Memphis
Brownlow Medallist
- Dec 21, 2018
- 14,135
- 9,170
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
- Other Teams
- Man Utd, Boston Celtics, Patriots
Depends on which defensive statistics you’re looking at. Some are useful, but most indicators I hear people quote when assessing defenders are opportunity based.
Without context, absolute values like the total number of tackles a centre back has made don’t tell you anything about his individual quality, other than that he was really busy. Ditto for goalkeepers and total number of saves. Rates are more useful.
Vidic was a phenomenal defender. What Van Dijk has done over the last 2 years is as good as any individual season Vidic put up. Some would argue better. Longevity is the challenge for Van Dijk now if he wants to enter those all time great lists.
I would kindly argue these stats mean a lot to defenders.
Yes you are right, vidic even though his best season was in 2009 stats wise he was great from 2008-2013 so 6 years.
If VVD keeps this up for the next 4 years i'm happy for him to take a ballon d'or because he'll deserve it.
Despite the comparison would've loved to see these two head to head.