Liverpool Fans Accuse Carlo Ancelotti Of Lying Over Virgil van Dijk Injury

Liverpool fans have accused Carlo Ancelotti of lying after the Everton boss started James Rodriguez despite claiming he was injured.

During the week, Ancelotti said Rodriguez was unavailable for their Premier League fixture against Southampton due to an injury caused by Virgil van Dijk.

However, the Colombian star was named in Everton's starting XI to the dismay of Liverpool supporters.

They're unhappy at the Italian's comments and believe he lied to divert attention away from Jordan Pickford who escaped any punishment for his reckless tackle on Van Dijk.

One Twitter user wrote: "Wow. What a surprise to see Rodriguez start for the Ev. It's almost as if Ancelotti wanted to divert attention away from his goalkeeper injuring van Dijk for a season so just lied & said the Dutchman had injured his forward. Who'd have thought it."

A second wrote: "James Rodriguez starting for Everton just confirms what I already suspected about Ancelotti's horrific comments the other day. Just an excuse to lament Van Dijk over nothing and try to deflect from his and his player's disgraceful behaviour."

Another added: "Ancelotti has gone down in my estimations I'm sure he's worried haha but he's let himself down big time."

Ancelotti thinks the abuse on social media aimed at Pickford is "unacceptable."

Speaking before his side's game at Southampton, he said: "An important player was injured, he's injured for a long time and we are really disappointed for this. It's usual to have contact in football, sometimes it can happen that you are injured unfortunately.

"After that there is all of what happened outside - the social media, a lot attention on this, some abuse of some players.

"This is not fair. This is unacceptable. I think, as they are, the police have to take strong action for this."