04 Dec 2016 09:55:22
Virgil Van Dijk? Any chance in January of a liverpool move and would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the player Ed001. Does seem his pace and power gets him out of a few lapses in concentration positionally but rarely gets caught out.

{Ed001's Note - I don't expect him to go anywhere in January.

As for the player himself, physically he is damn near the perfect player. Big, very big and strong as an ox, fast as well, with a decent leap too. His pace and power are amongst the best of any centre back around. On the ball he is very good too, his touch is excellent and his passing is very good.

However he is caught out of position far too much, sometimes through ball watching and sometimes because he has charged forward and lost the ball, then made no effort to get back. Often he can rescue the situation with his power and pace, but there are far too many times when he is too busy stood watching to help out at the back. Last weekend, for instance, he made a charge forward with the ball, it was lost behind him around the halfway line, just a couple of yards from him, and he just stood watching while his team mates battled for the ball, goalside of him. There was no attempt to get goalside in case it broke the other way, or an attempt to get involved and win the ball. He just stood watching, affecting nothing. Indecision like that is unforgivable. It reminds me of Glenn Johnson, where there is so much ability there but the mental side of the game is completely missing.}

1.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 10:56:47
Excellent response. Thanks Ed001.

You probably answered this before but who would be your number 1 realistic choice as partner for Matip now Mustafi is out of the realistic list?

{Ed001's Note - I would like to see what Gomez can do, personally. There are no realistic quality centre backs out there, that I have seen anyway. So I would allow Gomez to fight Lovren for the place. Lucas is good cover.}

2.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:12:19
Hi eds

Would he improve playing Klopps style of football surrounded by better players?

Eg. I think Lovren has improved under Klopp.

The way Klopp has us defending as a team as high up the pitch as possible where his pace and power would be an asset to us
And he would improve us at set pieces at both ends.

{Ed001's Note - he certainly would not be all that much of an improvement at set pieces, he gets caught napping at them a lot. I just don't see any hope for him, not just by working with Klopp. He is too much of a Glenn Johnson, imo. He needs a life changing experience to change his attitude and make him see what he needs to do. He just does not have the focus required.}

3.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:18:22
Do you think ed001 it is possible he could grow as a player and become more composed, like you said with sol campbell, or is he just a player hopelessly destined to have no footballing intelligence, like moreno or johnson?

{Ed001's Note - Johnson, nor Van Dijk, lack intelligence. It is focus and desire they lack. They are mentally sleepwalking because it has all come to them too easily. Not necessarily easily, but more easily than most. David James was another, they are natural players, so they lack focus and drive, as they can do it early on without needing to put the same effort in that others have to. Unless something occurs to focus them on the game, they tend to just drift through their careers, never quite achieving what they can, but still showing flashes of quality to keep people hoping that they might.}

4.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:29:01
Van Dijk is nowhere near good enough for Liverpool. I'm all for Gomez getting his chance, it's about time for the lad, if it wasn't for his injury I reckon he'd of already been there doing the job by now.

5.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:29:01
Van Dijk is nowhere near good enough for Liverpool. I'm all for Gomez getting his chance, it's about time for the lad, if it wasn't for his injury I reckon he'd of already been there doing the job by now.

6.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:30:37
What about Fonte? He seems to be the CB who keeps making his CB partner look like a boss.

{Ed001's Note - love him but too old to make his price worth paying.}