Virgil van Dijk

So nothing positive ever happens at the club for you to "say it as you see it"?

 

If you've actually ever read my posts you would see there's players I like and players I don't. It just so happens that about 5 or 6 players that I don't like in Europe get played there which I feel is why we performed so shockingly in Europe this season.

You do realise that scraping by these qualifiers shouldn't be the way it goes? We should be wiping the floor with teams like Elfsborg and Karagandy 4 or 5 nil on aggregate, instead we're scraping through by the skin of our teeth because of how poor the team is currently middle to front. I hope Johansen and Biton to come in but at the same time want Mulgrew and Brown to drop out. I can't see that happening under Lenny.

I don't buy this fitness argument, as far as I'm concerned it's just an excuse from Lenny in case we go out like we almost did this season. We're supposed to be professionals so shouldn't be using that as an excuse.

What would we rather? Play the likes of Arsenal again to get through? We need to stop complaining about these players being a bit ahead in their season because our players with what they're paid should be in just as good shape. We should be more grateful for our path to qualifying for the group stage instead of moaning about it.

 

Finny Bhoy

Is Van Dijik not worth over £8 million because he plays in Scottish Football??

Or Do you think he isn't good enough as a player now and won't improve on his current level of ability??

 

So that's a no then?

 

Not since Larsson have we had a player who is so blatantly our best player.

My opinion of course.

 

A really don't want him to go but this is just how it's going to be while were stuck in this pishy league. But honestly a would be raging and * right disappointed if Celtic accepted anything less than 10 million.

He's worth 12 million minimum. But 10 wouldn't be a bad price

 

He may be over time but it's nothing to do with Scottish football it's what he does in Europe. For example I thought we should have got at least £15M for Wanyama or maybe more because in my eyes he was worth that much coming from our league or not.

I just don't feel the same of Virgil, I'll wait and see how we perform next season in Europe before I review my price tag.

Would say Wanyama personally.

 

Mate give us Karagandy or Elfborg right now and we'll wipe the floor wipe them. If just so happens we meet these teams it qualifying rounds when were not long started back pre season and our league hasn't even started yet while some of these teams league are well under way. Match fitness has a lot to do with football and how you perform.

 

Not to mention playing them without the spine of our team and arguably our three best players from the year before.

 

Would you prefer the older route and play a team like Arsenal who are at the same stage as us in our season?

We should still be wiping the floor with them at the start of the season just like we did with Cliftonville, it's just an excuse pedalled incase we get papped out, the plastic pitch is another one Lenny likes to get out there before we play the match.

 

I agree with that but we should have done a better job in replacing them and done better research in who to buy because we knew Wanyama and Hooper were leaving so there's no excuse there.

 

We should have been 3 up in 15 minutes out in karangady with a mish mash centre back pairing thrown in at the deep end who'd never played european football before and elfsborg we hammmered at home and have never seen such dirty antics going unpunished,well not since the huns at ibrox..it was ridiculous..

Why do we look to slate our own players,for once in a long long time we've got a real genuine top class defender who can play football and defend unlike the likes of caldwell who thought he could play football and couldn't defend and then big maj,loovens,big mick,o'dea..the list is endless..
He's still young and always going to improve things like decision making,timing etc and it will come,no one is saying he is the finished article but I know he is going to go on to big things and become either a world class defender or the next best thing..
Although both make some mistkes,him and big efe have quite a good partnership for the most part..
Not bad for there first season together,it's widely accepted that a centre back partnership is one of the hardest things to buy in football..

8 mill,anyone can * off to the championship with those pennys..

 

Is that the same Wanyama that was being touted as the next big thing, moving to Manchester United/Barcelona and suchlike?

If we sell Virgil this summer it'll be for around £8-£10 million to a club like Southampton, Newcastle or Palace.

 

I think it's harsh to blame Virgil for the first leg in Karagandy, that game seemed like a culture shock for the entire team. Van Dijk can easily cut it in Europe, next year I'm almost certain he'll prove that if the team can click into gear like we know they can. He'll need big Efe to cut out the errors because that man is a ticking time bomb whenever he starts dribbling with the ball, although i do think there are more pros than cons to keeping Ambrose in the centre of defence. Him and Virgil seem to be a settled partnership now and only once can I remember a real mix up of communication between them (Aberdeen away with Van Dijk's red card). With an entire year under their belt playing as a back 4 more or less, Van Dijk should prove a real rock at the heart of our European tilt next season, as long as the club don't bottle it and Pirate Pete doesn't cream in his pants at an 8M quid offer.

 

Dont really care how much Virgil is worth i just hope we dont sell as to us he is PRICELESS

 

"What he does"key here.

You mentioned in previous posts Karagandy and Elfsborg games, also the performance of other players in the Champions League.

The 1st Leg of the Karagandy tie was poor but it was poor for a number of reasons, not down to Van Dijik. I cannot remember a game in Europe where I thought he looked out of place against the opposition. Indeed I would have taken him before all but one of the centre backs we've played against in Europe.

You mentioned he was over-rated on here. Technique is sound, strong in the challenge, has pace to cover for others, very good in the air, reads the game well and is comfortable on the ball. I see very little that is bad or poor about his game, he made a mistake against Motherwell the other week. However what player doesn't make mistakes.

I think we would be daft to sell him for less than £10 million and shouldn't be held to ransom. The guy has all the qualities now and will become much better.

We could and should have got more for Wanyama but again there were other circumstances which forced the issue.

 

He'll be worth whatever he's worth some day, but for now he's a celt, and quite simply, thats amazing

 

I like commons but van dijk was our player of the year this year, young boy who has come from abroad and never played outside holland comes in and totally strolls the league, looks head and shoulders above everyone else.

 

No that would be just silly to think that. But it would be silly to a think a team playing at 50% fitness level wouldn't have problems against a team playing at a 100% fitness level because there league is well under way.

 

A lot of people will tell you Commons is way to good for this league himself. And a would agree A mean a midfielder banging 30 odd goals fs that's crazy. Deservedly won it for me.