Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool's midfield is giving Andoni Iraola "a huge problem" a little over a week before the new Premier League season begins. The former Reds defender, who played 737 times for the club, has voiced concerns about Iraola's options as the team prepares for their final pre-season friendly against Como on Sunday.
Transfer window so far
Liverpool appointed Iraola at the start of June after relieving Arne Slot of his duties, but they have so far chosen not to add to their engine room this transfer window. Winger Victor Munoz arrived in a £34.5m deal from Osasuna in June, alongside deals for centre-backs Jeremy Jacquet - initially agreed in January from Rennes - and Ronald Araujo, who moved on loan from Barcelona on Monday.
Curtis Jones is the subject of firm interest from Inter, who have had a number of bids turned down by the Reds. Liverpool are looking for around £35m for the Academy graduate, who is in the final year of his contract.
Carragher's midfield concerns
Speaking on the latest Overlap Fan Debate, Carragher questioned whether Iraola has the right blend or enough cover in the middle of the park ahead of Liverpool beginning their campaign away at Newcastle United on August 23. "The midfield issue for me is still a huge problem for Liverpool," Carragher said. "I haven’t watched all the pre-season games, but I watched the last two against decent opposition - it was Leeds and then Monaco."
"And the problem Liverpool had last season was there was space everywhere in Liverpool’s midfield. That has not gone away at all. That’s only going to get bigger with the deployment of (Dominik) Szoboszlai in midfield - it looks like they’re going to play him, rather than as a No.10, almost as a central midfield player alongside (Ryan) Gravenberch and that is just pure box-to-box."
Quality vs balance
Carragher added: "I look at that midfield three and I worry about Liverpool. When you name six or seven of Liverpool’s players, you can’t say they’re not top players - you can’t say Gravenberch is not a really good player, or (Florian) Wirtz, or Szoboszlai. But as a midfield three, I look at that and think, oh no - there’s almost too much quality, but they all want to go and play and run. And even in pre-season, the space is coming through the middle."
"Gravenberch isn’t what you’d call a complete midfielder. He’s not a (Moises) Caicedo - he’s probably got a slightly different game. He’s not just an out-and-out No.6. We need to buy that type of player, not just to play every week but what if Gravenberch gets injured? You’re telling me that Liverpool’s central midfield will only be (Alexis) Mac Allister and Szoboszlai!?"
"I struggle to see how that midfield three - who are all individually really good players - is a midfield three that gets Liverpool back to competing for the title. I’m not sure about that at all."
