The former centre-back criticized Jurgen Klopp’s men for playing “suicide football” in their latest defeat this season, a 4-1 defeat by Napoli in the Champions League.
Speaking to CBS after the game, the 44-year-old added that they “got the transfer ideas wrong in the summer because this team is so far away and they’ve been in full form for five or six years.”
Jamie Carragher hit back at Danny Murphy and said he is not looking for excuses for Liverpool
Carragher hit out at the Reds after their defeat by Napoli and said the club “got massively wrong about transfer ideas in the summer”.
🤔 “I don’t remember anyone talking about what was missing from Liverpool.”
💷 “They spent £85m on Nunez! Where did they not support Klopp??
🤦♂️ “@Carra23 looking for some excuses, not the obvious.”
Danny Murphy says #LFC owners can’t be blamed for club’s form. pic.twitter.com/yE3wxbzmZk
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) September 8, 2022
But then speaking to talkSPORT on Thursday morning, Murphy – who spent seven seasons with Carragher at Anfield – said of his former team-mate’s comments: “I think he’s looking for some excuses.
He doesn’t look at the obvious which is a simple change of mindset and some of the players have become complacent. They think they are a bit better than they are and need to get back to some basics.’
But that prompted a furious Carragher to hit back on Twitter, telling Murphy to “get on with the clickbait”.
“Not once did he say Liverpool got it very wrong in the transfer market and I’m none the wiser after it happened!” he wrote on Twitter.
Murphy (c) – a former teammate of Carragher (R) – then hit out at the latter on talkSPORT
“Everyone knew LFC needed/wanted a midfielder, Klopp, a team, fans. Tried for [Aurelien] Tchouameni & could not get [Jude] Bellingham right now. Continue with clickbait.’
Liverpool lost striker Darwin Nunez and also brought in striker Fabio Carvalho in the summer.
But they waited until the end of the window to bring in midfielder Arthur Melo, who was rushed to sign amid injuries to Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita.
Klopp had previously stated that the club did not need a new midfielder, but admitted he was wrong towards the end of August.
However, Klopp’s central attacking trio of Fabinho, Harvey Elliott and the aging James Milner struggled in Napoli as Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez were also left vulnerable.
Murphy insists Liverpool FSG owners not to blame, complacency is the issue
But when asked if FSG’s owners let them down in the summer, Murphy said: “No. Few have said this about transfer policy, but I don’t recall him doing any articles or speaking on our show about what they lack in defense or midfield.
“They brought in [Ibrahima] Konate for £50m in aid [Joel] Matip, Gomez and Virgil van Dijk. There are four.
“They’ve put in full-backs to cover the two they have, they’ve spent £85m on a striker to try and fill the gap he’s left [Sadio] Mane’s goals and assists you will miss.
“Where they didn’t support him [Klopp]? Ideally, you go and give him a bunch of money to get another one, but then that hinders the development of someone like Harvey Elliott or Carvalho.
“It’s about finding a balance between giving sometimes to these young people [the chance]… Harvey Elliott we wouldn’t see if they kept buying a lot of £50m midfielders. Where do you stop with that?
He said Liverpool had been well bolstered with the signings of Darwin Nunez and Ibrahima Konate
“Do you want Liverpool to become Manchester City? They can not. They have to try and do it in a different way. It’s all well and good to be wise after the fact.
“I didn’t see too many articles this summer where people were going ‘if Liverpool don’t get midfield, they’re not going to challenge for the title.’
“Everyone, including me, said ‘it’s going to be Liverpool and City again’, they almost won the quadruple. “Three months ago we were talking about Liverpool having almost one of the best seasons in history.”
Meanwhile, Carragher said in the wake of the Napoli defeat: “The problem tonight is not this game. Forget this game.
“For me the big concern is, ‘Is this almost something that’s going to continue through the season?’ Is this the end of a cycle?
Murphy said ongoing £50m midfielder signing would stand in Harvey Elliott’s way
“It’s a huge drop because of what’s happened in the last five or six years with the way they’ve played, how intense they’ve been. And can this team take it back?
It’s embarrassing. It really is,” Carragher added of Liverpool’s defence.
“I said before it’s childish stuff and that’s the big problem with Liverpool at the moment. They have built their success on the intensity of the ball, which means that the opponent cannot raise their head to put the ball over.
“So your team is always tight. Always really compact. Occasionally [there’s a] risk, but you get an energy on the ball, that energy isn’t there now, so the back four has to adjust and has to go back three or four yards.
“That’s all we talk about. But if they keep playing [like that] they will have a big problem in terms of the Premier League this season and qualifying for the next round of the Champions League, because this is suicide football.”
Jamie Carragher singles out Virgil Van Dijk for criticism as Liverpool concede goals at Napoli
Carragher also singled out right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who came off ahead of Napoli’s third goal and took his place for the fourth.
“The thing about Trent is, I’ve always said he’s not a conventional fullback. He is not great defensively. It never will be,” Carragher said.
But he has strengths and talents that we don’t usually see from a fullback. He is Liverpool’s playmaker, but I always said I was thinking [these defensive struggles] he would come with another manager.
“When Liverpool stopped being one of the top teams in the Premier League or in Europe. That means they will defend more, they will have more nights like this. And his defensive shortcomings will stand out more and we will see him on the ball less.
Carragher insisted the Reds tried to sign Aurelien Tchouameni and Jude Bellingham was unavailable
“It might be a time when he has to go into midfield. When you’re in a Jurgen Klopp team, you usually dominate the ball, dominate the game.
But when you see him under real pressure, his defensive issues will stand out even more and that’s the big problem for him right now. I thought that might come with the next manager, but the problem is it’s coming at the moment with Liverpool.”
Liverpool will be home for the next two Champions League games, with Ajax and then Rangers coming to Anfield.
The Reds are third in Group A after one matchday, beating Rangers on goal difference.
