Jamie Carragher predicts Liverpool will miss out on Champions League qualification through the Premier League.
A Sky Sports pundit said Arne Slott’s side were “long gone” from finishing in the top five after losing 2-1 at home to Manchester City on Super Sunday.
With this loss, the difference between Liverpool and fifth-placed Chelsea is now four points. Had City’s canceled third goal stood, Liverpool would have fallen to seventh in the league, level with Brentford on goal difference.
A loss against Sunderland on Wednesday could see them drop to ninth place.
Asked if he thought Liverpool could qualify for the Champions League in the Premier League, Carragher said: “No, I don’t think so at the moment.”
“They’re going to need a big turnaround in form and the players above them are in great shape.”
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Highlights of the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester City
Reflecting on the impact of the defeat against Man City, he said: “It was a bad game. If you look at Liverpool’s league, it looks like they have a long way to go to be in the top five of the Champions League. There is a gap now. They can close the gap, but Liverpool need to perform well in the two cup competitions to save the season.”
Slott also has pressing issues ahead of a tricky midweek trip to Sunderland, with three right-backs missing. Conor Bradley and Jeremy Frimpong are injured, Dominik Szoboszlai, who played in that position against Man City, is suspended after being sent off and Joe Gomez’s fitness is questionable.
“If you look at Liverpool’s bench for the game against Sunderland in midweek, Szoboszlai is not playing at the moment and they have problems at right-back,” Carragher added.
Discussing what slot could do to get Liverpool back on track, Carragher said that as well as bad mistakes by top players, there was also a key issue with the balance of the team.
“A lot of Liverpool’s seasons have been full of unbelievable mistakes from players of that level,” he said. “Virgil van Dijk at Bournemouth, Alisson (against Man City). I can’t believe a goalkeeper of his caliber would make such a decision for a penalty.
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Liverpool manager Arne Slott suggests Manchester City defender Marc Guehi should have received a red for pulling Mohamed Salah and denying him a chance to score.
“The manager has to make other decisions regarding the front four.
“If Liverpool keep their front four and the games go end-to-end, I don’t see how they can move up in the Champions League.
“But no matter what Arne Slott does, this team and the composition of the team is not right. It never looks stable and it never seems to be in control.”
“Liverpool have a long way to go to qualify for the Champions League.”
Neville: Calm and experience key for Liverpool to qualify for Champions League
Carragher’s fellow Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville was more positive about Liverpool’s chances of breaking into the top five, but said they must show mental resilience to bounce back from the loss to City.
“They are currently four points clear of the top five,” he said on the Gary Neville Podcast. “It’s not a big difference at all, there’s a long way to go and they have to play most of the teams above them, so they still have a lot of chances.
“But there’s a question mark over Liverpool. There’s a question mark over whether they’ll finish in the Champions League or not. I still think they will, but what they have to do is sum it up quickly and throw it into a corner and forget about it.”
“Some people will say they concede late and it’s happening too often. Some people will say something is wrong, something is fundamentally wrong, structurally wrong. But I think they need to try to calm themselves down as much as possible. They need to get themselves back together.”
“They have a lot of experience with Alisson, Alexis Mac Allister, Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah, Ryan Gravenbirch. They have a lot of players who know what to do.
“Can they keep it up? Will they be able to get back on their bikes?”
“They go to Sunderland next and that’s awkward. If you really want to tell everyone you’re still going to be in the Champions League, go to Sunderland and win. It’s going to be a difficult place to go to. To win there, be professional, keep a clean sheet and that’s what everyone should be looking at right now for Liverpool.”
“It will be tough there and the dressing room will be very low.”
Nightmarish finale makes Slott’s woes even worse
Sky Sports’ Adam Bate analysis at Anfield:
The Liverpool manager’s first words at a press conference after Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City were that he felt “angry and frustrated”. And he went on to stick by his decision not to send off Marc Gehi for pulling Salah’s shirt.
That’s understandable. So close yet so far away. Liverpool were on the verge of a monumental victory that would bring them within two points of fourth place. In the end, coupled with Szoboszlai’s suspension, it was a crushing defeat.
It’s difficult to maintain perspective in these circumstances, but Liverpool’s performance in the second half was encouraging. They troubled City with their pressing and threatened to overwhelm them during long periods of the second half at Anfield.
“The improvements we’ve been making for three or four months have been obvious to everyone,” Slott said. “In the second half, our standards went up in terms of intensity and we were pressing everywhere and that was the biggest improvement we made.
“For the whole team to perform that well off the ball against probably one of the best teams in England in terms of possession is a huge improvement. It was a great second half. We were hoping for more than a one-goal lead.”
Rather, it is a defeat and, as Slott admitted in his last thoughts before his departure, it undermines any talk of progress at Liverpool. “The problem is that we don’t see this improvement in the league position, and that’s the most important thing,” the Reds manager said.
Liverpool face Sunderland on Wednesday. The hosts will have an extra day of rest and Slott will be looking to find a new solution at right-back, but he is now the fifth choice. A game that was close to a turning point only adds to the pressure.
