Georginio Wijnaldum has offered a fresh response to Jamie Carragher after the Liverpool legend claimed he was "sick" of his old club's "excuses".
Liverpool produced another sub-par performance at Anfield on Saturday as they were beaten by rivals Everton for the first time on home soil since 1999.
The evening was marred further for Reds' boss Jurgen Klopp by the injury sustained to captain Jordan Henderson which saw him limp off in the first half.
Klopp's side then played out the rest of the match with another new centre-back pairing as fringe man Nat Phillips came on alongside the shaky Ozan Kabak.
But Carragher slammed the team's display as a whole, saying on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports: "Liverpool have been so poor, they have got everything deserved.
"They can't keep saying 'Virgil van Dijk is out'. I'm sick of saying it myself."
Richarlison's third-minute opener put Everton into an early command and from there they never really looked like surrendering the lead.
The Toffees were then awarded a late penalty when Trent Alexander-Arnold was adjudged to have fouled Dominic Calvert-Lewin, allowing Gylfi Sigurdsson the chance to seal the victory from the spot.
Speaking after the match, Wijnaldum appeared in agreement with Carragher, admitting: "Losing players during the season upset us a lot. We cannot play the victims, we have to deal with the situation and not feel sorry for ourselves."
However, the Dutchman seems to have relaxed his stance a little, as he conceded the injuries had made things difficult, though did issue a rallying cry alongside further reasoning behind their poor form.
"Losing yesterday was painful," he wrote on Twitter. "We are in a difficult period where we create a lot of chances but don’t score the goal. And we give away goals too easy.
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"We have to deal with the situation and still have a lot of games to turn it around.
"All injuries don't make it easier, but can’t be an excuse. I strongly believe we still have a squad who can change it around and we have to work harder to change it around soon.
"We should keep the confidence, keep trying to give everything we can and work all together to bring the season to a good end."
