Javier Mascherano was the subject of the ire of his teammates after his non-appearance in Monday night’s defeat to Manchester City at Eastlands, according to reports.
The Argentinean midfielder, who is unsettled on Merseyside, was deemed as ‘not in the right frame of mind’ to face Roberto Mancini’s side and was left out of the starting line-up.
Prior to the game, Roy Hodgson had reportedly worked on a 4-2-3-1 formation in training, with Lucas Leiva and Mascherano playing holding midfield roles in an effort to combat City’s strength in the area.
New signing Christian Poulsen was also deemed not fit to start, meaning that, with Mascherano absent, Hodgson deployed a 4-4-2 formation that left Liverpool exposed in central midfield and the Reds succumbed to a 3-0 defeat.
Reports suggest that some Liverpool players were furious at Mascherano’s actions and let their feelings be known at training on Tuesday morning.
“The senior players at the club were seriously hacked off with Mascherano on Monday night and that was clear when he arrived back on Tuesday, a Liverpool ‘club source’ told the Sun.
“There are players in that squad who are Liverpool through and through and they were fuming at what Mascherano did.”
Mascherano has been linked with a move to Barcelona in recent days and the Catalan club had a bid rejected for the year old on Monday.
According to Roy Hodgson, the bid was way below Liverpool’s valuation of the player. “Unfortunately the fee the club thinks is the correct fee and the fee we are being offered are very far apart,†he said.
“Unless that can be resolved he might be unhappy for a long time to come.”
