James Restall has been speaking on the latest edition of The Times’ The Game Football Podcast, and he has been talking about the injury to Virgil van Dijk.
It was confirmed on Sunday that the Dutchman had damaged his ACL and would undergo surgery after he was on the receiving end of a horrible tackle from Jordan Pickford that went unpunished and forced Van Dijk from the field.
Restall revealed that he thinks this injury will actually put Andrew Robertson under increased pressure as he thinks teams will now attack Liverpool down both sides and not just the side without Van Dijk.
It seems as if Restall believes that when Van Dijk plays, teams avoid attacking down his side, and now that he is out injured, Restall feels that teams will attack down the left and the right.
He said: “I think it’s going to be fascinating watching what teams do against Liverpool now.
“Teams massively attacked Liverpool down the side that Van Dijk doesn’t play on, they target the other centre-half.
“I think it’s going to put extra pressure on Andy Robertson because I think teams will go down the left as well as the right.”
TIF Thoughts on Restall’s view on Robertson during Van Dijk’s time out…
Do you think this will happen?
Yes, Robertson could be exposed
No, he will be fine
It is unclear how long the Dutchman will be out for, but he claimed in his Twitter post that he would be back as soon as possible, but for now, the Reds will have to find a way to deal without him.
The options that Liverpool have at centre-back include Joe Gomez, Joel Matip, Fabinho, and young Sepp van den Berg who has never played in the Premier League.
So, there are options there, but considering Van Dijk is considered to be the top centre-back in the world, you would think the Reds might struggle to replace him.
It is interesting that Restall thinks that Robertson might find himself under more pressure now that Van Dijk is injured, and it will be intriguing to see if his prediction turns out to be accurate.