VIRGIL VAN DIJK hit back at Wayne Rooney claiming he was guilty of “lazy criticism” after being accused of a failure in captaincy.
England and Manchester United legend Rooney declared that the Liverpool skipper and Mo Salah had fallen down on their jobs through the Premier League champions’ slump of six defeats in seven games.
The five-time title winner said on The Wayne Rooney Show: “Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they’ve signed new deals but I don’t think they’ve really led that team this season.
“I think body language tells you a lot, and I think we’re seeing slightly different body language from the two of them.
“They are the top two players in that team and if their body language is not right, that affects everyone else.”
But van Dijk guided his side to a 2-0 win over Aston Villa to stop the rot – and declared Rooney was talking rot, saying: “I didn’t hear him last year.
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“It doesn’t hurt me to be honest. Just to come back to this particular player, obviously a legend, a big player of the game who inspired so many, I can say only positive things.
“But I feel that comment is just, I would say, it’s a bit of a lazy criticism. That’s my personal opinion.
“It’s easy to blame the older players but he knows as well as everyone else we do it together trying to help each and every one of us to try to get out of this.
“Like I said as well, last year when things go well you don’t hear that at all. It is what it is.
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“[Pundits] have to do that job as well, so it is what it is.
“He has an opinion and we have to deal with it. And there’s no hard feelings, by the way. I don’t take it personally whatsoever.”
But the 34-year-old certainly seems to have taken Roo’s rollicking seriously as he made sure to keep putting the boot in, stressing: “It’s a funny thing, isn’t it?
“Because last year we didn’t hear anything about this [criticism], because obviously things were going well, and we were also seen as the leaders.
“This year when things are not going as well as we want so far the last couple of weeks, then we’re not doing our job properly.
“So that’s the life we live. We feel that responsibility. We want to lead by example.
“I can only speak for myself in this case, by the way. I know I’m the captain, I know that if we do not have the best results or not great performances, then myself and the manager will definitely always be questioned.
“That’s part and parcel, you know. I want to perform, not for myself, but for the team, for the club.”
Van Dijk continued: “That’s what I’ve been doing for all those years. I want to win things, I want to win games especially.
“When there are difficult moments, I try to help my team-mates.
“I try to put them in front of me and want to make them perform in the best possible shape.
“Then when things don’t go well then that’s the world we live in and people question loads of stuff, especially when you lose.
“How many did we lose? Six in the last seven, yeah. So you know, there are so many platforms nowadays that everyone can say whatever they like and it gets blown up.
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“I’ve mentioned it after previous games, we have to stick together, focus on the task ahead, winning games, that’s the only thing we can control.
“It’s not easy to do that for everyone, but for me I’m mature enough and I have a very stable life so I will be able to do so.”
