‘Not acceptable’ – Jamie Carragher doesn’t mince his words in analysing Liverpool ‘mess’
Jamie Carragher didn’t mince his words as he sifted through the wreckage of Liverpool’s chastening 0-3 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday.
The result saw the defending champions drop to 11th in the Premier League table, having now lost six of their last seven top-flight matches and conceded 20 goals in their first 12 games. On the day that the Reds clinched the title last term in their 34th game, they’d shipped 32 goals.
That dramatic collapse in fortunes has led to some (premature) discussion over Arne Slot’s future at the club, with Martin Keown remarking that the Merseysiders have been ‘going backwards‘ since the summer.
Carragher brutally analyses Liverpool flaws for Murillo goal
On Sky Sports‘ Monday Night Football, Carragher analysed Forest’s first goal in detail, overlooking the controversy over Murillo’s opener to concentrate on what Liverpool did wrong in the passage of play leading up to the corner kick, and their subsequent defending of the set piece.
He began by highlighting how Alexis Mac Allister lost a duel just outside the Forest penalty area, before calling out Ryan Gravenberch and Ibrahima Konate for allowing an opponent to skip past them, describing it as ‘not acceptable’.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones were then deemed guilty of a similar error before the Reds’ number 5 gave away a ‘really poor corner’, a set-piece situation from which Slot’s side have had ‘a huge problem’ this season.
On the corner kick itself, Carragher labelled Liverpool’s defending ‘a mess’ as he accused several players of ‘not looking at the ball’ before Murillo struck.
Slot will have nightmares watching it back
Although the Merseysiders may have had legitimate grievances over the first Forest goal not being disallowed, as Dan Ndoye was standing in Alisson Becker’s line of vision and was marginally offside, the lead-up to the concession of the opener saw numerous flaws exposed.
From being beaten in aerial duels to losing out on challenges despite having an extra player, and a lack of concentration in defending the corner kick amid confusion as to which opponents should be marked, it makes for quite the video nasty for Slot to analyse.
Virgil van Dijk’s annoyance at the manner in which Murillo’s goal was conceded was evident in his post-match comments as he lamented Liverpool’s weakness in contesting duels and second balls (liverpoolfc.com), and many watching at home and at Anfield will have been airing similar sentiments.
We can live with the Reds being undone by moments of quality or a freak deflection, but when they’re culpable of so many errors of their own making, there’s clearly a deep-rooted problem for the coaching staff to try and resolve.
Saturday’s result is history, but the lessons from it need to be learned going into must-win fixtures against PSV Eindhoven and West Ham over the coming week.
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