Graeme Souness has pointed the finger of blame for Liverpool’s defeat to Red Star last night at manager Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Red Star’s Milan Pavkov hit the back of the net in the first half twice to condemn the Reds to defeat, and Klopp faced a large amount of criticism post-match for his team selection for the game.
When asked what went wrong for his old club, Souness said:
I think not starting with Firmino or Joe Gomez.
The fact they were on the bench and came on half time suggests they were fine so it wasn’t them carrying something.
I think the message it sends to the rest of the players was, ‘You won 4-0 last time we’ll be fine again tonight.’
I’m of the belief you start with your strongest team, get the game won and then get off the players you want to rest.
I think that message by not picking your strongest team to start with would have an effect with some of the players who did start.
They weren’t at it. They didn’t start right and when you don’t start right, it really is an uphill battle to get the momentum back again.
I felt they handed the momentum to Red Star and they managed to keep it for the rest of the game.
They’re not at the level they were at last year, Liverpool.
