Liverpool legend John Barnes has hit back at Wayne Rooney following his ongoing spat with Virgil van Dijk, who made a scathing accusation on a BBC podcast.
Former England and Manchester United captain Rooney accused Liverpool captain Van Dijk and team-mate Mohamed Salah of taking their foot off the gas after signing lucrative new contracts at Anfield last summer.
“Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, they’ve signed new contracts, but I don’t think they’ve really led the team this season,” Rooney said. “I think you can tell a lot from body language, and I think their body language is a little different.
“They’re the top two players in the team and if their body language isn’t right it affects everyone else. I could be wrong on this, but if I were a Liverpool fan or manager that would be a big concern for me.”
Last week, when Van Dijk and Rooney met on the touchline after Liverpool’s Champions League win over Real Madrid, it sparked a heated debate, with the Dutch defender using the opportunity to reject the accusations as he confronted the former striker, who was working as a pundit for Amazon Prime TV.
Anfield icon Barnes told Video Gamer and Football365 in an exclusive interview that Rooney’s snipe was misguided.
Read: 5 Liverpool stars who need upgrades and replacements, including Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah
“I don’t think that’s the case with Van Dijk,” insisted Barnes, who won two league titles with Liverpool in the late 1980s. “I don’t think we’re down on Virgil at all, but we’ve been here before and people have had doubts about him.
“I remember after he injured his knee[in October 2020]people were saying he wasn’t the same player when he came back. But the reality at the time was that the team was playing differently and the defense was more exposed. It had nothing to do with him not being as good.”
“Equally, what is happening has nothing to do with him signing a new contract. It has everything to do with a new team coming together, new players finding a way to play in this Liverpool team, and players getting used to a new country, a new league.
“People have doubts about Salah as well, but the balance is different now that Trent Alexander-Arnold is no longer able to play behind him and that means Mo has fewer chances. It has nothing to do with a new contract.”
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Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday put the struggling Premier League champions back in the negative spotlight, with former Manchester United captain Roy Keane quick to suggest this was already a crisis for Arne Slott’s side.
But Burns believes Slott and his new team will always take time to bounce back after a summer in which the club spent £450m signing several big-name players, and urged pundits who have rushed to judgment to refrain from criticizing them.
“It’s not a crisis, but we are going through difficult times at the moment,” Burns said. “We felt we had gotten out of a bad situation with the wins against Aston Villa and Real Madrid, but then the result against Man City came out and people started having doubts again.
“Man City played really, really well. This was probably the best they played all season and we lost 3-0. I don’t think this is the same as going back to that game before the Real Madrid and Villa game, where we lost five games and it was very difficult.”
“I think Liverpool will now be close to the results they had against Villa and Real Madrid. They are eight points behind the leaders and third place is not far away, so this is not a crisis.”
“This is a new team and people are forgetting that. Five new players means it will take time for them to understand the system and for the manager to find the right balance.”
“They play a much more Dutch style of football compared to Jurgen Klopp’s rock’n’roll brand of football. They had the same players as Klopp last season, but Slot changed the way the team played and they won the title.”
“Now we have a whole new set of players coming to Liverpool and it will take time for them to adapt. Arne Slott has to consider whether they can play the football he wants and he needs time to figure it all out. The problem is that no one has time for football anymore.”
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