Jamie Carragher has held his hands up over a poor start to the season – but vowed to help Liverpool toughen up their soft centre.
Having gained a reputation for their defensive mean streak in recent years, Rafael Benitez’s side have kept just four clean sheets in 11 games this season. Only two shut-outs have come in eight Premier League games, with Liverpool shipping 12 goals in that period.
Carragher himself has attracted some fierce criticism following a series of below-par performances.
But the 31-year-old is adamant he and the defence as a whole will improve over the coming weeks.
He said: “We aren’t playing well as a back four and I’m not playing well personally.
“I need to hit better form and hopefully that will come in the next few games. Over the last five or six years we have been renowned as a team who have kept a lot of clean sheets and for keeping it tight. I think that’s why we get a bit more criticism because people don’t expect it of Liverpool – and rightly so.
“We take the plaudits when things are going well so you have to take the criticism when it’s not going well.
“I know I need to improve myself and we also need to improve as a team.”
Benitez believes he saw signs during Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea that Carragher and centre-back partner Martin Skrtel are close to recapturing their form.
“If you analyse the performance of the centre-backs, it was clear to see they were much better at Chelsea and that was the positive thing to take from the game,” said Benitez. “Skrtel is a really good player and Carra was doing better again. Maybe you could say something about the second goal but the signs, for me, were much better.
“It was a difficult game for the central defenders to play and you know that when you come up against the top sides you must keep it tight.
“We paid for one mistake (in midfield) but, in the main, I was very pleased with the performances of Skrtel and Carra and they were doing the right things.”
Liverpool resume after this week’s international break with a trip to Sunderland on Saturday week, with Benitez keeping his fingers crossed his players return back from their national teams without injury.
Having gained a reputation for their defensive mean streak in recent years, Rafael Benitez’s side have kept just four clean sheets in 11 games this season. Only two shut-outs have come in eight Premier League games, with Liverpool shipping 12 goals in that period.
Carragher himself has attracted some fierce criticism following a series of below-par performances.
But the 31-year-old is adamant he and the defence as a whole will improve over the coming weeks.
He said: “We aren’t playing well as a back four and I’m not playing well personally.
“I need to hit better form and hopefully that will come in the next few games. Over the last five or six years we have been renowned as a team who have kept a lot of clean sheets and for keeping it tight. I think that’s why we get a bit more criticism because people don’t expect it of Liverpool – and rightly so.
“We take the plaudits when things are going well so you have to take the criticism when it’s not going well.
“I know I need to improve myself and we also need to improve as a team.”
Benitez believes he saw signs during Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea that Carragher and centre-back partner Martin Skrtel are close to recapturing their form.
“If you analyse the performance of the centre-backs, it was clear to see they were much better at Chelsea and that was the positive thing to take from the game,” said Benitez. “Skrtel is a really good player and Carra was doing better again. Maybe you could say something about the second goal but the signs, for me, were much better.
“It was a difficult game for the central defenders to play and you know that when you come up against the top sides you must keep it tight.
“We paid for one mistake (in midfield) but, in the main, I was very pleased with the performances of Skrtel and Carra and they were doing the right things.”
Liverpool resume after this week’s international break with a trip to Sunderland on Saturday week, with Benitez keeping his fingers crossed his players return back from their national teams without injury.
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