Liverpool musn't 'tear everything up' says Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand defends Virgil van Dijk

Michael Owen has stressed that Liverpool’s players and management “deserve a bit of patience” after all the club has achieved in recent years. Jurgen Klopp’s side have struggled for consistency this season, as perfectly demonstrated recently when they followed up a remarkable 7-0 win over rivals Manchester United with a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth less than a week later. Ad As it stands, the Reds are six points adrift of the Premier League’s top-four and face the reality of potentially missing out on next season’s Champions League, a competition they reached the final of last year, losing to Wednesday’s last-16 opponents Real Madrid.

Premier LeagueVan Dijk among positive Covid cases at Liverpool16/12/2021 AT 19:12 The Reds also agonisingly missed out on the 2021/22 Premier League title by a single point to Manchester City, although they did claim the FA and EFL Cups. Speaking on BT Sport ahead of the second leg at the Bernabeu, with Liverpool attempting to overturn a 5-2 deficit, Owen — who played for the club between 2000 and 2004 — pleaded for patience. He said: “When you talk to Liverpool fans, you say is it because [Sadio] Mane left? Is it because all of the injuries? Then you’ve got confidence.

Then people say it's the owners and no investment, and the midfield's ageing, and there's so many different reasons. But this happens in football. 'You go to hell' — Ceferin 'lost it a bit' at unnamed English club over Super League 'He's got every defender on the ropes' — Rio Ferdinand full of praise for Erling Haaland “Last season, only eight months ago, they were two games off being the most decorated team in history.

Two games away. Not much has changed since then. “And all of these people saying: ‘let's rip everything up and