Why the Dutch media's targeting of Virgil van Dijk makes no sense

For a player accustomed to warding off attacks on the pitch, Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has found himself under attack off of it in recent weeks.

Following the Netherlands’s 2-1 defeat to England and subsequent elimination from the Euros, some of the more prominent voices in Dutch football media were quick to target the center back for criticism.  

Dutch journalist and former football player Johan Derksen (who never made an appearance for the Netherlands national team) labeled van Dijk a “pseudo-leader” who “plays nice” at the back. 

It’s the type of criticism van Dijk is probably used to from his country’s media. 

Harsh critics in his homeland

The Dutchman came under fire from several sources in the aftermath of his side’s 3-2 defeat to Austria in the group stage.

Former Netherlands defender Marco Van Basten insisted that van Dijk “needs to show more leadership,” and claimed it “disappointing that I have to keep repeating myself,” alluding to previous remarks about the Liverpool skipper. 

Comments of this nature about van Dijk from the former Netherlands players date even further back. In March of 2023 Van Basten told Ziggo Sport that Van Dijk “makes noise, but doesn’t say anything,” and even claimed that he “creates chaos that leads to misunderstandings.” Around that time Ruud Gullit also said that van Dijk “thinks he’s better than the rest.” 

The signaling out of Van Dijk is rather peculiar. The accusation that he cannot provide enough leadership or that he jeopardizes his side at the back breaks down rapidly when you consider his importance to Liverpool, where he has won every trophy possible and helped his side to the Premier League’s best defensive record in three different seasons. 

At the international level, the defender has featured in only two major tournaments for the Netherlands, whom he has captained to the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup, and to the semi-finals of this past edition of the Euros.

In 2022, the Dutch lost only on penalties to eventual champions Argentina, and only in stoppage time to England a few weeks back.  

VVD not hitting the same levels as at Liverpool

Van Dijk’s performances for the Netherlands have unfortunately not reached the same heights as they have in Merseyside.

However, they hardly lend credence to the baseless claims that he’s a liability at the back for the national side. 

In truth, there is a strong argument that the targeting of the Liverpool captain is more hypocritical than it is credible.

After the Netherlands lost to Spain in the final of the 2010 World Cup, Dutch media outlets laid the majority of the blame at Howard Webb’s feet.

Ironically Webb’s worst decision of that game was to allow Netherlands midfielder Nigel De Jong to remain on the pitch despite a horrific studs up kick to Xabi Alonso’s chest.

Though Arjen Robben failed to convert a 1v1 with Spain keeper Iker Casillas, the Dutch media largely (and fairly) spared the winger from the level of scrutiny to which it’s subjected van Dijk. 

Dutch news outlets understandably criticized the national side when it exited the 2012 Euros in the group stage just two years later, failed to qualify for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, and suffered a surprise knockout stage defeat to Czech Republic in Euro 2020.

Notably though, you did not hear leading signaling out one player in any of those instances. 

When a national team underperforms, it’s fair and even necessary to ask questions of the manager and the larger structure of that nation’s footballing federation.

It should go without saying that targeting systemic failures of a football federation is a far more productive approach towards building a stronger national side than pointing the finger at one player. 

If the likes of Derksen, Gullit and Van Basten wish for the Netherlands to become a successful side, their comments about Van Dijk do few favors.