Micah Richards says Liverpool trio are playing like ‘shadows of themselves’ after Man Utd defeat | Football

Micah Richards has criticised Conor Bradley, Milos Kerkez and Alexander Isak following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United, saying the trio are ‘shadows of the players’ they were last season.

The reigning Premier League champions appeared to have rescued some extent after Cody Gakpo struck within the 78th minute to cancel out Bryan Mbeumo’s early opener in Sunday’s thriller at Anfield.

But United refused to lie down and were rewarded for his or her spirited efforts as Harry Maguire rose the best and thudded an emphatic 84th-minute header beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili to send the away end into raptures.

Liverpool’s latest setback – their fourth successive loss in all competitions – leaves the club down in fourth place within the table, 4 points adrift of league leaders Arsenal.

Meanwhile, United, whose previous win at Anfield got here back in 2016, rose to ninth, with Ruben Amorim registering back-to-back victories for the primary time since taking up the reins from Erik ten Hag.

Mohamed Salah’s largely anonymous display – which led to his substitution within the closing stages – was one in all various concerning individual showings on a tricky afternoon for Liverpool.

The Egyptian is now with out a goal in his last five appearances for the Reds and can little doubt be eager to issue an emphatic response when Slot’s men tackle Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.

But Richards, speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, shone a lightweight on the performances of Liverpool’s full-back pairing of Bradley and Kerkez, who badly struggled on Merseyside.

‘Liverpool, in the meanwhile, it’s just not happening,’ former Manchester City and England defender Richards said.

‘Kerkez looks a shadow of the player last 12 months for Bournemouth.

‘I watched Conor Bradley and I watched him last season and he was filling in for Trent [Alexander-Arnold]. Each time he got here into the team he was excellent.

‘He was energetic, he could tackle, one-vs-one, the Liverpool fans were really buying into what he was doing.

‘I watched him for Northern Ireland against Slovakia and, again, he was outstanding. He was superb: tackling, leading it, captain, up and down, doing skills.

‘But he’s a shadow of that player this season within the Liverpool side. When he goes forward, it’s all the time like in his head he’s pondering, “I want to release the ball to anyone”, but he can do it.’

On Bradley, Richards continued: ‘He’s playing inside himself in the meanwhile. I’ve been there a few times in my profession where you’ve got higher players within the team and you think that you’re in a team for a certain role.’

‘What he must get out of his head, he’s not there to interchange Trent because he can’t. Trent was a one-in-a-million player that Liverpool had.

‘But the way in which Liverpool play, he could be effective with the timing of his runs, the low cross across the box that he can put in and he’s good on one-vs-ones, but at this moment in time, he looks like a nervous wreck.

‘I’m a believer that he can turn it around, but while you’ve got a midfielder coming in to interchange you at right-back, he must do more and I feel he can do more and that’s why I’m saying it.’

Richards went on to focus on one other less-than-impressive performance from Liverpool’s record signing Isak, who has managed only one goal in his first seven appearances for the club.

‘In case you spend over £100m on [Florian] Wirtz and Isak, they must be able to go,’ he added.

‘We give Wirtz a little bit bit more time because he’s coming into a distinct league and I actually have little doubt that he’ll come good.

‘I believed Wirtz actually played well when he got here on in the sport, but Isak is a shadow of the player.

‘This whole debacle of what happened in the summertime, it’s showing. He’s not fit.

‘Arne Slot said within the press conference before that now we’re going see the actual Isak because he looks like he’s going to be fit now.

‘But the possibility that he had in the sport, if he’s at Newcastle then he tucks that away.’

Richards has ‘no problem’ with Slot deciding to bring off star man Salah considering the forward’s poor showing, stressing that ‘no player is greater than the team’.

‘Yeah, but at the tip of the day, the manager has got to do what is correct for the team,’ he said.

‘No player is greater than the team and Mo has been a team player..

‘For the time being, he’s not the Mo that we’ve seen in previous years. Normally, he would have popped up with a goal.

‘That likelihood that he hit with the skin of his foot, he normally just bends that into the far corner.

‘I actually have no problem with the manager taking off Mo.’

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