GRAEME SOUNESS: Erling Haaland is like artificial intelligence, he analyses everything in a nano-second and now has Anfield in his sights... but Virgil van Dijk can shut up the doubters by pocketing the rampant Man City star

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There’s a lot of talk these days about artificial intelligence and its ramifications for the future. Well, I have to tell you the concept has already reached the Premier League. Erling Haaland looks like a modern robot and the question everyone will be asking this weekend is how can Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk deal with him?

‘With difficulty’, is the facile answer. When you’re Van Dijk, you’re usually thinking about the forward you’re up against and concluding, ‘I’m quicker than him. I can outjump him. I’m stronger than him’.

Perhaps for the first time, Van Dijk’s thoughts tomorrow will be, ‘He may be quicker than me. He may be stronger than me. He may be able to outjump me’. This is unknown territory for him.

Virgil van Dijk is in unchartered waters heading into Liverpool's clash with Manchester City

But however invincible an opponent might seem and however few chinks in his armour, there is always the psychological dimension. There is always a chance for a player to rise to the occasion, which Van Dijk must do on Sunday. 

Irrespective of Van Dijk’s form, irrespective of where Liverpool are at the moment, this is a game he should be licking his lips for. He’s going to be playing against the guy they’re all raving about. He can shut them up. Shut out all that white noise. He can tell himself, ‘If I go out there and have Haaland in my pocket, they won’t be talking like that again’.

There was never a week spent at Liverpool thinking about the opposition. It was all about us. In the tunnel before the game, I was trying to wind up myself. I didn’t need anyone to do that for me.

When it came to playing, I made it personal. At Wembley in the Community Shield, Haaland accidentally flattened Van Dijk at one stage with a flailing arm. That would have been more than enough motivation for me.

Van Dijk may be heading into the game accepting that Erling Haaland (R) is physically superior 

I’m not sure Van Dijk is that kind of character, though. I’m yet to see him angry. He just looks like a movie star at times. I don’t think that’s a conscious thing. I just don’t think that anger is in him and I don’t think it’s the kind of individual he is.

That image of James Milner giving him a piece of his mind during the defeat by Manchester United two months ago was revealing. I’ve seen Jordan Henderson do that to Van Dijk, too. If that had been a team-mate of mine bawling me out — and senior players at Liverpool certainly would because that’s what collective responsibility looked like — I would not have taken it. My reply would have been, ‘Oh, for f***’s sake yes, so you’ve done your job’, though what that team-mate had said would register.

Van Dijk’s response looked almost subservient. These are young men, testosterone-filled, with egos that would choke a horse. It was hard to believe that a player would let that pass.

Since arrivingat Anfield he hasn't gone into a game thinking he is physically inferior to a player

The problem with facing Haaland is he never knocks off. He’s alive to everything until the whistle is blown or the ball has gone out of play.

And he has a quality of movement which belies his years. The karate-kick goal he scored against Borussia Dortmund last month would suggest he is doing more than just the normal stretching and mobility work at the training ground. The timing and direction of his run in the build-up were less noticed but extremely clever. At 22, he plays with the same nous that Harry Kane displays at 29. I’ve played with Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini, but I can’t think of anyone who at such a young age analyses a situation in a nanosecond like Haaland does.

This is why mentality is so important on Sunday. Van Dijk’s first foot race with Haaland will be an interesting one.

The Dutchman has dominated all before him and will silence his critics if he does the same

On that score, the old Bill Shankly adage that they preached to us — ‘the first two yards are in your head, son’ — is as true today as ever.

Then there’s the first time they’ll jump together for a ball. Who outjumps whom? If Van Dijk wins these first challenges, Anfield will respond. It’s a stadium like no other in that respect. The difficulty is that the response of a player of Haaland’s class is, ‘He’s just beaten me there. He’s not going to beat me a second time’. You’ve got to beat him again and again and again.

Pep Guardiola said this week, when resting players in Copenhagen, that Haaland and others were tired, but I don’t buy that. I cannot see how a player is tired after 14 games, especially when the team are winning every week. That’s a dangerous road for managers to go down, where you plant a seed in their heads about fatigue.

Haaland is like a robot and has begun life in the Premier League like no player ever before him

Of course, Haaland is by no means City’s only world-class threat. Phil Foden is on fire and will create a problem. It won’t be easy for Joe Gomez, who could see a lot of Foden and who probably sees himself as more of a centre half than a right back.

That’s why it’s all about the midfield not allowing City to look up and pick a pass.

But this is the chance for Liverpool to make fools of those people who’ve doubted them.

‘The empire crumbles’, declared one of the headlines when City came to Anfield and beat us 3-1 in the winter of 1981. We took a great deal of satisfaction from turning that into an infamous headline.

Ronaldo brings belief to Manchester United and installs fear into the opposition

There was an instant sense of foreboding when Cristiano Ronaldo came on to the field against Everton last Sunday.

The fans clearly sensed the danger and so did some of the Everton players.

Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski seemed more nervous in possession. That’s what this player does to you. He brings belief.

Cristiano Ronaldo's goal and performance away at Everton shows he is still an asset to his side

He struts around, as he is entirely entitled to do.

That gives his team a belief and an arrogance which intimidates opponents, makes some of them slightly anxious and maybe makes them forget about their own jobs. If Ronaldo never adds to his 700-goal tally and Haaland plays until he’s 37, Haaland would have to score 37 goals a season for 15 years to match his record. Even if Haaland keeps scoring at his current incredible rate, he would reach 613 goals.

Mind-boggling. I hardly need to reinforce my point that this is a player United should be doing everything to keep at the heart of their team.

I wish my great friend 'Whip' a speedy recovery after his stroke

I’m so happy to hear that my old Liverpool team-mate David Fairclough — the player we called ‘Whip’ — is on the mend after having a stroke. We lived next door to each other in Sandfield Park, round the corner from Melwood, and came to know each other very well. 

He’s remembered for the legendary night against Saint-Etienne at Anfield in 1977, when he came on as substitute to score a goal six minutes from time which took the team to the European Cup final.

The ‘Supersub’ tag could be hard for him at times. He wanted to start games as much as any of us. But he was always ready when called on; a scorer of great and important goals whose pace and directness worried defenders when he came on. I wish my old friend a speedy recovery.

The 'supersub' tag could be difficult for David Fairclough at times but he more than lived up to it during his enormously successful time with Liverpool

Rangers played with an inferiority complex on Wednesday night

I was back up at Ibrox as a guest of my old club Rangers on Wednesday night. The 7-1 win made it a wonderful occasion for Liverpool, but I was disappointed that Rangers looked like a side with an inferiority complex.

I accept that the way the Premier League has evolved creates a financial gulf. Liverpool’s most expensive player was Darwin Nunez, who cost £85million. Rangers’ most expensive player, Ryan Kent, cost £6.5million. But Rangers were either going to get rolled over by Liverpool or get in their faces, and they never set about them. They never really believed in what they were doing. I left the ground feeling that they had let their supporters down by not showing the belief which is part and parcel of being a player at that great club.

Liverpool won’t have been kidded by the scoreline. They know it’s going to be an entirely different proposition on Sunday.

Rangers played with what appeared to be an inferiority complex against Liverpool in the week