{"id":8,"date":"2025-12-04T08:30:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T08:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intersport.uz\/?p=8"},"modified":"2025-12-08T06:59:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T06:59:50","slug":"a-shadow-of-his-imperious-self-van-dijk-fights-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intersport.uz\/?p=8","title":{"rendered":"A shadow of his imperious self – Van Dijk fights decline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The fierce spotlight that has been trained on one world-class Liverpool legend switched to another on Anfield’s latest desperate night.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohamed Salah<\/a> has been under scrutiny for his poor form this season – and was consigned to the substitutes’ bench for the second successive Premier League game as Sunderland visited on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was captain Virgil van Dijk, a peerless defensive bedrock as Liverpool have swept up the full collection of major prizes, whose poor form became the focus of attention during the 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Dijk, 34, and Salah, 33, both signed lucrative new two-year deals in the summer, with not one Liverpool eyebrow raised at the notion of handing contracts to a veteran duo much closer to the end of their careers than the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, it was a cause of celebration – but now there is no escaping the brutal reality that standards have dropped alarmingly for both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool have been vulnerable in defence ever since head coach Arne Slot and the club’s recruitment team embarked on a \u00a3450m summer refit that has yet to prove anything like value for money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Van Dijk has started to lose the air of invincibility he has carried since his \u00a375m move from Southampton in January 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n