Our ECHO writers take a look at who should be regarded as Liverpool’s best player so far this season
The second international break of the season is upon us and it provides a natural pause to take stock of the opening months of the Arne Slot reign. And while it would be wrong to suggest the Jurgen Klopp era has been consigned to history, the new regime hasn’t taken long to start winning over the hearts and minds of Liverpool supporters.
Nine wins from 10 – the best start of any Liverpool boss – has seen Slot guide his team to the top of the Premier League table, into the last 16 of the League Cup and win their opening two games in the Champions League.
But which player has been the stellar performer under the Dutchman for Liverpool so far this season? Our ECHO writers have their say…
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Paul Gorst
With just two goals shipped across the seven games so far, Arne Slot’s new defensive framework is certainly working at Anfield. But such a structure can only thrive when it has elite players in it and Virgil van Dijk has been outstanding so far.
A lot of the credit, defensively, must go to having a consistent and first-choice back five fit more regularly than last season, but Van Dijk has orchestrated things masterfully with the captain’s armband in tow.
With Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister providing the athleticism and the intelligence further forward as the two deeper midfielders, Liverpool are rarely conceding big chances presently, and the way Van Dijk has performed this season has shown by contract talks should be high on the to-do list of sporting director Richard Hughes. In this sort of form, it would be a travesty if he walks away at the end of the season.
Van Dijk has been responsible for some towering clearances at important times in games like Wolves and Crystal Palace, where narrow leads have been preserved for maximum points, while his calmness at the back has transmitted throughout the backline.
A new directive to wrap passes into the midfield quicker has also helped carve open the opposition at times and is a fresh attacking feature to go alongside those raking diagonal passes, usually to Mohamed Salah, that the Netherlands skipper has made a trademark.
Still the best defender in world football.
Ian Doyle
Liverpool winning all but one of their opening 10 games of the season would suggest that most of their players are doing something right. And while there are some strong contenders – step forward Alexis Mac Allister, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker – there can truly be only one player head and shoulders above the rest this campaign.
The most remarkable aspect of Ryan Gravenberch’s transformation as a number six is that is appears so complete. Not only does he play the part, he also looks it, by which he shows a comfort in position and awareness of his surrounds similar to that of a seasoned operator in the position.
It’s also helped every other part of the team function better, with Mac Allister thriving alongside him, the defence given extra protection, the full-backs confident gaps can be filled and the forwards given support both from balls between the lines and Gravenberch’s high pressing.
He isn’t the finished article by any means. But to have made such great strides in such a short amount of time – and become a key player in the process – is beyond what anybody could have anticipated.
Beth Lindop
There are plenty of contenders for the honour of Liverpool’s player of the season so far but I’m going to give the accolade to Virgil van Dijk.
While Ryan Gravenberch’s extraordinary transformation in the middle of the park has deservedly grabbed plenty of headlines, and though Luis Diaz’s goalscoring exploits have been quite remarkable, it is the Liverpool captain’s quiet consistency that has been the biggest constant of the Arne Slot era to date.
Van Dijk’s brilliance is nothing new to anyone of a Red persuasion however, since his ACL injury four years ago and the slight drop-off in form that followed, many in the wider football landscape have seemingly been blind to the fact the defender is now back to his best. Last term, his commanding displays helped keep Liverpool in the pursuit for four trophies for most of the campaign and he seems to have gone up another gear under the tuition of his countryman Slot.
His game may have changed slightly since he first arrived from Southampton back in 2018 but he still remains totally imperious and keeping him fit will be imperative if this season is to be a successful one for the Reds.
