Carragher’s 1st column for Telegraph is brutal attack on LFC – but probably fair

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Jamie Carragher has certainly announced himself to the Telegraph with his first column for the famous broadsheet…

Sticking to what he knows best, our former centre-back explained in no uncertain terms why Liverpool are lightyears from winning the Premier League – and it makes pretty grim reading for us Reds.

It’s sadly pretty hard to argue with his points, which makes it worse.

Carra’s first paragraph was as to the point as he is;

“Liverpool will not win the title this season,” he began. “I am not convinced Jürgen Klopp will ever be able to bring it back to Anfield. I am not sure when my old club will win it again. I certainly do not see it happening in the near future.”

Our legendary ex-defender’s reasoning being an inability to strengthen when our rivals do so seemingly at will.

This summer just gone, Liverpool were in a brilliant position. We’d just qualified for the Champions League, had an enormous transfer budget and a manager in Jurgen Klopp who has the ability to charm any potential target.

But we failed to address our issues, while Saturday’s opponents Manchester United, did the opposite – paying what it required to attract elite talent and nothing less.

“When opportunities come along to push on in order to remain truly competitive at the top of the league – which tends to happen at Anfield once every five years – you have to grasp the nettle. Liverpool have not done so,” Carra continued.

“Last summer Liverpool and United were in a similar position; preparing for the Champions League, knowing to go up a level and be serious title contenders they had to make the right signings.

“United, in sixth, acted. Liverpool, in fourth, did not. This is a trend. It is typical of what happened when Brendan Rodgers and (under previous owners) Rafa Benítez and Gérard Houllier had their best sides. Houllier, Benítez and Rodgers were in a position where they needed one more step to give good teams an even better chance of winning the title. They could not do it. My fear is Klopp will be looking back at the summer as his opportunity spurned.” 

Unlike Carra, we think it’s too early to write this season off. We’re still creating bucketloads of chances and if we’d had the rub of the green, would be sitting in the top four and at the top of our Champions League Group, too.

But we’re equally as confused by Liverpool’s decisions in the summer, especially when it comes to the backline.

Tomorrow, we’re likely to start with a back-five of Mignolet; Gomez, Matip, Lovren, Moreno.

Two years ago, his first defence chosen v Spurs was Mignolet; Clyne, Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno.

It’s arguably got worse.

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