Alan Shearer says Virgil van Dijk has been ‘terrible’ and Micah Richards has theory why

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Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat to Brentford on Saturday evening has thrown up huge concerns from pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards in terms of their defensive record – with Reds stars Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate being the latest duo to be singled out for criticism after being ‘terrible’.

Liverpool began the season in fine fashion with five wins in a row in the Premier League, but they have since followed that up with four defeats, falling off top spot to seventh in the table after their latest loss to Brentford.

Already trailing by a seven-point gap to leaders Arsenal, Arne Slot knows that something needs to change if they are to mount anything close to a title challenge. Their star summer signings simply haven’t shown up.

But it’s two of their old guard in Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate who have been the latest to be criticised, this time by Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, with the former being described as ‘terrible’ during the defeat in the capital.

Alan Shearer and Micah Richards think Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk needs bailing out by Ibrahima Konate

Virgil van Dijk has been the Premier League’s best centre-back for the past ten years, make no mistake.

But the Dutchman hasn’t been at the races over the past month or so, despite being dominant in the early makings of the campaign.

And it’s something that Shearer and Richards have noted, with Shearer beginning by stating that the Dutchman is ‘all over the place’ at present, as well as being terrible vs Brentford.

Speaking on The Rest is Football, the Premier League legend stated:

“But they are so bad all over the pitch. And I mean, say what you want about them in midfield — the lack of protection — or up front, the lack of connection between their signings.

“But defensively, oh my word.

“I mean, Van Dijk and Konate. The two fullbacks have had a lot of stick and a lot of criticism, and I understand that, and I get that. But the two centre-backs? They are all over the place.

“They’ve been terrible. And they were at Brentford — they were awful, both of them, I mean, Van Dijk and Konate, weren’t they?”

And Micah Richards didn’t stop the criticism there, agreeing with his podcast co-star. However, instead of praising Van Dijk for stepping across to help Konate out, he stated that the Dutchman is in a rare period of trouble where he needs help from the Frenchman.

Richards continued: “Yeah, they were [awful]. And I think what we’re seeing now is Van Dijk needs help.

“How many times in previous seasons has Van Dijk bailed them out? You look at partnerships and we’ve always talked about Van Dijk and how good he is.

“He needs Konate to bail him out at the moment, and that’s not happening. So you can’t have two centre halves not playing well at the same time.”

Ibrahima Konate started the season woefully for Liverpool and without Van Dijk being able to make up for it with his performances, it makes Liverpool’s failed acquisition of Marc Guehi look even more gutting.

Wayne Rooney has already called out Van Dijk for his mistakes this season.

Liverpool’s leaky season could mark their worst defensive campaign in two generations

It’s not been often that the Reds have been leaky in defence since Jurgen Klopp took the Liverpool job just over a decade ago.

And that statement is made even stronger from the point in time which Alisson and Virgil van Dijk joined Liverpool to completely transform their defence.

Liverpool have already conceded 14 goals in the Premier League season, the joint-highest in the top-half alongside Manchester United. That works out at 59.1 goals conceded per season, spread over 38 games.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
5	Manchester CityManchester City	9	5	1	3	17	7	10	16
6	Manchester UnitedManchester United	9	5	1	3	15	14	1	16
7	LiverpoolLiverpool	9	5	0	4	16	14	2	15
8	Aston VillaAston Villa	9	4	3	2	9	8	1	15
9	ChelseaChelsea	9	4	2	3	17	11	6	14

To put it into perspective, Liverpool didn’t concede even 50 goals in any full campaign under Klopp.

They only conceded 50 in his half season at the club in 2015-16, where Klopp only took over in early October after a poor start to the season saw Liverpool sack boss Brendan Rodgers.

59 goals conceded in a single league campaign would mark Liverpool’s worst defensive campaign in Premier League history, beating the 55 conceded in the first two seasons of the campaign in the early 1990s. Even then, those games came in a 42-game season.

You would have to go all the way back to 1964-65 – two years before Jurgen Klopp was born – to better that tally, where they conceded 73 goals in the top-flight.

Something needs to change under Arne Slot, and quickly.