Chris Sutton has claimed in his column for the Daily Mail that Liverpool are regaining their defensive confidence that cost them last season with competition to partner Virgil van Dijk.
Jurgen Klopp struggled to find a settled backline last term as he sought to replace Van Dijk’s importance. The Dutchman’s campaign came to an early end last October after sustaining cruciate ligament damage during the Merseyside derby.
Not long after, the Reds suffered another season-ending loss when Joe Gomez ruptured his patella tendon while on England duty. Joel Matip, too, suffered multiple injuries last term, with his campaign ending in January after an ankle ligament problem.
Van Dijk and Matip have opened all of Liverpool’s Premier League fixtures this season, while Gomez returned to the bench. The 11-cap Three Lions enforcer has played one minute as a late substitute against Burnley last month since last November.
Klopp also brought Ibrahima Konate to Merseyside for £36m this summer. And Sutton feels having Van Dijk, Matip, Gomez and Konate contending for minutes is helping Liverpool to find their defensive confidence again, after the struggles endured without them last term.
“There’s competition now to be Virgil van Dijk’s partner,” Sutton wrote. “Joel Matip has started every game this season, but Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate are keen and waiting for their chances to make that position their own.
“Defensively, that confidence is coming back for Klopp’s side. It cost them last season when Van Dijk was out. But now he is back, and so is that ‘thou shalt not pass’ belief.”
Have Liverpool found their confidence with Van Dijk return, like Sutton claims?
Liverpool have produced one of the toughest defences in the Premier League thus far this term, like Sutton suggests, with Van Dijk and Matip forming the central blockade. No one has allowed fewer goals than the Reds (1), who also have three clean sheets in four games.
Only Manchester City (5.3) and Wolves (8.3) have also allowed fewer shots per game than Klopp’s men (9.5), per WhoScored. The Anfield natives’ defensive work has also held up, despite only making the 17th-most tackles a game (13.5) on average. The same as Arsenal.
Van Dijk and Matip have played a great part in Liverpool’s promising start, so Gomez and Konate may have to wait in the wings – like Sutton notes they currently are – a bit longer.
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