Van Dijk has been a defensive colossus for the majority of his Reds career after leaving Southampton in January of 2018 but has failed to reach those same heights so far this campaign.
Liverpool’s defensive struggles have prompted manager Jurgen Klopp to change systems mid-season, abandoning his tried and trusted 4-3-3 formation for a variation of the 4-2-3-1.
O’Hara emphasised that Van Dijk’s form was responsible for Liverpool getting away with a lot of issues in the backline.
The 36-year-old believes that the Netherlands international is going through a tough time which leaves him short of confidence perhaps due to the long-term injury suffered during the 2020/21 season.
O’Hara noted that Van Dijk’s struggles have put the rest of his team-mates under the scanner, with teams now wise to the fact that Trent Alexander-Arnold is the weakest link in their defensive chain.
“I think they relied so much on Van Dijk being at the top of his powers that they all just got away with it because he was so good”, O’Hara said on talkSPORT.
“Now he’s fell away because of the injury or whatever, he’s lost a bit of belief, a bit of confidence, going through a bad time in his own game that it’s scrutinised the rest of them.
“So, now they’ve lost that belief, and now teams know that they can get at Trent and they will mark him and aim for him every time they get the ball.”
Liverpool fell to their second defeat in the current Premier League season away at Arsenal during the weekend which left them in tenth place in the league table.
