1.3 times in seasons past.
Again, the fact that he’s making 0.6 blocks per game, compared to as few as 0.1 in past seasons, illustrates how much more defense the team has to do.
Van Dijk’s skill with the ball at his feet is one of the best things about having him in the lineup for Klopp, but even that isn’t working out as well.
For starters, Dutch veteran Marco van Basten alleged that the defender was a “strange” player who didn’t use the ball aggressively enough.
The statistics undoubtedly support the idea that he is not as effective a passer as he was in prior seasons, if not as excellent.
In the 2020–21 season, Van Dijk was producing 0.4 critical passes per game at his peak, with a pass completion rate as high as 90%.
His passing success percentage has dipped to just 87.1% this season, which is the lowest it has been since he was at Southampton, and he has only made 0.1 critical passes per game.
Stats clearly support the criticism leveled at the defender, and it doesn’t appear that it has anything to do with team spirit.
If the stats continue in their current course, he won’t suddenly stop being one of the best defenders in the world, but opponents will begin to notice the “aura” about him less.
It’s not surprising that he recently saw a decline in performance after performing at such a high level for the previous two years; the question is how long that drop will endure.