sport news GRAEME SOUNESS: Van Dijk can silence the doubters by pocketing Haaland trends now
There’s a lot of talk these days about artificial intelligence and its ramifications for the future. Well, I have to tell you the concept has already reached the Premier League. Erling Haaland looks like a modern robot and the question everyone will be asking this weekend is how can Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk deal with him?
‘With difficulty’, is the facile answer. When you’re Van Dijk, you’re usually thinking about the forward you’re up against and concluding, ‘I’m quicker than him. I can outjump him. I’m stronger than him’.
Perhaps for the first time, Van Dijk’s thoughts tomorrow will be, ‘He may be quicker than me. He may be stronger than me. He may be able to outjump me’. This is unknown territory for him.
Virgil van Dijk is in unchartered waters heading into this fixture with the defender possibly thinking of Erling Haaland's physical superiority
But however invincible an opponent might seem and however few chinks in his armour, there is always the psychological dimension. There is always a chance for a player to rise to the occasion, which Van Dijk must do on Sunday. Irrespective of Van Dijk’s form, irrespective of where Liverpool are at the moment, this is a game he should be licking his lips for. He’s going to be playing against the guy they’re all raving about. He can shut them up. Shut out all that white noise. He can tell himself, ‘If I go out there and have Haaland in my pocket, they won’t be talking like that again’.
There was never a week spent at Liverpool thinking about the opposition. It was all about us. In the tunnel before the game, I was trying to wind up myself. I didn’t need anyone to do that for me.
When it came to playing, I made it personal. At Wembley in the Community Shield, Haaland accidentally flattened Van Dijk at one stage with a flailing arm. That would have been more than enough motivation for me.
The two clashed in the Community Shield with Haaland catching the defender with an accidental stray arm - Van Dijk is unlikely to have forgotten
I’m not sure Van Dijk is that kind of character, though. I’m yet to see him angry. He just looks like a movie star at times. I don’t think that’s a conscious thing. I just don’t think that anger is in him and I don’t think it’s the kind of individual he is.
That image of James Milner giving him a piece of his mind during the defeat by Manchester United two months ago was revealing. I’ve seen Jordan Henderson do that to Van Dijk, too. If that had been a team-mate of mine bawling me out — and senior players at Liverpool certainly would because that’s what collective responsibility looked like — I would not have taken it. My reply would have been, ‘Oh, for f***’s sake yes, so you’ve done your job’, though what that team-mate had said would register.
Van Dijk’s response looked almost subservient. These are young men, testosterone-filled, with egos that would choke a horse. It was hard to believe that a player would let that pass.
Since his arrival at Liverpool Van Dijk has not gone into a fixture thinking he is inferior physically to his opponent
The problem with facing Haaland is he never knocks off. He’s alive to everything until the whistle is blown or the ball has gone out of play.
And he has a quality of movement which belies his years. The karate-kick goal he scored against Borussia Dortmund last month would suggest he is doing more than just the normal stretching and mobility work at the training ground. The timing and direction of his run in the build-up were less noticed but extremely clever. At 22, he plays with the same nous that Harry Kane displays at 29. I’ve played with Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini, but I can’t think of anyone who at such a young age analyses a situation in a nanosecond like Haaland does.
This is why mentality is so important tomorrow. Van Dijk’s first foot race with Haaland will be an interesting one.
The Dutch defender has dominated all before him and will silence his critics if he does the same on Sunday
On that score, the
