Liverpool are not ready to win the league’ – Jamie Carragher identifies the one weakness that will halt Red’s title charge
Jurgen Klopp was not impressed by Liverpool’s first-half display (Zac Goodwin/PA)
Liverpool scrambled a 1-1 draw at Luton in a thrilling encounter on Sunday, but former Reds defender Jamie Carragher suggested the game at Kenilworth Road highlighted a big weakness in Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Luis Diaz ended a traumatic week by coming off the bench to save Liverpool from a shock defeat at Luton with a stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw.
Substitute Tahith Chong looked to have secured a sensational Hatters win when he finished off a superb break to slot past Alisson 10 minutes from time.
On their first league visit in more than 30 years, Liverpool appeared rocked by a raucous atmosphere inside Kenilworth Road and were never at their free-flowing best against a side that dug in, ground out and waited for their chance.
And Chong’s goal looked to have been decisive until Diaz, who came off the bench seven minutes from the end for his first appearance since his father was kidnapped in Colombia, got his head on Harvey Elliott’s cross five minutes into added time to deny Luton a famous win.
Liverpool’s battling qualities earned them a point at Luton, but they looked vulnerable to quick breakaways from the Premier League newcomers and Carragher told Sky Sports they need to plug a gap in their team.
After their failed attempts to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton last summer, Carragher suggests holding midfielder should still be their priority in the next transfer window.
“Liverpool still aren’t as good as Man City at stopping counter-attacks,” Carragher told Sky Sports.
“Liverpool are a team who dominate possession, they have a lot of the ball, but they’re not quite as good as Man City off the ball so there are more turnovers and they lose the ball.
“Opponents do seem to find spaces a lot more to and attack and get in behind Liverpool. Luton didn’t have the quality to really punish them, except for the goal we saw.
“Liverpool in midfield are improved from what we saw last season, but they still haven’t got a top holding midfielder.
“(Alexis) MacAllister isn’t a top holding midfielder. He’s good on the ball in terms of receiving, but defensively, he finds it really tough and he lacks a bit of pace for that position.
“In the back four, Liverpool could do with not so much a player for a specific position, but just a great defender who can almost play in a couple of positions.
“They went with (Joe) Gomez at left-back because they thought he would be stronger defensively. I think Liverpool could do with a player in that position on the other side at right-back and maybe release Trent (Alexander-Arnold) into midfield.
“Liverpool are not ready to win the league. Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool supporters know that right now.
“They want to get back into the top four. In terms of challenging again, I think they need a holding midfielder and a top-class defender.”
Liverpool goal scoring great John Aldridge has echoed Carragher’s views on Klopp’s need to sign a holding midfielder in his Sunday World column in recent weeks, with that flaw in their make-up exposed at Luton on Sunday.
“When I look at this Liverpool team and try to identify the big weak spot, it is clear they are missing the defensive midfielder Klopp tried so hard to get last summer,” Aldridge told the Sunday World.
“The club were ready to pay a ridiculous amount of money to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton before his agent got involved and urged his client to take the mega contract being offered by Chelsea.
“Romeo Lavia was another target who went to Chelsea to take advantage of their ridiculously long contract offers – and so far, he has not kicked a ball for the Blues because of injury. Liverpool may have dodged a bullet there.
“Wataru Endo was the stop-gap signing Klopp and his transfer committee came up with to try and fill that void in the team, but he may not be the answer in that position.
“They need that top class holding midfielder to be title challengers this season.”
