5 hours ago
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Steven Gerrard gave his assessment of Liverpool's catastrophic form after watching the Reds lose 4-1 at home to PSV on Wednesday night.
The club legend, 45, was on punditry duty for TNT Sports at Anfield and reflected on Liverpool's worst run of form since 1953, 72 years ago.
When asked if Arne Slot's side are in crisis, he said: 'Crisis is a very strong word and disrespectful to some of the players that have delivered for this football club, and for the manager that's delivered three months ago.
'If this was six months down the line, a year down the line and we're further away from that success, maybe you can use that word. But you can't deny the team is struggling massively, they're on a terrible run, confidence is at an all-time low and they just keep bleeding.
'Unless the managers can find answers and stability in the team it's going to continue.'
Liverpool have now lost their last three games by three goals and suffered defeat in nine of their previous 12.
Steven Gerrard stopped short of saying Liverpool are in crisis despite the 4-1 home defeat
Gerrard singled out Milos Kerkez (centre) for criticism, pointing out his poor positioning
There were poor displays all over the pitch on Wednesday night but one player stood out in particular for Gerrard, who was not impressed.
Milos Kerkez, who joined for £40million in the summer, was 'criminally' out of position, according to Gerrard.
He went on: 'It doesn't matter if it's Mo Salah or anyone, you can't get beat in a dribble in this situation. Kerkez to me is out of position for the majority of the game.
'It's criminal to be on that side of the attacker. You have to be on the inside. He gives himself no chance.'
When asked about the position of Salah himself in the side, who looks a shadow of the star who spearheaded Liverpool's title-winning campaign, Gerrard insisted Slot is right to keep the faith.
'They're in a real difficult moment,' he said. 'Whoever is managing Liverpool right now would pick Mo Salah. Liverpool need all the good players on the pitch to try and find some stability.
'They're conceding too many goals, they're wide open in transition. Look very vulnerable and unstable soon as the ball turns over.
'Anfield tells a story, the seats were empty with 10 minutes to go, as soon as the third goal went in the game was over.
Gerrard insisted that anyone managing Liverpool would still be picking Mo Salah
Kerkez and Co are on Liverpool's worst run of form for 72 years and the pressure is huge
'Liverpool's problems become deeper, the pressure intensifies even more. There needs to be a lot of soul searching tonight for sure.'
Slot is under incredible pressure and reflected after the game: 'The emotions are very negative and disappointing. The way we conceded the 1-0. I want to be positive about the reaction of the players when we went 1-0 down.
'We came back into the game and had chances to go 2-1 up. I don't think anyone thought we would lose 4-1.
'After half-time, we conceded 2-1 quite early. We still had some good chances to go 2-2. 10 or 15 minutes before the end, we conceded another goal. Hard to take.
'The only way to go is to go through now. We need to face where we're in and fight really hard.'
