- Jamie Carragher says one of Liverpool’s top wingers could have got his Liverpool side “over the line”.
- He added that the spine under Rafa Benitez was incredible.
- Carragher won the Champions League in 2005, but never won the Premier League.
Jamie Carragher has revealed that he feels his Liverpool side were one player away from “getting over the line” in the Premier League.
He has revealed the departing Mohamed Salah or his former teammate Sadio Mane could have added the difference on the wing that his teams were lacking.
The comments came after he was asked by a Liverpool fan as to which player added to his best team could have brought bigger success.
Carragher’s time under Rafa Benitez
Carragher’s crowning moment of his career came in 2005, when Liverpool won their fifth European Cup in Istanbul. The team was famously weaker than their opponents in the night in AC Milan.
They probably had a better side going into the 2007 final and even better again going into the following season.
The Champions “We had a great spine under Rafa Benitez.”
“You think of the midfield we had, Torres and Stevie (Steven Gerrard) up front.”
That midfield of Mascherano and Alonso playing behind Gerrard, who supported Fernando Torres, was brilliant. They finished second in the Premier League in 2009, only losing two games across the season.
Jokingly, he commented, “we had a decent centre-back, he was alright as well.” The Liverpool fan asking the question responded, “Hyppia,” with a laugh.
In that later team, Carragher was joined mostly in defence by Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel, both cult heroes for the Reds.
What was lacking in that Benitez squad?
Carragher feels, “We could have done with a great winger in that team. A John Barnes, Sadio Mane or Mo Salah.”
That 2008/09 team had very few weaknesses and had lots of the same qualities that Liverpool’s modern team has. Mascherano was the defensive midfield option that Fabinho feared under Klopp. Alonso and Gerrard had the range of passing that Trent possessed.
Gerrard played the supporting role for the attack that made Roberto Firmino so special, and Torres offered the raw pace and finishing ability of Salah. While Steve Finnan didn’t have the attacking ability of Trent, he did offer the defensive stability that Klopp’s Liverpool needed Henderson to drop in for.
In my opinion, a Mane-style figure who could press from the front or Andy Robertson who could do lengths of the field would have made an incredible difference for Rafa Benitez.
One outside shot to improve that team could be a peak Alisson. Pepe Reina was a cult hero at Anfield, but Alisson, at his best, could do things that not many keepers in history could.
