Sometimes we really have to wonder just why there’s such an agenda against Virgil van Dijk among a plethora of Dutch pundits.
From Marco van Basten to Ruud Gullit and many more in between, the Liverpool and Netherlands captain is inexplicably a lightning rod for fierce criticism among the media in his homeland.
To that list we can now add Henk Spaan, who blamed the 33-year-old for Nathan Ake’s yellow card in the Oranje’s 2-1 win over Turkiye in their Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday night.
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Speaking on the Hard Gras podcast, he vented: “I actually think that Stefan de Vrij is now the leader of the defence. Van Dijk, it’s the same as with Memphis [Depay]… You can see that there is skill, but it is so inconsistent and erratic.
“He even gets Nathan Aké a yellow card because he loses a headed duel that he shouldn’t. He [Van Dijk] gets a yellow card because he cannot win a duel. It is all very sloppy.”
Fellow podcast guest Hugo Borst also put the boot into the Liverpool skipper, saying: “If you’re completely honest, he should just be [dropped]. Actually, Micky van de Ven would be a more obvious centre-back with De Vrij at this moment.”
if the likes of Spaan and Borst bothered to analyse the match as a whole rather than zoning in on one incident to fit their agenda, they’d see that Van Dijk was actually an instrumental figure in Netherlands coming from behind to book a semi-final date against England.
As per Sofascore, the centre-back won a team-high seven duels (out of 10), completed 86% of his passes and five out of eight attempted long-balls, and he made a whopping seven clearances in keeping Turkiye at bay.
The 33-year-old has performed solidly throughout the tournament, winning more aerial duels (3.6) and making more clearances (six) per game than anyone else in Ronald Koeman’s squad and recording the second-most long balls per match (3.6) for the Oranje (WhoScored).
The figures show that Van Dijk has been a pivotal player for his country at Euro 2024, and if he’s the one raising the trophy aloft in Berlin next Sunday – just as Gullit did in Munch 36 years ago – surely then the naysayers will finally cease and desist.
Then again, considering the anti-VVD agenda which persists among some Dutch pundits, they’d probably still find fault with him even if he becomes a European Championship-winning captain. At least he’s appreciated for his true worth by Liverpool supporters.
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