Liverpool: Souness slams key star over ‘lack of appetite’ as it’s like his ‘brother has turned up this season’ | OneFootball

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has explained why he thinks one of his former club’s key players has shown a “lack of appetite” this season.

The Reds have slumped into a crisis in recent months as they have lost eight of their last eleven matches in all competitions.

During this run, they have lost six of their last seven Premier League matches, and this has seen them fall into the bottom half of the table.

Most of Liverpool’s players have contributed to their sudden downfall as performances and standards have slipped, with Mohamed Salah among those criticised for his displays.

Salah was ineffective as Liverpool lost 3-0 against Nottingham Forest at the weekend and Jamie Carragher has encouraged the club legend to “come out and speak for the team”.

“After the Forest game, Virgil van Dijk has come out and spoken, as he should do as the captain,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.

“On the back of all these Liverpool defeats, it’s always Van Dijk who comes out and speaks. The captain should do that but there should be other players in that dressing room and speaking for the club.

“A year ago this weekend, Mo Salah wasn’t shy in speaking about his own situation and the club not offering him a contract. I only ever hear Salah speak when he gets man of the match or when he needs a new contract.

“I would like to see Salah as one of the leaders and legends of Liverpool come out and speak for the team.”

Now, Souness has hit out at Salah and has explained why he thinks he has shown a “lack of appetite” this season.

“How long have we got?. He’s been an absolute superstar. This is the nicest thing I can say about Salah, he’s been the go-to man for the last seven years. If you’re picking an all-time Liverpool eleven, he’s one of the first names on the team sheet. I think it’s his brother that’s turned up this season,” Souness said on talkSPORT.

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“To me, I saw an incident in that Community Shield, just looking for little signals.

“There was a ball, he had his back to the sideline and a ball was played up and it’s going towards the left-back in that game against Crystal Palace and he could easily have gone there.

“He’s not going to win it, he’s not a big strong aerial type, but at least he goes and makes life a little bit difficult for the full-back to do what he wants to do with it. He made no attempt to make that challenge.

“I’m thinking, he’s never been the bravest, he’s never going to get hurt in a 50/50, he’s cute as anything and I wouldn’t want him to because he’s such a genius at the top end.

“But he’s shown a lack of appetite and, I’m sorry, hard words sometimes are the kindest words and I think he needs hard words that ultimately are getting him back to being the superstar that he’s been for Liverpool, but this season he has not turned up.”