Graham Ruthven looks at how the return to fitness of Virgil van Dijk gives Liverpool another dimension in attack, as well as in defence.
The impact of Virgil van Dijk’s long-awaited return to fitness is evident in the scorelines Liverpool have registered in their opening two Premier League fixtures of the 2021/22 season. Norwich City barely got a sniff of goal against the Reds on opening weekend, and it was a similar story for Burnley at Anfield on Saturday as Liverpool made it clean sheets in back-to-back games.
Of course, van Dijk was always expected to steady Liverpool this season. The 30-year-old is the most complete, accomplished defender of his generation. Van Dijk is as strong in the air as he is in the tackle. He reads the game well and can handle the ball at his feet. All this was evident in the 2-0 win over Burnley, which saw van Dijk make more clearances (seven) and blocks than anyone else.
Van Dijk the driving force
Any team would be defensively stronger with van Dijk’s presence at the back, but the Dutchman’s contribution cannot be quantified purely by clean sheets. Indeed, van Dijk has also revived Liverpool as an attacking unit.
While Jurgen Klopp’s side carried a threat in the final third last season, their cutting edge in front of goal was blunted as they finished behind Manchester City and Manchester United as the Premier League’s third highest scorers. Liverpool’s attacking play was more predictable.
With van Dijk back in the side, though, the Reds have started their 2021/22 campaign with five goals in their opening two games. This is no coincidence and the win over Burnley demonstrated exactly how important the Dutch defender is to the way Liverpool play out from the back, particularly against opponents that employ a low defensive block.
While Trent Alexander-Arnold (66) and Joel Matip (60) both played more passes against the Clarets than van Dijk (52), no outfield player in red attempted more long passes (11) than him. Four of those long passes found their target, establishing a bypass for Liverpool between their defence and their attacking line.
This was evident in the way Liverpool constructed their second goal, with van Dijk pinging a diagonal ball from deep directly on to the chest of Harvey Elliott out on the right wing. This allowed Elliott to take on his man and feed Alexander-Arnold, who flipped the pass through for Sadio Mane to finish.
There is no other centre back in the game who can play this sort of pass with the dependable consistency of van Dijk. It’s a key part of the way Klopp likes to get his team turned and running at deep and compact opponents, like Burnley. When this supply line was cut last season, Liverpool lost a dimension.
Liverpool are regaining control
So much has been said and written about Liverpool’s defence since van Dijk suffered a season-ending injury in the Merseyside derby last year. Klopp himself appeared to lose his grip on what makes his team tick as he experimented with a number of round-peg-in-square-hole options that were never going to fill the void left by van Dijk.
Not so much has been said on the attacking balance van Dijk brings to Liverpool. There is now a degree of measure to the Reds’ play that was missing for much of the 2020/21 campaign. Liverpool will face tougher opponents than Norwich and Burnley this season, but their structure, and even their spirit, as a team has been restored.
Klopp’s Liverpool have been widely typecast as a fast and furious attacking outfit with no handbrake. While they can certainly play in this way, Liverpool won their first Premier League title by demonstrating control in most of the matches they played. This is something van Dijk provides in his shrewd use of the ball.
In the age of possession play, Liverpool’s style is a warped interpretation of the zeitgeist. Klopp’s team still hold on to the ball, but not always through the on-the-floor, five-yard passes that rivals like Manchester City rack up. Instead, Liverpool look to harm you in different ways and van Dijk, now fully fit and finally back in the side, is one of those different ways.