"No top team plays football like that. I don't believe it." Jamie Carragher isn't mincing words about Liverpool's preseason — and given what he's watched, it's hard to argue with him.
Five preseason games. Nine goals scored, nine conceded. Liverpool twice took two-goal leads — against Leeds United and Monaco — and lost both. That's not a system bedding in. That's a back line that doesn't exist yet.
Iraola inherits a rebuild, not a retool
New head coach Andoni Iraola arrived at Anfield with real credentials — his Bournemouth side was one of the most defensively organised and tactically disciplined in the Premier League. But the Liverpool squad he's inherited is a different animal entirely. Mohamed Salah, Ibrahim Konate, and Andy Robertson are all gone this summer. What's left is a group with plenty of attacking instinct and, right now, very little defensive shape.
Carragher sees the appeal of Iraola's appointment — the pressing, the energy, the echoes of Klopp — but he's not prepared to call it working yet. "Liverpool have too many attacking players on the pitch, they just want to bomb forward," he said on The Overlap Fan Debate. "It's just a basketball game."
That's a damning line. And the scorelines back it up.
The blame question matters for how this season plays out
What Carragher said next is arguably more revealing than his criticism. He's already drawing the lines of accountability: Iraola was brought in specifically to deliver high-energy, high-press football. The fanbase wants it. The club has committed to it. So if the players don't execute, Carragher thinks it falls on them — not the manager.
"We're almost at the stage at Liverpool now where the players will get the blame," he said. "If you don't do it, it's on you. So, no, it won't be on Iraola."
That framing matters. It tells you Liverpool's season could fracture quickly along those lines — manager protected, squad scrutinised — if the chaotic preseason form bleeds into August. Anyone pricing up Liverpool's top-four chances should be factoring in that the defensive rebuild is starting from scratch, and preseason has offered zero evidence it's close to done.
"Liverpool will be interesting this season," Carragher said. Right now, "interesting" is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
