Milner names 4 excellent centre-half teammates

James Milner has actually called present Liverpool centre-half Virgil van Dijk among his best four protective colleagues.

Speaking at a virtual media session hosted by Arena Astro in Malaysia, Milner was asked about the dazzling Dutchman and where he ranked among the greats.

” He’s right up there. I’ve been really fortunate to have played with some incredible centre-halves. You look at Rio [Ferdinand], Jonathan Woodgate, Vinny Kompany, and Virg is right in there with all those men.

” He checks out the game so well, he’s quick, he’s strong, he’s good on the ball, he’s a good communicator and he’s fatal in the air.

” And his positioning is so excellent. You can see that after the game when you look at how far gamers have actually run. He’s run miles less than everybody else, even the other centre-halves, and you believe ‘how is that possible?’ It’s due to the fact that he reads the game so well.

” He’s an amazing gamer for us, and a big part of what we do. The spinal column in the team is enormous and he is undoubtedly a rock in that defence.”

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Milner recalled one moment versus Southampton when Van Dijk showed his class, stating: “The ball has actually come over his shoulder, he’s got a forward sprinting to close him down, hunting him down into the corner and he’s just knocked it over his shoulder, newbie, into my course.

” It was among those moments in a video game where I nearly stopped a praised before I controlled the ball myself! It was outrageous safeguarding, however that’s the sort of thing he does.”