![\"\"](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jamie-Carragher-4544.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646\")
\t<\/div>Jamie Carragher took aim at several Liverpool players after their 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, including Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ibrahima Konate.<\/p>\n
Arne Slot\u2019s side struggled to cope with PSG at the Parc des Princes as goals in each half from Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia sealed a deserved win for the Champions League holders.<\/p>\n
Liverpool failed to register a shot on target and had just 26 per cent possession, while Slot admitted after the game that his side were more focused on \u2018surviving\u2019 PSG\u2019s onslaught in the second half.<\/p>\n
Slot opted to play with a back five against PSG but Carragher believes Virgil van Dijk was hampered by an \u2018poor\u2019 performance from Konate.<\/p>\n
\u2018He [Slot] went about it with the back five all wrong and they were actually more open with a back five than they would be with a back four,\u2019 Carragher told CBS Sports.<\/p>\n
\u2018Because they went man-to-man all over the pitch and your three centre-backs had to cover the width of the pitch and for Virgil van Dijk watching him tonight in a middle of a back three\u2026 normally when you get to a certain age you feel in the middle of a back three is perfect, everyone\u2019s in position, getting a bit of protection. This was different.<\/p>\n \u2018Defenders were jumping into midfield, there was no one to mark and Virgil van Dijk at 34 years of age was having to run in there and he was having to run across. He couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n \u2018People have criticised Van Dijk for his performances this season but I think it\u2019s been harsh. I think he plays every game, the fella next to him has been awful all season and poor again tonight, Konate, makes a mistake every game, so that\u2019s not easy to play alongside, so I still think he\u2019s been one of Liverpool\u2019s better players, Virgil van Dijk.<\/p>\n \u2018But tonight in that back three I have never seen him [Van Dijk] so uncomfortable in a Liverpool shirt in my life.<\/p>\n \u2018I think he will be pleading with Arne Slot to never play that system ever again because he found it so tough.<\/p>\n \u2018But, what I must also say, it\u2019s not just the system of Liverpool and getting it wrong tactically, PSG were absolutely out of this world. The biggest compliment I can give them was it was like watching Pep Guardiola\u2019s Barcelona.\u2019<\/p>\n Carragher was also critical of Liverpool\u2019s three marquee signings \u2013 Ekitike, Wirtz and Isak \u2013 who cost a combined \u00a3320 million last summer and claims that the trio are not working hard enough out of possession.<\/p>\n \u2018Listen, what I would say about Virgil van Dijk\u2026 he\u2019s always been a true leader on the pitch and he is a true leader, for me, off the pitch,\u2019 Carragher said.<\/p>\n \u2018He gets questioned a little bit when Liverpool don\u2019t do well by supporters, his leadership on the pitch, but that always happens when team\u2019s aren\u2019t winning, you\u2019re always pointing fingers.<\/p>\n \u2018For me, he\u2019s been a fantastic captain and a fantastic player for Liverpool and he always comes out and speaks and I respect that because not everyone does right now.<\/p>\n \u2018I said at the start of the season, and nothing\u2019s changed in that, what you\u2019re seeing here at Liverpool, and there are lots of different things that are wrong, but you\u2019re watching three all-time greats, the goalkeeper, Alisson, he\u2019s always had injuries but he\u2019s having more now, he\u2019s not the same goalkeeper, Virgil van Dijk as we know is not quite the same, who is at 34? Mo Salah is the same, who is at 33 as an attacking player?<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m never going to criticise those players, the legends, they\u2019ve done so much for the club and they\u2019ve carried players. That\u2019s not criticising the other players because that\u2019s Thierry [Henry] at Arsenal, you always have four or five great players who carry the rest with them.<\/p>\n \u2018So what you\u2019re watching here now is Salah and Van Dijk, who were absolutely out of this world last season, carried Liverpool to the title, they\u2019re not the same players and the others are not quite good enough to step up.<\/p>\n \u2018And then you\u2019ve also got new players coming into the team and I think they\u2019ve got away with quite a bit of criticism actually, the new signings, because we\u2019ve almost said they\u2019re new signings, they\u2019re getting up to speed.<\/p>\n \u2018Ekitike was really poor tonight, I said before the game, and I include Wirtz and Isak in this, to be a top player for Liverpool as an attacking player, you need to be arrogant on the ball but humble off the ball, they\u2019re not humble off the ball, they don\u2019t do enough off the ball and that\u2019s why it\u2019s easy to play against Liverpool right now.<\/p>\n \u2018Three legendary players come to the end of their careers, new players come in and not knowing what exactly they need to do to play for Liverpool right now.<\/p>\n \u2018I include Isak who came on, Ekitike and Florian Wirtz who has got to do a lot more, an awful lot more.<\/p>\n \u2018The best way you can describe Florian Wirtz right now, he\u2019s got \u00a3125 million, is that he\u2019s neat and tidy.\u2019<\/p>\n For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on ![\"Soccer](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SEI_292457002-72e8.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646\")
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