It is no secret that Loris Karius is under pressure but Liverpool fans are divided in their stance on the goalkeeper. The German has once again been widely criticised for his performance as the Reds were defeated 3-1 by Borussia Dortmund last night.
He was at fault for the final goal during the match in the US – palming Christian Pulisic’s shot in to the path of Jacob Bruun Larsen for him to slot home.
The shot-stopper also nervously sliced an attempted clearance early on which was collected by Max Philipp – only for the striker to stab wide of an empty net.
The latest display follows a tumultuous time for Karius, his nightmare Champions League performance in May was followed with him losing the no.1 jersey after a difficult pre-season and the arrival of Alisson from Roma in a world-record £65 million deal.
After the International Champions Cup game in Charlotte, supporters took to social media to chastise Karius’ display .
Darren Cullen wrote on the Liverpool ECHO’s LFC Facebook page: “Karius is finished at Liverpool, if he’s that nervous in America what’s he gonna be like competitively in say a league cup match taking stick from opposing fans”.
Victor Day added: “Get Karius OUT OUT OUT. We have a new goalie. Ward’s gone. We don’t need Karius.”
Graham H posted to Twitter: “Stop making mistakes !!!!!!!!!!! He done (sic) another howler tonight!!!!!! I said straight after the CL final his career is over it will be hard for anyone to come back from that!!”
Alongside the criticism there were also people who sent disgraceful and abusive messages to the 25-year-old about his performance, which even included death threats. That backlash prompted the goalkeeper to hit back on his own Instagram page stating: “To those who take joy in seeing other people fail or suffer, I feel for you.
“Whatever it is that’s happening in your life to hold this much anger and hate, I pray that it passes and good things come to you.”This in turn lead to Liverpool fans both leaping to Karius’ defence while others also offered him advice to turn away from social media.
Stu Bateson wrote on Twitter: “YNWA? Think about that for a second, is that something we just say as a tagline or is it something we really mean? @LorisKarius had a nightmare, it’s well documented and LFC have addressed that, but to abuse the man personally is disgusting and not what LFC is about. YNWA”.
Robbie Green posted: “Mistakes happen in all walks of life, he goes out to give his best for the team, getting on his back isn’t going to help him. We have signed Alisson now,so Karius will prob only play league cup so while he is between the sticks give the lad some help and support him as well.”