Carragher breaks silence on Gerrard replacing Arne Slot as Liverpool manager

Steven Gerrard was linked with replacing Arne Slot at Liverpool following the 4-1 Champions League humbling against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield last week

Jamie Carragher has shut down the suggestion Steven Gerrard could replace Arne Slot and believes Liverpool would struggle to find a better head coach than the Dutchman. Ahead of Sunday’s victory over West Ham United, Slot vowed to "fight on" as Liverpool head coach after talks with the Anfield hierarchy amid the club’s worst sequence of results in 71 years.

Nine defeats in 12 matches – and six in seven in the league – made Sunday’s trip to the London Stadium hugely significant as the defending champions tried to arrest their slide. But second-half strikes from Alexander Isak, his first Premier League goal for the Reds, and Cody Gakpo secured Slot’s side a much-needed 2-0 victory.

Slot is always believed to have retained the support of the club’s hierarchy despite the recent slump in form, but that hasn’t stopped speculation about who could replace him at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp was linked with a sensational return just a year after quitting the club.

Another name mentioned was Gerrard, who captained the Reds to Champions League glory back in 2005. But Carragher believes not only is there no chance his former team-mate will be taking over, but everyone connected to the Anfield club is desperate for Slot to turn things around.

“I felt like Liverpool playing West Ham was the toughest of those [current run of] games, because of the nature of the opposition,” he told The Overlap Fan Debate.

“They are a team that have been in the bottom three all season, a promoted team in Sunderland, and Leeds are another promoted team who are in the bottom three.

“It feels like if you don’t get results in those, where do you go? The idea of Liverpool changing the manager who won the league, Liverpool have never done that. Then, who do you get? The idea of an interim manager just feels like, who and how?”

Asked directly if the rumours of Gerrard taking over are true, Carragher replied: “No, I wouldn’t imagine. He’s been a manager at Villa and had great success at Rangers as well.

“He’s a legendary figure and he’s back, floating down Liverpool. I don’t think most Liverpool fans will be screaming for Steven Gerrard – everyone is desperate for it to work for Arne Slot.

“They’re on such a bad run, the flipside of that is then how long does it carry on?”

Slot took drastic action in a bid to halt their alarming slide by dropping Mohamed Salah for Isak against the Hammers. Before Sunday’s goal, the Sweden international had just one Carabao Cup goal to show for his protracted £125 million summer switch from Newcastle United.

And Carragher believes too much has been made of Isak not having a pre-season. He said: “How long can you keep saying he [Isak] had no pre-season? Too much is made of it. I did a whole pre-season and broke my leg in September, so I was out for four months.

"When I got back fit, I didn’t do a pre-season – I did a few weeks of training, played in a reserve game, and then I was back into it.

“I had longer off with my injury than I had in the summer. Of course, you need pre-season and to build your fitness – I get all that – but anyone who gets an injury during the season doesn’t get a pre-season before he comes back. It gives people too much of an excuse."