Liverpool can thank Jurgen Klopp for the position they currently find themselves in.
The Merseyside club find themselves top of the Premier League and in contention for a treble, despite only adding Federico Chiesa to Arne Slot’s squad last summer.
Although the Dutch coach is the main reason for the Reds’ performances this season, the squad Klopp left him has allowed him to implement his ideas quickly, something Gary Lineker recently praised the former Liverpool boss for.
It was Klopp’s last gift after bringing Liverpool back to the top of the sport under his reign and many of the Merseyside club’s past players would have loved to have been part of that era.
Having missed out on a Premier League medal during his career, Jamie Carragher would have been one of them, although the former centre-back did feature for the legendary coach at one point in his life.
Photo by James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by James Baylis – AMA/Getty Images
Jamie Carragher’s only match under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool
Carragher retired at Liverpool in 2013 and might have been kicking himself had Liverpool won the league the season after under Brendan Rodgers.
When it came to Klopp, the Sky Sports pundit was some way off as the German coach arrived in 2015, but after his first full season in charge, Carragher got to experience what it would be like to play under the German.
At the end of the 2016/17 campaign, Liverpool flew to Australia for a friendly game against Sydney FC and speaking to BOSS Podcast, Carragher explained how that match allowed him to play in a Klopp team.
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“They couldn’t sell the tickets to fill the stadium out, and Liverpool’s team is coming out with Jurgen Klopp as the manager,” Carragher said.
“So the club asked me, Stevie Gerrard and Steve McManaman to come. Not because they didn’t have any players – to try and boost the ticket sales.
“That’s mad isn’t it? It’s mad. That’s why I say to people, that’s where Liverpool were at the time.”
Carragher continued by saying: “We play the game and then we go to have a bevvy in the night and all that.
“So Jurgen Klopp knows who we are, without like knowing all that. He probably thinks he knows me as a player, everyone thinks ‘oh Carra puts his foot in and all that, he’ll have a go’.
“I’ve had the ball a few times, played a few passes, and we were in this bar and he whispered, ‘your passing surprised me!’.
“I went ‘yeah, it surprises a lot of people lad, I don’t get enough credit for my passing’. He went ‘mmm, not bad!’.”
Jamie Carragher would have been a success under Jurgen Klopp
Carragher was full of praise for Virgil van Dijk when Liverpool signed him in 2018 and the Sky Sports pundit was right to do so as the Dutch star has gone on to become one of the best players in the Merseyside club’s history.
The centre-back was one of the main figures during the Klopp era and had he been partnered by Carragher at Anfield, the Liverpool captain might have had even more success.
The former Liverpool defender would have complemented the modern style of Van Dijk as Carragher had a good understanding of the game and would use that to put him in a position to defend attacks.
Van Dijk would not have had to worry about organising Carragher and that would have allowed the Dutch star to do what he does best.
Without the current Liverpool captain, Carragher might struggle in modern football but with the Netherlands centre-back beside him, the Sky Sports pundit would have loved the heavy metal football of Klopp and would have been a success under the legendary coach.