Neil Mellor offers his thoughts on criticism of Liverpool’s Loris Karius

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Karius came under fire after Liverpool lost 4-3 to Bournemouth on Sunday.

Former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor has told Goal that he feels the criticism Loris Karius has received has been too severe, and suggests there has been lack of patience so far.

Karius came under severe criticism following Liverpool’s 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend, where the Reds surrendered a two-goal lead, with Karius’s fumble leading to Nathan Ake being able to poke the ball home to win the game for the Cherries.

Mellor pointed to other players who were criticised during the early days of their Liverpool career to suggest that Karius should be given more time and not be written off.

He told Goal: “Patience is a rare thing in the modern game as the focus is all on results, but if you have just some of it and allow players time to settle, you can see them prosper.

“[Jordan] Henderson got some stick when he arrived, [Adam] Lallana did, and [Roberto] Firmino had it just last year and now they’re all vital parts of the team.

“It’ll be the same for Karius. He’s a young goalkeeper, he’s come into a new league, he’s adjusting to a new lifestyle, new team-mates, new demands and you’ve got to be patient with him.

“Jurgen Klopp believes that he’s going to be a top goalkeeper and you’ve got to trust that the manager’s got it right.”

Karius has made a total of 10 appearances in all competitions so far this season, and he was only brought into the side in September after breaking his hand on the pre-season tour of the United States.

Mellor does have a point in that some players have been written off in recent years by fans and those outside of the club but have managed to establish themselves to the point where you would feel Liverpool would miss their influence.

Part of the fuss around Karius may be down to the fact that Liverpool have seen several costly goalkeeping errors in recent years, notably from Simon Mignolet who is behind the 23-year-old in the pecking order currently. Ten games is probably not enough for any ‘keeper to really settle into the side, and any problems the Reds had will not be solved overnight.

Jurgen Klopp is likely to stick with him. After all, this is a player that he believes will develop into a good goalkeeper and he is still very young. There are bound to be errors made along the way.