Irreplaceable Virgil van Dijk remains Liverpool’s keystone and spirit animal | Barney Ronay

Defender’s domination of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland represents the contrasting paths of both clubs

Like crocuses pushing up through the soil, like a first glimpse of daffodil in spring, you know something’s up at West Ham, and indeed Everton, when David Moyes starts turning up on Match of the Day 2 like a hopeful uncle at a funeral, looking trim and urgent and chiselled, with perhaps even a slight shade of spray-salon, a touch of Ibiza Whisper.

Moyes did a thorough video debrief for the BBC of Virgil van Dijk’s defending against Erling Haaland at Anfield. This wasn’t the toughest analysis given it basically involved showing Van Dijk gliding about taking the ball away, doing Dad-defender stuff – Erling, we’ve talked about this, you’ll have to wait for Crystal Palace – and generally defanging an elite striker he just seems to have the cheat code to every time.

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