Jamie Carragher has explained how a Virgil van Dijk weakness cost Liverpool in their 3-2 defeat to Fulham on Sunday.
Liverpool took an early lead at Craven Cottage as Alexis Mac Allister drove from midfield and smashed the ball home, but three goals in 14 minutes from Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz stunned the visitors before half-time.
Luis Diaz pulled one back for the Reds after the break but Arne Slot’s side still fell to just their second Premier League defeat of the campaign as their late season malaise continued.
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Iwobi’s goal came about after Andy Robertson passed the ball across his own penalty area and surrendered possession as a result of Fulham’s high press.
And while analysing the goal on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher claimed it came about through Fulham pushing Van Dijk onto his weaker left foot.
Carragher said: “The reason why Fulham have pushed it to Van Dijk is… and something Liverpool have always lacked… a left-footed centre back.
“Now, the reason I think Virgil van Dijk probably goes to [left back] Andy Robertson is it’s the obvious pass, of course. It’s not a bad pass, but maybe a left-footed centre back with the quality of Van Dijk could actually go there [and play a long-range pass from left to right and find Mo Salah in space].
“If it’s on the right side, he’s got that passing range in his locker. And that’s why I think Fulham have pushed it this side, pushed Virgil van Dijk onto his left foot. Because they know he can’t play that pass and he’s going to play the shorter pass.
“He goes to Andy Robertson and he’s just got to go back to the goalkeeper. He tries a crossfield pass, he gets it wrong and we know what happens. It was a nightmare scenario for him.”
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Van Dijk admitted after the game that his side didn’t deserve anything from it before revealing “progress” in contract talks with the club.
“It was a poor day at the office for all of us,” he said, reflecting on Fulham’s goals. “I think they were individual moments that should have been dealt with better. These moments can happen but if you let them back in, they obviously scored three goals and we were on the back foot.
“No one can ever be perfect and we were sloppy and today we got punished quickly and then it’s a difficult battle to play. We still had the belief, still had opportunities but, based on the first half, you can’t argue with the result.”
