Carragher tears into Liverpool recruitment after Villa defeat
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Liverpool’s problems this season have often been aimed at Arne Slot, but Jamie Carragher believes the issue goes deeper than the head coach.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYThe 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa only strengthened concerns around a side that looks too easy to play through, too fragile defensively and still not guaranteed Champions League football.Now the former defender has pointed towards recruitment, with Richard Hughes’ department inevitably part of that wider conversation.Carragher questions Liverpool recruitmentSpeaking on Sky Sports before the Villa defeat, quoted via Football365, Carragher said Liverpool’s summer business changed the balance of the team.The 48-year-old said: “For me, the problem all season, it goes back to the summer recruitment.
Every player they brought in was more attacking than the one that left.”Carragher added: “I just looked at the games in pre-season, looked at that first game [vs Bournemouth], and it just felt like end-to-end basketball, and Liverpool weren’t that the season before under Slot, they were a lot more controlled, and it just seems to have been lost this season.”That assessment feels hard to dismiss after watching Villa repeatedly expose us, with Ollie Watkins scoring twice and Liverpool conceding 52 Premier League goals this season.Only five teams in the division have conceded more, which is nowhere near the standard expected of defending champions.Slot and Hughes both under pressureCarragher was then asked whether Slot or the recruitment team had the harder job, and his answer placed responsibility on both sides.He said: “This team, the way they’re set up with and without the ball, we’re not talking about a team that are amazing with the ball and score lots of goals but are open at the back, they’re very poor in possession and very poor out of possession.”That line captures why supporters are so worried, because there’s no obvious strength to cling to right now.Jermaine Pennant has already questioned how FSG can still trust this management, while Andy Robertson admitted the Villa display was “a long way short of the levels of this club.”Carragher’s final point may be the most important one: Liverpool don’t just need money spent, we need the right players for the team.