Graeme Souness believes Liverpool’s players are equally culpable for a wretched campaign as underfire manager Arne Slot. The Anfield legend has also cast doubt on the squad’s willingness to do the basics and put in a shift, with the Reds now in genuine danger of finishing the season without a trophy and without Champions League football next season.
Liverpool followed Saturday’s dreadful 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final thrashing at Manchester City with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday. The Reds have now claimed victory just twice in their last eight matches across all competitions and face a stern challenge to secure a top-five finish. And while Slot’s position faces mounting scrutiny, former Liverpool skipper and boss Souness is insistent that the playing staff must also shoulder the blame.
« I’m not looking straight at Arne Slot, » he said. « I’m not saying he’s without blame – when you’re the manager, you’re answerable for everything that goes wrong – but I’d start with the players.
« There’s a stat out there showing they consistently run less than the opposition. That’s the starting point. You’re not working as hard.
« When you work hard with the ball it comes naturally – you’re moving to receive, creating angles, manipulating it. It’s when you don’t have the ball that the hard work really matters. I don’t think the pressing has been good enough, and that makes the back four vulnerable.
« The players in the dressing room have to look at themselves for what’s been an indifferent season. »
Souness added: « In my Liverpool days, the message was simple: work as hard as the opposition and you’ll be fine because you’re good players. That hasn’t happened enough this season.
« For all the people who want to complicate the game with tactics and analysis, sometimes it’s basic – you’re not matching the opposition for effort.
« And when you’ve got the sort of quality Liverpool have, that’s what I would be saying to them: on your day you can beat anyone. But the first thing you need to do is match the opposition’s effort and Liverpool have not done that consistently this season. »
While they were outclassed by PSG in midweek, Liverpool have saved many of their finest displays of the campaign for the Champions League, most notably defeating fellow quarter-finalists Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, as well as Marseille and Italian champions Inter Milan.
Speaking to Sky Bet on behalf of the Express, Souness went on to say: « The Premier League is more demanding than anywhere else. The intensity is higher.
« And when they play European teams – I’m thinking of Italian football in particular – those leagues aren’t at the same level. Italy haven’t qualified for three consecutive World Cups.
« That tells you everything. The French league (Ligue 1) – one outstanding team. And I’m not sure how good Real Madrid and Barcelona are. »
Source link
