Jamie Carragher has delivered some advice to Liverpool’s young full-backs ahead of their massive Premier League game against Man City at the Etihad on Thursday night.
He said that they need to be very wary of the threat from Leroy Sane, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling, and that they need to take extra care in the first 15 minutes of the game.
Talking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast Show (Thursday, talkSPORT, 9am), Carragher said, “I think in games like that, the first 15 or 20 mins, hold your position, don’t get caught out. You don’t have to win the game early on.
Remember the Champions League semi-final last season, they were all over the place in that first-half, Liverpool froze in that first-half and didn’t play their game.
“Early on they might have to play a bit differently, but Liverpool still have to play their football though and play their way. Man City don’t have to win either, they just have to make sure they don’t lose. If they lose it puts them in a really difficult position.”
OPINION
Everyone is looking forward to tonight’s game and there are some wild scores being predicted. But Carragher makes a really good point here. Liverpool don’t have to win and Man City can’t afford to lose. That means we could easily get a repeat of the earlier game in the season when the two free-scoring sides laboured to a 0-0 draw. Of course, an early goal could change all of that and both sides are blessed with extraordinary attacking talent. It’s a huge night for Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold. They’ve got to deal with some of the best attacking wide players in the Premier League, while Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren try to keep a lid on Sergio Aguero. Given those names a 0-0 seems like a ridiculous prediction but it’s happened before. We hope we’re wrong this time, but we’re going to go for a 1-1 draw, that will suit both sides. It would give Liverpool a huge advantage in the second-half of the season though.