da jogodeouro： Liverpool were one of the most difficult teams to predict ahead of the Premier League season. They had welcomed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai to take two steps forward towards completing their midfield rebuild, but the departures of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho forced them back to square one.
da apostaganha： A 0-0 draw against Chelsea on the opening day didn't help solve the Liverpool puzzle either, but wins over Bournemouth, Newcastle United, and Aston Villa, alongside the arrivals of Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch since that opening day draw, suggests that Jurgen Klopp's side will be, at the very least, vying for a place in the top four this season.
The Reds' superb start to the season hasn't put an end to the criticism, however, with Manchester City legend Richard Dunne taking aim at one of Jurgen Klopp's star men.
What has Richard Dunne said?
A lot changed at Liverpool during the summer transfer window, and one of those changes was the captaincy. Following the departure of Henderson, Klopp had a decision to make, and chose to hand Virgil van Dijk the armband.
The Dutchman, of course, was already the captain of his country, so he had more than enough experience of stepping into the role. It is with his country that he received criticism from Dunne, however, even after the Netherlands defeated Greece 3-0.
Dunne said, via The Boot Room: "It has left them very weak defensively, as a team they don’t have the balance right at the moment. They won the game against Gibraltar, but against teams that are a similar level they have really struggled.
"You don’t want to pin it on certain players, but the captain of the team at centre-back, Van Dijk, is one of the players who highlights the problems in the side. He seems to be very individualistic, he’s always pointing at people, pointing out their errors and nobody is working on their errors."
The criticism comes at a troublesome time for Van Dijk, too, given that the central defender recently had a moment to forget when he was sent off against Newcastle United, and has now been banned for a further game, missing next weekend's trip to Wolves.
How has Virgil van Dijk performed this season?
Aside from his controversial sending off against Newcastle, Van Dijk has looked far closer to his best than last season. The statistics only confirm that, too. As per FBref, the Liverpool captain is putting up better numbers than during the last campaign.
Player
Blocks Per 90
Interceptions Per 90
Clearances Per 90
Virgil van Dijk 23/24
0.87
3.48
6.96
Virgil Van Dijk 22/23
0.76
0.98
4.38
So, when it comes to performances, Van Dijk is far from struggling in the current campaign, albeit Dunne's criticism was aimed towards the defender's leadership capabilities.
As of right now, though, it is arguably too early to tell whether or not Van Dijk will be a good captain for Liverpool. As the months go on, and the Reds inevitably have their moments to forget, how Van Dijk gets them to regroup and go again will be a telling sign as to how good his leadership actually is.