Yes I can, he was playing for Groningen and you could see he was going places without knowing where it would stop or how high.
Ajax was interested but they choose Mike van der Hoorn because they did not think van Dijk could master the Ajax way of playing , arrogant bastards got what they deserved. The illustrious Mike van der Hoorn wend to Swansea and now plays at Bielefeld.
The 20-year old Van Dijk was good, tall, self-assured but young, inexperienced and not so strong as he is now.
I still thinks thatās an incredibly harsh view, especially when you think that not one centre back ever has never dropped a clanger. That includes VvD.
IMO your comparison with Lovren is miles off. On the one hand we have Phillips who has dominated the aerial battle. Lovren regularly miss calculates the flight of the ball for both his feet and his head along with a propensity to dive into a challenge. Iāve seen none of those issues with Phillips. If anything Kabak is a more likely comparison. Your also trying to compare a lad with a hand full of PL games under his belt to a seasoned defenders that Lovren, Gomez and Matip clearly are.
To my mind he has done everything asked of him and our results are starting to show for it. That also needs to complimented with Kabak clearly finding his feet and the reintroduction of Fabinho into midfield. There is clearly some synergy developing between the two which can only be a good thing but are they a world dominating defensive partnership? No. Will they possibly help us sneak back into the top 4? Quite possibly, if other teams slip up.
Actually in his last season Lovren played similar amount of minutes and games in the league as Nat has but had a slightly higher number of clearances and slightly higher success rate on aerial duels.
Not doing Lovren many favours there ARDā¦ or maybe you praising Nat to the hiltā¦ Not sure which it is
That will be the same Lovren that had the 2018 world cup final experience, as well as much much more European and Premier league games in his armoury thenā¦
The same Lovren that announced to the world he should get recognised as one of the worlds best defenders
Not exactly comparing apples with apples there ARD because similar age and game time should have come into your calculations eh
Where was the mistake from Phillips he followed Silva covering him has he moved towards the ball and Silva produced a clever flick to put Gibbs White in, Phillips was doing what he his coached to do!!!
Loved the inference to what Carragher said, as I thought the pairing were working well together in their positiong and covering for each other, which for me is making the partnership look effective.
Lovren: Shit in the air, a liability.
Phillips: Dominant in the air, apparently wins absolutely everything.
Reality: Lovren actually won more and cleared more despite our style of play meaning he would have less opportunity at both.
Phillips is doing fantastic for who he is and the ability he has. Itās all getting far too overblown though and thatās not going to help anyone. Itās Flanagan and Spearing all over again.
Er, no. He rushed into an area already covered by Fabinho, caused a mix up and left a gaping hole behind him completely unnecessarily which was exploited.
Phillips is seen challenging for the ball and more front footed because teams predominantly attack down our right, Kabak was just as front footed as Phillips when they went down his side, in fact I was really pleased to see how many times he got his foot in front of Traore when the ball was played up to him.
Carragher was doing his best to verbally run Kabak out of town and loves him some good old fashioned English no nonsense football. Maybe his comments on Kabak and Phillips should be taken into context of his preferences and his desire to not seem too stupid over what heās previously said. Kabak recently has been head and shoulders above Phillips itās not even a contest.
Most of their attacking came down our left with Traore, Robertson was ran ragged all night and had an awful game. Alexander-Arnold was solid and shut down our right.
Nope, watch our game our CBās dont hold a line they are coached to stay with their player and to be front footed when challenging, this happens all the time, not saying as a coach I agree with it but it is what our defenders are coached to do!
A different type of attack as it wasnāt aerially to get in between the full back and CB, it came down in wider positions and not long balls mainly passes to feet.
You sir just make things up to support your argument, neither are perfect and they both covered each other well which is what a parntnership is about. For me Kabak was the motm but as others say, you have to compare one player against the other to prove a point, when both played well and both made mistakes for me overall the partnership was good as they compliment each other well.
Iāve heard that mentioned before and Iām not seeing it and I really think itās oversimplifying what we are seeing. Weāve never been a man to man team, weāre all about zones and positional play with players drilled where to be, when to press, when to hold back, when to challenge etc. Weāve played a high line yes, with Virgil or Joel challenging for the ball on the halfway line but I donāt think I have seen them challenging for a ball having started in line with their partner and then ended up leaving them 20 yards behind having rushed up to try and meet it.
Weāve seen Skrtel do that as well as Lovren, itās bull in a china shop basically. Everyone is going on about how unflashy and solid Phillips is but in my mind heās being totally flashy with rushing out at everything that moves or going to ground while making a clearance. Itās getting attention, thatās for sure. Heās being bigged up beyond his actual performance level purely because of how visible he has been in what he has done well while the obvious flaws in performances go unnoticed.
We are only zonal when they are in our area or we are defending deeper. On the initial long pass the CBās tend to be marking a player and we follow the player to challenge for the ball, sometimes challenging in areas where we shouldnāt and I actually agree with you with regards of Phillips being drawn in to an area where he didnāt need to go. I have seen this numerous times for it not to be what they are coached to do.
Regarding the zonal, I do sometimes pull my hair out in the in game threads because we dont follow the man when we need to, and players are free in very dangerous positions.
Everyone is going on about how unflashy and solid Phillips is but in my mind heās being totally flashy with rushing out at everything that moves or going to ground while making a clearance. Itās getting attention, thatās for sure. Heās being bigged up beyond his actual performance level purely because of how visible he has been in what he has done well while the obvious flaws in performances go unnoticed.
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In this shit season we are having, doom and gloom around every turn, ābiggingā up Phillips and Kabak has come as welcome relief to meā¦ It has become a feelgood factor after such a horrible, dark and chaotic year.
We are still in the CL, four good games and we reach the final peopleā¦
Let that sink in - 4 GAMESā¦
Perform well and the boys will be able to see their reflection again in old big ears as they take to the pitchā¦ The CL music blasting out, the guys will know, we their faithful fans are watching them from every part of the globeā¦ willing them on, willing them to play well.
We are hunting down No.7 peopleā¦ No.7.!!
So what if Kabak and Phillips are the worst CB pairing in Europeā¦ Who cares!
They are ours, they are all we have, they wonāt let us downā¦
It is what fairy-tales are made from :0)
It must be rememberedā¦
The shit situation we have staggered to todayā¦
It is not the fault of these young guys!