Steve McManaman has slammed Xherdan Shaqiri for failing to help out his Liverpool teammate Neco Williams during their game against Fulham yesterday, as per his comments live on Optus Sport.
Liverpool were beaten 1-0 by Fulham at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, with Williams badly struggling throughout.
The Welsh right-back was drafted in to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, but he struggled to cope against Fulham’s attacking talents.
Ademola Lookman give him plenty of problems down the wing, as the Fulham man kept getting in behind him on the break.
But McManaman really didn’t like the role that Shaqiri played in front of him.
The £13 million (Guardian) winger failed to track back defensively, which often left Williams exposed.
And McManaman felt that Liverpool’s younger players were let down by their more experienced teammates.
“I was going to say I don’t want to focus on the inexperienced players [Neco and Rhys Williams] but it’s that chunk of the right hand side,” McManaman said.
“Neco Williams doesn’t know whether to stick or twist, whether to run forward or defend, because there’s no confidence there. He’s getting no help from Shaqiri, he’s stood by the halfway line. He’s not interested in getting back and wants to play centrally.
“The fact they have a lot of young lads on the right hand side of the pitch, they need help.
“Yes, we can criticise them and everyone deserves to be criticised because they’re in Liverpool’s first-team.
“But the experienced players need to realise, we are struggling over here and we need to help out these young kids. But they’re not. It’s like every man for himself at the minute, there’s a lot of selfish players out there.”
Liverpool have now lost their last six games in a row at Anfield, which has seen them slide all the way down to eighth in the Premier League table.
The Reds are next in action against RB Leipzig in midweek, when both Shaqiri and Williams are likely to lose their starting places.
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