Jamie Carragher left seething over ‘awful’ 68th-minute moment which ‘sums up Liverpool’ | OneFootball

Jamie Carragher was understandably fuming at the manner in which Liverpool fell behind at Anfield for the third home match in succession tonight.

Chances were few and far between in the game against Sunderland until the 68th minute, when the visitors broke the deadlock.

It stemmed from a wayward pass by Virgil van Dijk straight to Chemsdine Talbi, who surged into the space in front of him as the Reds captain strangely decided to back off rather than closing down the Moroccan winger.

The Black Cats’ number 7 then let fly from 25 yards out and, with the aid of a deflection off the Liverpool skipper, the ball whistled past Alisson Becker and into the home side’s net.

Carragher left raging over ‘awful’ goal to concede

Speaking on co-commentary for Sky Sports, Carragher felt that Sunderland deserved that moment of good fortune and criticised our number 4 for turning his back on the ball when Talbi shot.

The former Reds defender said: “You can’t say Sunderland don’t deserve it. Liverpool have been awful. Sunderland have been so much sharper. Van Dijk turns his back. That goal sums up Liverpool in this game.”

Image via Sky Sports

A costly lapse from Van Dijk as Liverpool held at Anfield

Carragher was critical of Van Dijk after last week’s painful thrashing at home to PSV Eindhoven, and unfortunately the captain had a bit of a shocker for the opening goal tonight.

He put his team in trouble with a careless pass straight to Talbi, and to then turn his back on the shot and allow the Moroccan ample time to aim for the net was a cardinal sin from someone who’s normally a world-class defender.

The 34-year-old may have been unlucky with the deflection, but he partly brought that on himself by being so negligent in the move which led to the Sunderland winger breaking the deadlock.

Van Dijk would ultimately be indebted to Curtis Jones for instigating the passage of play which led to the equaliser, and to Federico Chiesa for a heroic block to deny Wilson Isidor a stoppage-time winner as Liverpool ultimately came away with their first draw of the Premier League season (and their first in all competitions without recourse to a penalty shootout).

To be fair to the Reds captain, he made some important contributions tonight with a few strong defensive headers (he won eight of his 10 duels in total) and made nine clearances, although he’ll be sorely disappointed with the manner of Talbi’s goal.

Hopefully that proves to be nothing more than a rare lapse from the Dutchman, who’ll need to put it behind him quickly and focus on trying to inspire his side to victory against Leeds on Saturday.