Steven Gerrard tore into Arne Slot’s ‘desperate’ Liverpool after the champions fell to a dramatic 94th-minute defeat against rock-bottom Wolves on Tuesday night.
The Reds have lost five games to goals scored in injury time this season, the most in a single campaign in Premier League history, and doing so at Molineux has dealt a hammer blow to their hopes of securing Champions League qualification next term.
Liverpool have just days to recover before returning to Molineux to face off with Rob Edwards’ side in the FA Cup, but in club legend Gerrard’s eyes, there is much work to do for the squad if they wish to exact revenge.
‘For 65 minutes, Liverpool were desperate tonight, really poor,’ he said on punditry duties for TNT Sports. ‘They didn’t play with the right tempo, the right quality.’
Gerrard also joined the chorus of voices calling for Slot to start talented young attacker Rio Ngumoha.
‘He’s doing more in a short cameo than (Cody) Gakpo in 65 minutes,’ Gerrard noted. ‘So he deserves a start. (Slot) has to start the kid on Friday night.
‘Wolves were very comfortable, they contained Liverpool really well.
Bemoaning their defending, Gerrard said of the first goal: ‘It was a basic ball up to the target man, they’ve got a two on one there, that’s got to be dealt with. For the second goal, it’s a poor ball from the goalkeeper (Alisson) and there’s no reaction.
‘If they want to progress in the FA Cup they’ve got to defend a lot better. They say “we weren’t good enough in the final third” but they’ve got to defend as well.’
Gakpo found himself back in the goals last weekend as the Merseyside club thrashed West Ham 5-2, but the £44million man has come in for criticism this season for inconsistent performances.
Gerrard also weighed in on a potential foul on captain Virgil van Dijk which came in the immediate build-up to Wolves’ opener.
Vying for the ball in the midfield, Tolu Arokodare appeared to push the Reds captain off balance to sneak away with the ball.
As he released it, Van Dijk seemed to give Arokodare a retaliatory push back, while his team-mate Ibrahima Konate sought to contain Rodrigo Gomes.
But while some fans on social media were incensed, particularly in light of recent controversies about the threshold for pushing and shoving which Tottenham have been particularly keen to clarify with refs’ chiefs, Gerrard was unconvinced.
‘I don’t think it’s a foul,’ he continued. ‘I think he’s got to be a lot stronger in that situation.
‘I also think Konate could have got him out of trouble, he went in with the wrong leg. He could’ve bailed Van Dijk out there but you’re clutching at straws to claim a foul there.
‘He will be slightly disappointed in himself when he watches that back.’
For his part, Van Dijk refused to be drawn on whether he thought the contact was a foul, but did concede that Liverpool had been ‘sloppy’.
‘It was slow, we were predictable, sloppy in possession and wrong decision-making,’ the captain said after the final whistle.
Having failed to take any points from Molineux, Liverpool’s grip on the top five is vulnerable. If Chelsea beat Aston Villa away on Wednesday, the Blues’ superior goal difference means they would move fifth.
With ties in the FA Cup and Champions League to come, the Reds will have to wait until next Sunday to improve their Premier League form, when they welcome Tottenham to Anfield.
