Once again he is the best in the world, Van Dijk's incredible performance against Everton

After having received Virgil van Dijk a series of criticisms regarding his level of play in recent months and also for his appointment to the team captaincy, this player for the current Premier League season has made a maximum effort to return to that version his that made him be considered among the best defenders in the competition and in the world, this ninth matchday against Everton being the most complete duel for the Dutchman in a long time.

Perhaps and the responsibility of a captaincy and leading a group under his experience, caused this element of the central defense to have periods of greater concentration when making his efforts to improve, this fact being noted in more complete matches at the level of clubs and national teams, contributing days after the winning goal of the Netherlands that keeps them alive in the qualification for the Euro 2024 while in the Derby with the Reds he was one of the key pieces to keep the zero until the final whistle.

According to what the X account reports, it can be seen that Virgil Van Dijk had very good defensive activity during this match, with the Dutchman managing to win 10 of 15 aerial balls, increasing his effectiveness with ground balls where he had two successful interventions from two attempts by the rival, this added to the fact that the Reds' number 4 could not be outwitted by some dribble that opened the gap to an Everton goal. Van Dijk's excellent numbers in this weekend's duel against Everton evidently increased his confidence in this arduous task of returning to his best version of the game, with Klopp achieving an increase in his player's level only a better security of a sector of which there were already thoughts of possible reinforcements, there was even talk of giving many more playing minutes to Jarrell Quansah who has proven to be ready to try to assume greater responsibility in the first team.

Van Dijk wants to be more than just team captain

Although his appointment to the captaincy is more than justified by the incredible performances that this element has had over the years in the team, Van Dijk sees this bracelet that he wears on his arm as a goal to be a leader, since many players have tried to have but that few have been able to occupy in a long time, perhaps Steven Gerrard being the last man with that quality of being captain, leader and good player at the same time.