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Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has heavily criticized Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo Ekitike after Saturday’s defeat to Manchester City, even going as far to brand one of the players’ actions as “unacceptable”.
The Reds’ hopes of claiming some domestic silverware this season were ended after they were thrashed 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium, piling even more pressure on under-fire boss Arne Slot in the process.
Fans made their feelings clear as a large number of them left the game early while singing Xabi Alonso’s name - the former midfielder is the favorite to take over should Liverpool decide to fire Slot.
Those who stayed also made their displeasure clear, but were greeted with backlash from Szoboszlai, who gestured angrily to the traveling support before being dragged away by Federico Chiesa.
The midfielder’s reaction has not gone down well, despite him being one of the few bright sparks for the Reds in an otherwise dismal season, and Aldridge wasn’t impressed with what he saw from the Hungarian.
“I am not sure exactly what Szoboszlai’s point was and maybe something was lost in translation,” Aldridge said in his column for the Liverpool Echo.
“He is one of the few players who doesn’t deserve a lot of criticism this year so I won’t do that here, but it didn’t look good.
“He needs to understand that fans have every right to vent their spleen when they have just been so comprehensively outplayed the way they were against City on the day.”
Szoboszlai wasn’t the only player in the firing line from Aldridge, with Ekitike slammed for his actions after being substituted.
The striker swapped shirts with international teammate Rayan Cherki before the game had ended, with the City star spotted wearing Ekitike’s jersey while watching the game from the bench.
That incident has also gone down poorly with supporters, with Aldridge not holding back in his assessment.
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“Hugo Ekitike swapping his shirt with France colleague Rayan Cherki while the game was going on was another strange one. That was unacceptable, I have to say,” Aldridge added.
“Incidents like that point to a lack of characters in the squad, the likes of Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher wouldn’t have tolerated that. Attitudes need to change; this is part of the wider problem at Liverpool right now.”
Liverpool.com says: Aldo's spot on. When you're being thrashed by one of your biggest rivals, and the team's already in poor form, you simply can't be seen doing things like Szoboszlai and Ekitike did on Saturday.
Hopefully they learn from that, but it is slightly worrying that they even need to. It's just not a good look at all for Liverpool at the moment.
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