Jamie Carragher is worried about Liverpool’s chances of finishing in the top four this season and rightly so. The Sky Sports pundit and club legend witnessed his former side get well beaten at Brentford on Monday evening with the Reds showing a lot of weakness in their midfield, which has been a glaring problem this season.
Carragher gave a damning assessment of Liverpool after the match, saying that their vulnerabilities stem from not having options in midfield to stop opposition attacks. He praised the technicality of Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara but explained that he can only thrive in the side if the midfielders around him do all the energetic work.
He said: “Thiago for me is not a problem if the other two [midfielders] are full of energy and have got power to stop counter-attacks and stop the opposition.”
The former Liverpool defender also believes that people are looking at midfield transfer target Jude Bellingham in the wrong way.
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“Everyone keeps talking about Jude Bellingham. Liverpool haven’t got a problem going forward, it’s actually a midfielder to stop the opposition coming right through them."
Carragher was detailing how there appears to be a shift in the way Liverpool are playing and that Jurgen Klopp is looking to make the team more technical, which is inviting more pressure on the midfield and back line. He feels that youngsters Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho are not ‘Jurgen Klopp players’ and that the likes of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner are not the competitors that they used to be, claiming the midfield are “running on fumes.”
Carragher is absolutely right. Holding midfielders or box-to-box midfielders are key for teams that are looking to compete for the major pieces of silverware. To think that Naby Keita was the last midfielder of that ilk brought to Anfield four years ago is bizarre. Not just because he has been an underwhelming signing, but because Liverpool have just continued to go about their business with the same players who, of course, are not getting any younger.
Keita is the youngest at 27, Fabinho is 29, while Thiago and Jordan Henderson are 31 and 32 respectively. For the past four years, Liverpool have overlooked the future of their midfield for attacking players and it has come back to haunt them. These players have been great servants to Liverpool but it seems as though Klopp has been clinging to past successes blissfully unaware that, for a few of these players, their best years are behind them.
Yes, they kick-started their January window an exciting transfer in Cody Gakpo to ward off interest from their rivals and to fill the gap left by injuries to Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota. But when they return, someone is going to miss out on starting in attack and they won’t be happy about it because they are already stacked with options, with years on their side too.
The £37 million that they used to acquire Gakpo could’ve been better utilised by the Reds in putting together a lucrative package for a player like Bellingham or even a midfielder who can fulfil the combative role that they are crying out for to contend with and eventually succeed the current crop who are struggling.
Whether this has been four years of naivety from Klopp or ignorance from the hierarchy, Liverpool shouldn’t have found themselves in this position but they do. There is a good chance that a few of their current midfielders could move on at the end of the season, which would leave them not only needing to fill their lineup with talent, but the bench as well to keep them competitive.
Carragher is concerned that Liverpool are still trying to play Klopp’s way without ‘Klopp players’. He stated that Liverpool “need a complete revamp in midfield” and that they currently have “no chance” of finishing in the Champions League spots this year.
He’s not wrong. They’re already four points off the pace and unless they sign at least one midfielder this month, their problems are only going to get worse.
