Carragher unsure of Liverpools title chances

Former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher has doubted the Reds’ title chances this season after their shaky start to the campaign defensively.

Jurgen Klopps side have conceded 11 goals in their first six games of the Premier League season, with only three other teams conceding more. The boss has previously voiced his concerns about his team’s defence, saying that their frailties ‘hurt’ him. Now, former defender Carragher has also given his opinion, saying the club’s supporters are right to be concerned.

“Watching Liverpool now is the hottest ticket in town. If Liverpool are on TV, everyone wants to watch. But if there are one set of supporters who aren’t being entertained by it, it’s the Liverpool supporters,” the Sky Sports pundit said.

“Entertainment, for me, means you enjoy it. I was watching Liverpool [against Leicester] in the pub. It goes 2-0, 3-1 but no one can relax. Everyone is still on edge.”

“Liverpool in those moments should be killing the other team off by either being really strong defensively or saying ‘come on, we’ll kill you on the counter-attack’. But what Liverpool do is they give them oxygen.”

“Even at 2-0 or 3-1 teams think they have a chance because history has shown in the last few years they always concede goals. What Liverpool fans want to see isn’t so much 3-2s and 3-3s but streetwise footballers who know what to do when they need to go and win a game and how to hold onto a game.”

“The greatest teams in Liverpool’s history, in the early 1980s, they could be pragmatic week-in, week-out. It’s not all about open, expansive football. Sometimes you need to know what to do at the right moment. And that’s the thing with this Liverpool team, they’re not streetwise enough.”

“If Liverpool continue to concede this amount of goals, they’ve got no chance of doing what Jurgen Klopp has been brought in to do and what the supporters want and what the club wants and end 27 years without a title,” Carragher continued.

“1.27 goals per game is almost 50 goals per season. In 25 years of Premier League history there are only three teams who have conceded in the 40s. They were each Manchester United. They won the league these three years very early, though.”

“In one of them they conceded five at West Brom in the last game of the season, in 2012/13. In 1999/2000 they had about three different keepers, it was a bit of a mess at the back. And in 1996/97, that was when they had that mad Newcastle and Southampton games, when they conceded 11 goals in a week.”

“You will not win a title or go close to winning a title if you have numbers like [Liverpool]. That’s the big problem with Liverpool winning that way.”

ARIS