Jamie Carragher has warned Arne Slot that his position could be in jeopardy at the end of the season – but has also cautioned Liverpool that sacking the Dutchman will not instantly resolve all of their problems. Slot’s future has come under scrutiny again following his team’s 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League clash on Tuesday evening.
Mario Lemina’s early header from a set-piece proved sufficient for the Turkish outfit to secure a second 1-0 triumph over Liverpool this term, having prevailed by the same scoreline back in September. This means the Reds must overturn the deficit in next week’s home leg to progress to the quarter-finals. Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister and Hugo Ekitike all squandered presentable opportunities for the visiting team.
Slot accepted accountability for Liverpool’s shortcomings after the match, and Carragher delivered a damning verdict on his old club’s team – predicting they will be eliminated in the next round even if they get past Galatasaray. « This was an end-to-end game that was a bad game in the end for Liverpool. Bad result, really poor in the second half as well, » he said on CBS Sports.
« First half started well, a lot of that was to do with the mistakes of Galatasaray. I don’t think Galatasaray had a great team. It’s still a team Liverpool should beat and should go through. So, I’m still 98 per cent. It was 99 a couple of weeks ago. So, I still think Liverpool will go through.
« But, this is a worry for the for the manager and the team. What we saw tonight is what we saw in early on the group stages away to Galatasaray early on the season.
« This team is just a million miles off where it was supposed to be this season which was that we’d be talking about them in the same light the way we speak about Bayern Munich right now. That was the whole point of Liverpool spending over £400million in the summer was to go the next step from winning the Premier League to go and win the Champions League.
« And we’re talking about a team who have now got to change a deficit against Galatasaray, which I think they will, but I don’t have any hope for Liverpool going any further than that if it’s Paris Saint-Germain in the next round as I think it may be, and that’s that for me is a big worry. »
Liverpool sit sixth in the Premier League after their loss to bottom-placed Wolves last week. Their title defence has long since collapsed and, whilst Carragher places considerable blame on the players, he believes it is Slot who may ultimately face the consequences.
Yet he says sacking Slot is not an instant fix for all of the problems at Anfield. He added: »And it’s not just a defeat, I think the performances from Liverpool this season are a big worry for the manager. I think I said on this show in the group stage he’s got to do something, he’s got to change something.
« He’s tried everything really, in lots of different ways, but nothing seems to be able to work and it’s just at no stage this season have I ever felt Liverpool were in control of a football match. It’s either end-to-end basketball, so he wanted to stop that and change that, and then it becomes slow and boring and predictable.
« Do I think another manager could come in straight away, or any manager, say you give him that squad? I don’t think it dramatically changes. I really do think the makeup of the squad, how it’s been put together, the lack of options in certain areas, is a big problem as well. So it’s not just all about the manager but as we know, managers carry the can. »
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