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Jamie Carragher has defended Arne Slot over the Liverpool boss’ comments on Manchester United’s approach during Sunday’s game at Anfield.
The Reds fell to a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions after Harry Maguire’s header sentenced them to a 2-1 loss. Liverpool now finds itself four points off the lead in the Premier League title race, having held a five-point advantage over Arsenal just a few weeks ago.
Slot and his players have come in for plenty of criticism amid their ongoing slump, although the Liverpool boss pointed to United’s tactics as one of the reasons why his side was unable to end its losing streak.
“It is always difficult to play against a team that defends in a low block and mainly plays the long ball,” Slot told Sky Sports after the game on Sunday.
“It makes it even more difficult when you go one down after one minute when one of our players are on the floor.
“If you would have told me before the game that against the low block, against so many long balls, that we would have created as many chances as we did I would have not expected us to lose. But that is what we did.”
Slot’s comments have seen him being ridiculed by rival supporters over what is perceived as the Liverpool boss ‘moaning’ amid his side’s poor form.
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The Dutchman though was backed up by Carragher, who pointed out during his appearance on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football that the stats backed up Slot’s comments.
Among the sides to have visited Anfield in 2025, United had the highest percentage of long passes at 25.5 per cent - even beating League Two side Accrington Stanley during its visit in the FA Cup - while only one of goalkeeper Senne Lammens’ passes was shown to have been played short throughout the whole game.
“He’s Dutch, and we’ve had Dutch players, Dutch managers come to our league. They’re very open, and they’ll say what happened,” Carragher said.
“He won’t think he’s offended anyone, or he’s trying to be offensive to Manchester United, he’s just telling you what happened in the game, and I think that’s quite refreshing, and that did happen in the game.”
Having fallen to yet another defeat at the weekend, Slot and his side will have another chance to end their poor run of form when they travel to Germany on Wednesday.
The Reds take on Eintracht Frankfurt in their latest Champions League game, having already beaten Atletico Madrid and lost to Galatasaray in their opening couple of league phase encounters.
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