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We are not in the middle of the 2020-21 season yet, but there has already been a lot to talk about.
Reigning champions Liverpool rise to the top of the Premier League Christmas rankings after 14 games, four points ahead of closest rival Leicester City.
It has been far from an easy path for Jurgen Klopp’s team, as injuries to key players hampered their efforts.
However, they seem to be picking up their pace heading into the new year.
One man who is never short of comments on Liverpool is Jamie Carragher.
The former Reds defender is a regular presence as a Sky Sports expert, and we’ve taken a look at what he has said about his former club during the 2020-21 campaign to date.
Villa debacle
Aston Villa stunned Liverpool, and the football world for that matter, sending them to a shocking 7-2 loss in early October.
Carragher wasn’t impressed and said afterwards: “I was almost laughing at the end, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. You don’t associate this with this Liverpool team.
“It is an impressive result and performance, without a doubt the worst under Jurgen Klopp, of that there is no doubt. The only thing for me was clear from the beginning that Liverpool did not start the game well, even in the first minutes it seemed there was danger for them.
“For me, although Liverpool have a good defensive record, I don’t like and I don’t agree with that (the high line), the way they are trying to catch people offside. I don’t like that as a defense, I’ve been in this position myself.
“This team plays much higher on the field and almost sacrifices a great opportunity per game with the opposition going on goal. But they look at the benefits of winning the ball, they play so high and push so high, but when someone hits your pressure in midfield, you have to prepare to come back. “
Van Dijk coup
Liverpool lost talismanic defender Virgil van Dijk to a serious knee injury during the Merseyside derby against Everton.
Carragher felt the news could have a big impact on the Premier League title race.
“The big question that you’re looking at now is, can Liverpool win the league without Van Dijk? I think every team has three or four players on every team that wins the title or a team that they think can win the title, and if one of those players is missing, no matter how good his coach is, no matter how great his team is, he can’t cover them because they are outstanding, “Carragher said.
“I think the title race opens, really.
“At the start of this season, I still felt that Liverpool were the team to beat. I think with Van Dijk waiting for what seems like the whole season now, I think everything will be ready for Liverpool. I think Liverpool certainly It has to – they entered the market in January, and not just because of Van Dijk’s injury, but Liverpool were weak in that area anyway.
“They lost (Dejan) Lovren before the start of the season, now the other players in those positions are very prone to injury.
“Yes, devastating news for Virgil van Dijk, we convey our wishes and I am sure that everyone in football does it, but I think for Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp and the club now, immediately, who can they Enterokay?
“I know the transfer window just ended, but they have to be ready on January 2 (when the winter window opens) to bring in someone because they are very weak in that area and that could stop them from trying to achieve what they want. “. I want to achieve “.
Talk transfer
With Joe Gomez also facing a long spell on the sidelines, Liverpool are being inclined to increase their central defense options in the January transfer window.
Carragher mentioned that RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano has a possible target.
“Liverpool’s next big signing had to be a center back anyway and I’m talking next summer,” he said.
“Dejan Lovren left and they didn’t replace him, so they only have three center-backs and one of them, Joel Matip, is always injured.
“Now there are question marks on Joe Gomez.
“So there is no question that Liverpool had to do something big in the transfer market next summer. That was the next one. That now has to be brought forward to January 1, whoever the target is in the summer. Not late. from January”. .No [wasting time that month] negotiate with a club. “
“There is a young man that everyone was talking about in Leipzig, Dayot Upamecano, they talk about him. Whether he has the Van Dijk profile, I think he is only 6’1” or 6’2 “, so maybe it’s not that antenna, but if he’s the one they wanted, then go ahead.
“Pay extra money and do it on January 1st.
“That means going 11 league games without Virgil van Dijk.
“One thing to say about Virgil van Dijk is that in the last 23 games, they have only kept five clean sheets, and Van Dijk played all of them, so it’s not that everything was perfect. We saw all seven against Aston Villa and we saw the Leeds party.
“But I think they have to go big with a signing.”
‘I love it’
It’s fair to say that Carragher is a huge fan of Liverpool forward Sadio Mane.
After Mane’s double inspired the Reds to a 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Carragher said: “He is without a doubt one of the best attacking players on the left side in world football.
“I love him. I say it all the time and it’s well documented. I always go back to Mane, as it was Jurgen Klopp’s first big signing.
“That signing took Liverpool to the Champions League in Klopp’s first full season, and without that, I don’t think it will continue from there.
“Then other players come, more income comes into the club, but he was the one who came in and has been a constant from day one with Klopp and is an absolute superstar.”
The future of Mohamed Salah
Mane’s teammate and another member of Liverpool’s three forwards, Mohamed Salah, has recently become the subject of speculation about transfers amid reports that he is not entirely happy at Anfield.
The Egyptian star has been linked to Real Madrid and Barcelona following comments he made in an interview with Spanish media.
Speaking on the subject recently, Carragher said: “Even when Manchester United was the best dog and Cristiano Ronaldo went to Real Madrid, it still felt like a step forward because Real Madrid is Real Madrid, but now I think the two giants Spaniards have fallen so far, I really do.
“Salah has two and a half years left to fulfill his contract. I don’t see it as a big problem because Real Madrid spent a lot of money on Eden Hazard when he was that age of 28 or 29. Salah is reaching that age now and I think it’s a year or two too late.
“When you go and spend a lot of money on someone, you want them to be around 25 or 26, so you get real value for them.
“I think if it were, and I don’t see it, it would be a lot of money for Liverpool, but I think time is gone because of age.”
Writing in his Telegraph column on Christmas Day, Carragher said: “The moment the player initiates the transfer stories is also strange. My opinion is that it was a message to the Liverpool owners to offer him a lucrative new contract. Seeing their players being courted by him La Liga clubs would have worried Liverpool five years ago, not now.
“I am not convinced that Madrid and Barça can afford Salah. Investing more than £ 125 million in a player who will turn 29 this summer is not a good deal.”
He added: “If Liverpool defend the Premier League this year despite so many injuries, Klopp will join an exclusive club and win more. Salah can be an integral part of it, elevating his status to the point where he will eventually challenge properly. Ian’s status. ” Rush as the best scorer in Liverpool history. It sounds crazy, but the numbers speak for themselves.
“If Salah remains at Anfield in four years, maintaining his level of performance, he will take his place on the right side of attack in an all-time Liverpool XI. ‘It’s in the hands of the club,’ he said when asked about his long-term future. I’m not sure. I think if he wants that, it’s in his. “
He is an archer
Carragher and fellow expert Gary Neville chose their joint 2020 Premier League squad, and it featured six Liverpool players.
One of them was the Reds goalkeeper, Alisson.
“I think the most important thing with Alisson was that he was out at Aston Villa,” Carragher said. “That game, you can say it was a phenomenon, they lost 7-2.
“Liverpool were so bad, certainly in the first half, against Fulham. The difference was that Alisson was in goal.”
You talk about him and Virgil van Dijk, I think most of the time people say that Van Dijk has made a difference, I’m not arguing that, but I think it was equally important that he came.
“Look at the results, Van Dijk has been out, many of us thought Liverpool would fall more than they are, and they still look like the best team in the league, they still have a few points ahead, and it’s because he’s there. Without a doubt in my mind, a lot of that is owed to the goalkeeper ”.
The boss
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was also part of the 2020 squad.
Carragher said: “Jordan Henderson was involved in Sports Personality of the Year, he was footballer of the year last year, Kevin de Bruyne named him PFA Player of the Year. And if Bruno Fernandes had signed in the summer, instead of January, I think he would have been in the race too, so the three of them would have been fighting in some way.
“For me, De Bruyne is the best player in the league, I think he will be a great player in the Premier League when we look back on his time with Manchester City.
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“I think Jordan now, when you see the Liverpool team, the best way to describe it is that it never really feels the same when he’s gone, it just feels like something’s missing, that presence, the authority in the middle of the tone. “
Neville and Carragher 2020 Premier League team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Coady, Van Dijk, Robertson; De Bruyne, Henderson, Bruno Fernandes; Salah, son, Kane.
Title prediction
Carragher has tipped Liverpool to retain their Premier League title this season in his 2021 predictions.
Consider Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea to be in the top four.
The gaffer
Carragher has also praised Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
“If you look at Liverpool now with Jurgen Klopp, I think Jurgen Klopp is a coach who could go anywhere and be successful with any group of players,” he said.
“He’s such a special character. It’s the same with Sir Alex Ferguson’s career, he was successful everywhere he went with a lot of different teams, so he didn’t rely on a certain group of players to win.
“Sometimes that happens with managers, and they are in the right place at the right time.
“Maybe they have a special player who is out of this world or a special group. They may not have been as successful at other times in their careers.”
“But certain coaches like Klopp, if you look at what he did in Mainz, in Dortmund, and what he’s doing now in Liverpool, you could almost say that a lot of those Liverpool players were in the right place at the right time in terms of I work with Klopp. “
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