View: Aston Villa can expose lazy Virgil van Dijk v Liverpool
Aston Villa will aim to spoil Liverpool’s Premier League aspirations on Tuesday evening (10 May) as the Reds travel to the Midlands.
Villa boss Steven Gerrard might have mixed emotions as he tries to stop his boyhood club and the side he played for throughout his entire career from lifting the trophy that eluded him but he has a job to do.
Liverpool also have the FA Cup final to think about this weekend and the Champions League final too which could see Jurgen Klopp rotate his side ever so slightly as he tries to keep his key men fresh for the big games.
One of those top talents is central defender Virgil van Dijk who has been almost ever-present in the Reds side ever since his £75million move from Southampton.
Upon closer inspection, however, he could actually be Gerrard’s ticket to beating his former employers and handsomely so because he isn’t all he’s made up to be.
You only have to look at their latest 1-1 draw against Tottenham at Anfield to see just how lazy the Dutch defender can be and it often costs Klopp’s side.
For Spurs’ goal, he failed to stay close to danger man Harry Kane and was very late to react to the danger the England captain was showing and he could find a pass wide which ended up in a tap-in for Heung-Min Son.
It was exactly the same later in the game as van Dijk got caught ball watching badly and let Kane wander into open space in the area.
He got away with it on this occasion as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg couldn’t direct his header across goal to the Englishman for what would have been the winner on the night.
It was more of the same in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City as he was late to step up for this offside trap and allowed Gabriel Jesus to run in on goal unchallenged.
And we really mean unchallenged because van Dijk showed no effort whatsoever to get close to the Brazilian and make the shot difficult for him, instead just jogging back hoping Alisson could bale him out, which he did, luckily for him.
Gerrard has to set up his attack to target the lazy Dutchman because there could be goals galore down his side if he shows this kind of attitude again.
In other Aston Villa news, this Sunderland youngster has piqued the interest of the Villans and they could make a summer move.