Jamie Carragher criticised Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk for his performance for during Monday night’s loss away at Manchester United.
Erik ten Hag’s side put on an impressive display after a nightmare start to the season and exposed some of the defensive problems in Jurgen Klopp’s team.
For the eighth game in a row, Liverpool conceded the first goal and gave themselves a mountain to climb. While Klopp’s side have tended to get themselves back into games, that was not the case at Old Trafford, with Marcus Rashford adding to Jadon Sancho’s opener before Mohamed Salah’s late reply.
Van Dijk, regarded as one of the best defenders in the world, failed to block Sancho after the England winger had dummied both James Milner and Alisson Becker, leaving a large portion of the goal wide-open.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the final whistle, Carragher questioned van Dijk’s “intensity”.
“It’s the only one thing I’d ever question van Dijk on as a player. If you’re going through a checklist of a centre back, he’s 10 out of 10 for most things.
“The one thing I do sometimes think is: does he lack a little bit of intensity at certain times?
“I know you never see him on the floor and that’s a strength for a defender - if a defender’s on the floor all the time, that’s not a good sign.
“But now and again, when you’re in the proverbial, you’ve got to throw yourself at (the ball).
“That one there (the Sancho goal) he was literally stood there... It’s one where you’ve got to go flying out and just throw yourself at him (Sancho).
“Slide along the floor, make yourself as big as possible. You can’t just stand there! He almost made himself smaller, the way he stood.
“That’s the one thing I sometimes think: go, be more aggressive, maybe slide in, throw yourself in front of something.’
