Virgil van Dijk: Liverpool captain says pundits have duty of responsibility to new generation of players with their criticism

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says pundits have a "duty of responsibility" to the new generation of players when they make their criticisms.

The defender sat down with one of those very pundits, Sky Sports' Gary Neville, ahead of the Super Sunday clash against Manchester City.

Earlier this season Van Dijk was involved with a media back and forth with former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney over his critiques of the defender. The Reds skipper confronted the pundit over his comments after Liverpool had beaten Real Madrid in the Champions League.

More recently, Nicky Butt and Lisandro Martinez have exchanged public messages after comments from the ex-Manchester United midfielder.

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Van Dijk says he can handle the criticisms, but worries that with the rise of social media and its popularity among younger players, it could begin to have a detrimental impact.

"For me personally, I can deal with it, but I'm a bit worried for the next generation," he told Neville. "I feel like the ex-top players have a responsibility to the new generation.

"Criticism is absolutely normal and part of the game, and I think it should stay that way. But sometimes criticism also goes into being clickbait, saying things to provoke things, and without thinking about the repercussions for a mental side of players, and especially the younger generation, who are constantly on social media.

"You can say, 'yeah, you shouldn't be on social media' - that's what I've mentioned [to them] loads of times.

"There is always this thing of when you play a good game, younger players check all the positive praises, but when you have a worse game, and you're getting bullied all over social media, or you're getting bad criticism, it can really affect you. I've seen that in certain players in the past, and currently as well, because it's just not easy.

"It's going to get worse and worse, because the platforms nowadays, with the clickbait and the headlines, everyone is on it constantly.

"I feel like especially the ex-pros, top players, who have been through everything as well, they have this responsibility of protecting a little bit of that side as well. That's something maybe to look at."

One member of Liverpool's set-up who has been under the spotlight is head coach Arne Slot, with the Reds struggling to hit the heights of last season.

Van Dijk added: "Criticism for the season we are having is well-deserved because of the way we have been playing at times, the way we have been losing games on the bounce, that's not the standard we set, especially last year.

"But you have criticism and you have disrespect. I've got asked the question asked last week about do I think the disrespect is well-deserved, and I don't know, because I don't read it at all times.

"We are in a process of things, and it takes time. From what I know, Liverpool is not a club of making rash decisions and they trust the process.

"But I know how the world works. I know the pressure that managers are under, and they are held responsible and accountable for the results we are getting.

"I still feel that it's a process. In my eyes, he deserves the respect and the chance to make sure that this process is going to end in a positive way."

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