Virgil van Dijk warns of impending ‘chaos’ for Liverpool in glowing praise of Reds teammate
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In praising one of his Liverpool teammates, Virgil van Dijk has warned of the ‘chaos’ which awaits the Reds in the coming weeks.Andoni Iraola’s side go into the first international break of the season off the back of a gritty 1-0 win at Bournemouth, thus preserving their unbeaten start to the campaign, but the fixture calendar which awaits upon their resumption is daunting.LFC will play nine matches across three different competitions in 29 days, a sequence which includes meetings against each of the current top four in the Premier League and a hardly hospitable Champions League away day against Fenerbahce in Istanbul.Van Dijk praises Araujo and warns of impending ‘chaos’Speaking after the win at the Vitality Stadium, Van Dijk heaped praise on fellow Reds defender Ronald Araujo, who’s slotted in seamlessly in his first few games after joining on loan from Barcelona, whilst also warning of the challenges to come in October and November.The Dutchman said of his teammate (via Liverpool Echo): “He is a great player. I don’t think he was the captain of Barcelona for no reason.
He is a fantastic player. He is not a natural right-back, but he has filled in the best way possible, and I am pleased for him.“It has been an intense couple of weeks for him, so hopefully now in this international break, he can get a little bit of rest before the chaos will start when we come back.
It is down to the whole team, but obviously he did very well so far.”(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustAraujo won’t get much of a rest in the next few weeksWe don’t think any Liverpool fan would disagree with Van Dijk’s assessment of Araujo, who’s been a rock-solid addition to our back four and has performed excellently at right-back, despite historically being far more accustomed to playing centrally.Unfortunately for the Reds, the 27-year-old has been called up to the Uruguay squad for their friendlies away to Japan (Thursday), South Korea (next Monday) and India (6 October), which’ll involve thousands of air miles to Asia and back.It means that he won’t get the ‘little bit of rest’ of which the LFC captain spoke, and unless he sits out the last of those three games, he won’t exactly be fully refreshed for the hectic fixture schedule which awaits between 11 October (Man City at home) and 8 November (Crystal Palace away).Whilst Van Dijk has opted to continue playing for Netherlands under new boss Xavi, he’s previously been quite outspoken about the relentless demands which have been placed on footballers at the highest level through the creation and expansion of various tournaments.Fingers crossed that every Liverpool player representing their country on international duty over the next fortnight will come back to Merseyside unscathed and ready to throw themselves into the thankless schedule either side of Halloween.