‘That’s a worry’: Jamie Carragher says ‘brilliant’ Liverpool player doesn’t have the pace to play at full-back

‘That’s a worry’: Jamie Carragher says ‘brilliant’ Liverpool player doesn’t have the pace to play at full-back

Antonio Conte re-popularised the three-at-the-back in 2016/17, Chris Wilder brought overlapping centre-backs onto the map in 2019/20 and now, inverted full-backs are all the rage due to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

John Stones may be the man who has mastered this role, but it was Rico Lewis who first caught the eye in this position, and since his emergence, a number of other clubs have experimented with this style.

Liverpool have tried it with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and now, it has been suggested to Jamie Carragher, on The RedMen TV, that Stefan Bajcetic could be an option in that position.

However, Carragher doesn’t like the idea of Bajcetic dropping into a full-back role, claiming that he doesn’t have the physicality or the pace to do it.

Bajcetic too slow

Carragher gave his verdict on the midfielder.

“On Rico Lewis, is he more the other way, a midfielder who goes to full-back? Is that something Stefan Bajcetic can do as an understudy in a sense do you think?” Carragher was asked.

“No, I don’t think so. He’s done brilliant that kid, but I don’t think that the physicality or the pace to go back into that full-back position to be honest, but that is a worry,” Carragher said.

Time on his side

Carragher is right, Bajcetic is probably a bit too slow and a bit too weak at the moment to play at full-back, but time is on his side.

This young lad is only 18 years old, he can get stronger and faster overnight. He’s not finished growing physically and he still has plenty of room to grow and get faster.

Of course, it’s hard to simultaneously get stronger and faster, but given the sports science developments in football over the past few years, Bajcetic is an incredibly mouldable player who could become anything Jurgen Klopp wants him to be.