It’s hard to disagree with him at this moment in time, but former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has offered a frank and perhaps contentious assessment of his former club.
Ahead of their meeting with Manchester United at Anfield on Saturday, Liverpool sit in seventh place in the Premier League table and could fall 10 points adrift of the leaders if they suffer defeat.
Further, they’ve conceded 12 goals in seven games so far this year, and the same problems continue to haunt them as they failed to address their defensive weaknesses this past summer.
While they are undoubtedly one of the most entertaining sides in the English top flight, that often doesn’t translate into success. It appears as though Carragher has seen enough to be convinced that the wait for a league title is set to go on for a while longer at Anfield.
“Liverpool will not win the title this season. I am not convinced Jürgen Klopp will ever be able to bring it back to Anfield,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“I am not sure when my old club will win it again. I certainly do not see it happening in the near future.”
Carragher goes on to explain that while the defensive frailties that continue to hold his former club back are a big reason as to why he doesn’t see success coming back to Anfield in the short-term, it’s also the fact that the club can’t compete with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea financially.
Those three clubs have flexed their financial muscles continuously over the years and where Liverpool failed to address key weaknesses in their squad this past summer, the three clubs named above addressed theirs.
United signed Romelu Lukaku to solve their issues in front of goal, Pep Guardiola brought in young, energetic full-backs in Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker to further implement his style of football, while Chelsea added key individuals such as Alvaro Morata and Antonio Rudiger to offer quality and depth as they prepared for a return to the Champions League.
As always, Carragher speaks a lot of sense and truth. For Liverpool fans though, they’ll be hoping that he’s wrong and Klopp can mastermind an unlikely title triumph in the near future. The odds certainly seemed stacked against him and the Reds though.