John Giles joined Off the Ball for Thursday Night Football and the former Ireland international gave his take on Liverpool's first signing of the January transfer window.
Jurgen Klopp's side have been crying out for a commanding centre-back after numerous defensive errors this season and, while Giles thinks the Merseysiders should improve with Van Dijk at the back, it mightn't happen straight away.
Giles was also critical of Alberto Moreno's positioning and thinks Klopp's coaching could lead to the Dutchman falling into a similar trap, telling Eoin Sheahan: "You take Moreno for example, who is the left-back. There's lots of times when the ball is on the other side of the field - he gets too far in on the central defenders - he should be halfway between the central defenders and the winger on the right-hand side. He doesn't do that - he's too far in.
"Now I've seen him do that quite a lot and it has never been put right so he's either told to do that which is wrong or he does it on his own but hasn't been stopped doing it - which is also wrong.
"So, the coach should be able to see that in the first match he ever played in - you get halfway between the winger and the central defender.
"Now, what I would worry about a little bit when Van Dijk when he comes in - is he going to be told to get into bad positions?
Giles continued: "I have my doubts whether he will be properly used with the quality that Van Dijk has as a natural defender himself. I just see other defenders, in my opinion, badly coached from defensive positions with Klopp in charge of it.
"Now, whether the new personnel that anybody brings in is going to change that - I don't know. I just have my doubts about it".
The full discussion can be heard here:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
