Pundit says top players in dressing room must help the squad pick themselves up again
Wayne Rooney has said it is up to the leaders in the Liverpool team to help their teammates pick themselves up after reaching yet another low this season.
Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was Liverpool’s sixth in the Premier League this season and leaves the champions in the bottom half of the table after 12 games played.
After Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal won the north London derby on Sunday night, they stretched their lead over Liverpool to 11 points. This is despite Liverpool having added £450m worth of talent to a title-winning side.
“Liverpool are a very good team and they’re going through a very difficult moment,” said Rooney. “They’ve been going through a tough time all season really.
“Even at the beginning of the season, they won games, but they were struggling with performance. Throughout the season, it’s those leaders in that dressing room that have to pick the players up.”
Rooney has had an exchange of words this season with Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk, who he said had allowed his standards to dip.
“From a performance level, from what we’ve seen, Van Dijk, I don’t think he’s been at the level he has this season,” said the former Manchester United captain.
Ironically, Van Dijk has also called out his teammates for allowing standards to drop and not taking accountability.
“The main thing for me is that everyone has to take responsibility,” Van Dijk said. “Is that happening? I don’t know. But you have to do that if you want to get out of this.
“We are definitely letting [the coach] down, but we’ve let ourselves down as well. You look at yourself first and then you help each other. You help each other get out of this mess because at the moment it is a mess. That’s just a fact.”
