Virgil van Dijk was shown a red card for the Netherlands in their first game of the international break and because of this, he was sent back to Merseyside to prepare for the return of Premier League action.
This early exit means that the captain of his nation will not be present when they face Germany on Monday evening and manager Ronald Koeman has been speaking about how his side can cope without the presence of the defender.
Speaking with the media (translated via sportsmax.tv), the former Everton boss said: “Virgil is someone who coaches a lot from the back. Now others have to do that…
“I certainly think it will be interesting to see how that works in the team now that Virgil is not there. He has almost always been available.”
Liverpool teammate Cody Gakpo then added his thoughts: “Virgil is an exceptional player, but now we are obliged to replace him. There are other good players who can do that.”
Van Dijk will be a big miss for the Netherlands
It’s as balanced of a response as you would expect in the current predicament the Dutch find themselves in without our captain being available for what will be a tough Nations League encounter.
The 33-year-old was booked twice in four minutes against Hungary and it was fair to say that he was rather unfortunate to be given his marching orders on a night when he linked up with Dominik Szoboszlai prior to kick-off.
With Van Dijk joining Mo Salah and Curtis Jones as the early departures from their respective national call-ups too, Arne Slot will be happy to see his players return less fatigued than they otherwise may have been.
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You can see from this press conference that the absence of our centre half is such big news that both his teammate and manager were forced to comment on what impact it will have.
Let’s just hope that our head coach isn’t forced to field similar questions this season, especially if it is with regard to his career at Anfield possibly coming to an end.
As we’ve struck some luck watching an early return, let’s hope this continues with a new deal being agreed for our skipper – as we all know how tough life could be without him.
You can watch Koeman and Gakpo’s press conference via ESPN NL on YouTube:
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