Former Liverpool star Michael Owen has stated that Reds’ defender Virgil Van Dijk had a shocking night in Serbia against Red Star Belgrade.
During their clash against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, Liverpool suffered a horror show when they were 2-0 down to their opponents in less than half an hour. Milan Pavkov netted a brace to ensure that Liverpool does not leave Serbia with the mindset that they would progress through Group C comfortably.
With the defense falling apart for most of the ninety minutes, one player received heavy criticism from BT pundit Michael Owen. At £70 million, the world’s most expensive defender Virgil Van Dijk came under scrutiny as he had arguably one of his poorest games in a Liverpool jersey.
And former England international Michael Owen, who sung his praise for Van Dijk before the game labeling the 27-year-old the best defender in the world, slammed the Dutch star for his mistakes which cost Liverpool the points.
While speaking as a pundit on BT Sport, the 38-year-old said that it was the worst he has ever seen Virgil Van Dijk play in his career, “I said Van Dijk was the best defender in the world at the moment. That’s probably the worst I’ve ever seen him play. So it was bad from back to front, right the way through the team for Liverpool.”
Owen went on to point out Van Dijk’s errors at halftime which eventually led to Belgrade’s goals in the opening thirty minutes, “Van Dijk’s made a couple of mistakes, It’s frustrating because for a large part, the first part, really Liverpool were in control. And then there were a few mistakes here for the goal.”
Van Dijk might be a bit tired after taking on so much of the pressure on his shoulders and this is where his teammates should step in and help out the big central defender. There is no doubt about Van Dijk’s quality and he has upgraded the defense for sure but he is human after all and Klopp also needs to give him a break.
