Rio Ferdinand accuses Liverpool of 'not knowing how to defend' after Champions League collapse against Sevilla
Jürgen Klopp's side conceded three second-half goals to let a 3-0 lead slip in Seville, which left former England captain Ferdinand far from impressed
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Your support makes all the difference.Rio Ferdinand believes Liverpool “don’t know how to defend” after conceding three second-half goals against Sevilla to draw their Champions League encounter at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Liverpool looked to be cruising to one of their most impressive victories in Europe as they a 3-0 lead inside half an hour, with a place in the last-16 also on the horizon. But a spirited Sevilla fightback, triggered by their manager Eduardo Berizzo’s revelation to his players that he had been diagnosed with cancer, saw them score two goals inside 15 minutes of the restart and an incredible equaliser deep in injury time to snatch a point.
The result left Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp raging with what he admitted “felt like a defeat”, and means that their progression to the last-16 of the competition is not yet guaranteed, with a defeat against Spartak Moscow enough to send them out of the competition and into the Europa League.
Having watched Liverpool’s defence collapse during the second half in Seville, former England centre-back Ferdinand was left in no certain terms on what the problem was.
“What it does is it brings doubt into the squad and into individuals through personal mistakes – every goal there could have been prevented,” Ferdinand said on BT Sport.
“The penalty for [Alberto] Moreno, the free-kick for Moreno, the header for [Ragnar] Klavan, he could have headed that out in a different direction.
“This is a crucial time now, the couple of days towards the weekend are the time for the management to really galvanise and lift this squad up to try and take some positives.”
Liverpool return home to prepare for Saturday’s evening kick-off against Chelsea, who themselves are in Champions League action at Qarabag and are attempting to avoid any jet lag issues upon their return by remaining on UK time in Azerbaijan.
Klopp’s side will need to be at their very best to beat Antonio Conte’s side, given that they have scored just one goal fewer that Liverpool and conceded 10 goals this season to Liverpool’s 17, and Ferdinand believes that it will be the inability to find the balance between the two that will be their undoing this season.
“They are better on the front foot, but the best teams can mix and match, and at the moment this Liverpool team don’t know how to defend.
“They are good playing the way they did in the first half, but then you have to sit back and defend, soak up the pressure, and they have not been able to do that.”
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