Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has offered his thoughts on Hugo Ekitike’s bizarre incident on the substitutes bench, as Arne Slot’s Reds crashed to a demoralising 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in the Emirates FA Cup quarter Final.
Liverpool fans would have been hopeful that their side would come back from the international break reinvigorated and reenergised, as they attempted to push the 2-1 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion firmly to one side, at the Etihad.
Instead, Slot‘s men sank to a new low, as an Erling Haaland hat-trick and an Antoine Semenyo second half goal, condemned the visitors to a horrific 4-0 defeat in the FA Cup, with many Reds supporters after the game calling for the Dutchman to be sacked.
Labelled as “another big disappointment” to stomach by the former Feyenoord manager at the full-time whistle, it will be interesting to see if the powers that be at Anfield stick by the under-fire head coach, if Liverpool are humbled in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain.
Amazingly, while there were plenty of talking points on the pitch, with Virgil Van Dijk clumsily giving away a penalty, and Mohamed Salah missing his own spot-kick, another heated moment that was spoken about at length after the game more than these calamitous errors was Ekitike swapping his shirt with Manchester City midfielder Rayan Cherki, while the game was still going on.
Both the attackers in question share their national allegiances with France, but many would have been left perplexed by this moment, all the same, as the clock ticked down towards the end of the one-sided game, with Cherki putting on Ekitike’s number 27 jersey on the substitutes bench.
Ex-Liverpool attacker John Aldridge has had his say on this unique incident, as the outspoken 67-year-old didn’t hold back, in his Liverpool Echo column.
Aldridge’s thoughts on the shirt swapping incident
Scoring a lethal 63 goals, from only 104 appearances on Merseyside, the Irishman is still fondly remembered to this day for being a red-hot finisher of chances.
He would have been irked, therefore, by Salah’s penalty miss, as well as Ekitike’s overall flat display at the Etihad.
From 68 minutes of action, the towering Frenchman would only manage to test stand-in goalkeeper James Trafford with two shots on goal, with Ekitike desperate to get back on the scoresheet against former employers PSG, when the Champions League kicks back into gear mid-week.
He will want to put all this Cherki chatter behind him as well, having been routinely blasted online for the shirt-swapping incident, with Aldridge labelling the whole affair as “unacceptable.”
Writing in the Liverpool Echo, Aldridge has stated: “Hugo Ekitike swapping his shirt with France colleague Rayan Cherki while the game was going on was another strange one. That was unacceptable, I have to say.
Incidents like that point to a lack of characters in the squad, the likes of Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher wouldn’t have tolerated that. Attitudes need to change, this is part of the wider problem at Liverpool right now.”
The now retired striker has, arguably, hit the nail on the head with his thoughts, here, as Liverpool’s attitude at the Etihad was far too casual, as City coasted past them with ease.
Everyone in the Liverpool camp will need to be far more switched on when travelling to PSG, with the much-talked-about number 27 having a point to prove, against his ex-side.
Only scoring three goals across his last ten games, he would surely love to remind everyone of his efficiency in front of goal which has seen him bag 17 for the season at the Parc Des Princes on Wednesday evening, as his football goes back to doing the talking.
