• Football
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • Home
  • Football
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • Lionel Messi
    • Cristiano Ronaldo
    • EA FC 25
    • Wrexham
  • Boxing
    • Tyson Fury
    • Anthony Joshua
    • Oleksandr Usyk
    • Mike Tyson
    • Jake Paul
    • Logan Paul
  • UFC
    • Dana White
    • Conor McGregor
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov
    • Jon Jones
    • Paddy Pimblett
    • Joe Rogan
  • Other Sport
    • Athletics
    • Formula 1
    • MMA
    • Motorsport
    • NBA
    • Darts
    • NFL
    • Snooker
    • Wrestling
    • Tennis
    • Cricket
    • Golf
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Virgil Van Dijk Branded 'Lazy' For Defending Against Chelsea, The Footage Is Damning

Home> Football

Updated 19:49 2 Jan 2022 GMTPublished 19:18 2 Jan 2022 GMT

Virgil Van Dijk Branded 'Lazy' For Defending Against Chelsea, The Footage Is Damning

Virgil van Dijk's defending for Chelsea's equaliser was questioned by pundits and fans alike.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Virgil van Dijk has been branded "lazy" for the way in which he defended Christian Pulisic's equaliser at Stamford Bridge.

Pulisic latched onto a N'Golo Kante pass just before half-time and finished superbly with his left foot, levelling matters after being 2-0 down at home to Liverpool.

But Van Dijk has come in for criticism from pundits and fans alike for his role in the goal.

The attack wasn't down his side but the Dutch defender appeared to jog back towards his own goal rather than bust a gut to get across to Pulisic.

Former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness was not happy with what he saw from the former Celtic man.

“Why has Van Dijk not come across there?" Souness said on Sky Sports.

“He’s just running in a straight line back to his goal.

“Come over, come over, come over - he’s not even sprinting.”

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink chimed in, adding: "It’s lazy, isn’t it?”

On co-commentary, Manchester United legend Gary Neville had said Van Dijk had looked "uncomfortable" - while Jamie Carragher lamented the high line Liverpool deployed.

"They never cover each other - there’s an obsession with playing offside," Carragher stated.

“We noticed that right throughout the game, the space between the two centre-backs is too big.

"Initially, his starting position, Van Dijk, because he’s not intense enough to get over, he doesn’t want to cover his other centre-back.

"He stays in the same line, and that’s why he’s too far to get across.”

Having avoided the fastest red card in Premier League history, Sadio Mane put Liverpool ahead early on before Mo Salah scored a lovely solo goal to extend the visitors lead.

Mateo Kovacic scored one of the goals of the season to pull one back and Pulisic capitalised on a poor offside trap to equalise just before half-time.

After today's result, league leaders Manchester City are ten points clear of second-placed Chelsea and 11 ahead of Liverpool.

Featured Image Credit: Image: PA

Topics: Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool, Premier League, Chelsea

Josh Lawless
Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and WWE. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has covered two WrestleMania events for SPORTbible.

X

@joshlawless_

Choose your content:

4 hours ago
5 hours ago
6 hours ago
  • 4 hours ago

    Erik ten Hag suffers humiliating defeat in first Bayer Leverkusen game and everyone is saying the same thing

    Erik ten Hag got off to the worst possible start at Bayer Leverkusen when they faced Flamengo's Under 20 side in Rio de Janeiro.

    Football
  • 4 hours ago

    Arsenal accidentally leak new signing that nobody knew about after announcing Noni Madueke

    Arsenal announced the signing of Noni Madueke but accidentally leaked another addition to Mikel Arteta's squad.

    Football
  • 5 hours ago

    Alexander Isak gives 'green light' for staggering transfer as agent 'begins talks' with shock club

    Alexander Isak's agent is in talks over a shock move away from Newcastle United.

    Football
  • 6 hours ago

    Manchester City plotting shock move for England star as Fabrizio Romano drops bombshell on transfer

    Word on Manchester City's potential sixth signing of the summer has emerged courtesy of Fabrizio Romano.

    Football