Virgil van Dijk speaks eloquently about Liverpool captain during West Ham victory

Liverpool 5-2 West Ham: Virgil van Dijk scores his third goal in six Premier League games as Liverpool continue their strong bid to qualify for the Champions League.

As if needed, Virgil van Dijk gave the Kop an old-fashioned reminder of his love for the club. He always seemed too cool to be a badge kisser, but that’s exactly what the captain looked like after his header sealed an early victory for Liverpool.

There is no doubt that this difficult title defense has hurt Van Dijk. He is a player who has had to respond to criticism. He was the spokesperson for a dressing room under intense scrutiny. Although his own performances were not immune to negative tests, Wayne Rooney is the most prominent pundit to suggest that the centre-half was not at his fullest.

And Rooney’s comments were not unfounded. There is no exemplary player among Liverpool’s players this season, with the possible exception of Dominik Szoboszlai. Van Dijk didn’t have a perfect performance either, scoring from Tomas Soucek’s blindside to give West Ham United some optimism early in the second half.

But Van Dijk’s third goal in his last six Premier League games was crucial for Liverpool to maintain their momentum in the race for Champions League qualification. The goal doubled the lead gained by Hugo Ekitike’s 11th goal in his first Premier League game, and also highlighted Liverpool’s remarkable return to set pieces.

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Alexis Mac Allister scored the third goal from a corner kick late in the first half. It was one of two consolation efforts in a somewhat strange game, although Soucek’s sharp thinking paid off for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

In open play, West Ham were at least as good as the Premier League champions for long periods of the contest, but their defending, particularly from set pieces, was quite abysmal. Liverpool made the most of it, producing a scoreline far more convincing than their performance.

Although the fourth goal was an individual effort by Kodi Gakpo, the defense continued to be lax. It was a theme that Liverpool were keen on, with Van Dijk and his team-mates conceding a corner from Jarrod Bowen before Tati Castellanos headed home.

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And Crisencio Somerville squandered a golden chance, giving Liverpool a very tense finale, before Axel Diasi’s own goal made the final margin of victory look clearly not reflective of the balance of play. However, the scoreboard pleased Arne Slott’s side as this was their third Premier League win on the spin, and from the manager’s perspective there were some encouraging performances.

The cameo appearance of Jeremy Frimpong, who returned from a month-long absence and played against Disasi’s mistake, was particularly eye-catching. There were also moments of brilliance from fellow substitute Rio Ngmoha, and notable contributions from the 17-year-old and Frimpong actually highlighted another very frustrating afternoon for Mohamed Salah.

Of course, you shouldn’t be so frustrated when you’re part of a team that won 5-2, but Salah has now failed to score in 10 Premier League games. And frankly, he didn’t look like he was going to score in a game where most people looked like he was going to score.

There is no doubt that the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold and the restructuring of the attacking system had a negative impact on Salah’s form, with Salah often cutting isolated players. However, he lacks both physical and mental sharpness and seems to choose the wrong options too often.

In the dying minutes of the game, he ignored the goal he conceded threatening Frimpong’s goal and took on his own thankless task, which went unnoticed by the home crowd. Slott won’t be overly concerned while the team is winning, and Ngmoha is probably best suited for an impact replacement role for now.

But Salah will need to live up to the intense scrutiny if Liverpool are to move further up the Champions League and maintain their momentum in the Premier League. Just like Virgil van Dijk.

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