He should be able to improve his jumping ability quite easily and significantly by doing simple plyometric exercises, I noticed that they don’t seem to do any in the gym sessions?
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I don’t think he was losing those duels because his vertical leap was inadequate. His timing was off and he was not physically aggressive.
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Konate also more aggressive. Quansah very similar to Van Dijk, a little bit too passive, I think its good to have more aggressive one next to Van Dijk. Especially when we don’t have dedicated defensive mid.
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He does seem too nice and likely to be bullied by more aggressive forwards I must admit. Also being confident to outjump anyone will help him gain an advantage imo.
Quansah is a young guy whose coaching has been working on developing his overall ability to be an elite centre back, something which he has the potential to do. Playing against forwards who have come up through the Championship is a different sort of challenge. No panic, that stuff is a lot easier to teach and learn than the technical skill he already has.
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Not sure passive is the right way to describe Van Dijk’s defending.
VVD is probably being preserved in those positions so as to be the last line of defense (in case the tackle by the other CB) doesn’t go as per plan.
Van Dijk is a physical monster, allowing him to confidently wait until the last second to take action—it’s his gift. However, I think his partner needs to be more proactive in duels.
Passively imposing.
Virgil isn’t one of those defenders that has to give himself much to do to look good because his positioning and reading of the game is unmatched, he’s like that really annoying kid in class who would never pay attention to anything, never did his homework - yet when the time for exams came around would get A*s across the board.
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Van Dijk is a beast in the air.
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Listening to LFCTV one of the commentators gave an explanation as to why Delap got the better of Quansah at times. They both have together come through the academy system since they were 12 and know each other well. Next time they meet each other in a competitive match I know who will prevail and that is not going to be Delap!
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Is that from playing together for England? Delap was at the Derby academy.
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He means they played against each other at U21 level when Delap was at Man City.
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