Journalist joins in on criticism of Liverpool star – 'Changeable and erratic' player should be dropped
07/08/2024 01:16 PM
You don't have to travel very far or dig very deep in the Netherlands media to find someone willing to criticise Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk and today it's the turn of Henk Spaan.
He has criticised the Liverpool star today and insists he should be dropped by the Netherlands for their Euro 2024 semi-final with England.
Van Dijk is the epitome of a Marmite player in his homeland, with the love and adoration he receives at Liverpool often hard to come by, particularly in the media.
Criticism is often forthcoming for him there, with journalists, pundits, analysts and former players never missing the opportunity to take a swipe if they can.
That's been happening with regularity this summer as the defender leads his country at Euro 2024 in Germany.
Ronald Koeman's side have made it to the semi-finals of the tournament, where they will face England on Wednesday, but it has not been an easy tournament for them.
Indeed, they had to fight to get through the quarter-final clash against Türkiye, with a 76th minute own goal seeing them over the line.
Van Dijk endured a particularly difficult evening as the rest of the Dutch defence struggled against the likes of Kenan Yildiz, Arda Güler and Barış Alper Yılmaz.
Spaan was particularly unimpressed by the Liverpool star's performance and believes he should be dropped.
“I actually think that Stefan de Vrij is now the leader of the defense,” he said.
“Van Dijk, it’s the same as with Memphis… You can see that there is skill, but it is so changeable and erratic.
“He briefly gives Nathan Aké a yellow card because he loses a header duel that he did not. He (Van Dijk) gets a yellow card because he cannot win a duel. It is all very laboured."
“If you are very honest, he should just be taken out anyway,” Hugo Borst responded.
“Actually, Micky van de Ven would be a more obvious centre with De Vrij at this moment.”
“He (Koeman) won’t, because he is conservative, just like Didier Deschamps. We are not going to see this kind of change at this stage,” Spaan concluded.
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