Jamie Carragher has ripped into Arne Slot’s Liverpool after they suffered a second straight defeat in a 1-0 loss at Galatasaray on Tuesday.
In a damning verdict on the Reds, Carragher warned they were ‘not a top team’, claimed they were a ‘mess’ and said one star needed to be axed from the side because he was ‘not at the races at all’.
Victor Osimhen’s first-half penalty was enough to beat Liverpool in Istanbul but, in truth, the visitors could have lost by a wider margin.
The disappointment in a city that holds such fond memories for the club after their 2005 Champions League final triumph came just three days after they lost 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
And Carragher, who was critical of Slot’s setup after their 4-2 win over Bournemouth on the opening day of the season, warned the Dutchman he would have to ‘earn his money’ after a ‘smooth ride’ in his debut campaign in England.
‘I don’t feel like I am watching a top team,’ Carragher said on CBS Sports.
Liverpool suffered a second consecutive defeat as they lost 1-0 at Galatasaray on Tuesday
Jamie Carragher warned he had seen the Reds’ slump coming and told Arne Slot he would have to ‘earn his money’ this season
‘Liverpool aren’t playing football at the moment, they are playing basketball. It is just end to end and I don’t think top teams play like that.
‘I expressed that to the manager early on, he’ll know that a lot better than me. He is obviously a fantastic manager. But right now Liverpool went from, I would call them a top team, workmanlike team last season and they have sprinkled a little bit of star dust on it terms of the transfers that they have brought in. And they haven’t gained anything going forward but they have lost a lot defensively.
‘I think for the manager now, last season was such a smooth ride for them, he has got to really earn his money.
‘He did last season, won the Premier League, unbelievable. But there’s a few problems there that he has got to fix and it’ll be really interesting how he goes about it.’
Carragher also singled out £116million summer signing Florian Wirtz, just a day after Wayne Rooney had criticised the German star.
‘Right now I don’t think the balance of the team is right and the obvious one that stands out is Florian Wirtz,’ he said.
‘He’s just not at the races at all. He’s a young boy coming into a new league – he has got plenty of time to go as Liverpool player but right now I think he needs to come out of the team, Liverpool go back to what they were last season and then go from there and build some confidence, build some defensive stability.
‘Because right now it is a mess.’
Victor Osimhen’s first-half penalty was enough to see off Liverpool in Istanbul
The Turkish side were good value for their surprise win over the Premier League champions
Defeat leaves plenty of questions for Arne Slot following the 2-1 reverse at Crystal Palace on Saturday
Liverpool had won all seven matches in all competitions this season before the reverse at Selhurst Park on Saturday and remain top of the Premier League, two points clear of Arsenal.
But Carragher believes the warning signs have been there even in Liverpool’s victories.
‘It’s not the losses, it is not the defeats,’ the ex-Liverpool captain turned pundit added.
‘It is the performances and this has been coming from day one. Liverpool got battered by Newcastle in the second half of that game. Newcastle had 10 men. That can’t happen.
‘Palace at the weekend created seven big chances, that’s more big chances than any team has conceded in the Premier League this season and Liverpool are the champions.
‘This has been coming, this is not a shock for me in the last couple of games and the manager needs to fix it.’
Liverpool will be hoping to bounce back from the shock defeat in Turkey when they travel to face Chelsea in the league on Saturday.
