3 hours ago
5
A seething Jamie Carragher believes he knows exactly who is to blame for Liverpool's dire run of form, and despite what many fans have suggested, it's not second-year manager Arne Slot.
Following Liverpool's 4-1 drubbing at home to reigning Eredivisie champions PSV in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage, a result which leaves them 13th after five games, and with Serie A giants Inter Milan their next continental opponents on December 9th, Reds legend Carragher let loose on three of the team's veterans.
Despite insisting he doesn't enjoy criticizing players, the 47-year-old didn't struggle when addressing Liverpool's woes, specifically calling out the over-30s trio of goalkeeper Alisson, center back and captain Virgil van Dijk, and forward Mo Salah, all of whom he felt are "absolutely legendary."
"Liverpool in 2018 under [Jurgen] Klopp starts this sort of journey being a great team, and then Slot comes in, and we're now seven or eight years later," Carragher said. "The catalyst for Liverpool at the very start of that run was Alisson, van Dijk, and Salah.
"Alisson's injured a lot now, so he doesn't play so much, but you're watching van Djik now, not the same player, and Mo Salah (who has a total of five goals in 18 games) looks like his legs have gone.
"I don't like criticizing them, and I think some of the criticism of them this season as players has been harsh. You're always looking for your leaders in your team to step up when things are not going well."
Carragher admitted how critical he has been of Salah of late, particularly "off the pitch," adding, "I want him to come out and do an interview tonight and speak to the Liverpool supporters about what the players are going to do, what's going on in the dressing room, give the supporters hope that things are going to improve."
However, Carragher insisted that the onus is on the other players to "step up" and support these ageing legends, whose legs he believes "have just gone," leaving van Dijk, for example, no longer "super-human" but merely "a normal center back."
"I look at some of the others. Step up," he said. "Can you only play well when they play well or they carry it? Their season, last season, were off the scale, and everybody else enjoyed that win in the league and they're all league champions, they got it on the CV, and great.
"But when they're not there, where are they? Where are the others? Where the other players?"
Furthering his point, Carragher questioned whether some of the other players outside of the big three were simply up to par for a club of Liverpool's stature, citing some "woeful performances" last season, suggesting how they may have "been carried by some of the greatest players the club has ever had. This is maybe a snapshot of the future of Liverpool when Mo Salah moves on, Virgil van Djik moves on, and Alisson moves on."
Despite this latest loss, their third in a row and their ninth in the last 11 games across all competitions, Carragher is still opting to back Slot, who delivered Liverpool's 20th top division title at his first attempt after joining from Feyenoord last summer.
Carragher insisted that "Liverpool is not a sacking club," going on to say, "I say Liverpool, I think are different from almost every club in European football. The manager is the king, you know, the managers get time.
"Liverpool have never sacked a manager who's won the league. Never in their history. They've all after a few years, they've gone, they've resigned. I couldn't believe at the weekend that people were talking about the manager's job when I spoke to Liverpool supporters after losing a home to Nottingham Forest (3-0).
"It's only going to amplify now, and I've always been in the camp of you stick with the managers."
However, while Carragher doesn't believe Slot deserves to be in the hot seat, he admitted that the situation could eventually become "untenable," although personally, he has a ways to go to reach that point.
Next up for Slot to attempt to get their derailed season back on track and perhaps even jump back into the top half of the Premier League from 12th is a trip to London to take on Nuno Espírito Santo's West Ham United on Sunday.
English (US) ·