Pundit calls for the club to quit playing “basketball” on the pitch
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has warned that Arne Slot must bench the unproductive Florian Wirtz and return to the team’s shape last season, while they give the German time to adjust to the demands of the Premier League.
On Tuesday night, Liverpool lost their second successive game with a 1-0 away defeat to Galatasaray. Victor Osimhen’s first-half penalty proved decisive while the Premier League champions laboured all night but looked a ghost of their former selves.
Wirtz had another unproductive outing. The £116m signing has now played in eight games for the Merseyside club but has not managed either a goal or an assist. Liverpool also seem much easier to play through than was previously the case.
“Right now I don’t think the balance of the team is right and the obvious one that stands out is Florian Wirtz,” Carragher said.
“He’s just not at the races at all. He’s a young boy coming into a new league. He has got plenty of time to go as a Liverpool player but right now I think he needs to come out of the team.
“Liverpool need to go back to what they were last season and then go from there and build some confidence, build some defensive solidity.
“Because right now it is a mess. It’s not the losses, it is not the defeats. This has been coming from day one.”
The result in Turkey came only three days after a league defeat at Crystal Palace where Liverpool were outplayed, particularly in the first half.
That defeat had also been heralded by the late and narrow escapes in previous games. In most of their matches so far this season, Slot’s side have either thrown away a lead or required a late goal to snatch victory at the death, or both.
“I’m not watching a top team,” said Carragher. “Liverpool aren’t playing football at the moment, they are playing basketball. It is just end to end and I don’t think top teams play like that.
“And they haven’t gained anything going forward but they have lost a lot defensively. I think for the manager now, last season was such a smooth ride for them, he’s now got to really earn his money.
“This has been coming. This is not a shock. And the manager needs to fix it.”
