Arne Slot has taken Liverpool to the top of the Premier League table after eight matches but former Reds defender Jamie Carragher wants the club to learn from past mistakes
Liverpool need a new number 10 and a versatile defender if they want to avoid a couple of injuries derailing their title bid, former Reds star Jamie Carragher has claimed.
Last season under Jurgen Klopp, the Merseyside club saw their title hopes disintegrate in the closing weeks of the season after an injury-hit campaign took its toll on a tired squad. They might sit top of the table after eight games under new boss Arne Slot, but there’s a lot of time to go.
It was a quiet summer for Liverpool, with Federico Chiesa arriving from Juventus and a 2025 deal for Giorgi Mamardashvili agreed. Premier League clubs tend not to spend huge sums in January windows, but Carragher believes failure for his former club to do so could leave any title push in trouble.
The 46-year-old has pointed to previous January signings as evidence that the right deal in the winter window can prove crucial. Virgil van Dijk joined from Southampton in January 2018, with Luis Diaz arriving from Porto four years later, and both remain key players under Slot.
“Dominik Szoboszlai has performed well off the ball and he brings energy to the team – doing the ‘dirty work’ as he puts it – but for all the possession he gets in good areas, he needs to be more productive in terms of his assists and goals,” Carragher wrote in his Telegraph column. “We are yet to see if that is part of his game. For the £60 million he cost, he too often leaves me wanting more.
“It does not need to all be ‘dirty’ work when you have the time and space on the edge of the penalty area to find a team-mate or unleash a shot. That No 10 position is one of the most coveted and is more often than not reserved for the superstar, game-changing player.
“Liverpool also need another defender. I have been saying for a few years that the club needs a multi-purpose defender on the left – someone who can cover for Andrew Robertson or play centre-half without weakening the back line. Manchester City have those utility defenders in Nathan Aké and Josko Gvardiol. Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori comes into the same category.”
Do Liverpool need to spend in January? Have your say in the comments section
Liverpool will be without goalkeeper Alisson for Sunday’s trip to Arsenal, while Diogo Jota missed Wednesday’s trip to Leipzig after picking up an injury in the victory over Chelsea. Slot has needed to be careful not to over-use his stars, and the manager was asked about the early withdrawal of Mohamed Salah in Germany.
“It’s a tough fixture list that we have so,” Slot told reporters. “I said before the game about Curtis Jones that he hasn’t played 90 minutes yet, he only played two times 75 or 85 minutes, he is not used to playing two games so fast in a row.
“We have some injuries now so I have to take good care of the players that have played a lot and Mo is one of them and on Sunday a big game is coming up again. So, I need to use as many players as I can use for these next tough weeks and these tough months that are coming up, so that they are all prepared to play.”
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