‘He looks spent’: Liverpool told one first-team player looks ‘overcooked’

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Damien Delaney has claimed that Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk looks ‘overcooked’ and ‘spent’ following his poor start to the new Premier League season, as he told Off the Ball.

The former Crystal Palace player added that Van Dijk has become ‘reactionary’ and that isn’t his type of game because he is usually ‘two steps ahead’ of everybody else.

Liverpool were thrashed in midweek when they suffered a 4-1 loss to Napoli in their opening Champions League game of the 2022/23 season.

This isn’t a case of one off-game from the Reds, or a player like Van Dijk not showing up for a game, but a number of weeks of trouble.

From Jurgen Klopp’s side opening game draw to Fulham and then their defeat at Old Trafford, it’s been a worrying start for all.

And someone like Van Dijk has been in the spotlight, with Delaney sharing that the 31-year-old already looks ‘seriously, seriously tired’.

“He definitely looks overcooked to me,” said Delaney. “He looks seriously, seriously tired. If you watch him play, then everything is reactionary. It’s happening and then he is reacting. And that’s not what he’s about.

“He’s not a blood and guts defender. He’s not a Vidic or a Martinez, who has come into Manchester United. This guy is a reader. Two steps ahead of everybody else. He goes in at half-time with a clean pair of shorts on.

“I suppose, if your concentration levels drop off, even by a couple of per cent, and you are a reader of the game and you are reacting, then I tell you if you are reacting at that level, then you are done and over. He looks spent.”

NEVER WRITE A PLAYER LIKE VAN DIJK OFF

The issue here isn’t just a Van Dijk issue, but the whole team not clicking to their previously very, very high standards.

A lot of heat came Liverpool’s way when they were beaten at Manchester United, and they reacted by thrashing Bournemouth 9-0.

Well, they haven’t been able to react this weekend following their defeat in Naples because football has been suspended because of the Queen’s death.

But when Liverpool and Van Dijk go back out there again, they will be liked a wounded animal trying to prove its worth again and that’s where they are probably at their best.