Arne Slott is under pressure after Liverpool lost their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie against Galatasaray, but Jamie Carragher has given his scathing assessment.
Jamie Carragher tore apart Liverpool’s loss to Galatasaray (Image: CBS Sports Golazo)
Manager Jamie Carragher has warned Arne Slott that he could be sacked at the end of the season if he fails to turn around Liverpool’s alarming decline. Slot’s future was once again in the spotlight after his team lost 1-0 to Galatasaray in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 bid on Tuesday night.
Mario Lemina’s early header from a set-piece was enough to give the Turkish side their second 1-0 win of the season against Liverpool, having won by the same scoreline in September. This means the Reds will have to overturn the deficit in next week’s home match if they are to advance to the quarter-finals.
Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister and Hugo Ekitike all failed to convert great chances for the visitors. Slott took responsibility for Liverpool’s failure after the match, while Carragher gave a scathing assessment of the team, predicting they would be eliminated in the next round.
“It was an end-to-end game and at the end of the day it was a bad game for Liverpool. It was a bad result and the second half was really bad,” he told CBS Sports. “We started well in the first half, and a lot of them were due to Galatasaray’s mistakes. I don’t think Galatasaray were a great team. Liverpool are still the team to beat and the team to break through.”
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read more: Liverpool face double VAR decision after two goals are ruled out against Galatasaray in chaotic scenesread more: Arne Slott points the finger at someone after Liverpool’s defeat to Galatasaray
“So I’m still at 98 percent. A few weeks ago I was at 99 percent. So I still think Liverpool can go through. But it’s a worry for the manager and the team. What we saw tonight is what we saw earlier in the season away at Galatasaray in the group stage.”
“This team is just a million miles away from where they should have been this season. So you’d be talking about them in the same light as you talk about Bayern Munich now. That’s why the whole point of Liverpool spending over £400m in the summer was to take the next step from winning the Premier League and win the Champions League.”
“And we’re talking about a team that has to make up for the deficit against Galatasaray, which I think will happen, but if the next opponent is Paris Saint-Germain, which it probably will be, I don’t have any hope that Liverpool will go any further than that. That’s a big worry for me.”
Arne Slott failed to prevent Liverpool’s defeat at Galatasaray (Image: Burak Kara/UEFA via Getty Images)
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Liverpool are now sixth in the Premier League after losing to bottom-placed Wolves last week. Their title defense has long since collapsed and Carragher places much of the blame on his players, but believes it will ultimately be Slott who will pay the price.
“And I think Liverpool’s performance this season, and not just defeats, is a big worry for the manager. I think in this show in the group stage he said something has to be done, something has to change. He’s really tried everything in every way and nothing seems to work. At no point this season have I felt that Liverpool were in control of a game of football.”
“He wanted to stop it and change it because it’s end-to-end basketball, but then it gets slow and boring and predictable. Do you think another coach could come in right away or what coach would say he gave him that team? I don’t think it would change dramatically.”
“I really think the composition of the team, the way the team is put together, the lack of options in certain areas are also big issues. So it’s not all about the manager, but as we know, the manager is carrying the can.”
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