Carragher: 2 £100m players performing worse than Koumas and Muñoz is unacceptable

In the 6th round of the Premier League, Liverpool lost 0-3 to Manchester City at home. After the match, Carragher commented on the game on Sky Sports, criticizing Wirtz's performance as not meeting expectations and discussing Gravenberch's display and the adjustments Liverpool's midfield needs to make.

Carragher said: "Liverpool spent a lot of money, but the returns are far from what they should be. Now, I want to talk about Florian Wirtz again, because I criticized him after Liverpool's last away game against Bournemouth.

At the time, some Liverpool fans criticized me for being too negative. Liverpool won the game, and everyone was happy heading into the international break. But the solution I mentioned then now seems almost like a last hope: could Jürgen Klopp give him some care and encouragement when he returns to the German national team?

He played very well in that game under Klopp, scoring a goal and providing an assist, which was great.

But today he came here, and as a Liverpool fan watching this game, I thought to myself: 'Isak and Gakpo are both absent, and they are our two best-performing attackers this season. We need Barcola and Florian Wirtz to really step up and help Muñoz and Koumas upfront.' As it turned out, Koumas and Muñoz performed better than those two players worth £100 million. This shouldn't be the case—it really shouldn't. I'll say it again: when Liverpool were down to 10 men, everyone in the stadium knew who to substitute. There was no need to even think about it.

The biggest highlight for me today was seeing Gravenberch rediscover the player I know, the player he was during his two years at Liverpool when he performed exceptionally well as the team won the title. But under the new manager, he started poorly and was dropped from the starting lineup. Florian Wirtz should absolutely not be ahead of Gravenberch in terms of playing time. I know they play different positions. Gravenberch is about 1.91 meters tall, can make big strides forward, has technical ability, and can score goals. He brings much more to the team. Liverpool must readjust their midfield because Wirtz is currently not contributing enough.

Again, as I mentioned, I was criticized after the Bournemouth game. Wirtz has played 55 to 60 games for Liverpool. If we look at Barcola now, he has only played four or five games for Liverpool and hasn't performed exceptionally well. Today you might have hoped for a better performance from him, but at this point, you have to be patient. You would say: 'Okay, he's only played five or six games. He's still adapting to new teammates, a new league, and didn't participate in preseason training.' You would find reasons for him and make excuses, hoping for improvement later. Criticizing him now would be too harsh and excessive. But criticizing a player who has played nearly 60 games is neither harsh nor excessive."

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