Why Play Carra?

The dust has settled on the defeat to Zenit, and the realisation has hit; Liverpool won’t win a trophy this season. That’s not the end of the world, but it could be the start of a new cycle for the club. The fact that Liverpool have little left to play for (bar a Europa League place) means that they should have one eye on the future when it comes to picking players for the remaining games. For that reason I’d suggest that Liverpool should drop Jamie Carragher and bring back Martin Skrtel in defence. I like Carragher, he’s been a very good, and at times, great player for Liverpool, but the fact is he won’t be here next season. Liverpool need to get used to life without Jamie, and unless a new centre half is signed in the summer, Skrtel will be teaming up with Daniel Agger in the heart of the defence next year.

Liverpool aren’t getting much benefit out of playing Carragher for the rest of the season as he’s not a great deal better than Skrtel (in fact, it’s my opinion that Skrtel is a much better player at present), so why continue to play him and leave a very good defender sitting on the bench, where his confidence will only diminish with every non-appearance? It’s not like Liverpool have been particularly solid since the Carragher-Agger partnership was reborn earlier this year, Liverpool have still conceded a lot of goals with the two of them at the back. 

I understand that some fans will want to see Jamie start most games between now and the end of the season out of a sense of sentiment, but that won’t help Liverpool as they move forward. At the end of last season and the beginning of the present campaign, the Agger-Skrtel partnership was pretty solid. Both have had ups and downs, but Carragher has too. It’s not like the team will become significantly weaker if Skrtel does replace Carragher in upcoming matches, so why not put him back in?

I’m all for showing Jamie Carragher respect; he deserves it for a fantastic career. However, we need to start thinking about how we can turn from a 5th-8th Premier League side into a top four, Champions League-worthy side and playing Jamie Carragher for the rest of this season will do little to bridge that gap. If anything, it may raise doubts about a Liverpool future in the mind of Martin Skrtel, and cause intentions to leave – and if that’s the case, the bridge may need to cover an even wider gap in terms of a top four finish.