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Steven Gerrard has accused Everton supporters of destroying Ross Barkley's confidence.

The former Liverpool captain was discussing the Blues 23-year-old midfielder during a segment on BT Sport yesterday.

Gerrard also claimed that Ronald Koeman has exacerbated Barkley's recent consistency problems by criticising him in public.

He said: "I'm a big fan of Ross, but what I will say is he has been inconsistent and the Everton fans use him as an easy target.

"I think he's been harshly criticised by Ronald Koeman in the media and that won't be helping him.

"I look at him and he's their bright spark for the future because he's young and people talk about building a team around him."

He added: "He's 23 and still has 10 quality years ahead of him. But he needs them fans behind him and he needs his manager behind him. They need to be putting confidence into him, not taking it away from him.

"It's hard playing for your local team when the fans are pointing fingers.

"He will look up to Ronald Koeman like he's a hero and he's killing him in the media, bringing him down and down. The fans and Ronald Koeman are not helping Ross Barkley."

Gerrard, who retired from playing in November after a spell at LA Galaxy, believes Koeman should use the transfer market to bring in some quality signings to support Barkley, rather than replace him.

"I think what Everton need to do is they need to spend money," he said. "They got £47m for John Stones and they need two or three signings, expensive signings, who can give Ross a hand.

"They need to go into the transfer market and get four or five top quality players, players with legs who can run, who have quality. That's what Everton need.

"They don't need to be blaming Ross Barkley. That's not going to help."

Gerrard thinks Barkley is suffering from unfair expectations after lofty comparisons with footballing greats early in his career.

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He said: "Who has been consistent for Everton? So why is Ross Barkley getting criticised?

"It's expectation. He has been built up as the new Paul Gascoigne but because he has been inconsistent of late people are pointing fingers. Fair enough, but the kid needs help as well."

Gerrard also thinks Everton would regret selling him, should they ever consider cutting their losses with the former Academy star.

He said: "If he was to go to a Tottenham or a Chelsea he would fly and all the Everton fans would say why did we sell him?

"I think from a selfish point of view maybe for him a move would be the best thing for him."

Steve McManaman, who was also on BT's panel, agreed with his former Anfield teammate.

"The team has been up and down with a lot of up and down performances. So it's hard to be the star man and play really well when the team is up and down. I agree with Steven," he said.

"He is inconsistent."

"There have been times when he has been excellent, driving forward and creating and there have been times like Sunderland away when he got dragged off at half-time because he gave the ball away a lot.

"He is inconsistent, but you can't just berate people all the time. He is an easy target."

McManaman added that Blues majority investor Farhad Moshiri has to prove he is really determined to finance the club with a January spree.

(Image: PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

"Their overall net spend, considering the new owner has come in and was supposed to be investing so much money that it was incredible, well we haven't seen it yet," he said.

"Maybe it will come and hopefully it will come to help the likes of Ross.

"Who have their bright sparks been? Everton's best player arguably has been Idrissa Gueye who is a defensive midfielder, Romelu Lukaku has had his critics when he went through a real awful spell, so it's hard to lead the team on your shoulders, especially when you're 23!

"It's very difficult."