There is little doubting the impact that Virgil van Dijk has had upon Liverpool in their push towards the Premier League title. This article will hopefully go some way to uncovering the performance trends throughout the season, as well as shining some light on who could be the Robin to his Batman as his centre-back partner. In order to do so, we will be looking at his aerial performance and passing performance; both areas he has excelled in. The two categories will focus on the following metrics: aerial duels, forward passing, passes to the final third.
But can he defend?
One area that Van Dijk has brought an undeniable improvement to this Liverpool side is his commanding presence at the heart of the defence. A look at his percentage completions in both defensive duels and aerial duels shows him to be one of the most dominant centre-backs in the league and the most dominant at Liverpool.
So lets take a closer look at the breakdown of how Van Dijk’s aerial performance has been impacted by his centre-back partner, are there any clear trends?
On the face of it, there appears to be a conscious effort from Liverpool’s management staff to pair Van Dijk with Matip when Liverpool are likely to face a high number of aerial duels. This decision should not come as a surprise as Matip, 6”5, ranks third in aerial duel success percentage for Premier League centre-backs (>1000 mins). Matip and Van Dijk have almost identical performances in this metric with Matip recording 66% and Van Dijk 65% (Premier League performances). However, Van Dijk is the busier of the pair registering 1.7 aerial duels p90 more than his Cameroonian counterpart.
As the eye
