‘Oh my…’ – Paul Merson couldn’t believe what he saw from Van Dijk in first half at Anfield | OneFootball

Virgil van Dijk has been largely unflappable during his seven-and-a-bit years as a Liverpool player, but even he left Paul Merson astonished during the first half of tonight’s Merseyside derby.

Alas, it wasn’t for a positive reason, but rather in reaction to an uncharacteristic error which thankfully wasn’t punished by Everton.

From a counterattack by the visitors just after the half-hour mark, the Liverpool captain raced back to try and prevent Beto from running through on goal, but in trying to impede the Toffees striker he merely kicked thin air.

The Guinea-Bissau was then left one-on-one with Caoimhin Kelleher and looked certain to score, but incredibly he hit the post and wasted a gilt-edged opportunity.

Merson stunned by Van Dijk error

Merson couldn’t believe the error from Van Dijk, saying that he’d never witnessed anything like that from the Dutchman before.

Speaking on Sky Sports‘ Soccer Special (20:33), the pundit shrieked: “Oh my! I’ve never seen Van Dijk ever do that.”

Image via Sky Sports Premier League

Not Van Dijk’s finest moment for Liverpool…

Everton enjoyed a lucky escape when James Tarkowski somehow escaped a red card for his horrific lunge on Alexis Mac Allister in the opening quarter-hour, and Liverpool got a break when Beto contrived to miss what looked a certain goal.

It certainly wasn’t the finest moment of Van Dijk’s Reds career, and had the Toffees striker gone on to score as would’ve been expected, the Reds captain would’ve been pilloried over his uncharacteristic error.

Beto did have the ball in the net during the first half but was correctly (albeit narrowly) flagged offside, and the home side have had a couple of warnings from the 15th-placed visitors.

With Liverpool seeking a response after the defeats to Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle prior to the international break, they could certainly do with returning to winning ways in the derby tonight and not giving Arsenal renewed hope in the Premier League title race.