After a full season of uneven and uncertain performances, Liverpool FC has put in a pair of confident performances to start the 2021-2022 season. Their first match was away against Norwich followed by a match at home against Burnley. Sporting a somewhat different lineup compared with last season, it was pretty obvious that the return of Virgil van Dijk has made a big difference. Defensively, he’s been solid as ever. However, what really missed was van Dijk’s ball distribution.
Against Norwich, van Dijk had 93 touches and completed 79 of 85 passes (92.9%). More importantly, he passed for 1876 yards and had a progressive distance (PrgDist) of 649 yards. PrgDist is defined as the total distance, in yards, that completed passes have traveled towards the opponent’s goal.
Against Burnley, van Dijk completed 34 of 40 passes. While he passed for less total yardage (822 yards) and PrgDist (242) he made a key pass that eventually led to a goal.
Watching Liverpool play with van Dijk in the lineup vs without him is like night and day. The team’s offensive flow is much better and less dependent on going down the wings. At times last season, Jurgen Klopp’s offense seemed to consist of one thing: running down the sides and heaving in a cross. While Fabinho did his best and performed admirably during his 17 appearances and 1530 mins as a central defender, his total passing output was roughly 14,000 yards.
We’ve assembled van Dijk’s passing numbers and juxtaposed them with his peers.
A look at Virgil van Dijk’s progressive passing during the season Liverpool won the Champions League and nearly won the league (2019) shows that he out-passed almost all of his peers with the sole exception of Aymeric Laporte. This shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise considering Laporte played in a pass and possession-heavy Pep Guardiola offense.
2019
| NAME | TEAM | TOTAL DISTANCE | PrgDist | Prg PASSES TOTAL | FINAL THIRD |
| Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool | 62,108 | 17,429 | 144 | 179 |
| Gerard Pique | Barcelona | 46,352 | 14,391 | 103 | 156 |
| Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid | 35,474 | 14,043 | 91 | 176 |
| Milan Skriniar | Inter Milan | 43,957 | 15,225 | 130 | 129 |
| John Stones | Manchester City | 34.220 | 9445 | 87 | 111 |
| Raphael Varane | Real Madrid | 33,747 | 9633 | 57 | 83 |
| Harry Maguire | Leicester City | 35,399 | 11,761 | 142 | 177 |
| Aymeric Laporte | Manchester City | 58,986 | 19,301 | 238 | 316 |
| Marquinhos | Paris Saint-Germain | 42,667 | 14,004 | 144 | 174 |
| Ruben Dias | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
The following season, Liverpool won the league and saw Virgil van Dijk surpass the previous year’s effort. In 2020, nobody came close to him.
2020
| NAME | TEAM | TOTAL DISTANCE | PrgDist | Prg PASSES TOTAL | FINAL THIRD |
| Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool | 65,376 | 18,443 | 154 | 227 |
| Gerard Pique | Barcelona | 53,752 | 14,795 | 116 | 192 |
| Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid | 38,957 | 14,729 | 100 | 147 |
| Milan Skriniar | Inter Milan | 36,436 | 12,404 | 129 | 139 |
| John Stones | Mancherster City | 21,071 | 5928 | 54 | 81 |
| Raphael Varane | Real Madrid | 35,098 | 10,034 | 50 | 83 |
| Harry Maguire | Manchester United | 46,934 | 11,790 | 98 | 167 |
| Aymeric Laporte | Manchester City | 22,480 | 6784 | 78 | 108 |
| Marquinhos | Paris Saint-Germain | 24,188 | 6825 | 83 | 105 |
| Ruben Dias | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Last season, van Dijk was out for most of the season thanks to Everton’s Jordan Pickford. Liverpool struggled without his offensive output.
2021
| NAME | TEAM | TOTAL DISTANCE | PrgDist | Prg PASSES TOTAL | FINAL THIRD |
| Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool | 7078 | 2109 | 20 | 26 |
| Gerard Pique | Barcelona | 24,743 | 6069 | 35 | 82 |
| Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid | 44,819 | 15,383 | 115 | 174 |
| Milan Skriniar | Inter Milan | 39,131 | 11,303 | 122 | 131 |
| John Stones | Manchester City | 31,552 | 7992 | 75 | 113 |
| Raphael Varane | Real Madrid | 36,253 | 9867 | 86 | 103 |
| Harry Maguire | Manchester United | 42,647 | 12,352 | 104 | 194 |
| Aymeric Laporte | Manchester City | 24,147 | 6963 | 72 | 108 |
| Marquinhos | Paris Saint-Germain | 33,398 | 10,630 | 89 | 148 |
| Ruben Dias | Manchester CIty | 54,265 | 14,607 | 116 | 166 |