Jamie Carragher Feels Two Stars Causing Huge Issues In Liverpool Team

Concerns over Liverpool's form this season continue to grow, with Arne Slot's side suffering a second defeat on the bounce as they fell well short in a 1-0 Champions League loss against Galatasaray last night.

Having produced a very poor display against Crystal Palace at the weekend, it was expected that Liverpool would respond with a much improved performance in Turkey this week. However, right from the outset of the game it seemed unlikely that this would be the case.

Barring a couple of questionable moments at the back from the home side early on, it never looked as though the visitors were likely to score in Istanbul. What's more, some shambolic defending at the other end of the pitch continued what has been a consistent theme in recent weeks.

While the 1-0 loss thanks to Victor Osimhen's penalty is not a disaster in isolation, there are some concerns building around the current makeup of the Liverpool team.

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Jamie Carragher Feels Two Players Are Causing Issues For Liverpool

Liverpool made some major personnel changes over the offseason, losing some mainstays in the side and replacing them with big money signings.

Many of those summer arrivals have struggled to hit the ground running, with the major upheaval in terms of player turnover also seeming to upset the balance in the team.

Florian Witrz, in particular, has struggled to adapt ever since record move from Bayer Leverkusen.

Speaking on CBS Sports, Jamie Carragher suggested that Arne Slot may need to take the German out of the team in order to improve performances in the short-term.

I don't feel like I'm watching a top team. Liverpool aren't playing football at the moment, they're playing basketball. It's just end to end...

Liverpool have gone from a top team but workmanlike team, and they've sprinkled a little bit of stardust on it in terms of the transfers they've brought in. They haven't gained anything going forward, but they've lost a lot defensively.

For the manager, last season was such a smooth ride for him, now he's got to really earn his money. He did last season, he won the Premier League and it's unbelievable.

There's a few problems that he's got to fix and it will be really interesting to see how he goes about it, because he's spent a lot of money on certain players. Right now I don't think the balance in the team is right.

The obvious one that stands out is Florian Wirtz, he's just not at the races at all. He's a young boy coming into a new league and 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 get back to what they were last season, and go from there.

Wirtz has certainly looked like an awkward fit in the Liverpool team at times, with his presence in the side removing quite a bit of physicality from what was previously a robust and successful midfield unit.

The 22-year is not the only underperforming player at the moment, with one previously consistent contributor looking well short of his best this season.

Ibrahima Konate has looked like a liability at the back at times, something that continued against Galatasaray. He coughed up a number of goalscoring opportunities, one of which resulted in goalkeeper Alisson Becker picking up an injury after attempting to stop a one-v-one that originated from the Frenchman's mistake.

Jamie Carragher seemed baffled by Konate's consistent failings at the back this season.

@cbssportsgolazo Jamie isn’t holding back on Konaté‘s recent struggles for Liverpool 👀 #UCLToday #UCL #soccer #football #championsleague ♬ original sound - CBS Sports Golazo

[Osimhen] caused Konate huge problems. I mean, who doesn't cause Konate problems right now?

He goes through here Osimhen, the goalkeeper who again was outstanding saves another one-vs-one and gets injured. I don't know what he's done, but the injury comes from Konate again.

This is happening every game. I've been a centre back and made mistakes like that, but he's making that mistake every game without fail.

Konate has now entered the final 12 months of his Liverpool contract, with the player heavily linked with a free transfer to Real Madrid next summer. Considering his form to star the season, it is difficult to ignore the potential consequences of that speculation on his performances in recent weeks.

Arne Slot certainly has plenty to ponder over the coming days, with a trip to Chelsea on the horizon this weekend. Should Liverpool produce another poor display in that game, questions will be asked about the direction that the team moved in during the offseason.

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