Jamie Carragher’s verdict is clear: Liverpool are a defensive mess.
On Tuesday, after their 1-0 defeat by Galatasaray, he let out his strongest barrage of criticism: Liverpool are not a ‘top team,’ they play ‘basketball’ rather than football, and they have multiple problems which need fixing urgently.
And this is a drum he has been banging since the summer.
In August, he and Arne Slot endured a tense face-off on Sky Sports as the legendary defender gave his view on Liverpool’s vulnerability.
It ended with Carragher declaring himself ‘worried’ – and Slot advising him to support another team.
Carragher was speaking after Liverpool’s 4-2 win against Bournemouth at Anfield, a game where the Reds conceded two goals on the counter-attack.
Jamie Carragher’s feels that Liverpool are like a ‘basketball’ team – uncontrolled and vulnerable to counter-attacks
He believes Arne Slot has left Liverpool with an unbalanced system and is ‘worried’
He asked Slot if he was ‘furious’ that Liverpool had seven men in the Bournemouth box while they were defending a 2-1 lead, just before Antoine Semenyo scored his second goal. But the Dutchman did not see-eye-to-eye.
‘No, it depends on where the players of the opposition are,’ he said.
‘If they are standing over here at the halfway line, it would be stupid for us to be there with seven, but if they go with all players back in their own 18-yard box, we need to have a rest defence in order to be closer to them there as well.
‘I think if you stop the play at the moment Mo (Salah) loses the ball, there is not such a big problem.
‘I think the rest defence is in order, but then they just came with three or four out of their 18-yard box.’
Carragher was not convinced. He felt that Wataru Endo and Andy Robertson, the two full-backs at that stage of the game, were positioned too hgih – and without the recovery pace of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.
But, in a tense exchange, Slot hit back: ‘It depends on where their players are.
‘I see it now and I see where Semenyo is, then you could argue if Robbo (Andy Robertson) should be this high.
Carragher raised his concerns to Slot on the first evening of the season and Slot told him to support a different team!
Jamie Carragher warned he had seen the Reds’ slump coming and told Arne Slot he would have to ‘earn his money’ this season
‘For me, Robbo should be where Semenyo and you can argue if all our midfielders should go inside the 18-yard box now, but that’s also who we were and who we are.
‘That’s also why you see such a nice game if you watch Liverpool, because we are not going to go to a low block and defend.
‘[On the counter-attack leading to Semenyo’s second goal,] we are two vs. one behind the ball and you see players from us sprinting back as well, but give credit to Semenyo as well.’
Then Carragher let loose with the criticism which may have stung.
‘Arne, can I just say that worries me a little bit?’ he said.
‘When you say that’s the team that we are, with so many bodies going forward. Am I allowed to say that? Sorry, boss!’
Slot was polite in reply, if not slightyl sarcastic, but the line had already been drawn in the sane – the two simply couldn’t agree.
‘No, you are allowed to say this, but then you need to support a team that’s going to play with 11 players in their own box,’ he said.
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
‘I prefer to see this, but I prefer to see even more not being counter-attacked – that I agree on.
‘But I like it that our players like to play football and I think last season we were a joy to watch, like, for example, Paris Saint-Germain, who do similar things like this.’
All of this adds context to Carragher’s criticism on Tuesday night, which is a continuation of the opinion he has sustained throughout the season.
He said: ‘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.’
