Robbie Fowler and Rio Ferdinand questioned Liverpool's desire and commitment after their first-half performance in the Champions League against Napoli.
The Reds went into the break 3-0 down courtesy of goals from Piotr Zielinski, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Giovanni Simeone Victor Osimhen also missed a penalty for Luciano Spalletti's men, who dragged the Liverpool back-line all over the place, exposing a shell-shocked Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold, in particular.
And uncharacteristically poor half from all in red could have ended far worse, with the Italian side showing more quality, composure and energy. And former Reds striker Fowler went a step further, questioning the desire of Jurgen Klopp's team as Napoli ran riot.
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"You could not question their desire over the past couple of years, but today we are," Fowler told BT Sport. "We said it was a tough game for Liverpool, we know how good Napoli are, first five minutes you need one of your defenders to step up and say, let's not concede goals and make sure we are hard to beat.
"I know Gomez will take some stick because he is caught out for the first goal, but watch the desire from Trent Alexander-Arnold. He gets the plaudits for the way he attacks teams, but the desire to help his team out defensively, is just not there. To be fair, Napoli have been brilliant but Liverpool defensively have been absolutely shocking."
The home side looked to have a clear game plan and carried through the momentum from five games unbeaten domestically and consecutive wins over Liverpool in 2018 and 2019. But while all credit was due for the Azzurri, fellow BT Sport pundit Ferdinand labelled the Reds' performance as 'embarrassing.'
"Napoli have been tremendous first and foremost, but Liverpool have been embarrassed," ex-Manchester United defender Ferdinand added. "That is an embarrassing 45 minutes, especially from a defensive standpoint.
"What you can't accept as a manager, a team-mate, a player is lack of effort at times, a lack of desire, you accept mistakes but when people don’t run or don’t look like they have the intensity to get back and play. It is a mistake from Gomez, it is just not good enough.
"With the one two, Gomez has got to follow and Anguissa who has been sensational in the first half, they have been teased, embarrassed and shown up in the first half and this won’t be good for them to watch."
It got worse for Liverpool straight after the restart when Zielinski dinked in his second goal of the night. Moments later Luis Diaz pulled a goal back for the Reds to make it 4-1.
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