Virgil van Dijk was visibly frustrated with Trent Alexander-Arnold during Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Manchester United but has now come to the defence of his team-mate.
The right-back produced an underwhelming performance on and off the ball as the Reds dropped points in the Premier League title race at Anfield.
Diogo Dalot had the better of Alexander-Arnold all game and the England international's display prompted questions as to whether he is being distracted by speculation about a move to Real Madrid.
Los Blancos want Alexander-Arnold on a free at the end of the season but have also enquired about whether the Reds would sell in the January transfer window.
Roy Keane said after the draw with Man Utd: "Trent's defending today, my goodness, it was like schoolboy stuff.
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"They're talking about him going to Real Madrid, the way he's defending, he's going to Tranmere Rovers after this. He's got to do better."
Van Dijk was caught by the Sky Sports cameras looking visibly unhappy with his fellow defender but post-match came out to make it clear the squad are here for him: "I am fine with it. Trent has his own people around him, his family and we are there as well.
"He wants to perform in the best way possible like we all do. That is the main focus. In my opinion, maybe ask him, that is the distraction... the game."
Asked if he felt the noise distracted Alexander-Arnold, the captain replied simply: "No."
With the scrutiny on the local-born full-back, Arne Slot chose to focus on the tests posed by Bruno Fernandes and Dalot rather than openly criticise Alexander-Arnold.
Van Dijk seemed to reprimand Alexander-Arnold during the game, but he implied that his dissatisfaction was directed at the team's overall performance, rather than any one individual.
He stated: "We could and should have done better in having the ball, keeping it longer. We should have done better, especially after going 2-1 up. We were sloppy and let them come back.
"United came back into the game because of their quality but we lost the ball too easily in difficult moments. Spaces became much bigger than they should have been.
"We were playing against a good opponent. By the sound that had been going around before the game, I think everyone from the outside world forgets that.
"They have good players. They are obviously a work in progress but they made it difficult for us.
"I heard in the press conference someone asked if we were going to rotate players against United. I was shocked.
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"It is one of the biggest games of the season and United will always make it tough. To hear that, I was surprised."
Reflecting on the game's outcome, Van Dijk chose to focus on the positives, given Liverpool's strong position in the Premier League and other competitions: "In the end, it could have been a lot worse. We take a point.
"But we showed good things as well - resilience after going 1-0 down. So it was good things and less good things. We had to get up."
Reflecting on the game's outcome, Van Dijk chose to focus on the positives, given Liverpool's strong position in the Premier League and other competitions: "In the end, it could have been a lot worse. We take a point.
"But we showed good things as well - resilience after going 1-0 down. So it was good things and less good things. We had to get up."
