{"id":430758,"date":"2026-02-17T17:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/430758\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T17:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:34:10","slug":"jamie-carragher-issues-defence-of-arne-slot-and-says-virgil-van-dijk-is-not-quite-the-same-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/430758\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Carragher issues defence of Arne Slot and says Virgil van Dijk is ‘not quite the same player’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s form this season isn\u2019t just down to Arne Slot \u2014 Jamie Carragher thinks it\u2019s as much to do with the squad and a couple of major fall-offs.<\/p>\n

The former Liverpool player has not been shy about criticising the Reds this season. <\/p>\n

Carragher warned Slot he might be sacked<\/a> if he doesn\u2019t qualify for the Champions League, and then after the City loss, he suggested Slot can\u2019t get Liverpool back to their best<\/a>. <\/p>\n

From all that, you could assume he has quit on the Dutchman. His recent defence of the Liverpool manager suggests a change of heart.<\/p>\n

Discuss: Diomande has already proven he\u2019s the BEST replacement for Mo Salah! <\/p>\n

Diomande, Doue, Williams and Barcola have been named as potential options\u2026<\/p>\n

\"YanCredit: Boris Streubel\/Maciej Rogowski\/Eurasia Sport Images\/David Ramos\/Jean Catuffe\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

He\u2019s now taking aim at two fellow Anfield<\/a> legends. <\/p>\n

Jamie Carragher defends Arne Slot and shifts attention to Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah <\/p>\n

Liverpool have been wildly inconsistent, and Slot has not covered himself in glory by any means. <\/p>\n

But Carragher \u2014 whose opinions are almost as inconsistent \u2014 now reckons no other manager would do better given how much Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah<\/a> have fallen off. <\/p>\n

He explains on The Overlap<\/a>: \u201cThat\u2019s what I keep thinking you know because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s all his fault. I think any manager now managing this squad with Salah not being the same player as last season. Van Dijk\u2019s not quite the same player as last season as well. <\/p>\n

\"VirgilPhoto by Rene Nijhuis\/MB Media\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe squad\u2019s not that big. It\u2019s not that well balanced. I\u2019m not sure there would be a manager out there getting loads more out of it if I\u2019m being totally honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carragher<\/a> seems to be suggesting that it\u2019s not the coach\u2019s fault. It might not all be Slot\u2019s fault, but he has to accept a portion of the blame. <\/p>\n

FSG\u2019s backing of Slot<\/a> suggests they are on a similar line of thinking, but it\u2019s hard to imagine that sentiment being widely shared in the fanbase. <\/p>\n

Liverpool can\u2019t still be relying on Salah and Van Dijk<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that Salah and Van Dijk<\/a> haven\u2019t been close to their best this season \u2014 the Egyptian especially. <\/p>\n

But is that a temporary dip or the new reality at Liverpool? <\/p>\n

The pair won\u2019t be playing forever. In fact, Salah could be sold this summer<\/a>. Them two not hitting their prime heights shouldn\u2019t be an excuse for the team\u2019s failure. <\/p>\n

If you were forced to sell one Liverpool player to Manchester United, who goes? <\/p>\n

Man United \u2018interested\u2019 in Alexis Mac Allister\u2026<\/p>\n

\"AlexisPhoto by Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Slot needs to be able to win without them, and after such a large spend in the summer, the responsibility should shift onto younger shoulders. <\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Liverpool\u2019s form this season isn\u2019t just down to Arne Slot \u2014 Jamie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1969,218,27169,2227,101,56,54,55,2225],"class_list":{"0":"post-430758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-arne-slot","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jamie-carragher","11":"tag-mohamed-salah","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-virgil-van-dijk"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}