Paul Robinson wasn’t happy with what he saw from one Liverpool player in the early minutes of the second half against Paris Saint-Germain tonight.
The Reds fell behind to a deflected Desire Doue shot in the 11th minute at the Parc des Princes, and although they were profoundly unlucky in that instance, they were indebted to Giorgi Mamardashvili for a couple of strong saves in the first half.
It took until the 49th minute for the visitors to record their first shot of the game, a Hugo Ekitike effort which curled harmlessly wide, and it was around that time in the match when Virgil van Dijk was seen screaming at Joe Gomez for not providing him with an overlap.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Robinson expressed his irritation at seeing the Liverpool captain openly berating his teammate, saying: “Virgil van Dijk once again criticising his teammates. There is no need for Van Dijk to criticise Joe Gomez when he didn’t overlap him.”
The Dutchman’s anger wasn’t lost on Sky Sports reporter Pete Gill either as he observed: “Not for the first time in recent weeks, Van Dijk is attracting attention as he berates a team-mate. He was imperious as a title-winning captain last season. A question: is he a good captain in a struggling team?”
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It happens in every single game that players will shout at teammates whenever an error occurs or whenever they’re trying to transmit an important message, so we don’t see any great issue with Van Dijk giving out to Gomez in that instance.
However, with the captain openly admitting that he and Liverpool effectively threw in the towel against Manchester City on Saturday, there appears to be a growing tendency for him to lead by word rather than deed, which hasn’t been the case throughout his time with the Reds.
With LFC enduring such a chastening season – and looking set to go down to another defeat against PSG, at the time of writing – they could do with their skipper leading by example rather than calling out teammates.
That said, Van Dijk was also seen trying to encourage the rest of the Liverpool players after they went 2-0 behind to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s goal in the 65th minute, and it’ll take a collective effort from the Reds to keep the tie alive going to Anfield next week.
What LFC need now is unity, not a blame culture.
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just like Salah, the big bucks and reduced performance seem to go hand in hand.
Couple that with a coach that’s substandard and owns no motivational skills, and this is what we’re left with, panic and accusations in a team that used to be solid.
should be on the captain to rouse the team in the lack of coach based guidance and drive, but I also don’t blame him.
Virgil is Dutch so Slot will never drop him, Gomez came up through our academy, so he’s probably looking for an excuse to get rid.
Van dijk is the best candidate for captain at the moment. With age, yes his abilities are not as good. Similar to any other world class players, we cannot expect them to be as good. The manager or coach must know how to play these players so they still produce the best output. Unfortunately we do not have such a coach currently.
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