Jamie Carragher has warned Arne Slott that his position could be in jeopardy at the end of the season, but also warned Liverpool that sacking the Dutchman will not immediately solve all their problems. Slott’s future is once again under scrutiny after his team lost 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Galatasaray on Tuesday night.
Mario Lemina’s early header from a set-piece proved to be enough for the Turkish team to secure their second 1-0 win against Liverpool this term, having won by the same scoreline in September. This means the Reds must overturn the deficit at home next week to advance to the quarter-finals. Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister and Hugo Ekitike all wasted great opportunities for the visiting team.
After the match, Slott accepted responsibility for Liverpool’s shortcomings, and Carragher delivered a harsh verdict on his former club, predicting they would be eliminated in the next round even if they got past Galatasaray. “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 had a good start in the first half, and a lot of it was due to Galatasaray’s mistakes. I don’t think Galatasaray were a great team, but they are still the team to beat, the team to break through. So I’m still at 98 percent. A few weeks ago I was at 99 percent, so I still think Liverpool will get through.”
“But this is a concern for the manager and the team. What we saw tonight was what we saw earlier in the season away to Galatasaray in the group stage.”
“This team is just a million miles away from where they were supposed to be this season, so we’d be talking about them in the same light as we talk about Bayern Munich now. That’s why the whole point of Liverpool spending over £400m in the summer was to go from winning the Premier League to winning the Champions League as the next step.”
“And we’re talking about a team that has to make up for the deficit against Galatasaray, and I think that will happen, but if the next opponent is Paris Saint-Germain, which it probably will be, I don’t expect Liverpool to go any further than that and that’s a big worry for me.”
Liverpool are in sixth place in the Premier League after losing to bottom-placed Wolves last week. Their title defense has long since collapsed and Carragher places considerable responsibility on his players, but believes it will ultimately be Slott who will face the consequences.
But he says sacking Slott will not immediately solve all of Anfield’s problems. He added: “And I think this is not just a defeat and Liverpool’s performance this season is a big worry for the manager. I think he said in this show in the group stage that something has to be done, something has to change.”
“He’s tried really everything in every way and nothing seems to work. At no time this season did it feel like Liverpool were in control of the football game. This is end-to-end basketball, so he wanted to stop that and change it, but then it becomes slow and boring and predictable.
“Do you think another manager will come in soon or say another manager will give you that team? I don’t think it will change drastically. 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.”
