Rio Ferdinand goes in on Liverpool's 'small club mentality' and hits back at Reds supporting pundits

Rio Ferdinand claims that Liverpool's reaction to beating Manchester United shows that Jurgen Klopp's side have a 'small club mentality.'

They say a week is a long time in football, and thanks to the Gary Lineker saga that was never more true than the week between Liverpool smashing United and then losing to Bournemouth.

Such was the debacle at the BBC that it was easy to forget that Erik ten Hag's side had been absolutely annihilated and embarrassed at the hands of their fiercest rivals.

United fans tried desperately to clutch to any silver linings, with one even claiming that Lisandro Martinez was defending well when he fell over thanks to Mohamed Salah twisting him in pieces.

The Carabao Cup winners did bounce back with a good win over Real Betis in the Europa League, with Wout Weghorst getting over the criticism of touching the Anfield sign by scoring a first, emotional, goal at Old Trafford.

Then at the weekend, Klopp's side were dealt a blow to their chances of finishing inside the top four, as they followed their 7-0 win with a loss to Bournemouth, a side they beat 9-0 earlier in the season, after Salah's awful penalty miss.

Now Ferdinand has stuck the boot in, claiming that the result against the Cherries proved the former champions had a 'small club mentality,' for only getting up for the games against their rivals.

"That is a small club mentality. That screams small club," the former United defender said of the contrasting results on his 'Five' YouTube channel.

Ferdinand clearly wasn't happy with Liverpool's reaction. Image: Alamy

The former centre-back may have compared it to how Everton play against their local rivals, or how the Manchester derby used to play out.

It wasn't just their players who the former England international was unimpressed by, with the 44-year-old turning his attention to Liverpool supporting pundits.

Graeme Souness seemed desperate to embarrass Gary Neville, after Neville and Roy Keane had laughed at the suggestion pre match that Liverpool would win.

Jamie Carragher took a more jokey approach to mocking his frenemy, both in commentary and the following day on Monday Night Football.

But Ferdinand wasn't impressed with either, saying they should be embarrassed with how they acted. "The way Souness and Carragher were celebrating, the way they were trying to antagonise the guys [Roy Keane and Gary Neville], and then their team goes and does that at the weekend," Rio added.

"They should be ashamed of themselves."