Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher gave a damning verdict on Manchester City’s opening goal on Saturday.
Jamie Carragher singled out two Liverpool players for criticism during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester City. However, goalkeeper Alisson escaped flak from the pundit despite his role in Erling Haaland’s opening goal.
Liverpool made the trip to the Etihad having not won a league match at the ground since 2015. They made a positive start and created a couple of openings for Darwin Nunez.
However, the hosts were the first to score in the 27th minute. Alisson had the ball in his hands and attempted to find Mohamed Salah and start a counter-attack.
But the Brazilian miscued his kick and it got nowhere near Salah. Nathan Ake was first to the loose ball and the defender went on a mazy run, squeezing himself between both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Ake then found Haaland with a perfect pass on the edge of the 18-yard box. The striker took the ball in his stride before unleashing a low effort that Alisson got a hand to but was unable to keep out.
Carragher had “no problem” with Alisson’s initial error but felt Liverpool had to do more to prevent Ake afterwards, aiming criticism at Alexander-Arnold and Szoboszlai.
He said at half-time on Sky Sports: “Well Liverpool had possession and Alisson goes to try and put Mo Salah through. There’s no problem with that, we’ve seen him famously do that before I think a couple of times against Manchester United in the past.
“It was on, Salah’s away, he just doesn’t quite connect. But from a Liverpool point of view, they’ve got to do better.
“Szoboszlai comes running over maybe too quickly and Trent’s got to be more aggressive, there’s got to be more intensity from there but a great finish.”
Micah Richards agreed that Liverpool should have dealt with the situation better. But he was more keen to praise the roles of both Ake and Haaland in the opener.
Richards responded: “I would agree with that, he’s got to put a lot more intent in it. I just want to look at the touch here.
“You mention the mistake from Alisson but this is a centre-half we’re talking about, left-back. Great touch, you think he’s going to go inside, goes one way, goes the other.
“I just want to talk about Haaland’s movement as well, we always talk about can you get in between the defenders. He just manages to get in-between there and it’s a lovely finish.”
Alexander-Arnold made up for his mistake, scoring the equaliser for Liverpool in the 80th minute with a fine strike from just inside the 18-yard box. The Reds held on for a point to keep tabs with City at the top of the table.
