Liverpool are off to a winning start as they look to defend their Premier League title.But that doesn’t even begin the tell the story of their clash against Leeds at Anfield on Saturday evening.The champions of the Premier League vs the champions of the Championship. Jurgen Klopp vs Marcelo Bielsa.We expected fireworks and that’s exactly what we got as Liverpool edged a seven-goal thriller thanks to a Mohamed Salah hat-trick.After just four minutes, Salah had put the Reds ahead after his shot had been blocked by the arm of Robin Koch.
Eight minutes later, Leeds were level thanks to a superbly taken goal by Jack Harrison as he brought down Kalvin Philips’ long pass with incredible skill.But when Virgil van Dijk headed Liverpool back ahead in the 20th-minute, it looked to be normal service resumed.However, we didn’t expect the Dutchman to then make a terrible mistake to allow Patrick Bamford to equalise.Arguably the best defender in the world was far too causal as he tried to clear Stuart Dallas’ long ball, allowing Bamford to steal in. Jamie Carragher accused him of being "too arrogant."
That mistake also brought up a rather worrying statistic. According to Squawka, Van Dijk has now made more errors leading to a goal in the Premier League than any other player since the start of the 2018/19 campaign (3).
Those mistakes were Fulham (A), Arsenal (A) and now Leeds (H).
It also prompted a former Premier League footballer to question Van Dijk’s credentials.
You may not have heard the name Gabby Agbonlahor for a little while but he caused a stir with his opinion of the Liverpool defender.
He tweeted: “Pls don’t put van dijk in same bracket as Rio and kompany pls thanks.”
He followed that up with: “Kompany rio and terry ahead.”
Luckily for Van Dijk, Salah bailed him out as he put Liverpool 3-2 ahead before half-time.
And even after Mateusz Klich made it 3-3 with 25 minutes remaining, Salah’s 88th-minute completed his hat-trick and sealed a 4-3 victory for the Reds.
It meant that we’re all talking about Salah and Liverpool’s three points, rather than Van Dijk’s mistake.
Well, all of us about from Agbonlahor…