Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah red flags as behaviour 'impacting everyone' at Liverpool

Wayne Rooney has launched a scathing attack on Liverpool stars Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk. The pair face accusations of failing to provide leadership during the club's alarming downturn.

The Merseyside giants have endured a torrid spell, losing five of their previous six matches across all competitions. Saturday's crushing 3-2 reverse against Brentford has left Arne Slot's men languishing in seventh place, already trailing pacesetters Arsenal by seven points.

Manchester United legend Rooney has pinpointed the root cause of the Reds' dramatic collapse. He points the finger squarely at Salah and Van Dijk for their lack of guidance and believes their body language could be 'impacting' the whole dressing room.

On Monday'sThe Wayne Rooney Show, he said: "This can happen to teams," the player-turned-pundit said, "and it can get them, and it will creep up, and then all of a sudden you're like 'where did that come from?"

"You're probably sitting here thinking, three or four weeks ago, no one saw this coming. And it's hit them quick, it's hit them hard, and they're struggling to find a way out of it.

"This is the time when the manager, the leaders in the team need to figure it out very quickly. I'm a bit unsure; Van Dijk and Salah have signed new deals and whatever, but I don't think they've really led that team this season."

When pressed on his reasoning, Rooney added: "Just performances and body language. I think body language tells you a lot. I think we're seeing a slightly different body language from the two of them.

"They are the top two players on that side, and if their body language isn't right, that affects everyone else.

"Liverpool are in a bad place at the moment, and when that happens, I can't explain it. It's so difficult, you don't know how to get out of it. You concede a goal and straight away you're thinking 'here we go again'. It's such a hard thing to get out of."

"The best thing is to simplify things for each player and the manager. Simplify the performances with what you're doing. Normally, if you've got better players, you win the game, but it's not that easy."