Two players at the heart of Liverpool’s defensive rejuvenation

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Liverpool finally seem to have addressed their defensive frailties with the signing of Virgin van Dijk and one other.

Despite losing Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona on Sunday there is a real positive feel about the Liverpool squad at the moment.

Blessed with arguably last summer’s greatest signing in Mohamed Salah, they now have surplus cash to go out and add to their squad despite spending an astounding £75m on Virgil van Dijk at the beginning of the January transfer window.

Jurgen Klopp’s side has generally boasted a decent number of quality attacking players since his arrival from Germany in 2015. Even without Coutinho the squad still can call upon the likes of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana to name but a few.

The real issue, and well reported it has been, are Liverpool’s options at the back, and for the first time since Klopp’s appointment the issue seems to have been somewhat addressed.

Virgil van Dijk is only one player but will undoubtedly make a massive difference to the entire XI. The Dutchman could not have experienced a better start to his career as a Red, netting a late winner against Everton in the Merseyside Derby last Friday on debut which knocked the Toffees out of the FA Cup.

The silent hero, however, is left-back Andrew Robertson, whose performances of late have begun to draw attention from the Liverpool faithful.

Alberto Moreno embodied all that was wrong with the Liverpool defence. Brilliant going forward and capable of producing wondrous play at times, but fundamentally completely incapable of stepping up to the mark in terms of defensive duties.

With Robertson having made the left full-back position his own in recent weeks, his all-round performances have drawn great praise from Reds fans on social media as the 23-year-old Scotland international continues to display dominance and composure all the way down the left flank.

The stats don’t lie either. Robertson won 82% of his duels and made 47 of his 53 passes. He won 83% of his tackles and finished the game with the most touches as reported in the Guardian.

For £8million (BBC), and relatively unnoticed at the start of the season, the youngster may play a much bigger role than expected in the rejuvenation of Liverpool.