PART one in this was about Steven Gerrard’s potential usefulness to Liverpool as a 23rd man in the squad. But Liverpool’s actual number 23 is potentially at a crossroads. Jamie Carragher’s spent the summer demonstrating what we thought – he’s a sharp observer of football who wants to engage with the game. His articles for The Daily Telegraph have been excellent and he intriguingly broke ranks as much as any pundit against the tiresome “Hodgson Consensus”.
It’s a safe option for all. Rodgers will need two cover centre halves and Carragher gets to develop himself as a coach. Simultaneously though it was clear last season that Carragher can still play, certainly in a defence sitting deep.
Carragher’s always been a better footballer than he’s given credit for and perhaps you can include himself in that. With options, coaching and good football happening around him he’s been able to move the ball on the deck and he obviously reads the game very well indeed. There’s been the notion he’s been a tough player to play with over these last three years for Skrtel and Coates but he has enormous experience. Him continuing at Anfield would probably be Rodgers’ preferred outcome.
But he shouldn’t be a starter at Liverpool and should be behind Coates in the pecking order if the Uruguayan is going to make it at Anfield. This is the crossroads. He should still be a starter somewhere. For his game now and for his future in the game.
While Carragher can still command a top-flight starting berth he should look for one. And if he has genuine pretensions towards top-flight management then he should look abroad.
The pre-eminent managers have experience, playing or managing, across a number of countries and actively observed in a number of countries – Mourinho, Mancini, Benitez.
It”s no coincidence that the former United player who has looked the best manager, even if he isn”t that good, is Hughes. Of the emerging crop, Paul Lambert had a spell at Dortmund, Martinez is obviously versed in two different football cultures. Our own Brendan Rodgers hasn’t managed abroad but a great deal has been made of his time spent studying there.
The best example is Guardiola who had a spell in Brescia after being Barcelona”s local hero for years. This would be priceless to Carragher – see a different footballing culture, experience what it is to be a foreign player abroad and come back to the UK to then put everything he has learnt across 15 years into practice. Carragher is still good enough for a Brescia and he has the opportunity in front of him to follow that example.
We’re well aware that Carragher has a young family – we saw his son dance up the Wembley steps in February – and that relocating them is always going to be a tough decision. But Carragher has shown he is most definitely a driven professional. If he intends to be as driven a manager as a footballer then having the option of a move like this should be openly welcomed.
It’s a chance to develop as Guardiola did, as Hughes and Lambert did, a chance to get out of an undeniable comfort zone in the city of Liverpool and its football club. It’s a chance to build on what he’s discussed all summer – the amount there is to learn outside these shores. And I’m sure positions at Melwood will remain open to him if he went and returned, with greater experience, extra prepared for the next challenges.
Jamie Carragher hasn’t gone. All players go, they lose what they could offer. Carragher hasn’t yet. However, despite the pull of home, despite Rodgers’ overtures, despite what could be in Liverpool’s best short term interests, he should seriously consider going.
Two well thought-out pieces, both unlikely to happen. If Gerrard was open to modifying his game and playing in different positions then it could turn out to be a masterstroke; after all, his stint on the right saw him play his best football, despite the Gray/Keys ‘he must play in the middle!’ axis berating Rafa for years over using SG in a different role. However, his default position is as a Roy of the Rovers type, and given the number of times he’s stepped in to rescue LFC in matches, it would be a tough sell to have him playing centre-half. You can see the red tops now decrying Rodgers as Christian Gross II. If I was Carra, should I go? Yeah, probably. Would I go? Probably not. On another point, the number of possibly brilliant future Liverpool managers is growing: Carra, Sammi, Xabi…
Two interesting articles there mate. I found it strange towards the end of last season when all hope in the league had gone that Carra started some games before Coates.
If you don’t mind though, I wanted to make a comment unrelated to your articles and here seems as good as anywhere.
I’m made up for The Anfield Wrap and the deserved success it has enjoyed this year. Of late, I’ve read about them winning a fair few awards, having over a million downloads but more importantly for the point I want to make seen John W Henry use the site as his vehicle for getting his update on the stadium across to the fans and heard of Jim being invited to the Brendan Rodgers press conference earlier this week.
My fear is that knowing that influential figures at the club are obviously following the podcasts that you don’t kind of sell out and hold back on your views in the way you would have to if you followed Utd and Fergie was listening in.
The thing I love most about the podcasts is the mixture of personalities and the different viewpoints you have about a topic. Obviously, some at the podcast wear their hearts on their sleeve and I’d guess there’s no way they’d be swayed by who’s listening (Andy Heaton springs to mind) but I pray that across the board there’s no watering down of opinions. Keep it real.
There will be none of that, Robin. I’m not going to go overtly critical to demonstrate it, but the lads running the site, running the podcast have never put any pressure on anyone not to say something or to say something. They aren’t going to start now. As far as I’m concerned it is kind of Liverpool to offer access. It is helpful to them as much as us though. And if they ever want to revoke it, fine. It’s their party. But this one is ours.
There is definitely merit in this argument Neil,
In fact you could go as far as to say that the failure to venture abroad is a failing that has stymied the English players at international level for over a decade now., particularly since the premiership became such a prominent league.
The Spanish national team has definitely benifited from having players such as Torres, Alonso and silva who have tested themselves in a foreign league.
Joe cole is the only current English international player thst i can think of who has broadened his horizons recently, but that was more by accident than design.
Carra would really be setting himself apart if he chose this route, but if his previous utterings about not wanting his children to grow up without scouse accents are to be believed then Id doubt his an idea that he is entertaining.
Huge contract, past it, blocking young players’ development. Ugh. It seems no manager has the stones to chuck this parasite out on his ear.
Can’t wait for him to leave so I can start liking him again.
Parasite?
WTF?
Lest we not forget Carra’s xenophobic comments last season about how KD’s purchases had improved the atmosphere at the club. it seems being able to dine with the downings and henderson’s is more important than having quality players in the squad.
Carra’s newspaper articles are clearly written by someone else, one only need read some of the thuggish commentary in his biography to see that he is not capable of writing in such a way.
i can’t see him venturing very far away from L4,or imagine him living abroad. maybe Liverpool AFC would be a good start for his managerial career.
Coates and wisdom need to move ahead of him in the pecking order, but i fear that rodgers will be swayed by the sentiment that has swayed many others before him. the one where player power rules, where stevie g decides where he plays, even though he’s far more useful out right.
Remember Carra getting hold of Arbeloa a few years ago at Anfield? Arbeloa is just the kind of player we need – technically sound and versatile – and we lost him for buttons. I think it stemmed from that incident. Despite an abundance of great qualities, and my hope that he is with our club for many years, Carra would do well to experience being the outsider.
Get a grip here, carra has been a great servant to the club & not a parasite! He wants whats best for us & has admitted himself he is no longer 1st choice. I expect another yr from him a then join the coaching staff
Great servant and forever the Lion of Istanbul – BUT – too much power and influence at Melwood / Anfield. Perhaps a year away from Liverpool after he stops playing would be a good idea to relax and – more importantly – view LFC from the outside for the first time since he was a kid.