Former Liverpool man Glen Johnson has sprung to the defence of midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai who was concerned in a heated confrontation with followers after the Reds’ dismal 4-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester Metropolis.
The 25-year-old went over to the travelling supporters on the finish of Saturday’s quarter-final humiliation on the Etihad Stadium, and appeared pissed off by the reception.
He was seen shrugging his shoulders and waving his arms at followers – a response which didn’t go down effectively – earlier than team-mate Federico Chiesa helped him transfer away.
After the sport Szoboszlai was important of himself and his team-mates, saying: ‘The mentality wasn’t there sufficient. None of us had been there to be sincere as a lot as we may. It is a exhausting time however now we have to stay collectively. On Wednesday, there’s one other likelihood however now we have to get in our head this isn’t the season we wish to finish.’
And now defender Johnson, who performed 200 video games for Liverpool between 2009 and 2015, has mentioned Szoboszlai will be forgiven for being indignant – and that followers mustn’t need him to lose that ‘character trait’.
Dominic Szoboszlai gestures to the Liverpool followers after the defeat at Manchester Metropolis
Johnson informed CasinoWizard: ‘The followers had the correct to be pissed off and indignant and so did the gamers.
‘It was a giant sport they usually bought annihilated. Feelings had been operating excessive, and when gamers do react, it is as a result of they care. No person goes to be blissful after that outcome.
‘The gamers would have been fuming inside. All of the gamers who’ve a ardour to win need to be the perfect. However on the identical time, ardour must be managed. There are clearly instances when it might probably overspill and lean into one thing extra detrimental.
‘Even when that was a personality trait, I do not assume you need to take that away from somebody.
‘You simply must try to handle it the perfect you’ll be able to as a result of that is what makes some gamers completely different from others. How a lot they care, how a lot they need to battle, and the way passionate they’re is what makes them carry out.
‘It’s not a job for [Virgil] van Dijk or [Arne] Slot both. It is nearly a private duty. Individuals who overreact or have outbursts are the one ones who can repair it. They should work on themselves.
Man Metropolis’s Erling Haaland completes his hat-trick in a depressing 4-0 drubbing for Liverpool
‘The supervisor or Virgil or anybody can go and put an arm round him, however that isn’t going to do something. We’re all males, we’re all human, and all of us need to be the perfect variations of ourselves we will be.
‘So, if somebody has an outburst that isn’t wanted – and I’m not saying that’s what has occurred – solely they will work on it. It is form of a bizarre trait; you’ll be able to’t speak somebody out of doing it. An outburst is actually that – they simply lose management for a second.
‘Everybody has skilled it, each inside and outdoors of soccer, in on a regular basis life. Anybody can have a foolish argument after which assume afterwards, perhaps I should not have mentioned that or I did not must react that manner. It’s simply how we course of these reactions.’
Liverpool are again in motion on Wednesday, once they go to Paris Saint-Germain within the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
