Pretty poor’: Jamie Carragher says he’s been ‘taken aback’ by something happening at Liverpool this season

Jamie Carragher has claimed that performances from Liverpool this season have been ‘as bad as it gets.’

The Reds have dropped their usual high standards and are set for first finish outside the top four in seven years. And speaking to The Anfield Wrap, Carragher blasted some of what he’s seen from Liverpool over the course of the season.

“It’s been a million miles away from what we’re used to under this manager and team,” said the Reds legend. “It’s not just to come fifth, there’ve been performances through the season, probably not far away from double figures I would say, certain performances where you’re just taken aback by how poor it was.

“I go back to the first game at Fulham, Napoli away, United away, Brighton, Wolves, you’re sort of getting up to almost 10 performances where you’re just thinking ‘this is not Liverpool.’ They haven’t just lost, this almost feels as bad as it gets. You felt like two or three times this season you were saying ‘that’s the worst performance we’ve seen under a Jurgen Klopp team in six, seven years.’ It was pretty poor. But with two or three games to go we’re still in with a fighting chance, or were, in terms of the Champions League.”

Having watched Liverpool struggle in grounds they’d usually win comfortably at, this is a feeling most fans will relate to. However, Carragher says he isn’t concerned about the Reds slump being a permanent one.

“I don’t worry about getting back in the Champions League next season massively,” said the 45-year-old. “I’d still always put Liverpool in that top four and still the be one of the biggest challengers to Man City – if we get it right in the summer. But I just think this season feels like the end of an era.”

Looking back on a rotten time for Liverpool

As the end of the season is now virtually upon us, it feels like a good time to assess Liverpool in 2022/23. Unless a miracle happens now, they won’t be playing Champions League football next season. They also end the year without a major trophy won. All targets have been missed.

In the end, the most basic of those targets – a top four finish – won’t be missed by all that much. But that only serves to highlight just how perplexing the performances Carragher mentions were. This team have shown they’re capable of so much more.

The games Carra alludes to were certainly some of the most disappointing. We’d also add Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth away to that list.

At times during those games it looked like Liverpool could end up getting truly battered. In some cases – the 3-0’s at Brighton and Wolves – they were. Both games could have been lost by an even bigger margin, too.

Obviously, the wrongs of those games have been poured over by Reds fans the world over. The important thing is that those displays now look consigned to the past. Whether it was purely fatigue, low confidence, tactical staleness, injuries, or a mix of it all, Liverpool have turned a corner since April.

Games haven’t exactly been enthralling affairs since – the draw with Aston Villa on Saturday being a prime example. But the Reds no longer look like the flimsy outfit they have for so much of the season. Things need to be better next time around.

Under Jurgen Klopp, we always have faith that they will be. And Carra should,