Jamie Carragher is worried for where Liverpool are heading under Arne Slot, questioning what the identity of his team is.
Liverpool were beaten 3-2 by Manchester United on Super Sunday as Slot’s team remain fourth with work to do to qualify for the Champions League. Slot also has work to do to persuade fans he is the man to lead them next season.
The Reds have no wins in eight Premier League away games this season against top-half teams and have now lost 11 league games.
Former Liverpool defender Carragher is struggling to see how Slot can fix the situation. He said: “Am I worried about where Liverpool are going? Yeah, I am.
“I think it will be really interesting who Liverpool buy in the summer, what the profile of player will be. Going for just good players hasn’t worked, it’s blown up in their face. There’s a lack of physicality.
“We’re in a situation now where we look at the teams who are looking for a manager: Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea.
“Those three clubs we just mentioned sacked their managers midway through the season. They ended up with [Alvaro] Arbeloa whose never managed before, [Michael] Carrick who had been at Middlesbrough and young [Liam] Rosenior which it was too big a jump.
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On Gary Neville’s podcast, Nev and Carra debate over who is better placed for next season between Liverpool and Manchester United.
“Maybe those big managers aren’t around at the moment, those figures aren’t available. Xabi Alonso is the one that’s making Liverpool fans think: ‘We don’t want to miss out on him’.
“We can’t be a club who continue for the next five or 10 years saying, ‘Oh, we want Jurgen Klopp football’.
“The fella is a genius. He does football better than anybody. So whatever manager is going to come in, he’s going to play his football.
“The worry is not that there’s no identity. That is the identity.
Kobbie Mainoo restores Manchester United’s lead against Liverpool
“So it’s on the manager’s shoulders. And I go back to last year when Liverpool didn’t sign anybody, but the one player he wanted was Martin Zubimendi again, another technical footballer.
“I’m not saying that doesn’t work. The most successful team in the Premier League over the last 10 years have been a technical football team, but we’re going away from what Jurgen Klopp was, because this manager wants that.
“This is where he’s taken this team. And that’s the worry for me, is this actually going to go more of the other way?
“Or are we thinking Liverpool needs to go back to last season? Or is Arne Slot thinking, ‘No, we actually need more technical footballers?'”
Carragher: We’ve been kind on ‘poor’ Wirtz
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Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher hilariously debate between Manchester United and Liverpool on who has a brighter future and which club is closer to winning the Premier League.
Carragher also believes that the time has come to start asking for more from Florian Wirtz, who has had almost a year to adapt to the Premier League since joining for £116m in the summer.
He said: “The one player I think has had a very easy ride is Florian Wirtz. I’ve never moved clubs let alone moved to a different country. But, I think we’ve given him time. We’ve been very, very kind.
“He was poor today. And even if Liverpool play really well, it’s still Szoboszlai and even at times this season Salah. Salah hasn’t been the Salah of last season, but he has still been one of Liverpool’s best attackers.
“I commentated Liverpool away at Burnley earlier in the season and I described Wirtz as being neat and tidy. I was being kind then. I wouldn’t describe him as anything different right now. He’s a year into his Liverpool career.”
Slot: It’s quite clear where we have to improve
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Arne Slot fumes at that potential Benjamin Sesko handball which lead to a second goal for Manchester United.
Liverpool head coach Slot is fully aware of the need for his team to improve.
He said: “The margins are not so big between us being able to win a game like this and not.
“I know quite clearly what we need to improve. We are already working in these weeks hard on that, because we have a bit more training time.
“The same issues come back and that’s not a complete surprise because there’s not a lot you can change during the season.
“For us, for me, it’s quite clear where we have to improve. And we will next season.”
On what those improvements might be: “No. It doesn’t make sense to share them.”
Four Liverpool goals in 19 first halves is embarrassing
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Analysis from Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones:
Liverpool’s away-day malaise is becoming less of a blip and more of a pattern that Arne Slot cannot ignore. There’s a passivity to their first-half approach on the road that feels at odds with the club’s identity that was so exciting under Jurgen Klopp. A team built on intensity, front-foot football and early statement-making now are drifting through opening periods as if waiting for the game to come to them.
Another blank before the break against Manchester United only sharpened the concern. That’s now just four goals in their last 19 first halves. A staggering drop-off for a side packed with attacking quality and expectation. It’s not just misfiring finishing, it’s a collective lack of urgency. The tempo is slow, the pressing disjointed and too often Liverpool are reactive rather than proactive.
For a club that should be chasing major honours, it’s an embarrassing quirk to what has been a wretched season.
