Jamie Carragher on Liverpool: Is the Premier League title enough for Jurgen Klopp's men?
After losing to Watford, Liverpool travel to Chelsea in the FA Cup on Tuesday and will face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League next week; Carragher: "I think there's a bit of a worry - is the league enough for Liverpool this season?"
Tuesday 3 March 2020 20:55, UK
After Liverpool's unbeaten Premier League record was ended with defeat at Watford, Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher believes they need to win the FA Cup or the Champions League otherwise Jurgen Klopp may feel short-changed after a season of brilliance on the pitch.
The Reds are now unable to match Arsenal's feat of navigating an entire Premier League season undefeated, but with a 22-point gap at the top, there is little doubt that they will end their 30-year wait to be crowned champions.
Klopp's side now travel to Chelsea in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday, before they host Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit.
Carragher believes Liverpool must emerge unscathed from those two fixtures if they are to maximise their potential this season.
"I think there's a bit of a worry - not for the league, the league's won - it's actually is the league enough for Liverpool this season?" Carragher said to Sky Sports.
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"The league feels like it's been won for two or three months. I know Jurgen Klopp wouldn't say that but it almost feels when you've had a season like that it doesn't feel enough, you still want one of the cups, whether that be the FA Cup or the Champions League.
"The worry is now Chelsea midweek and the following midweek is Atletico Madrid. If Liverpool go out of both cup competitions there's no way it will be a damp squib, because they've waited so long to win the title, but there will be a little tinge of how good this team is, the results they've had, they probably should win more this season."
Since the winter break, Liverpool won at bottom-of-the-table Norwich with a late Sadio Mane goal, suffered defeat in Madrid and were then indebted to glaring Lukasz Fabianski errors for a comeback win over West Ham.
"The worry is after the break they've had, they're not quite firing on all cylinders, and these cup competitions come when they're not quite at 100 per cent," added Carragher.
What type of team will Klopp field at Chelsea?
Liverpool were eliminated from the Carabao Cup before Christmas when Klopp fielded a very youthful side at Aston Villa while his established first-team players tackled the Club World Cup.
And although Carragher believes Liverpool should send out their strongest possible side at Chelsea on Tuesday, with lowly Bournemouth visiting Anfield next weekend, he suspects Klopp will make changes for the Stamford Bridge trip in order to retain focus on the Premier League.
"My feeling was I'd like to see changes in the Watford game, and go with the strongest team against Chelsea. That was my feeling. I didn't think Jurgen Klopp would do that. But if I was the manager of Liverpool that's what I would have done.
"I'm not just saying this because Liverpool lost at Watford but I'd rather Liverpool won the double than go unbeaten or get more points than Man City. What Arsenal did as the Invincibles was special and I know they were all delighted yesterday and understandably so but if you said to me would you rather win the FA Cup or go unbeaten, my answer would be win the FA Cup.
"I think this won't make Jurgen Klopp change now - I think it might actually make him think 'I need to win at Bournemouth next week more than Chelsea midweek because I just want to get this league won and out the way'."
The former Liverpool and England defender was worried by the performance at Vicarage Road, coming just five days after the Reds came from behind to beat West Ham at home and preserve their unbeaten record at the time.
"It wasn't losing, it was the manner of the defeat. It was really poor. And for the team at the top of the league to lose to the second bottom doesn't normally occur too often," continued Carragher.
"People keep talking about Liverpool defensively and they were really poor but they never looked like scoring a goal in the game. And that was so surprising. So there's problems at both ends.
"It's a massive shock, that's why there was such a reaction afterwards. It wasn't the result, it was the performance more than anything. Playing games in the Premier League, you can go anywhere and lose 1-0 if it doesn't go great or you're a little bit unfortunate.
"But Watford thoroughly deserved the result and were well worth 3-0 as well. The performance will worry Jurgen Klopp more than the result.
"It was bound to happen at some stage. There's a lot of rejoicing today from a Mr Neville, popping champagne and getting too carried away as you'd expect, but Arsenal fans are delighted as well because it saves the Invicibles record.
"But the title has been won for a couple of months and it's just when Liverpool were going to win it. There were a lot of hope from Liverpool fans that it would be at Goodison Park in a couple of weeks but the result on Saturday puts that to bed now and it may have to wait until the Man City game."
Live MNF
After playing Bournemouth this weekend, Liverpool's next three Premier League games are away to Everton, at home to Crystal Palace and then a trip to Manchester City on Sunday April 5. All three games will be live on Sky Sports.
