Jamie Carragher is worried about where Liverpool are heading under Arne Slot, questioning the team’s identity after the Reds were beaten 3-2 by Manchester United on Super Sunday. The defeat leaves Liverpool fourth with work to do to qualify for the Champions League, and Slot facing a task to convince supporters he should remain in charge next season.
Liverpool have no wins in eight Premier League away games this season against top-half teams and have now lost 11 league matches. Carragher said he struggles to see how Slot can fix the situation and stressed the importance of summer recruitment. “Am I worried about where Liverpool are going? Yeah, I am,” he said. “I think it will be really interesting who Liverpool buy in the summer, what the profile of player will be. Going for just good players hasn’t worked, it’s blown up in their face. There’s a lack of physicality.”
Carragher pointed to a trend at big clubs making managerial changes mid-season and suggested Liverpool must be careful about chasing a specific managerial “style” for years to come. He praised Jurgen Klopp as a genius whose football defined Liverpool’s identity, but warned the club cannot spend the next decade saying they want Klopp-style football regardless of the manager in place. He criticised Liverpool’s recruitment last summer, noting they did not sign many targets and instead bought technically gifted players such as Martin Zubimendi—illustrating Slot’s preference for technical football over the physicality and intensity associated with Klopp’s teams.
“Maybe those big managers aren’t around at the moment… Xabi Alonso is the one that’s making Liverpool fans think: ‘We don’t want to miss out on him’,” Carragher added. “We can’t be a club who continue for the next five or 10 years saying, ‘Oh, we want Jurgen Klopp football’. The fella is a genius. He does football better than anybody. So whatever manager is going to come in, he’s going to play his football. The worry is not that there’s no identity. That is the identity. So it’s on the manager’s shoulders.”
The match itself was clouded by controversy. United’s second goal, bundled in by Benjamin Sesko in the 14th minute, later appeared to involve a slight hand contact in slow motion, but the goal stood. Slot accused VAR and officials of a seasonal pattern of decisions going against Liverpool. “If it was a touch, which I think it is… I think the rule is if there was a touch, it should have been disallowed,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone this season that if there is a VAR intervention or if there is something that you could look at or could be left or could be right, then that decision goes against us.”
Slot recounted examples he feels show inconsistency—calls going one way for other teams but against Liverpool, referees not stopping play in some incidents while doing so in others—and said the pattern has been evident all season. He also acknowledged Liverpool must look at their own mistakes: losing the ball in dangerous positions and switching off in duels cost them, and those are things the team can control. “We have to first look at ourselves. That would be completely clear and obvious,” he said. He claimed to know where improvements are needed and said work is already underway, but declined to reveal specifics: “No. It doesn’t make sense to share them.”
Carragher also targeted Florian Wirtz, arguing the Germany international has had almost a year to adapt since his £116m move and that expectations should be higher. “The one player I think has had a very easy ride is Florian Wirtz… He was poor today,” Carragher said. He suggested Wirtz has been allowed time and described him previously as “neat and tidy,” but now called for more impact from the player a year into his Liverpool career. Carragher noted that even in a down season, players like Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah have provided some attacking threat, though Salah is not at last season’s levels.
Sky Sports analysis highlighted a worrying pattern in Liverpool’s first-half performances, especially away from home. The team has scored just four goals in their last 19 first halves, a stark fall for a side with so much attacking talent. The analysis described a passivity to Liverpool’s opening-half approach on the road—slow tempo, disjointed pressing and a tendency to be reactive rather than proactive—contrasting sharply with the intensity and front-foot football associated with Klopp’s era. “For a club that should be chasing major honours, it’s an embarrassing quirk to what has been a wretched season,” the analysis concluded.
Slot admitted margins are small between winning games like this and losing them. He said the same issues recur because there is limited scope to change things during a season, but that he knows where to improve and will work on it in the close season. For now, the combination of controversial decisions, defensive lapses and a lack of first-half urgency leaves Liverpool with questions over identity, recruitment and the direction of the club under Arne Slot.