Graeme Souness blames ‘very slow’ Raphael Varane for Liverpool’s opener against Manchester United
Graeme Souness insists Fred and ‘very slow’ Raphael Varane were to blame for conceding Manchester United’s opening goal at Anfield… as the Red Devils suffer a crushing 7-0 defeat to Liverpool
Graeme Souness has slammed Manchester United pair Raphael Varane and Fred after Cody Gakpo shot in Liverpool’s opener during their 7-0 thrashing of the Red Devils at Anfield.
The Dutch winger coolly got past David de Gea just before half-time after an excellent run and pass from Andy Robertson, but Souness felt the goal should have been prevented.
“Fred is wrong,” he told Sky Sports at half time. ‘He doesn’t need to take those steps to the right of him, and then he ends up slipping.
‘Varane is very slow, he can’t put his feet in the right place. You have to give a huge credit to Andy Robinson, but then when the shot comes [Lisandro] martinez pierces [David] De Gea’s lines of sight, he can’t even make an effort to try and save him.
Liverpool extended their lead to 7-0 after the break and stunned Erik ten Hag’s in-form team thanks to two goals each from Darwin Núñez, Mohamed Salah and Gakpo.
Cody Gakpo opened the scoring for Liverpool on Sunday when they beat Manchester United 7-0
Graeme Souness felt Fred “got it wrong” when Andy Robertson passed him to score the opener
The pundit also blamed Raphael Varane for reacting “very slowly” to Gakpo’s move.
Gakpo completed his double after the break, as Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez scored twice
There was also a fairy tale goal for Roberto Firmino, who scored the seventh after announcing he would leave Anfield at the end of the season.
Both Gakpo and Nunez have come under fire at times after coming into a struggling team this season, but they appear to be winning over the Kop faithful and reviving the Reds’ league campaign.
The result will come as something of a surprise for United fans, after an excellent few weeks for Erik ten Hag’s side that has seen them win the League Cup and challenge for the title.
The defeat means United remain eight points behind second-place Manchester City, although they are still battling it out in the FA Cup and Europa League.
Liverpool move within four points of fourth-place Tottenham with one game to go and could still be on course for a Champions League spot despite a less-than-ideal start to the season.
