'Lazy' Liverpool player scorned after sloppy international performance costs his country

Liverpool players have been aiming to wrap up qualification for next summer’s World Cup this week as they head off to play for their countries.

The Reds should have plenty of representatives at the tournament, as supporters begin to look forward to another festival of football.

Many Liverpool fans do not follow the England national team, and with no players currently featuring for the Three Lions, supporters will perhaps be looking for another team to cheer on.

The obvious choice is the Netherlands, who regularly boast four Liverpool players in their starting XI. One of those is Ryan Gravenberch, whose renaissance at Anfield has led to him being handed a key role for Ronald Koeman’s team.

The Dutch look fairly certain to qualify, and could have finished the job with a win over Poland in Warsaw on Friday. However, they could only manage a 1-1 draw, which leaves them needing a point in their final match to get over the line.

It was a disappointing outcome for the Netherlands, and Gravenberch has been singled out for a ‘lazy’ display by former Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk.

Ryan Gravenberch fails to do his duty for the Netherlands

Gravenberch has not hit the heights of last season so far this term for Liverpool. There have been some really bright moments, but the consistency has not quite been there.

That has seemingly leaked into his performances for the Netherlands as well.

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In quotes from Voetbal International, Van Hooijdonk took aim at Gravenberch, criticising him for not tracking runners while analysing footage from the match.

“It’s laziness, because you think the ball won’t fall there anyway,” the former striker said when watching clips of the Liverpool midfielder.

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“Against Spain, for example, everyone was ‘on’ and no one let their man go. But when you have a lot of possession against those kinds of teams, you actually have a false sense of dominance.”

With Cody Gakpo unable to continue his hot streak for the Oranje, they will have to get a result against Lithuania to finish top of the group.

Gravenberch’s form could be a concern

Liverpool knew they could rely on Gravenberch to deliver an eight out of 10 performance virtually every week last season.

This time, the 23-year-old has not looked quite the same player. When he drops below the standard he set, the whole Liverpool midfield tends to look a little patchy.

On Friday, Dutch outlet AD claim he did fall short, scoring him a six out of 10 for his efforts against Poland.

In isolation, this is obviously nothing to worry about. Poland are a decent side and were desperate to get a result to keep their own automatic qualification hopes alive. It can happen.

Nevertheless, Liverpool supporters should be paying special attention to how Gravenberch gets on against Lithuania next week. One bad display can easily slip into two, three and four.

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