Roy Keane has slammed Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp after they were humiliated 4 – 1 at Anfield by Man City, claiming they are ‘bad champions’ and could take another 30 years before they win a league title again.
Liverpool are certainly not in their best shape this campaign, as injury seem to be a major concern for the Reds, who are now trailing league leaders Man City by 10 points. But, Keane has accused Klopp and his team of making excuses, while being unable to deal with the injury setbacks that many clubs endure.
“We spoke before the game about that they are making a lot of excuses, but to me, they’ve been bad champions,” Keane said, pointing to not just the City result but the 1-0 defeat to Brighton that preceded it.
“I don’t mean today, you can lose a game of football, but I can’t figure this group out. Even in the game against Brighton, Brighton were comfortable against them…
“I think we’ve all believed the hype over the last year or two. We spoke about there being some sort of drop off, but they [the players] are playing for Liverpool.
“It’s as if they won the league last year and got a bit carried away, and all believed their own hype that they were going to beat teams. But in my mindset when you’ve won a league title, the next challenge was always, can we do it again?”
The Manchester United legend, who won the Premier League seven times during his spell at Old Trafford, claimed that Liverpool didn’t seem to have a plan for after they had won their long-awaited title victory last season.
“I never got the impression from this group, from their interviews, even from their manager last year when they won it, saying what’s the next step for Liverpool,” he said, according to the Liverpool Echo transcript.
“I think they’ve been bad champions. We’re talking about Liverpool, people keep telling me Liverpool are a great club and a huge club.
“They’re a huge club then you have to take setbacks, is that not part of the game? If everyone had all their players fit all of the time, it would be fantastic…
“They still have their best goalkeeper available, they’ve still got international players in midfield and after the game, I think Klopp said there, ‘Maybe the goalkeeper’s feet were cold.’ That’s a new one. I know it’s tongue in cheek a little bit, but it is excuses after excuses.
“He said the other day that Man City had a break because of the virus when their game was called off, I think they had two days off training, it just goes on and on and on.
“You want a reaction from Liverpool’s performance against Brighton, it was really poor, a few weeks ago against Burnley, or go to Man United in the FA Cup, they conceded three, or earlier in the season, it was seven against Aston Villa.
“That was with [Virgil] Van Dijk against Villa. You could say this is a one-off, it’s a freak season, it’s with corona, just get on with it.
“Perform like champions, you’re Liverpool Football Club. If you keep performing like that, it’s going to be another 30 years until you win the title, trust me.”
