Liverpool’s humiliating 5-2 Champions League defeat at the hands of Real Madrid was emphatic proof that the Reds have reached ‘the end of an era’, two Premier League legends have declared.
Having gone two goals up at home, Liverpool capitulated in catastrophic fashion, conceding five goals at home in a European competition for the first time in club history.
After winning two domestic cups last year, missing out on the Premier League trophy on the final day of the season, and losing the Champions League final – to Madrid no less – the team has now fallen off a cliff. The team sits eighth in the league, have already been knocked out of both domestic cups, and are now all-but-out of the Champions League.
Arsenal great Thierry Henry and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher variously described the side and its performance as ‘fragile’, ‘broken’, ‘absolutely shambolic’, ‘embarrassing’ and a ‘disgrace’.
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Speaking on CBS after the game, Carragher said: “What a performance from Real Madrid, to come to Anfield … and destroy Liverpool like that. That was shambolic from Liverpool. Embarrassing.
“We’ve made excuses for them all season, reasons why they’re not doing as well as they have done in previous seasons, but that was a disgrace in that second half.
“To not even have a chance themselves, show any real fight after the goals go in. To lose that half 3-0 when you’re attacking the Kop (end), it’s 2-2 and a knockout game, absolutely shambolic from Liverpool.”
The match came on the back of two Liverpool wins in the league, in the Merseyside derby and against high-flying Newcastle, which appeared a potential turning point in Liverpool’s dismal season.
But Carragher declared: “It was nonsense, absolute nonsense, that Liverpool were back in the last two games … Liverpool, right now, and all season, have been an absolute shambles defensively.
His excoriating rant continued shortly afterwards, as he said: “Liverpool all season, as I said before, have been an absolute shambles defensively. This team had a great defensive record last season. But we know the midfield doesn’t have the energy anymore, the attacking players in the front three don’t press or certainly don’t have the cohesion that was there before with Firmino and Mane – they’re new to it, Nunez and Gakpo.
“This Liverpool defence who we’ve been told have got some of the best players in the world can’t cope. For years they had a front six in front of them who probably worked harder and smarter than any other team in world football. Now that’s gone it’s completely fell apart.”
In a brutal swipe at Liverpool’s Dutch centre-back Virgil van Dijk, 700-game Reds player Carragher declared he thinks he could still do a better job at the age of 45.
Carragher said: “Liverpool are eighth in the Premier League and have just been battered 5-2 in the Champions League. I know it’s Real Madrid, but these are two teams who were in the final last year. It’s not acceptable what we’re watching this season.
“We keep looking for reasons and excuses, but it’s nowhere near good enough.
“What makes me laugh … Virgil van Dijk said I wouldn’t get in the back four about two months ago (at my best). I think I could take his place at the moment!”
Arsenal icon Thierry Henry got in on the act, saying on CBS: “I saw a fragile team, more than fragile … Something needs to change. I don’t think (coach Jurgen) Klopp needs to go, that’s not what I’m saying. But some of the players don’t have the level anymore to play for Liverpool … I think it’s the end of an era.”
“You have to call a cat a cat … they’re eighth, they’re not playing well, they’re conceding a lot,” he added. “I just think it’s not good enough … they need to reinvent themselves.”
Carragher replied: “As Thierry said, this team’s come to an end. Jurgen Klopp built a team when he first came in, when that team was seventh or eighth in the Premier League, and what we saw for the next four of five years was amazing. He needs to be allowed to do it again.
“I think that’s a line in the sand. When you lose 5-2 at home in the Champions League, that is almost a slip knot. This has to stop, you have to start again.”
He added: “The second half, you’re attacking the Kop on a European night. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. No energy, no goalmouth scrambles. There was nothing there. They just looked broken to me … it’s the end of an era.”
Meanwhile, Australian legend Mark Bosnich said on Stan Sport: “I’d be absolutely burning (if I was Klopp), considering the way they started, the way they allowed Madrid to get back in the game, then pretty much the capitulation at the end.”
