Speaking on the BBC Radio Five Live Football Daily Podcast, Micah Richards has been discussing some of the ongoing discussions around Virgil van Dijk as of late.
To say that the Dutchman has been below his best this season would be accurate. He’s been the single-most dominant defender in world football in recent years, but as of late, he’s looked rather shaky in moments.
However, there has been a massive overreaction in some circles around van Dijk’s performances, with some stating that he’s past his best or not good enough.
Richards has been less than impressed by some of these conversations, around van Dijk, calling some of the analysis around the Dutchman ‘nonsense’.
Richards not impressed
The pundit wasn’t happy with some of the analysis around van Dijk lately.
“I’m glad Van Dijk had a good game because I heard a lot of nonsense around him not being being any good anymore,” Richards said.
“For his confidence and a player I believe is top notch. When people start saying he’s no good and he can only play a certain style of play. The slander for Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold has been awful this season.”
Overreactions galore
This is an indictment of the football media space these days.
In a world where opposition fan voices are amplified just as much as pundits and experts, you’re bound to get a few bad takes.
So-called ‘fail compilations’ of van Dijk have been all over social media this season as rival supporters cherry-pick clips to make their least-favourite players look as bad as possible, and then opinions are formed based on these agendas being spread.
Has van Dijk been at his best this season? Probably not, but let’s be real, he’s still been one of the better defenders in the Premier League and he doesn’t deserve to be spoken about so negatively.
Richards is right to call this out.
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