Everton duo better than ‘brilliant’ Virgil Van Dijk this season – Jason Cundy
TalkSPORT host Jason Cundy has claimed that there are two Everton players currently having better seasons than Virgil Van Dijk.
The Dutch international has come under fire for some lacklustre performances at the heart of Jurgen Klopp’s defence as the Reds have struggled so far this campaign.
On the blue side of the city, however, James Tarkowski and Conor Coady have quickly formed a very solid partnership under Frank Lampard and Cundy believes they have both surpassed Van Dijk this season.
“Van Dijk is nowhere near the top four, five or six centre-backs in the country right now,” Cundy said. “He’s nowhere near Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Sol Campbell. He can’t lace their boots.
“I’m telling you now, Van Dijk is a brilliant centre-half but longevity counts and the injury has killed him. Tarkowski has had a better season than him, Coady, Dier, Saliba.”
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This is as clear a demonstration as you will ever see that a team is far better than a group of individuals and it always will be as long as football exists.
Van Dijk as an individual footballer is unquestionably better than Coady and Tarkowski but his problem is being too focused on himself rather than the team.
So often he fails to show any urgency to cover his teammates and it usually leads to them conceding a goal or at the very least a chance.
That doesn’t happen at Goodison Park because Lampard has got the Everton duo in sync with each other and they complement each other so well that teams can’t find a way to break them down.
That is a huge reason why Everton have the best defensive record in the Premier League at the moment and are level on points with their supposedly superior neighbours and the momentum has each side going in opposite directions.