Graeme Souness Blasts Three Liverpool Players For 'Embarrassing' Performances In 7-2 Defeat To Aston Villa

Graeme Souness has slammed Liverpool trio Fabinho, Naby Keita and Georginio Wijnaldum after the Reds suffered a humiliating 7-2 defeat on Sunday.

Jurgen Klopp started all three players for the trip to Villa Park as Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson was on the bench and Thiago was ruled out due to coronavirus.

However, the Reds were outclassed against Aston Villa as Ollie Watkins scored a sensational first-half hat-trick to put his side 4-1 up.

And on-loan midfielder Ross Barkley added Villa's fifth before a second-half Jack Grealish sealed a memorable 7-2 thrashing of Liverpool.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Souness launched a scathing assessment on Fabinho, Keita and Wijnaldum and insisted the midfield trio failed to deliver on the pitch.

"When Liverpool got back to 2-1 having conceded two goals, they didn't rise to the occasion," the Sky Sports pundit said.

"A lot is going to be made about Liverpool holding a high line. That will never change. Liverpool will always hold a high line.

"You can only hold a high line when the rest of the guys are putting team on the ball under pressure.

"The minute you're not putting the ball under pressure you have to start retreating back to your own goal.

"Liverpool's problem started and ended with them not putting the ball under pressure. The midfield started with Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Keita.

"They didn't do their job tonight. Then they replaced them. The ones who came on didn't do their job tonight."

Klopp replaced Keita at the break with Takumi Minamino before Fabinho dropped into defence in place of Joe Gomez.

Souness continued to stress the importance of Liverpool's midfield by pointing to their success Premier League and Champions League success.

"Liverpool have won the league, won the Champions League by having the most efficient midfield that's out there," he said.

"When I say efficient -- not the most glamorous, not the most creative but worked harder than anyone else. Along with the front three.

"[Sadio] Mane, along with [Mohamed] Salah and [Roberto] Firmino would all do their bit.

"But for me, tonight, Liverpool didn't press anywhere like they would normally press, and the back were still holding their high line and they were getting caught time and time again."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Villa Park, Liverpool, Football News, Aston Villa, Football, REds, Georginio Wijnaldum, Naby Keita, Premier League, Graeme Souness

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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