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Liverpool face Leicester City in the Premier League on Boxing Day and they will come up against a former player.
Ward, who spent six years on Liverpool’s books, received flak during the Foxes’ 3-0 defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend. There were ironic cheers when the Wales international collected the ball in the second half of the encounter. He was partly to blame for all three goals conceded as Leicester sit in 17th place and just one place above the Premier League relegation zone.
Ward has conceded six goals in one-and-a-half matches after replacing Mads Hermansen at half-time of a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle United. The Foxes travel to Liverpool on Boxing Day and Ward is set to continue to come up against his former club with Hermansen still sidelined.
And Van Nistelrooy has backed his keeper and the rest of his players despite suffered a heavy loss to relegation rivals Wolves. The King Power head coach said: “It doesn’t make it easier for him, of course, and the team. Of course, we all understand disappointments from the crowd, but it shouldn’t go to one player. Booing and being disappointed with the result is a fan’s right to show their emotions and we all do that, but when it is targeted to one person that is something that is hard to see.
“He kept his composure very well over the course of the game. It’s not easy when something happens like that and when you catch a ball and people start cheering or and boo you on a personal level.
“When it gets personal like that, I think he handled it very well, and he’s the first one to look in the mirror, like all of us. They all want to do well and perform and give their best for the club. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out. It never crossed my mind, (to take him off to protect him). It’s good to stick together as a squad and as a club. I’m sticking with my players.”
Ward joined Liverpool from Wrexham for a fee of £100,000 in 2012. He made three appearances for the Reds, as well as having loan spells at Morecambe, Aberdeen and Huddersfield Town - helping the latter to promotion to the Premier League.
But the arrival of Alisson Becker at Anfield from AS Roma in the summer of 2018 saw Ward pushed further down the pecking order and he was sold to Leicester for a fee of £12.5 million.
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