Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher wasn’t having it as Liverpool nearly settled for a stalemate in their Premier League opener against Bournemouth on Friday night, MySportDab reports.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool are leading the park of clubs expected to stage a challenge for the coveted domestic honour after winning it last season.
However, they nearly settled for what would have been a disappointing result against Bournemouth in their first fixture.
New signing from Eintracht Frankfurt Hugo Ekitike was up and running, scoring his first Premier League goal on his debut to give the hosts the lead.
Cody Gakpo quickly doubled the lead after the restart but Bournemouth weren’t ready to give up without a fight.
Antoine Semenyo’s clutch performance nearly saw the visitors force the defending champions to a draw. The Ghana international single-handedly chalked off the Reds’ two-goal lead, scoring a brace to make it 2-2.
And his second goal was a stunner. Coming nearly from outside his side’s box, he charged forward via a body of Liverpool players before beating Allison Becker to net the equaliser.
It took substitute Federico Chiesa and Mo Salah’s late strike to race Liverpool into the lead again for the maximum points.
Speaking on punditry duties with Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher insisted Arne Slot’s cleavage to a high line during offensives led to Semenyo’s solo second goal for Bournemouth.
He pointed out that the problem in the defense does not necessarily require a centre-half but is due to the structure used by the Dutch tactician.
The English veteran defender further added that the team may not be able to defend the Premier League title if they don’t fix that glaring flaw.
”You can allow an opponent to score with eight players ahead of him. That is shocking. The idea of everybody going forward during offensives is flawed and a centre-half will not fix the problem. It is about the structure of the team.
”I think if Liverpool continue like that, they don’t win the league.,” he said.
Liverpool will return to Premier League action on Monday, August 25 travelling to face Newcastle United at St. James Park.
