Gini Wijnaldum believes that Everton players have gone "too far" with the toughness of their tackles in Merseyside derbies.
The Dutch midfielder called Jordan Pickford's tackle on Virgil van Dijk "completely stupid". The Liverpool centre-back suffered a knee ligament injury due to the challenge and faces a long period out of action.
"The way Pickford went in, in the challenge, was completely stupid in my opinion," said Wijnaldum.
"I believe he didn't want to injure Virgil the way he injured him but the way he made the tackle, he didn’t care about what happened after the tackle. I think we've had that a lot in games against Everton.
"In my opinion, they take it too far in the games we play against them.
"We know it’s a derby and everyone wants to win that derby, sometimes it goes a little bit over the top but this was too much."
Late in the weekend's game, which finished 2-2, Everton's Richarlison was sent-off for a challenge on Liverpool's Thiago. Wijnaldum cited that as another example of what he views as recklessness from Everton.
"It was not just Pickford's tackle. The tackle from Richarlison on Thiago was also a nasty one. That’s what bothers me the most and most of the other players.
"Accidents can always happen in football. You can be unlucky and injure someone but the way they were doing it was completely unacceptable.
"It makes it even harder when they don’t get punished, in this case Pickford."
Picture credits: Jose Breton - Pics Action / Shutterstock.com and Jaroslav Moravcik / Shutterstock.com
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