Virgil van Dijk has offered a calm but pointed response to Wayne Rooney\u2019s criticism over his leadership at Liverpool.<\/p>\n
Before Liverpool\u2019s 2-0 victory over Aston Villa \u2014 their first Premier League win since September 20 \u2014 Rooney questioned both Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, suggesting the pair hadn\u2019t shown enough leadership this season.<\/p>\n
Speaking on his BBC podcast, the former Manchester United and England striker said:<\/p>\n
> \u201cVirgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they\u2019ve signed new deals, but I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve really led that team this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the remarks after the Villa game, Van Dijk dismissed them as \u201clazy criticism,\u201d while showing respect for Rooney\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
> \u201cI didn\u2019t hear him last year,\u201d Van Dijk told TNT Sports. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt me, to be honest. He\u2019s obviously a legend who inspired so many, but I think that comment is a bit lazy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to blame the senior players, but everyone knows we do things together. When things are going well, no one says anything \u2014 but when we struggle, people look for someone to blame. It is what it is. He\u2019s doing his job as a pundit, and I have no hard feelings. I don\u2019t take it personally.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Liverpool captain went on to reflect on the nature of criticism in football:<\/p>\n
> \u201cLast year, when we were winning, we were seen as leaders. Now that results haven\u2019t gone our way recently, people say we\u2019re not doing our jobs properly. That\u2019s football.<\/p>\n
I know as captain that when the team underperforms, I\u2019ll be questioned along with the manager \u2014 it comes with the territory. I just focus on performing for the team and the club, trying to help my teammates through tough times.\u201d<\/p>\n
He concluded by addressing the current scrutiny surrounding Liverpool:<\/p>\n
> \u201cWe\u2019ve lost a few games recently, and with all the platforms out there, opinions get amplified. But we have to stay united, focus on winning, and control what we can. I\u2019m experienced and stable enough to handle that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In short: Van Dijk respected Rooney\u2019s opinion but firmly stood his ground, calling the comments unfair and emphasizing unity and leadership within the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Virgil van Dijk has offered a calm but pointed response to Wayne Rooney\u2019s criticism over his leadership at Liverpool. Before Liverpool\u2019s 2-0 victory over Aston Villa \u2014 their first Premier League win since September 20 \u2014 Rooney questioned both Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, suggesting the pair hadn\u2019t shown enough leadership this season. Speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":53500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/resize-48.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53501,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53499\/revisions\/53501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}