Joey Barton: 'Brendan Rodgers to blame for Liverpool's poor start to season'

Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has claimed that Brendan Rodgers "has to take the responsibility" for Liverpool's poor start to the campaign.

The Reds face Manchester United at Old Trafford this afternoon on the back of a disappointing run of results which has seen them slip to ninth in the Premier League table, and exit the Champions League at the group stage.

Barton has now become the latest name to criticise Rodgers by suggesting that Liverpool's memorable season last time out was merely a fluke.

"Brendan has to take the responsibility as the manager because he had a lot of input into transfers but has come up short," he told The Sport Review.

"The reality is that he will get time after the freak season they had last season – and make no mistake it was a freak season with having no midweek commitments and one of the best players in the world at the top of his game."

Following their meeting with rivals Man United, the Merseyside outfit take on Bournemouth in the quarter-final of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.