Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher implored Arne Slot to take Florian Wirtz out of the starting XI during a scathing tirade of the “mess” engulfing the reigning Premier League champions.
For just the second time under Slot’s tenure, Liverpool were condemned to consecutive defeats, limply succumbing to a 1–0 defeat away to Galatasaray on Tuesday evening three days after Crystal Palace ended their unbeaten start to the new season.
There were a myriad of poor performances among Liverpool’s contingent in Istanbul. Ryan Gravenberch was so unusually skittish he got hooked, Dominik Szoboszlai gave away the penalty which led to the game’s only goal while Virgil van Dijk scarcely got a grip of Victor Osimhen. Yet, Carragher’s ire was focused on the £116 million ($156.3 million) summer recruit.
“Right now I don’t think the balance of the team is right and the obvious one that stands out is Florian Wirtz,” the retired England international fumed on CBS Sports.
“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 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.”
Wirtz once again failed to make the breakthrough in Tuesday’s contest, taking three shots and creating a pair of chances without success. The German playmaker is yet to score for his new side and hasn’t registered an assist in any competition since the Community Shield.
“I’m not watching a top team,” Carragher seethed. “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.”
Carragher claimed that Slot’s side tried to “sprinkled a little bit of stardust” on a “workmanlike” side with their transfer business over the summer. “And they haven’t gained anything going forward but they have lost a lot defensively,” the former centre back huffed.
“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,” Carragher warned. “This is not a shock. And the manager needs to fix it.”
