Liverpool news: Andy Robertson reveals Jordan Henderson and James Milner’s X-rated rant after Napoli defeat
Reds suffered their fourth consecutive defeat of pre-season in a 3-0 loss to Napoli and while manager Jurgen Klopp is not panicking just yet, the players know they must start to rediscover last season’s form
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Your support makes all the difference.Andy Robertson has revealed how angry Liverpool teammates Jordan Henderson and James Milner were with the side’s 3-0 pre-season defeat against Napoli, with the experienced duo delivering an X-rated rant immediately after the loss.
In what was their fourth consecutive match without a win in their pre-season programme after failing to triumph in any of their matches on the tour of the United States, Liverpool saw goals from Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik and Amin Younes secure a comfortable win for the Serie A side at Edinburgh’s BT Murrayfield stadium.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was not too concerned with the result afterwards as he continues to wait for key players such as Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino to report back for pre-season training – with the trio all due to return today after their exploits at this summer’s Africa Cup of Nations and Copa America tournaments – but that same sense of calm did not spread to the players.
Speaking afterwards, Robertson revealed that he could not repeat what Henderson and Milner told their teammates, but did explain that it would have to wait for the 9pm watershed, such was the anger at being made to look “foolish” as the Scotland international left-back put it.
“It wasn't good enough,” Robertson said. “We were miles off it. We were outplayed. At times we looked foolish by not pressing as a team.
“And we need to look at it and improve as our season starts in a week and it doesn't get any harder than Man City.
“We need to be a hell of a lot better than this.
“Jordan Henderson and James Milner pulled us in for a huddle on the pitch and what was said cannot be repeated until after 9pm. It's not crisis meetings, it's pre-season.
“But we can't get into a habit of losing or drawing. We need to step it up massively.”
Last season’s Champions League winners have started their season with defeats against Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla sandwiching a draw with Sporting in the US before Sunday’s result against Napoli, and Klopp will have one more chance to get his side up and running when they face Lyon on Wednesday before taking on Manchester City in the Community Shield next Sunday afternoon.
Robertson’s teammate Georgionio Wijnaldum added that the side need to eradicate their mistakes now by learning to reapply the same concentration that they displayed last season, given that every point will matter when the Premier League starts if Liverpool are to usurp City in the title race.
“Today we were not 100 per cent concentrated,” said Wijnaldum. “We didn't play as a team and made too many mistakes.
“It's important to keep confident and keep going. It's painful but we have to learn and strike back.”
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