Jamie Carragher hits out at former Liverpool team-mate Danny Murphy

‘Keep up with the click bait’: Jamie Carragher hits out at his former Liverpool team-mate Danny Murphy’s claim that he is ‘looking for excuses’ over their ‘suicide football’ in a spat over club’s transfers

Jamie Carragher has hit back at former Liverpool-team mate Danny Murphy and insists he is not trying to make excuses for their underwhelming start to the season.

The ex-centre-back slammed Jurgen Klopp’s men for playing ‘suicide football’ in their 4-1 defeat by Napoli in the Champions League.

Speaking on CBS after the game, the 44-year-old added they ‘massively got the transfer ideas in the summer wrong because this team is so far off and it has been at full pelt for five or six years.’

But then speaking to talkSPORT on Thursday morning, Murphy – who spent seven seasons with Carragher at Anfield – said of his former team-mate’s comments: ‘I think he is looking for some excuses.

‘He is not looking at the obvious which is a simple mindset change and some of the players have become complacent. They are thinking they are a bit better than they are and they need to get back to some basics.’

But that caused a furious Carragher to hit back on Twitter, telling Murphy to ‘keep up with the click bait’.

‘Not once said Liverpool got it massively wrong in the transfer market & I’m not being wise after the event!’ he tweeted.

‘Everyone knew LFC needed/wanted a midfielder, Klopp, club, fans. They tried for [Aurelien] Tchouameni & couldn’t get [Jude] Bellingham right now. Keep up with the click bait.’

Liverpool splurged on striker Darwin Nunez and also brought in attacker Fabio Carvalho over the summer.

But they waited until the end of the window to bring in midfielder Arthur Melo, who was hurriedly signed amid injuries to Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita.

Klopp had previously said the club didn’t need a new midfielder, but admitted he was wrong towards the end of August.

Nonetheless, Klopp’s midfield three of Fabinho, Harvey Elliot and the aging James Milner struggled in Naples as Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez were left looking vulnerable as well.

But asked if owners FSG let them down in the summer, Murphy said: ‘No. A few people have jumped on this about the transfer policy, but I don’t remember anyone doing any articles or talking on our show about what they’re lacking in defence or midfield.

‘They brought in [Ibrahima] Konate for £50m to help with [Joel] Matip, Gomez and Virgil van Dijk. There’s four.

‘They have brought in full-backs to cover the two they have got, they have spent £85m on a striker to try and fill the void left by [Sadio] Mane’s goals and assists that you are going to miss.

‘Where haven’t they backed him [Klopp]? Ideally you go and give him a load of money to get another one, but then that stunts the growth of someone like a Harvey Elliott or Carvalho.

‘It is finding a balance between sometimes giving those youngsters [the chance]… Harvey Elliott we wouldn’t have seen if they keep buying multiple £50m midfielders. Where do you stop with that?

‘Do you want Liverpool to become Man City? They can’t. They have to try and do it a different way. It is all well and good being wise after the event.

‘I didn’t see too many articles this summer where people were going “if Liverpool don’t get a midfielder they are not going to challenge for the title”.

‘Everyone including me said “it’s going to be Liverpool and City again”, they nearly won the quadruple. Three months ago we were talking about Liverpool nearly having one of the greatest seasons in history.’

Carragher meanwhile said in the aftermath of the Napoli defeat: ‘The problem tonight is not that game. Forget this game.

‘For me the big worry is that, ‘is this almost something that’s going to carry on through the season? Is this an end of a cycle?

‘Is this a massive drop off physically because of what’s happened over the last five or six years the way they’ve played, how intensive they’ve been. And can this team get it back?

‘It’s embarrassing. It really is,’ Carragher added of Liverpool’s defending.

‘I said before it’s kid stuff and this is the big problem with Liverpool right now. They’ve built their success on intensity on the ball, which means the opposition can’t get the head up to put the ball over.

‘So your team’s always tight. Always really compact .At times [there’s a] risk, but you get an energy on the ball, that energy is not there now, so that back four has to adapt and it has to go back three or four yards.

‘That’s all we’re talking about. But if they keep playing [like that] they’re gonna have a big problem in terms of the Premier League this season and qualifying for the next round of the Champions League, because that is suicide football.’

Carragher also singled out right back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was skipped past before Napoli’s third goal and caught out of position for the fourth.

‘The thing with Trent is I’ve always said this that he’s not a conventional fullback. He’s not great defensively. He never will be,’ Carragher said.

‘But he’s got strengths and talents that we don’t normally see from a fullback. He’s Liverpool’s playmaker, but I’ve always said I thought [these defensive struggles] would come with another manager.

‘When Liverpool stopped being one of the top teams in the Premier League or Europe. That means they will defend more, they will have more nights like this. And his defensive deficiencies will stand out more and we’ll see less of him on the ball.

‘That might be a time where he has to go into midfield. When you’re in a Jurgen Klopp team, you normally dominate the ball, dominate the play.

‘But when you see him under real pressure, his defensive problems will stand out even more and that’s the big problem for him right now. I thought that might come with the next manager but the problem is it’s coming right now with Liverpool.’

Liverpool will be home for their next two Champions League matches, with Ajax and then Rangers coming to Anfield.

The Reds sit in third place of Group A after one matchday, besting Rangers on goal difference.

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