'He's the daddy' - Carragher on Van Dijk's impact on his Liverpool team-mates

Jamie Carragher has described Virgil van Dijk as the “daddy” of Liverpool's back four, and has praised the Dutchman's effect on his fellow defenders.

Speaking about van Dijk's current centre-back partner, Carragher said: “Lovren's a strange one, because you can watch him for 90 minutes and he can look like one of the top centre-backs in the world – as he said himself – but then he'll just do something where you go “Oh, Dejan, no…”

“The great thing about Virgil van Dijk and about every other great centre-back of the Premier League era, they make other centre-backs look good.

“Someone like Tony Adams – that famous back four, if you actually look at them as individuals, you wouldn't say they were great players.

“To be such a famous defence, a lot of that was about Adams having that presence and making everyone else play better.

“It's almost like the kids are with the dad, and dads are making sure everyone is OK. I think Van Dijk has that effect. He's the daddy.”