Jamie Carragher SLAMS Liverpool's 'suicide football' in 'embarrassing' defeat by Napoli

Jamie Carragher berated Liverpool after their 4-1 Champions League defeat by Napoli, likening the team’s defense to “suicidal football” and criticizing the team’s summer transfer activity.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were torn apart in the first half of their Champions League opener, going into the break 3-0 down before Luis Diaz scored a consolation goal in the second half.

And after a stunning start to the Premier League with just two wins from their first six games, Carragher is concerned Wednesday’s strikes are something bigger.

“The problem tonight is not this game. Forget this game,” he said after the game on CBS.

“For me, that’s the big concern, “Is that almost something that will continue throughout the season? Is this the end of a cycle?

“Liverpool got the summer transfer ideas massively wrong because this team is so far away and has been in full swing for five or six years.

“Is that a massive physical decline because of what’s happened in the last five or six years, how they’ve played, how intense they’ve been? And can this team get it back?’

Liverpool have posed as forward Darwin Nunez and also signed forward Fabio Carvalho in the summer.

But they waited until the end of the window to bring in midfielder Arthur Melo, who was rushed to sign with injuries to Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita.

Klopp had previously said the club didn’t need a new midfielder but admitted towards the end of August he was wrong.

Nonetheless, Klopp’s midfield threesome Fabinho, Harvey Elliot and the aging James Milner struggled in Napoli as Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez also looked vulnerable.

‘It’s embarrassing. It really is,” Carragher said of Liverpool’s defence.

“I said before it’s kid stuff and that’s the big problem with Liverpool at the moment. They’ve built their success on intensity on the ball, which means the opponent can’t get their head up to overplay the ball.

“So your team is always tight. Always very compact. Once in a while [there’s a] risk, but you get an energy on the ball, that energy isn’t there now, so the back four have to adjust and go back three or four meters.

‘That’s all we’re talking about. But if they keep playing [like that] They’re going to have a big problem this season in terms of the Premier League and qualifying for the next round of the Champions League because that’s suicidal football.

Carragher also highlighted right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was skipped over before Napoli’s third goal and brought out of position on the fourth.

Despite being a gifted passer, the Englishman has endured a patchy couple of months on defence, notably falling asleep for Vinicius Juniors winners of the Champions League final last May.

And this form seems to have been carried over from last season.

“The thing about Trent is I’ve always said he’s not a traditional full-back. He’s not that great defensively. He’ll never be,’ said Carragher.

“But he has strengths and talents that we don’t typically see in a full-back. He’s Liverpool’s playmaker but I’ve always said I thought so [these defensive struggles] would come with another manager.

“When Liverpool stopped being one of the top teams in the Premier League or in Europe. That means they’ll defend more, they’ll have more nights like this. And his defensive weaknesses will be more noticeable and we will see less of him on the ball.

“That could be a time when he has to go into midfield. Normally, when you’re in a Jurgen Klopp team, you dominate the ball, you dominate the game.

But when you see him under real pressure his defensive problems will be even more noticeable and that’s the big problem for him at the moment. I thought that might come with the next manager but the problem is it’s coming with Liverpool now.