CBS Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry highlighted concerns about Liverpool's squad before the Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid
Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry were in agreement with their verdict of Liverpool's current squad.
Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry were in agreement with their verdict of Liverpool's current squad.(Image: (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images))
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CBS Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry both agree that Liverpool's current squad lacks the right balance - despite spending heavily in recent transfer windows. The Reds spent big money to sign Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain, and last year, they invested heavily in their forward line with the acquisitions of Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.
Last summer also brought the full-back positions into focus, particularly following the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold. Andy Robertson left in the recent summer transfer window as a free agent, and their replacements in Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have both struggled with consistency, while Conor Bradley has been plagued by a series of injury setbacks.
It's for this reason that there were widespread calls for a right-back to be recruited during the summer window, yet the club instead chose to bring Ronald Araujo in on loan from Barcelona, who has largely been deployed at full-back to date.
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There are also question marks about the midfield. And Carragher and Henry addressed the issues on CBS Sports ahead of Liverpool's Champions League encounter with Atletico Madrid, and those reservations were swiftly underlined by the manner in which Iraola's side conceded the opening goal at Anfield, before going on to in 2-1.
"We can talk about the money and Jamie will go more into details than me because that is his team so I will leave him the floor," the former France international said.
"But for me the most important thing is I don't think they dealt well with the right-back and left-back situation. For me that's my only thing but I'm going to leave the floor for Jamie."
CBS Sports Pundits Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher during a UEFA Champions League match
CBS Sports Pundits Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher have discussed Liverpool's transfer business(Image: Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
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Carragher then offered his analysis of Liverpool's defensive and midfield concerns. He said: "I agree they had problems in the full-back positions and they spent an awful lot of money but the squad right now is not balanced at all.
"A lot of players in the same position but they do have a lot of big names. We see that there, three players for over £100million. Don't see that too often do we in football right now?
"But this is the team tonight. Obviously we've got the Atletico Madrid team but I want to concentrate on the Liverpool team. I'm really, really excited to see Barcola tonight.
"He came on for 15-20 minutes on Friday against Ipswich. It looked really sharp but the analysis I want to look at which I think is a big problem for Liverpool is central midfield. It was a problem last season and it's been a problem so far this season."
Liverpool managed to overcome their early setback against Atletico, with goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.
Notably, both goals came from midfielders, with the latter's effort in particular an early contender for the Reds' goal of the season, though it did take a slight deflection upon closer inspection.