Date published: Monday 2nd January 2023 8:33 – Will Ford
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Jamie Carragher believes it’s the end of an era at Liverpool after an “absolutely shambolic” display against Brentford from an “ageing team”.
Liverpool were torn apart by Brentford in the first half in particular at the Community Stadium and spurned the chance to close the gap to Manchester United in fourth place in the Premier League.
Brentford took the lead through Ibrahima Konate’s own goal and Bryan Mbuemo rounded off the 3-1 victory late on, but Carragher was particularly scathing over Liverpool’s defending before Yoanne Wissa’s header, the second of the evening.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was beaten at the back post by Wissa, after Harvey Elliott bizarrely dummied a pass from Alisson.
“Absolutely shambolic,” Carragher told Sky Sports at half-time. “It [Liverpool’s free-kick] should go long, can you believe Harvey Elliott actually dummies it in a position like that?
“But this is fantastic from Brentford, and Wissa at the back post – that is a great header. It’s not an easy one, the pace on the cross is just absolutely fantastic. If you look at Alexander-Arnold again at the back post, Ollie Watkins scored a goal like this against them a couple [of] games ago, he’s not offside, and it’s a fantastic header.
“That’s also why we’ve got technology in the game, because that proves that ball went over the line. You see Trent coming in, he’s in the wrong position, worrying about what’s behind him.”
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled a goal back for Liverpool with a fine header from a wicked Alexander-Arnold cross, but their attacking output was limited in the second half despite needing to push for more goals.
READ MORE: Van Dijk: Can Liverpool win the Premier League again with the man who first made it possible?
Carragher believes this is the end of an era for Klopp’s side.
“I wouldn’t say I was massively confident [coming into this game],” Carragher admitted. “Because Liverpool have had problems all season against teams who are physical, when the game has intensity they can’t cope.
“This is a team, let’s not forget, that pride themselves on saying intensity is our identity. They can’t cope with that anymore at this moment. It looks like an ageing team coming to the end, and that was absolutely shambolic that first half.”
