‘Let his standards drop’: Pundit slams Liverpool ace who’ll be ‘one of the greatest’

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Gabby Agbonlahor has told talkSPORT that Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk will become ‘one of the greatest’ but thinks his performance over the weekend was one of ‘arrogance’.

The former Villa striker also claimed that Van Dijk let his ‘standards drop’ against Leeds by thinking it’s going to be ‘easy’ against the newly-promoted side.

In a thrilling game at Anfield, Liverpool beat Leeds United 4-3 with Van Dijk handing the away side their second goal when his flick fell into the path of goalscorer Patrick Bamford.

It was a crazy game of football from the Premier League champions and the champions of the Championship, with five goals scored in the first-half.

Following Van Dijk’s mistake, this is what ex-Aston Villa striker, Agbonlahor, had to say about the Dutchman on Twitter and talkSPORT.

“Everyone knows Virgil van Dijk is an unbelievable defender,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT. “On the ball, he can switch the diagonals, and defensively no one wants to come up against him.

“But I felt [the] performance [against Leeds] was, from Van Dijk, arrogant; that flick he made in the goal he gave away, it felt like ‘we are playing Leeds United, it’s going to be an easy game and I can let my standards drop.

“And in that game, he did [let his standards drop]. Van Dijk is a great defender, and he will be one of the greatest defenders to ever play the game, but when people start putting him in the Vincent Kompany and Rio Ferdinand bracket. I think people forget how good certain players were as time goes by.”

Van Dijk did also make a mistake towards the back end of last season when he allowed Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson to dispossess him on the edge of his own area.

There’s no doubt that Van Dijk has been one of the best centre-back’s in world football during the past two seasons. Both have resulted in Jurgen Klopp’s side winning the Champions League and the Premier League.

But when a player sets such high standards, they are then compared with that high level on every occasion and Van Dijk is clearly in a situation where every mistake he makes will make headlines.