David Lynch has expressed sympathy for one Liverpool player who he believes has ‘been made to look stupid’ by the team’s collective failings this season.
The only positive from the soul-destroying defeat to Aston Villa last Friday was that Virgil van Dijk helped himself to two goals, taking his tally for the campaign to eight, which remarkably is the fifth-highest of anyone in the Reds’ squad.
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It’s been a horrific season for LFC defensively, with their tally of 52 goals conceded the highest in the Premier League since leaking 55 in 1993/94, when it was a 22-team division rather than the current 20.
However, Lynch suggested that Van Dijk should be exempt from the criticism of the team in general, voicing his belief that the Liverpool captain is still the best centre-back in the English top flight.
(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Lynch staunchly defends ‘incredible’ Van Dijk
Speaking on the Media Matters podcast for Anfield Index, the journalist felt that the Dutchman was the only Reds player to ‘come away with credit’ from the defeat at Villa Park.
He added: “I think his defensive performance generally this season has been incredible as well. He won’t get praised for that because Liverpool as a defensive unit, as a football team, as a unit, are in absolute shambles.
“I still think he’s the best [centre-back] in the league by a mile. Maybe he’s not 2019 Van Dijk, but I still think he’s comfortably the best. He’s had way too much to do and been made to look stupid at times. I just think he’s in an awful team. I think his quality hasn’t declined in the slightest.”
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Van Dijk has been one of Liverpool’s best players in a tough season
The captain’s performances this season have oscillated between good and bad, with Troy Deeney praising him for coming up clutch with a stoppage-time Merseyside derby winner last month, but Pat Nevin claiming after a costly error at Bournemouth in January that the 34-year-old is in irreversible decline.
Van Dijk hasn’t performed with the same consistency this term as in previous campaigns, but we fully agree with Lynch when he says that the centre-back hasn’t been helped by poor performances of many teammates, particularly those in defence.
Ibrahima Konate has had to cope with the death of his father earlier this year, but objectively he’s been culpable of far too many hideous mistakes this season. That said, he most certainly isn’t alone in that regard.
Figures from WhoScored rank the captain as Liverpool’s second-best player in 2025/26 with an overall rating of 7.06, and he’s still been the market leader (or close to it) for several metrics throughout the campaign.
*Note: Excludes players with zero league starts this season
Crucially, Van Dijk has been ever-present in a season which has seen the Reds suffer numerous defensive injuries, and it’s frightening to think of how much worse things would be if he had been sidelined for a lengthy period of time.
The Dutchman is still going strong in his mid-30s, and his successor as the general of Liverpool’s defence will have an incredibly hard act to follow after he departs.