The Fulham man claims he knows a flaw in the defender’s game that no one else in the Premier League knows about <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Fulham attacker Ryan Babel has claimed Virgil van Dijk does have a weakness in his game.<\/p>\n
The Liverpool defender has been lauded for his exceptional performances this season, with manager Jurgen Klopp claiming recently that he could \u2018write a book\u2019 on Van Dijk\u2019s qualities.<\/p>\n
The former Southampton man has not missed a single minute of Liverpool\u2019s Premier League campaign this year and was absent for just one Champions League game for the Reds through suspension.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just at club level where Van Dijk has impressed in 2018-19, as he has also stood out on the international stage, having captain the Netherlands to the Nations League semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Babel is an international colleague of the Liverpool centre-back and believes the insider knowledge of his team-mates’ skillset could prove vital when the Reds travel to take on Fulham on Sunday in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
\u201cVirgil has definitely developed over the past few years,\u201d Babel told The Times. \u201cI think he can get better by 30 per cent. I still feel he plays on 70 per cent. He can do much more. He can be fast if he wants.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does have a weakness. I don\u2019t want to say what it is. I don\u2019t think in the Premier League anyone has made that aware yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Babel is preparing to face his former side this weekend. The winger spent four years at Anfield between 2007 and 2011, and made nearly 150 appearances for the Merseysiders.<\/p>\n
While Babel admits he could have made more of his time at Liverpool, he has stated he still has a soft spot for the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do have a weakness for Liverpool and I do want them to be champions,\u201d said the 32-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI left Liverpool through the back door. It\u2019s a prestige thing to prove people wrong. I was loved in Liverpool, I had good relationship with the fans and my team-mates but I felt I could do better.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time I was 21, 22, 23 \u2014 not every player has maturity and I needed the guidance I had at Ajax. What can you do if you\u2019re not playing, what can you do differently?<\/p>\n
A win for Liverpool on Sunday would see them return to the top of the Premier League table, with Manchester City involved in FA Cup action this weekend.<\/p>\n
As for Fulham, they must start picking up points if they are to avoid the drop. The Cottagers are currently 13 points from safety with just eight games left.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Fulham man claims he knows a flaw in the defender’s game that no one else in the Premier League knows about Fulham attacker Ryan Babel has claimed Virgil van Dijk does have a weakness in his game. The Liverpool defender has been lauded for his exceptional performances this season, with manager Jurgen Klopp claiming…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}