John Barnes sends Andoni Iraola plea to Liverpool fans and makes Hugo Ekitike prediction

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The fans have to support [the manager]."They're going to get a good manager. They're going to get a great manager.

And I think that that is what has happened, which is a shame as far as I'm concerned."Because after what he did, I thought he should have been given more time to get this new team - which is a good team - a manager coming in now is going to have a great team, but getting five players to try and fit in when you're talking about Ekitike, Isak and Wirtz and then you have the two fullbacks, that'll take time."Barnes warned against falling into the same cyclical pattern that Manchester United and Arsenal experienced after the departures of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, where subsequent managers were often compared to their iconic predecessors."We were like that for a while," he said, "after Kenny [Dalglish] left, and then Souey [Graeme Souness] left. Then you're kind of hiding and if you're not going to be held accountable…"I mean, when Jurgen Klopp played a virtual youth team against Everton in the FA Cup [in 2020] - now, those youth team players could have not given 100%, they could have gone out there and lost and then under different circumstances everyone would have blamed the manager and the players then would have gone, 'Well, okay, it's not our fault.'"But those players knew that even if we lose, no one's going to blame Jurgen Klopp.

So therefore, those youth team players have got to give 100%, and that's the attitude that they have to have, which really comes from the fans."The fans have to start demanding from the players, not just pointing the finger at the manager."Reflecting on the Achilles injury that spelled the end of his days as a flying winger and instead saw him take up a deeper, playmaking role, Barnes was confident that Ekitike would not end up having to alter his game as he did."Well," he said, "I think the rehabilitation here in 2026 is different to me in 1992. So you can't really [compare it] - and I can't gauge my rehabilitation to a player who may have ruptured his Achilles tendon in the '60s, who may never have played again, type of thing."So, I don't have any fears about that, no worries about that, he'll be back as good and as strong as ever."Finally, reflecting on themes he has often led the national conversation on, Barnes shared his frustration with the new rule against players covering their mouths when speaking to opponents during confrontations - something he sees as unenforceable.The rule was introduced in time for the World Cup during the aftermath of the racism controversy resulting from the incident between Vinicius Jr and Gianluca Prestianni when Benfica and Real Madrid faced off in the Champions League this season.Barnes told the ECHO: "So apparently now [covering your mouth] is going to get you a booking, but only in confrontational terms, which means that if you have an argument with somebody and do that, you're going to get booked."But if you don't have an argument with them and you come up to them and you do that, you still could be abusing them - but because it's not a confrontational thing, are you going to get booked?"They're coming up with these stupid ideas.