RIO FERDINAND has blasted Liverpool for being “nowhere near” the levels of recent years as he slammed Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho.
The Reds lost 4-1 against Napoli on Wednesday night in their Champions League group stage opener having shipped in three first half goals.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have struggled for form this season having won just two out of their opening six Premier League matches.
The German gaffer apologised to the club’s supporters after the victory, but stated that he doesn’t feel under pressure following Thomas Tuchel’s shock Chelsea sacking.
However Manchester United legend Ferdinand believes the ex-Borussia Dortmund manager should be worried that Liverpool’s star players are underperforming.
He namechecked the likes of Salah, Van Dijk and Fabinho as being three squad members that are not contributing anything of note.
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Speaking during half-time, Ferdinand labelled Liverpool’s first half display as “embarrassing”, and he continued his scathing analysis after the full-time whistle.
The BT Sport pundit said: “A big problem for Liverpool is too many of their big stars, who they’ve relied on over the years are nowhere near the levels that they’ve produced.
“Salah’s not at the levels he was at before in terms of output, Virgil van Dijk the same.
“Fabinho even looks a bit off it, and you can go through the whole team.
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“The two full backs look off it, the goalkeeper.
“When you’re a manager, normally you can rely on 3-4 players for those performances, he’s not getting that at the moment.”
Reds icon Robbie Fowler has expressed his fear that Liverpool could drop further points in the top-flight when they welcome Wolves to Anfield on Saturday.
He remarked: “We were not working as a team. That is why we lose games.
“We play in the strongest league in the world and have a tough Champions League group too.
“We have to play in three days against Wolves. If Wolves saw that game tonight they would not stop laughing and would say it is the perfect moment.
“We have to try to find a set up to be much better in pretty much everything.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
