Liverpool drew with Manchester United on Sunday as they passed up the chance to go eight points clear in the Premier League.
The Reds knew they had a golden opportunity to move further ahead at the top of the table after Arsenal dropped points against Brighton on Saturday.
However, it was clear from the early moments at Anfield that United had come to disrupt the narrative.
Despite sitting a lowly 14th place in the Premier League at kick-off, Ruben Amorim’s side had the better of the first-half, with Trent Alexander-Arnold having a bad day in particular.
Roy Kean tore into Alexander-Arnold at half-time having seen the Liverpool right-back play well below his standard.
And after Trent went on to arguably cost the Reds not one but two goals, Jamie Carragher said that Arne Slot should have taken him off far sooner than he eventually did.
Jamie Carragher points out Arne Slot mistake
Slot has barely got anything wrong at Liverpool since his arrival over the summer.
Given the Reds position in both the Premier League and Champions League, it’s fair to say that the Liverpool head coach has made some brilliant contributions.
However, according to Carragher, waiting until the 86th minute to take Alexander-Arnold off on Sunday was a real error.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the Liverpool legend insisted that Trent should have been swapped for Conor Bradley far earlier.
“I think he got that wrong today,” Carragher said when discussing Alexander-Arnold’s struggles.
“I think he should have taken Trent off earlier. Not at half-time but see how the first 10 or 15 minutes go. But as soon as Man United got that first goal, I think Trent should have come off earlier.”
How did Conor Bradley get on?
It was plain to see for just about everyone watching Sunday’s game that Alexander-Arnold was being targeted by Manchester United.
Nevertheless, the 26-year-old should have stood up to that far, far better than he did.
After Liverpool had turned the game around in the second-half, though, Slot should have recognised that that was the time to get Trent off. Instead, the boss did not pull the trigger and another United goal came down the Reds’ right side.
Part of Slot’s reluctance to take his right-back off was likely because Bradley was just returning from injury. Had the Northern Irishman been fully fit, he surely would have been on sooner.
As it was, Bradley was excellent when he came on and even almost bagged himself an unlikely winning goal. The 21-year-old is now likely to start at Tottenham on Wednesday and should be considered for a regular berth moving forward.
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