Carragher Sounds Alarm on Liverpool's Midfield Problems

Jamie Carragher has sounded the alarm over Liverpool’s midfield, warning that Andoni Iraola’s new-look side is nowhere near ready to mount a serious Premier League title challenge.

The former Reds defender, speaking on the latest episode of The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet, believes a problem that dogged Liverpool last season has simply rolled into the new campaign unchecked.

New era, old problem

The 2026/27 season is just over a week away and Liverpool are already deep into transition. Arne Slot has gone after a disappointing year in which his team only just clung on to Champions League football, scraping fifth just a season after lifting the title. Iraola has been handed the task of repairing the damage and reshaping a side that lost its edge.

The rebuild has been steady rather than spectacular. Victor Munoz and Ronald Araujo have arrived, while Jeremy Jacquet is on his way after a deal was struck with Rennes back in February. Mohamed Salah has departed, leaving a gaping hole in attack, and Liverpool are still chasing a winger, with Bradley Barcola the leading target.

But for Carragher, the real storm is brewing behind the forwards.

“Space everywhere” in midfield

“The midfield issue for me is still a huge problem for Liverpool,” Carragher said. He hasn’t watched every pre-season outing, but he did sit through the last two against Leeds and Monaco, and what he saw only reinforced his fears.

“The problem Liverpool had last season was there was space everywhere in Liverpool’s midfield. That has not gone away at all.”

The concern isn’t about individual talent. It’s about balance. Iraola looks set to use Dominik Szoboszlai deeper, not as a classic number 10 but as a central midfielder alongside Ryan Gravenberch in a high-energy trio.

“That’s only going to get bigger with the deployment of [Dominik] Szoboszlai in midfield,” Carragher said. “It looks like they’re going to play him, rather than as a number 10, almost as a central midfield player alongside [Ryan] Gravenberch and that is just pure box-to-box.”

High-octane, front-foot, all-action. On paper, it sounds thrilling. On the pitch, Carragher sees a wide-open door through the centre of the team.

Too much quality, not enough control

“I look at that midfield three and I worry about Liverpool,” he admitted. Name the players and it reads like a top-class group: Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz, Szoboszlai. Carragher isn’t questioning their ability.

“When you name six or seven of Liverpool’s players, you can’t say they’re not top players – you can’t say Gravenberch is not a really good player, or [Florian] Wirtz, or Szoboszlai.

“But as a midfield three, I look at that and think, oh no – there’s almost too much quality, but they all want to go and play and run. And even in pre-season, the space is coming through the middle.”

The warning is clear. Talent alone will not plug the gaps. Without a proper shield, without someone to hold while others roam, Liverpool risk reliving the chaos of last season, when teams sliced through them far too easily.

Carragher’s verdict is blunt: unless Iraola finds a way to fix the heart of his team, Liverpool’s title ambitions will remain exactly that – ambitions, not expectations.