One player certainly doesn’t make a football team, but Liverpool will miss the influence of Virgil van Dijk potentially more than any of their other first team stars.
The towering centre-back has been the cornerstone of Liverpool’s back four, and has been a major factor in their recent successes both in Europe and domestically.
His absence because of a cruciate injury therefore comes as a huge blow to the Merseysiders.
One former Reds full-back has also weighed in on the argument, suggesting that both current Liverpool full-backs, Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, need to up their game.
Glen Johnson was particularly critical of Alexander Arnold.
“There’s nothing better as an attacking full-back to think ‘oh actually, I don’t need to run back because I know that Van Dijk is there, or John Terry is there,'” he said to the Daily Mirror.
“You just know they’re going to win the ball.
“If you look over your shoulder and it’s somebody else then you don’t get that confidence, and then you have to be in totally different positions.
“We’ve seen it over the years with Trent. Sometimes defensively he’s got into some terrible positions, but it doesn’t matter because Van Dijk will be mopping up behind and making it all look very easy.
“Both full-backs will have to change.”
The first test of just how well Jurgen Klopp’s side are going to be able to cope without the Dutchman will come on Wednesday when the Reds play Ajax in Amsterdam.
Though the Eredivisie side have lost a lot of their big names over the past couple of seasons, their philosophy on how to play football always makes for an entertaining game.