Jamie Carragher questions Arne Slot's use of two Liverpool players after Tottenham woe

Liverpool just slumped to a low point of the campaign, throwing away two points at home to hapless Tottenham. Jamie Carragher has questioned Arne Slot's approach.

Arne Slot's management of certain Liverpool players has been questioned by Jamie Carragher.(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

If you were looking for a bright side, you'd at least have to admit it's quite funny that a draw with Spurs is the result that has triggered such a sense of crisis at Liverpool. That tells you all you need to know about the season the North London side is having.

But while Arne Slot has not yet turned Liverpool into the worst of the so-called big six, and has inexplicably guided the team into a potential Champions League spot, there is now near-universal acceptance that something is going horribly wrong at Anfield. Performances have been consistently alarming for a matter of months.

Jamie Carragher branded the Spurs draw an "absolute disaster", but noted that the same problems have reared their head all season. While suggesting that any manager would potentially encounter similar issues with the squad that has been assembled, he did question Slot's use of two players in particular.

The first was Alexis Mac Allister, whom he called a "real problem". Carragher did not directly blame Slot for the Argentine's form, but suggested that the manager can no longer trust him to do what he once did.

"The longer the games go on the more Mac Allister struggles," Carragher assessed. "I think that’s a real problem for Liverpool that they need to address in midfield."

Sure enough, Dominik Szoboszlai often appears to be the only one doing anything against the ball in the Liverpool midfield. Mac Allister was a player whom Jurgen Klopp was happy to rely on in his high-pressing system, and yet the intensity appears to have all but disappeared from his game, with the 27-year-old looking perpetually a yard off the pace.

Alexis Mac Alllister is one of many who has underperformed for Liverpool under Arne Slot.(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The second issue that Carragher picked out lies more squarely with Slot. The former Liverpool defender believes that the manager is guilty of misusing Curtis Jones.

When Slot was first appointed, Jones purred about how the new style would be more suited to his game. He was so effusive that some even felt that it was a little disrespectful to Klopp.

And yet fast-forward to today, and Jones can hardly get a kick. When he does play, it is usually from the bench, and Carragher has questioned Slot's latest substitution.

“Curtis Jones comes on and the game goes end to end, he takes on the Wirtz role and I don’t know why, he’s not that player," Carragher said. "There’s too much space when the game opens up and Mac Allister can’t cover it."

Curtis Jones struggled to impact the game as Liverpool threw away its lead late on against Tottenham.(Image: Steven Halliwell/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Jones has caused a bit of a conundrum for successive managers now, with clear talent but no firmly-defined role. He has featured everywhere from the wings to the number six position.

Off the bench in the Wirtz role, the academy graduate failed to make his presence felt, and arguably even left the midfield more exposed. After a slow start, the big-money summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen has been one of the better pieces of business, and he puts in an impressive off-the-ball shift for a technical, tricky number 10; you would have to question what Slot was hoping to achieve with the change.

He may well point to squad management, with a big game against Galatasaray coming hot on the heels of this one. But having failed to build on the one-goal advantage, the result against Tottenham was still in the balance, and in hindsight it looked more secure with Wirtz still on the pitch.

If Slot cannot trust his depth beyond such a small core of players, that's a recruitment issue, and Carragher is right to warn that a new manager would not be a straightforward cure-all. But failure to even beat this hapless Spurs side will be a wake-up call for the Liverpool hierarchy, with Champions League qualification on the line; there comes a point where there's very little to lose by making a change in the dugout, but potentially tens of millions of dollars to gain..