29 September 2023 , 10:35
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Jamie O'Hara claims "people need to stop living in the past" after snubbing Virgil van Dijk in his combined Liverpool and Tottenham XI.
The two teams square off this weekend with the north Londoners buoyed from their point at the Emirates whilst the Reds, yet to taste defeat this term, have won every game since the second weekend of the season. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be flooding with talent on Saturday evening with O'Hara making his feelings known.
Despite Van Dijk's impressive spell at Anfield, which saw him named the PFA Player of the Year in 2019, the former Tottenham midfielder has hinted that his best days are past him - opting for Ibrahima Konate ahead of him. O'Hara has also made the bold call of also snubbing Andy Robertson, an ever consistent performer.
He told Grosvenor Sport on his selections: “I can’t disagree with Alisson in goal. Guglielmo Vicario’s been brilliant for Spurs and made some quality saves last weekend against Arsenal, but you can’t not have Alisson in there. Virgil van Dijk? No! People need to stop living in the past!
"I’ll go with Ibrahima Konate and Cristian Romero. Micky van de Ven also gets a mention – he’s been unbelievable since he came in, but he doesn’t get in and Van Dijk doesn’t start for me either. Left-back I’m going with Destiny Udogie over Andy Robertson – 100%. Have you seen how good he is? He’s been unreal for Tottenham this season."
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O'Hara has given Trent Alexander-Arnold the nod at right-back, citing it as one of Tottenham's "weakest positions". So far this term it is the Reds who, narrowly, have the better defensive record.
Virgil van Dijk has been a pillar of Liverpool's success under Jurgen KloppIn the engine room he has gone with the reborn Yves Bissouma, who is thriving after a difficult first season in the capital. Summer signing James Maddison is also joined by Liverpool's major recruit Dominik Szoboszlai, who has begun with a bang on Merseyside.
Mohamed Salah, Heung-min Son and Luis Diaz complete the front three with the likes of Dejan Kulusevski and Darwin Nunez being overlooked. It means that Liverpool still edge it, getting six players in O'Hara's XI despite his previous allegiance to the north London outfit.
Tottenham are looking to end a horrid run of results against the Reds with their last win coming back in 2017. That success was during their period at Wembley meaning they haven't beaten Liverpool on their north London patch for over a decade, losing this fixture last term 2-1.
O'Hara's combined XI: Alisson, Udogie, Konate, Romero, Alexander-Arnold, Bissouma, Maddison, Szoboszlai, Salah, Son, Diaz.