One Liverpool player was publicly criticised by his national team coach after their fixture on Friday night.
Unsurprisingly there was a healthy LFC presence in the Netherlands side which beat Norway 2-1, with Reds trio Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo all starting (Jeremie Frimpong was an unused substitute).
The Oranje prevailed despite going a goal down in the 24th minute as Andreas Schjelderup found the net, and Dutch boss Ronald Koeman was unhappy with the 23-year-old midfielder for not providing cover for Denzel Dumfries.
Speaking to reporters after the game, the former Everton boss raged (via Liverpool World): “The moment Teun [Koopmeiners] tracks down the full-back who is making a deep run inside, someone else needs to defend the inside-outside.
“Ryan [Gravenberch] does nothing there! He needs to get to Denzel earlier. He is over the top there. Those kinds of moments in the penalty area need to improve. A full-back needs help from the inside; we didn’t do that well.”
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Although Liverpool’s number 38 may feel he could’ve done more to prevent Norway from taking the lead, he still put in a decent performance overall in his 82 minutes on the pitch, with Koeman giving the midfielder the chance to make amends.
As per Sofascore, Gravenberch completed 52 of his 56 passes (94%) and both of his dribbles, won five duels, made two tackles and one interception, and lost the ball only nine times from 76 touches.
The 23-year-old wasn’t in the Netherlands squad at the last World Cup and didn’t get on the pitch at Euro 2024, but so long as he doesn’t succumb to injury (fingers crossed), he’ll surely get to feature on the biggest stage for his country this summer.
Over the past six months, the midfielder hasn’t quite hit the same levels which led Van Dijk to declare that he was in ‘the form of his life‘ last year, and Koeman didn’t spare him over the Norway goal last night, but he remains a crucial figure for both club and country.
Here’s hoping Gravenberch can finish the season on a high for Liverpool and get some well-deserved action at the World Cup in June and July.
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