Former West Ham manager David Moyes has joined a long list of admirers for Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk admitting the Reds captain is a top center-half and is at the peak of his game again. The recent episode of public admiration for the 32-year-old came at the back of an impressive Liverpool win over Manchester City on Sunday at Anfield.
A first-half goal from Cody Gakpo before Mohammed Salah ensured the game was beyond the champions with a 77th-minute penalty saw Liverpool end the day 11 points adrift of Pep Guardiola’s side after 13 games in the Premier League.
Speaking on BBC Match Of The Day, David Moyes who knows all too well about Virgil Van Dijk did not hold back in his outpour of praise and admiration for Liverpool’s no.4.
“His performance today was superb, all-round, and with his general play and positioning. I don’t see the Liverpool center-backs generally walking around too much, certainly, Van Dijk did a great job dealing with the balls that were coming into the box.”
David Moyes who also managed Liverpool’s local rivals Everton pointed to what impressed him the most about Van Dijk against Manchester City.
“Positional-wise, whether it’s defending corners or clearing the ball, we all know his strengths are so good, but I thought today when he was needed he came up top.
They [Manchester City] never really played the ball behind many times, but when they did Van Dijk’s covering was excellent and he was in the right places at the right times. His all-round reading of the game was excellent.
His only blip [mistake that led to Kevin De Bryune through on goal] should not take anything away from his performance today.”
Moyes has faced Van Dijk 12 times as Manager and one thing lingers in his mind about the Dutchman.
“He is a brilliant reader of the game, he’s a top center half, and everybody is aware of that. But for me, it’s the basics. He is winning headers when he should be.”
Moyes also thought Van Dijk should have at least been on the scoresheet once against Man City after he came close to scoring with three headers from corners.
“He fought Haaland throughout the game, made Haaland get very few opportunities in the game, defended the box when he needed to do so, played high when he needed to do so as well, and actually, he had a couple of good chances at goal with headers, once hitting the post and another one he should probably have scored. So he was a huge presence in box boxes today.”
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