{"id":694772,"date":"2026-01-14T06:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/694772\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T06:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:07:16","slug":"noni-madueke-says-liverpool-have-a-defender-who-is-just-so-hard-to-play-against","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/694772\/","title":{"rendered":"Noni Madueke says Liverpool have a defender who is just so hard to play against"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool have struggled defensively this season, which has now impacted their creativity in the final third.<\/strong><\/p>\n

During that run of nine defeats from 12, clean sheets were incredibly hard to come by for the Reds.<\/p>\n

In turn, Arne Slot changed his system<\/a> to try and shore up what had become a leaky backline.<\/p>\n

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This has worked to some extent, including keeping a clean sheet against Arsenal last week.<\/p>\n

But it has come at the cost of Liverpool\u2019s performances<\/a> (zero shots on target against the Gunners), which have been underwhelming for some time.<\/p>\n

Noni Madueke praise for Virgil van Dijk<\/p>\n

Slot is clearly struggling to find the right balance between defence and attack this season.<\/p>\n

Yet, a couple of players in his backline have started to show improvements of late.<\/p>\n

Gary Neville praised Milos Kerkez<\/a> after the aforementioned 0-0 draw with Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Now, Gunners winger Noni Madueke has given high praise to Virgil van Dijk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a video for ESPN<\/a>, the winger was asked to name the three toughest opponents he\u2019s played against.<\/p>\n

Madueke said: \u201cVirgil van Dijk, Gabi [Gabriel] and William Saliba when I played for Chelsea.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Liverpool centre-back transfer update<\/p>\n

So far this season, Van Dijk has had to do a lot of heavy lifting in Liverpool\u2019s<\/a> backline.<\/p>\n

Young stopper Giovanni Leoni is out for the rest of the season, leaving the Dutchman, Ibrahima Konate and the injury-prone Joe Gomez, who is also needed at right-back, to cover two positions across a full campaign.<\/p>\n

However, despite the lack of depth, it appears the Reds are waiting until the summer to strengthen their backline.<\/p>\n

David Ornstein<\/a> has said centre-back will be a focus this summer, but it looks as though Liverpool are \u2018keeping their powder dry\u2019 during the January transfer window.<\/p>\n

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