Graeme Souness believes Liverpool’s players are equally culpable for a wretched campaign as underfire manager Arne Slot. The Anfield legend has also cast doubt on the squad’s willingness to do the basics and put in a shift, with the Reds now in genuine danger of finishing the season without a trophy and without Champions League football next season.

Liverpool followed Saturday’s dreadful 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final thrashing at Manchester City with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday. The Reds have now claimed victory just twice in their last eight matches across all competitions and face a stern challenge to secure a top-five finish. And while Slot’s position faces mounting scrutiny, former Liverpool skipper and boss Souness is insistent that the playing staff must also shoulder the blame.

“I’m not looking straight at Arne Slot,” he said. “I’m not saying he’s without blame – when you’re the manager, you’re answerable for everything that goes wrong – but I’d start with the players.

“There’s a stat out there showing they consistently run less than the opposition. That’s the starting point. You’re not working as hard.

“When you work hard with the ball it comes naturally – you’re moving to receive, creating angles, manipulating it. It’s when you don’t have the ball that the hard work really matters. I don’t think the pressing has been good enough, and that makes the back four vulnerable.

“The players in the dressing room have to look at themselves for what’s been an indifferent season.”

Souness added: “In my Liverpool days, the message was simple: work as hard as the opposition and you’ll be fine because you’re good players. That hasn’t happened enough this season.

“For all the people who want to complicate the game with tactics and analysis, sometimes it’s basic – you’re not matching the opposition for effort.

“And when you’ve got the sort of quality Liverpool have, that’s what I would be saying to them: on your day you can beat anyone. But the first thing you need to do is match the opposition’s effort and Liverpool have not done that consistently this season.”

While they were outclassed by PSG in midweek, Liverpool have saved many of their finest displays of the campaign for the Champions League, most notably defeating fellow quarter-finalists Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, as well as Marseille and Italian champions Inter Milan.

Speaking to Sky Bet on behalf of the Express, Souness went on to say: “The Premier League is more demanding than anywhere else. The intensity is higher.

“And when they play European teams – I’m thinking of Italian football in particular – those leagues aren’t at the same level. Italy haven’t qualified for three consecutive World Cups.

“That tells you everything. The French league (Ligue 1) – one outstanding team. And I’m not sure how good Real Madrid and Barcelona are.”