Roy Keane tells Liverpool stars 'suck it up' as Reds dubbed 'really bad champions'

 Roy Keane has told Liverpool to suck up the criticism they have faced this season after failing to defend their Premier League title. The Reds won the league last season, but have been unable to produce a defence this term.

Arne Slot's men are currently sixth in the table after 24 games and find themselves at risk of qualifying for the Champions League. A number of players have been criticised throughout the season, with Virgil van Dijk recently discussing some of the talk.

Van Dijk told Gary Neville that pundits have a "duty of responsibility" when talking about players. "For me personally, I can deal with it, but I'm a bit worried for the next generation," he said.. "I feel like the ex-top players have a responsibility to the new generation.

"Criticism is absolutely normal and part of the game, and I think it should stay that way. But sometimes criticism also goes into being clickbait, saying things to provoke things, and without thinking about the repercussions for a mental side of players, and especially the younger generation, who are constantly on social media.

"You can say, 'yeah, you shouldn't be on social media' - that's what I've mentioned [to them] loads of times. There is always this thing of when you play a good game, younger players check all the positive praises, but when you have a worse game, and you're getting bullied all over social media, or you're getting bad criticism, it can really affect you. I've seen that in certain players in the past, and currently as well, because it's just not easy.

"It's going to get worse and worse, because the platforms nowadays, with the clickbait and the headlines, everyone is on it constantly.

"I feel like especially the ex-pros, top players, who have been through everything as well, they have this responsibility of protecting a little bit of that side as well. That's something maybe to look at."

Ahead of Liverpool's game with Manchester City, Keane insisted that the players must suck the criticism up after being praised so much last season. “We were praising Liverpool all last season, they were outstanding, absolutely brilliant," Keane said. "But when this time of the season you’re 17 points worse off than the league leaders, then you’ve got to be criticised.

"I think you’ve got to suck it up – yes, there’s always a worry if it gets personal, yes I can see players get upset, but when you’re criticising Liverpool ’s team for being open or the amount of games they’ve lost, the way they’ve lost at home recently - guess what, you’re going to get criticised!

"Because last year when you were doing really well, and you’re celebrating with five/six games to go and you’re going off to Ibiza for weeks, you lay off the players a little bit – even though you might not like it – because you’re turning up and winning the league.

"But when you’re not and you’re so far off it like they were a number of years ago, I said and I’ll say it again, they’ve been really bad champions. They’re still in Europe and the FA Cup, whatever, but their league performances, they are going to be criticised because they’re so far off it.

"It’s very hard to win the league, it’s harder to win it back to back, but when you’re so many points off the top team, you are going to be criticised.”

Even Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher agreed with Keane. When asked by Sky Sports presenter Dave Jones if the Reds have been ‘bad champions', the pundit replied: “Yes… Roy said that four or five years ago when we won the last one, and I didn’t agree with that, and the reason is, I said at the time, Liverpool had four centre-backs out, they had kids at the back. But I think this season, I totally agree with you.

"Let’s not forget that what Liverpool did in the summer wasn’t just to sort of strengthen the squad, it was to put themselves in a position to do what City have done the last few years, you win like three leagues in five years.

"It wasn’t a case of ‘we’re happy with one league title.' What City have done, what United have done before, what maybe Chelsea have done, that this is the time that Liverpool supporters felt and that I felt in the summer ‘this is our time to go and dominate the league for the next three of four years’, and that hasn’t happened.”