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Jamie Carragher was left stunned by Liverpool's performance in a brutal Champions League loss to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday, but he was far from speechless.
The Liverpool legend, speaking in his role as an analyst on CBS Sports' Champions League coverage, begrudgingly criticized the players after the 4-1 defeat at Anfield. He wasn't the only Reds great to have an opinion after the result, as Steven Gerrard and Steve McManaman had their say on the matter as well.
While Carragher made his thoughts clear on the growing negative sentiment around head coach Arne Slot, he reserved much of his wrath for the performances of Liverpool's players, including legendary stars Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, as well as the other players around the icons.
Here's the full text of Carragher's rant from Wednesday evening.
"Liverpool is not a sacking club. 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. It's only going to amplify now, and I've always been in the camp of you stick with the managers.
“I'm angry with the players, if I'm being totally honest, I'm really angry with the players. But it does get to a stage with any manager at any club — I always use this word — untenable, where it almost feels like it can't go on any longer. I'm not quite there yet, personally in terms of the manager, but I know a lot of supporters will be. I've had a lot of time to think about it, because I knew the game was over well before the final whistle.
“I think what you see now is, 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. The catalyst for Liverpool at the very start of that run was Alisson, van Djik 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 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. Now, I've been critical of Mo Salah off the pitch. 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.
"But I don't like criticizing on the pitch, because they're absolutely legendary, what they've done, and the legs have just gone, especially with Salah. Van Djik now can't help other players. He needs help himself, and that just means that he's a normal centerback, like I was at one stage, and maybe he's not super-human right now, but they've been that good for the football club.
“I look at some of the others. Step up. Can you only play well when they play well or they carry it? Their seasons 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?
"So that's why I get angry about talk about the manager, but it's, it's inevitable, and something could happen, but in terms of the players and the way they're performing now, that that is, I mean, not acceptable for Liverpool Football Club. I actually think, and and maybe I thought this a little bit last season, are some of them good enough for Liverpool if Liverpool want to win the biggest trophies? We saw them at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup. We saw them against PSG away from home last season. I mean, woeful performances, and they've been carried by some of the greatest players the club have 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."
English (US) ·