Liverpool’s defensive partnerships are taking them towards top of Premier League title race

National World - LocalTV

A look at the rocks at the back for LFC.

Transcript

00:00On to Liverpool's defence, there was massive conversations last year in terms of defensive

00:08partnerships and Saliba and Gabriel were brought up a number of times for Arsenal of course,

00:14but Ibrahima Kanate coming back into this side, he had his injury problems but him and

00:20Van Dijk are seeming unstoppable at times. What's your take on them and are they the

00:26best current partnership in the Premier League?

00:29Well if you look at the Premier League table you'd probably say that they have to be because

00:35Liverpool have conceded 6 goals in 11 matches, so almost 1 in 2 games that they conceded

00:42and if you look at the next best I think it's Nottingham Forest on 10. They've been magnificent,

00:50I think one big pass on the backhand of Sloth deserves as Kanate has managed to stay fit

00:57so far. Maybe it's Nottingham because it's not like he's changed anything drastically

01:05but maybe things are going on behind the scenes, helping Kanate stay fit because that was always

01:13his problem, he just couldn't get a sustained run under his belt and he's doing that now,

01:18he's playing twice a week which I don't think anyone ever thought he could do that just

01:22because of how often he did break down niggles that you thought weren't going to keep him

01:27out for a while but ended up being prolonged. He was fantastic against Aston Villa, he was

01:34an absolute rock, he won all of his duels, he's definitely one of the best centre-backs

01:40in the Premier League in terms of performances this season and Virgil van Dijk, what can

01:44you say about him? He's in a mood but like Jeff Suud-Eyemdy after the Villa game was

01:50raver about him calling him one of the best players in the world, not just one of the

01:54best defenders in the world but one of the best players which is probably the biggest

01:58compliment that you can give a centre-half when you're saying that he's one of the best

02:02in the world. So yeah, I think Saliva and as you say Gabriel, they were a force last

02:10season but Liverpool, I don't think it's just Kanate and Van Dijk to be fair, the whole

02:15defence has been good. Trent Alexander-Arnold's made significant improvements in terms of

02:22his defensive capabilities. Costa Simacas when he's played, Andy Robertson's been a

02:27little bit more restricted when he's played at left-back, he's not marauded as much. Maybe

02:35that's under instructions but yeah, the defensive improvements have been marked and I think

02:41you have to say that the centre-back pair, Kanate and Van Dijk is currently the best

02:45in the Premier League.

02:47Obviously Van Dijk in his eighth season with Liverpool, do you think him and Kanate, that

02:53Kanate partnership is probably his favourite so far?

02:57I don't know, it's a good point. I think he liked playing next to Joel Matip who is a

03:04cult hero at Liverpool, very underrated player Joel Matip to be honest with you. It was disappointing

03:10the way his career ended ultimately because when he got that knee injury last season he

03:14was actually ahead of Kanate in the team and they started the Champions League final victory

03:20together. Also Joe Gomez who came off the bench recently was absolutely monstrous against

03:29Brighton. Van Dijk and Gomez, they were the main partnership when Liverpool won the Premier

03:36League. So there's good options there and obviously they've got Gilles Quantz who's

03:40available as well. He hasn't played as much as he would have liked but I don't think he

03:45can complain. He's come out and said that he can't have any complaints given the defensive

03:49performances. But if Liverpool go and achieve something special this season then you might

03:55look at that and think yeah, Van Dijk and Kanate because towards the end of that 21-22

04:01season when they just missed out on the Premier League and the Champions League it was Kanate

04:05as well who was the main partner. But I don't really think Uwe de Van Dijk minds.

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