Virgil van Dijk slammed in 'coward' rant as Liverpool captain 'as bad as anyone else'

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As Liverpool's captain and on-field leader, Virgil van Dijk has never shied away from honest self-reflection. In a scathing assessment, former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley has declared Van Dijk "has been as bad as anybody else" throughout Liverpool's challenging period.

Every game, you could watch him and go ... 'what's he doing?'" Van Dijk surrendered possession in the build-up to Sunderland's goal at Anfield on Wednesday, with Chemsdine Talbi's effort taking a crucial deflection off the Liverpool captain. Craig Burley on ESPN (Image: ESPN) Burley delivered a damning assessment of Van Dijk's performance, stating: "He does everything wrong.

He (Van Dijk) seems to be coming out of it relatively unscathed, and it is everybody else's fault. Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk look on (Image: Robin Jones/Getty Images) "But for me, at the back, he has been as bad as anybody else.