Jamie Carragher has criticised Andy Robertson’s performance for Liverpool in their 4-1 loss against Manchester City, with the Scotsman at fault for allowing Pep Guardiola’s side to get back into the game.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, the Sky Sports pundit slammed Robertson for how the defender reacted to City’s build-up for their equalising goal, with the left-back being caught out as Riyad Mahrez combined with Kevin De Bruyne to City the lead early in the second-half.
Liverpool took the lead through Mohamed Salah but quickly crumbled as Julian Alvarez brought City level before goals from De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish completed the comeback for Pep Guardiola’s side, leaving the Reds in the dust.
Indeed, it was a collapse of epic proportions and one of Liverpool’s worse all season, and for Carragher, the Anfield legend was critical of how Robertson’s role in City’s second goal could have been avoided had been down to better positioning and awareness.
Carragher said: “The fact he makes that run and tries to penetrate in behind [Mahrez] because he starts higher means Andy Robertson is now four or five yards behind the back four. Robertson now tries to press in there, which was a really poor decision, really poor.
“But the fact Mahrez’s run pushes Robertson back, and then he tries to go to De Bruyne, but how far away is he? He’s four yards. He makes that tackle if Mahrez doesn’t make that run in behind. City didn’t have that at Anfield because of the set-up of Pep.”
Robertson should take Carragher criticism on board ahead of Chelsea clash
Many Liverpool players are performing well below their usual best this season, and Robertson is no exception, with the £7m defender looking like a shadow of the player who used to dominate the Premier League from the fullback position. And criticism from Carragher should be a wake-up call.
Robertson has the quality to return to his best in the coming weeks, and with big games against Chelsea and Arsenal on the horizon, the Scottish international knows he can turn it around and shape up his game to its usual world-class levels that Liverpool fans have become accustomed to.