Source: Liverpool_Echo
John Aldridge: Mascherano’s selfishness undermine’s support
MIDFIELDER Javier Mascherano's refusal to face Manchester City on Monday night was selfish and unprofessional.[LNB]I can understand his frustration because he's clearly desperate to move on but what he did was out of order and he let the club down badly.[LNB]Mascherano needs to remember that when Liverpool signed him in 2007 his career was going nowhere.[LNB]He can't expect the club to just drop the amount of cash they want for him so he can get away.[LNB] We bought him for £18million and now he's double the player he was back then. Xabi Alonso was sold for £30million last summer and I put Mascherano in the same bracket.[LNB]I'm glad Roy Hodgson has stood his ground because you can't have players calling the shots.[LNB]Players of Mascherano's calibre are hard to find and we have to get the right fee.[LNB]In our opening league game against Arsenal he was excellent and fully deserved the standing ovation he got from the supporters.[LNB]But on Monday he chucked all that support back into the fans' faces. Maybe he was just putting himself in the shop window against Arsenal.[LNB]It's really disappointing because he's a fantastic player. Man City away was always going to be a tough game and Mascherano is the type of player who would have been crucial to our chances of getting a positive result.[LNB]With the transfer window shutting next week I'm sure his agent advised him to refuse to play and cause havoc to try to force the club's hand. That's what happened in my time and it's still happening today.[LNB]I don't think what Mascherano did affected the players mentally, but what it did mean is we put out a lesser team.
