‘There is no need…’ – Paul Robinson didn’t like what he saw from one Liverpool player v PSG

Paul Robinson wasn’t happy with what he saw from one Liverpool player in the early minutes of the second half against Paris Saint-Germain tonight.

The Reds fell behind to a deflected Desire Doue shot in the 11th minute at the Parc des Princes, and although they were profoundly unlucky in that instance, they were indebted to Giorgi Mamardashvili for a couple of strong saves in the first half.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAY

It took until the 49th minute for the visitors to record their first shot of the game, a Hugo Ekitike effort which curled harmlessly wide, and it was around that time in the match when Virgil van Dijk was seen screaming at Joe Gomez for not providing him with an overlap.

Robinson unhappy with Van Dijk berating Gomez

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Robinson expressed his irritation at seeing the Liverpool captain openly berating his teammate, saying: “Virgil van Dijk once again criticising his teammates. There is no need for Van Dijk to criticise Joe Gomez when he didn’t overlap him.”

The Dutchman’s anger wasn’t lost on Sky Sports reporter Pete Gill either as he observed: “Not for the first time in recent weeks, Van Dijk is attracting attention as he berates a team-mate. He was imperious as a title-winning captain last season. A question: is he a good captain in a struggling team?”

Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Was Van Dijk right or wrong in that instance?

It happens in every single game that players will shout at teammates whenever an error occurs or whenever they’re trying to transmit an important message, so we don’t see any great issue with Van Dijk giving out to Gomez in that instance.

However, with the captain openly admitting that he and Liverpool effectively threw in the towel against Manchester City on Saturday, there appears to be a growing tendency for him to lead by word rather than deed, which hasn’t been the case throughout his time with the Reds.

With LFC enduring such a chastening season – and looking set to go down to another defeat against PSG, at the time of writing – they could do with their skipper leading by example rather than calling out teammates.

That said, Van Dijk was also seen trying to encourage the rest of the Liverpool players after they went 2-0 behind to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s goal in the 65th minute, and it’ll take a collective effort from the Reds to keep the tie alive going to Anfield next week.

What LFC need now is unity, not a blame culture.

The post ‘There is no need…’ – Paul Robinson didn’t like what he saw from one Liverpool player v PSG appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.