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2021/22 Season Report Card - Virgil Van Dijk

Spoiler alert: I'm giving Virgil maximum marks. This probably needs some explaining as his performances over the course of the entire season are more like a nine than a perfect ten.
 
His form in the first four or five months wasn’t at the same level as it was in the final four or five months. There is of course a very good reason for that. He wasn’t even really supposed to be in the team for opening day but he returned from that horrific injury ahead of schedule.
 
So he wasn’t Virgil Van Dijk to begin with, but he was still better than 99% of the other centre backs in the league. Only his partner performed at a higher level, although if I take off my red tinted spectacles I could also bring Thiago Silva (and maybe Antonio Rudiger) into that discussion. The point is, Virgil at 80% is still great.
 
So why am I giving him a perfect ten when his performances didn’t always merit that? Context, that’s why. Imagine coming back from that injury and playing as well as he did and as often as he did. He barely missed a game and perhaps because of all of those minutes he had in the opening months of the season, by the time we got to the turn of the year he looked back to his absolute best.
 
So I’m giving him maximum marks on the basis that he got himself back for the start of the season and that he did as well as anyone possibly could in the situation he was in. Even after the lengthy lay off he was still brilliant and then once he got his legs under him fully around the turn of the year he was back to being the most dominant player in the league. The best centre back we’ve ever had.
 

Previous Season Ratings:

 

2020/21:   Season doesn’t count

2019/20:   9.5/10

2018/19:   10/10

2017/18:   9/10

 

This Season’s Rating: 10/10

 

All things considered I don't think it was possible for him to have been any better than he was. Another point worth making is that often when players come back from a serious injury they will pick up minor injuries that set them back. Virg was available for every game. 

 

Best Moment: 

 

Just lining up in the middle of defence on opening day. That was such a boost for everyone. 

 

Worst Moment:

 

That weird moment against West Ham when he ran in a straight line instead of closing off the angle when Antonio was running in on goal. Completely freaked me out that did

 

The Future?

 

More of the same. He'll probably win either the Players of the Writers award for Player of the Year this season, unless Mo beats him to both.


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I asked Dave about this report and he realised it hadn’t been posted. He typed it up but it didn’t publish for some reason.

 

Glad my first ever post was a useful one!

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There were moments where he had to break into a jog, but overall big Virg displayed all the assurance and ability he'd shown pre-injury. The best defender in the league (and arguably on the planet) was back and showing exactly why.

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It was set to auto publish on that date but for some reason didn't, so I had to do it manually after it was brought to my attention by GodWearsNumber9.

 

Feel like bumping him down to an 8 after that pen yesterday!

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He must have read your report yesterday morning and have still been smelling himself during the game. 

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