Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk has taken aim at repeated criticism for the "sake of saying it" - but admitted that dealing with it this season has not always been easy.
The Dutch central defender has been lauded for his vital Reds contributions in recent years but in this campaign, his form has suffered in conjunction with the disappointing showings from Jurgen Klopp's side. Despite their poor form throughout, they managed to salvage European football finishing fifth - their worst in a full season since the German took charge.
Some of the performances led to chastening results, particularly on their travels which compounded the misery for Liverpool and in particular, their defence. But the criticism hasn't stopped in the English top-flight for Van Dijk as he has been subject to critical assessments on the international stage - in particular from Dutch icons.
The 31-year-old is often the focus of the Oranje-related conversation and with that has brought some discontent from the likes of Marco van Basten, Rafael van der Vaart and Ruud Gullit.
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The Liverpool defender, who is on international duty with Ronald Koeman's side ahead of their UEFA Nations League semi-final against Croatia, acknowledged that while the criticism has been hard to deal with, some of the advice directed at the Holland captain and his teammates was right.
"Sometimes the criticism was just right, both on the team and on me individually," he told Algemeen Dagblad. "Quite often but not entirely. But either way; you have to be able to deal with it, and I’m glad I came out of that well. Mentally, that’s not always easy.
"Criticism is just part of it and it’s certainly not a problem if it’s justified. But therein lies a bit of a difference. A footballer knows very well when he has played well or badly, so also whether (the) criticism is justified.
"But it also happens that comments are mainly intended to be effective. That things are said for the sake of saying them. There are so many platforms on which people can express their opinions these days."
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