Jamie Carragher was not impressed with Liverpool’s first-half display against Crystal Palace.
The Reds failed to really get going from the start at Selhurst Park, a lacklustre opening 45 minutes yielding no goals.
And taking to X, Carragher shared what he felt was needed for Liverpool to improve their performance, with one note in particular for Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“Liverpool falling in to the trap they do so often away,” said the Reds legend. “Slow sloppy passing, get done on the counter attack. Every pass needs to have pace on it.
“Trent needs to stay wide, that’s where the space is.”
Carragher criticises Liverpool showing
It was always likely to be a tricky game for Liverpool today. Just three days on from another away day – at Sheffield United on Wednesday.
With Jurgen Klopp making several more changes to the team, it was perhaps expected that a stodgy display would ensue.
Nevertheless, more could perhaps have been expected from the Reds, against a Palace team who aren’t in great form.
As ever, Liverpool needed Trent to be at the heart of it. In the first-half at least, he wasn’t.
Interestingly, Klopp didn’t appear to agree with Carragher’s assessment. The Liverpool manager took Wataru Endo off at half-time, moving Alexander-Arnold centrally.
Unfortunately, the move didn’t have the desired effect, with the Reds continuing to be toothless.
With Joe Gomez at right-back and coming in-field, Liverpool continued to be a little narrow. And although Carragher asserted that the space was in wide areas for the Reds, there didn’t really appear to be a lot of space anywhere.
As a early kick-off away from home, it felt as though we’ve seen this performance a number of times over the years from Liverpool. We’d hoped this year may be different and so far, it kind of has been.
But an untimely return to poor form today looks like it could ultimately be costly. Not good enough.
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