Roy Keane slams ‘irritating’ Liverpool for one reason as Arne Slot’s champions must ‘show a bit of class’

Manchester United icon Roy Keane has hit out at Liverpool as he explained why the Premier League champions are “irritating” him.

Liverpool have surpassed expectations during Arne Slot’s debut season at Anfield as the Dutchman has got more out of their squad than former boss Jurgen Klopp.

Slot and Klopp have largely worked with the same players, but Liverpool’s new boss has made tactical tweaks to take the Premier League giants to another level as they have won the title with four games remaining.

Liverpool have taken their foot off the gas in recent matches as they have been beaten by Chelsea and Brighton, while they drew 2-2 against Arsenal.

On Monday night, the Reds let slip a 2-1 lead to lose 3-2 at Brighton, with Slot making wholesale changes to give his fringe players an opportunity.

Now, Keane has admitted that Liverpool have been “irritating” him in recent weeks.

“Liverpool have switched off – they’re irritating me,” Keane said on The Stick to Football podcast.

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“It doesn’t matter [that they’ve won the league], but the fringe players and the B team are coming in – what kind of message is that?

“I’m thinking come on – show a bit of class. Salah scores a goal and he’s taking pictures – the game’s still on. Liven up a little bit!”

Jamie Carragher reckons certain Liverpool players “can’t cope on their own”, while Gary Neville has leapt to the defence of Slot’s backup stars.

“I’ve always felt that with fringe players – and it’s not a criticism – I’ve always felt that every great team has five or six players who, if one of those players is missing you feel it,” Carragher said.

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“Let’s go with Liverpool – if the goalie [Alisson] was missing, you’d feel it. [Virgil] Van Dijk, [Alexis] Mac Allister, [Mo] Salah – the rest around them are all good players, but they can’t cope on their own, they need the good players.

“You’ve seen Liverpool’s centre-backs last night [against Brighton] without van Dijk. That’s not a criticism – you go through every great team, there’s not 11 world class players in a team.

“There’s normally five or six, and the other five or six are hanging on to their coattails.”

Neville added: “I’ve always thought that making changes to teams en masse by bringing in five or six fringe players, and taking out van Dijk and Mac Allister, it’s hard for the fringe players to create a performance level when the spine of the team have gone out.”