Virgil van Dijk Faces Criticism as Liverpool Captain
Virgil van Dijk has been told by a presenter that he might not be “the best man” to be Liverpool captain, as his response of late has been poor and he’s been compared to Bruno Fernandes.
The Reds have had their fair share of issues of late. The defending Premier League champions are way off the pace in the league, seventh and 10 points behind leaders Liverpool.
They’ve lost six of their 16 games in the top flight this term and Mohamed Salah recently caused a stir when he revealed he felt the club had “thrown me under the bus” by benching him for three straight games.
Amid the struggles, club captain Van Dijk has looked frustrated at times, and talkSPORT presenter Angelina Kelly claims he’s not acting like a captain.
She said: “I’m not sure that I’m having him as a captain.
“Do I think that he is the best man for the job? I’m not too sure. I mean we’ve had Graeme Souness on talkSPORT not that long ago questioning if Liverpool even have a leader. I just feel like he gets away with a lot.
“He got given the captain’s armband after Jordan Henderson departed. I think it was a few weeks after that he actually got given a red card. He got fined for swearing.
“I guess it depends what people class as a good captain or the right captain.
“But with Liverpool’s dip in form I just don’t know if his response has been that good. We’ve seen him losing his head. We’ve seen him be very frustrated.
“One comparison I will make is someone like Bruno Fernandes who gets absolutely hammered for throwing his arms up in the air, for rolling his eyes, for huffing and puffing and not being happy.
“The more I watch Virgil van Dijk the more that I see him do it and he’s able to walk away.
“You look at some of the best Premier League captains: Roy Keane, John Terry, Tony Adams, Vincent Kompany. I just don’t see him in that bracket.”
Indeed, at times when Manchester United have been having problems, Fernandes has been called out for having a poor attitude.
Van Dijk has never really faced the sort of issues at Liverpool as he is this season, and while at times he has looked frustrated, there has been no dissent and there is not a better option in the squad to pull Liverpool out of the mire.
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