CARRAGHER ANALYSES BRILLIANT NETHERLANDS PAIR VAN DIJK AND DE LIGT
England will come up against one of the best centre-back pairings in world football on Thursday, when they face the Netherlands in their Nations League semi-final.
Virgil van Dijk - PFA Player of the Year and Champions League winner with Liverpool - will be at the heart of the Dutch backline, alongside 19-year-old Ajax captain and rising star Matthijs de Ligt.
Here, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher assesses the strengths of the two defenders - and how England may look to find a way past them…
De Ligt: A talent, a leader
"It's unbelievable what De Ligt is doing at 19-years-old. The performances we saw him give in the Champions League were outstanding.
"But it's not just his ability - there's obviously been a lot of great young defenders, teenagers we've seen over the years with talent - but also his leadership qualities. I saw him giving a speech at the end of the season on a stage, speaking like he was 29, not 19.
"To be captain of Ajax and with them getting to where they got to this season, he's clearly a leader and top class.
"He's got the physical attributes too. I played that position as a young kid and sometimes you can make mistakes by getting knocked about if someone is too strong for you or too quick for you because you're not fully developed physically. But that's not a problem for De Ligt at all, he's a man.
"He looks like he's 24 or 25. That's a massive advantage for him at a young age.
"There's no guarantee with any player but you look at De Ligt and, for me, it's almost like a guarantee he's going to be a top player."
Van Dijk: Now he's among the very best
"When you talk about the best players in the league, you automatically go for the attacking players. But Van Dijk is in the top five players in the Premier League - not just defenders, players.
"Now, that might sound obvious as he got player of the year this season but year on year, if you said to me 'name the best players', I'd always put him in along with Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Eden Hazard and so on. There might be someone who has a better season than some of those players one season but, consistently, they're the best - and Van Dijk will always be in that list."
Perfect pairing
"I saw Ronald Koeman at the weekend saying he feels he's got the best partnership in Europe at international level and in some ways you can't really argue. Firstly, he knows them better than anyone and it's also the position he played in himself.
"In Van Dijk I think he has the world's best defender - and I think he can rightly say that now he's won a Champions League. While in De Ligt they've definitely got the world's best young centre-back."
Plan of attack?
"So how do you get past them? Stay away from the middle! Go down the sides!
"That's actually where England have great strength. They have great pace with Raheem Sterling and with Jadon Sancho in the squad, while Marcus Rashford plays out there, too. There's massive pace there, so I still think England can cause problems for Holland."
Virgil van Dijk - PFA Player of the Year and Champions League winner with Liverpool - will be at the heart of the Dutch backline, alongside 19-year-old Ajax captain and rising star Matthijs de Ligt.
Here, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher assesses the strengths of the two defenders - and how England may look to find a way past them…
De Ligt: A talent, a leader
"It's unbelievable what De Ligt is doing at 19-years-old. The performances we saw him give in the Champions League were outstanding.
"But it's not just his ability - there's obviously been a lot of great young defenders, teenagers we've seen over the years with talent - but also his leadership qualities. I saw him giving a speech at the end of the season on a stage, speaking like he was 29, not 19.
"To be captain of Ajax and with them getting to where they got to this season, he's clearly a leader and top class.
"He's got the physical attributes too. I played that position as a young kid and sometimes you can make mistakes by getting knocked about if someone is too strong for you or too quick for you because you're not fully developed physically. But that's not a problem for De Ligt at all, he's a man.
"He looks like he's 24 or 25. That's a massive advantage for him at a young age.
"There's no guarantee with any player but you look at De Ligt and, for me, it's almost like a guarantee he's going to be a top player."
Van Dijk: Now he's among the very best
"When you talk about the best players in the league, you automatically go for the attacking players. But Van Dijk is in the top five players in the Premier League - not just defenders, players.
"Now, that might sound obvious as he got player of the year this season but year on year, if you said to me 'name the best players', I'd always put him in along with Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Eden Hazard and so on. There might be someone who has a better season than some of those players one season but, consistently, they're the best - and Van Dijk will always be in that list."
Perfect pairing
"I saw Ronald Koeman at the weekend saying he feels he's got the best partnership in Europe at international level and in some ways you can't really argue. Firstly, he knows them better than anyone and it's also the position he played in himself.
"In Van Dijk I think he has the world's best defender - and I think he can rightly say that now he's won a Champions League. While in De Ligt they've definitely got the world's best young centre-back."
Plan of attack?
"So how do you get past them? Stay away from the middle! Go down the sides!
"That's actually where England have great strength. They have great pace with Raheem Sterling and with Jadon Sancho in the squad, while Marcus Rashford plays out there, too. There's massive pace there, so I still think England can cause problems for Holland."
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