‘Not acceptable’ – Carragher accuses five Liverpool players of ‘cardinal sin’ for Nketiah winner | OneFootball

Jamie Carragher has accused five Liverpool players of committing a ‘cardinal sin’ in the lead-up to Eddie Nketiah’s stoppage-time winner for Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Reds had looked set to escape from Selhurst Park with a creditable draw, only for a late lapse in concentration to see them concede in the 98th minute, allowing Arsenal the chance to close to within two points of Arne Slot’s side (which they duly took by beating Newcastle).

Some of the visitors’ coaching staff had complained at full-time over the allowance of more than the originally indicated six minutes of added time, but the former LFC defender felt that the players on the pitch were to blame and not the officials.

Carragher seething over Liverpool players’ lapse in concentration

On Sky Sports‘ Monday Night Football, Carragher pointed to a lack of concentration from several Liverpool players in the throw-in prior to the one from which Nketiah scored.

The pundit observed: “Look at Liverpool players – Mo Salah, [Federico] Chiesa, Curtis Jones, Virgil van Dijk – not looking at the ball. They think the game’s over; it’s finished. That’s a cardinal sin. That’s something you’re told as a young boy – never take your eye off the ball. They just think, ‘OK, we’re going to get our 1-1’.

“The ball comes in. [Milos] Kerkez is bending down because he’s either shattered or he’s fixing his shinpad. That can’t be possible. At this level of football, five players not watching the ball, Kerkez not challenging his man [because he’s] bending down.

“Then, you have a situation where you’ve got five players ahead of the ball on a throw-in in the last minute of the game. Again, not acceptable at this level of football…that’s where Liverpool lost the game – that throw-in, not the [subsequent] long throw-in.”

Image via Sky Sports Premier League

Liverpool pay the price for switching off from Palace throw-in

While the Liverpool players must’ve been almost running on empty by the 97th minute after the effort they’d invested in such a tough contest against Palace, they paid a massive price for letting their concentration drop just before the final whistle, something that Slot also bemoaned after the game.

Two of those who Carragher called out are among the most experienced members of the squad, including the captain in Van Dijk, and for him and Salah to switch off when Daniel Munoz took the initial throw-in was uncharacteristically lax.

Considering the number of stoppage-time winners that the Reds have already scored this season, they should know better than anyone that no game of football is ever done until the referee blows for full-time, and that late lapse turned a respectable draw into a soul-searching defeat.

We’d imagine that the piece of analysis Carragher carried out on Sky Sports was already conducted by Slot in the 48 hours or so since the Palace game, especially with Liverpool quickly back into action as they play Galatasaray in the Champions League tomorrow night.

What happened on Saturday can’t be undone, but it can provide a valuable lesson for the Premier League champions as they seek to ensure that the Selhurst Park result is a one-off and not the start of a more prolonged downturn in form.

You can watch the Liverpool squad prepare for Champions League action via our YouTube channel: