Jamie Carragher – underrated at England, overrated at Liverpool
Rob Smyth (who seems to be really bored now that he can’t complain about Manchester United playing poorly) talks about Jamie Carragher being hugely under-rated at the international level.
I think Rob’s right – Carragher should be given a run in the centre-back slot in the England lineup – but he’s missed an important counterpoint. You see, much of Carragher’s “back to the wall” heroism has come about because of a simple reason:
Rafa Benitez (and Houiller before him) making Liverpool anally defensive.
When you’re on the backfoot at all times, and when you have two holding midfielders sitting in front of you and letting the opposition climb all over you, it’s hard to play anything other than ‘back to the walls’ stuff.
Jamie Carragher is a quality defender, there’s no doubt about it. But at 29, he’s had plenty of time to break into the England squad and establish himself. Blaming ‘partisanship’ is not the answer. Liverpool will have to look at Carragher and realise that while he’s their best defender, the man is not good enough to start for England.
Football News 24/7
“Carragher should be given a run in the centre-back slot in the England lineup…
…the man is not good enough to start for England”
Hmmm. Well said.
March 7th, 2007 @ 20:35Anally defensive? – we played Man Utd and Barca off the park. If that’s defensive, can’t wait to see us have a real go…
March 7th, 2007 @ 20:36Carragher is as good a defender as they come. He may not be as good on the ball or as accurate with his passes as say Rio Ferdinand but by god he is 10 times the defender. A defenders job is to defend first and foremost then worry about the other side of the game and Carragher is second to none in that aspect. It is a shame for England that he has not been given a chance to establish himself and i don’t mean the odd game here and there i am talking about a long run in the side where he is able to develop chemsitry. Look at all the goals England have been leaking – are you trying to say Carragher could not have done a better job than Ferdinand, Terry or even Johnothan Woodgate? Oh well Englands loss and Liverpools gain and at the end of the day thats all i really care about. Go Spain!!!
March 7th, 2007 @ 20:44SoccerLens will have to look at Ahmed Bilal and realise that while he’s their best writer (kidding), the man is not good enough to write about Liverpool F.C.
March 7th, 2007 @ 20:52Fool ! I don’t care if he never plays for ENG-ER-LAND again ! Ferdinand or Carragher ?????? One winner there mate and that’s the fella with the Champions League medal !
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:02Ahmad Bilal: you mentioned anally in your comments ……
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:07From the sound and accuracy of you comments about Jamie Carragher you should have started your article as:
Anally speaking ……
keep taking the medication dear and you’ll feel better some day, and we might even let you see some football because you obviously don’t know anything about the game at the moment
We’ll win it 6 times
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:10you are writing a very biased, nonsensical argument ahmed. carra is more than good enough for england. his performances have been rated 8 or 9 /10 every week for the past 3 years. our most consistent player. Look at our defensive record over the last two years. Also this season liverpool have had more shots on goal than any other premiership team, which suggests to me that they are not defensive. So if you want to have a pop at our forwards, fair enough but leave carragher alone or i will get my dad on you. and my dads bigger than your dad!
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:22You’ve also contradicted yourself. in the title of your argument you write ‘underated for england’ then right at the end you say he is not good enough. Think on eh!
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:26Man this writer talks crap. One minute he’s saying he should have a run in the team and then saying he is not good enough to play for England. All I can say is personally I don’t care if he plays for England, every time that man pulls on a liverpool shirt he is incredible. Lets get it right if we didn’t have this opinion that Ferdinand is a better passer of the ball then Carra would be in his rightfull positioneverytime England plays. I think though one of the problems people have with Carra is that he played fullback for quite a time and they see him as a convert and not a natural centreback. All I can say is crap he is a natural defender, brilliant at any of the positions you put him. If I had to have any defender it would be him before anyone inn the world, the reason is he will give 100% all the time, injured or not (remember his tackles in the last 10 mins agains AC Milan).
All I can say is I dream of a team of Carraghers
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:32Man U rubbish from Ahmed Bilal again. Defensive team? “Rafa Benitez (and Houiller before him) making Liverpool anally defensive.”
I was at the Liverpool match on Saturday and there was only one anally defensive team on show.
You really have no idea.
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:44well said mate. he is the most UNDERATED player in the premiership. however ive been looking at barca websites and forums all week. Their players and fans really rate carra. ive a lot of mates who support manu and chelsea (unfortuanately) who are now converted into believing he is a quite brilliant defender. Just sounds to me like ahmed wants another round of scouse bashing after last nights performance, to try and take the gloss off our victory. Wont work mate. Athens beckons.
March 7th, 2007 @ 21:51Instead of replying to the witty comments above one by one, allow me to address issues.
1) liverpool being defensive – when you have your midfield holding back not attacking the box when there are crosses flying in, you’ve got a defensive minded team that’s afraid to be hit on the counter.
I was going to do a piece on it today but got busy – I’ll see if I can do it over the weekend.
If you’ve followed Soccerlens, you’ll know that I rate Liverpool and Benitez but have always said that Pool are too defensive and don’t go forward enough. Finishing is sometimes an issue, but more often than not it’s not attacking enough.
2) Playing Barca off the park (an exaggeration of events) does not mean you were attacking, it means you kept the ball a lot better and denied them attacks while taking potshots at goal from long distance.
Barca were panicking at the back. Chelsea would have murdered them, so would Arsenal. What did Liverpool do?
Not play them off the park. Dominate them, like they dominated United, but beat them, nope.
A 1-0 defeat is a 1-0 defeat.
3) Carragher vs Terry / Rio, Carragher for England
I’ve always rated Carragher, but I find that his game is limited compared to Terry and completely different from Rio. Terry gets picked because of his club form – on club form and player quality I’d pick Rio and Terry. But knowing how Terry doesn’t deliver for England, I’d like to see Carragher start and be given a few chances.
4) Unfounded criticism can be taken as bashing. Having an opinion opposite to yours is debate.
I haven’t said that he’s not good, what I’ve said is that in Liverpool’s circumstances his strong points are magnified and his weaknesses hidden. And read the above 3 points again.
After that, you can be as pissed off as you want…
March 7th, 2007 @ 22:17Your original article was not very good but your response saved the day for you
Let me add that Liverpool are not always defensive but when they try to attack they fail. They had about 35% percent of possession in the Nou Camp but came away with a deserved win. They dominated us but failed to create clear-cut chances and lost in the end, no matter how undeserved that was.
And their strikers are not good enough.
March 7th, 2007 @ 22:54nope, he is still in the dog house with me ryan. its your opinion ahmed. doesnt mean you are right. we liverpool fans would not swap him for rio or terry. so lets just leave it at that.
March 7th, 2007 @ 23:00or il get my dad
March 7th, 2007 @ 23:02If Carragher were not Liverpudlian, would Liverpool fans still maintain that they would not swap him for rio or terry?
March 7th, 2007 @ 23:58Ryan – it’s not the strikers, it’s the midfield – when Sissoko and Alonso camp themselves in front of Agger and Carragher and refuse to budge, there’s not much support left for Bellamy and Kuyt. Pool had no one attacking the box apart from Kuyt (surrounded by 5 Barca players) and Bellamy (waving his arms furiously as he got ignored half the time). Gerrard was on the right trying to figure out what to do, Riise shooting for gold way out on the left…
It’s a team issue, not a player issue.
Hugo – accusing a fan of bias? what is the world coming to?
PlasticScouser – you wimp
March 8th, 2007 @ 00:03Oh come on… If liverpool is defensive, why does liverpool top the shots chart in premiership season after season? Liverpool play total football, which means they know when to attack and when to defend. This shows they are smart footballers, like Chelsea. I do admit Pool’s strikers are below par but come summer transfer window, this flaw may disappear. Unlike Pool, Arsenal can’t defend and Man U relies on luck. Ahmed, please watch the whole match and comment and dont look at just statistics which are pointless. You must look from all angles if you want to be a better critic! Jamie Carragher may not be the best but he plays with passion unlike Rio, who threatens to quit the Devils because he is “underpaid”. Will you like somebody to play your heart and soul for your country or somebody who plays for money?
March 8th, 2007 @ 00:32Carragher? Underated? Worth and England place? In the same sentence?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA………………………
March 8th, 2007 @ 11:01boiderela:
“…come summer transfer window, this flaw may disappear.”
Isn’t this what you guys said last season before you bought half the world?
“Liverpool play total football…”
How can any team play Total Football when you have a player like Crouch in your team? Don’t understand me wrong, I’m not implying he’s a bad player, but I don’t see how he can swop to other positions (which is what you do in Total Football).
“This shows they are smart footballers, like Chelsea…”
If Liverpool fans call this Total Football, and then believe the above statement, then…
Personally, I know I like to punt Liverpool but to be honest, I don’t think your strikers are that bad. I also think it is more a matter of the midfield not feeding properly. The last two games against MU and Barca, I admired the way you defended…gave opposition absolutely no time to play…and this with great accuracy in tackling as well…impressive. It’s just, going forward never really created anxiety in me, even thoug I knew that Bellamy and Kuyt can be quite effective.
March 8th, 2007 @ 13:13Of course they will top the charts they have Gerard, Riise and Alonso from 30 to 40 yerds. Then the forwards receiving passes from 30 to 40 yards and shooting. They play deep but have players who can shoot or pass from distance.
March 8th, 2007 @ 16:45Anally defensive……..
I think you will find, if you actually look at statistics from this season that Liverpool FC have actually had more shots at goal than any other club in the Premiership!
So you can hardly say they are defensive can you!
March 8th, 2007 @ 17:37I think he is amazing and Im man utd!!! but then again, its like Gerrard and Lamps, great for club, poor for country!!!!
March 8th, 2007 @ 22:27I dont mind what the liverpool fans think about Caragher (if I got right, bcos I dont really care). The fact is that at least 3 different England coaches have looked at him and considered him not good enough to play for his country and that is what counts. Im not bothered what the scousers think tho. U cannot judge a team by their results in a cup competition. Afterall Monaco nearly won the champions league but does that make them better than chelsea? No. Judge a team over 38 games and u will see that Arsenal has had the most points in the last 5 seasons period!
March 12th, 2007 @ 01:28Whats the use of a defender who cannot pass the ball? And how will he help the team switch the ball from defense to attack?? thats the simple reason Jamie C will never play for England, bcos he is like a goal-keeper. He is a shot stopper. He is only good at terminating play n no good team needs that kind of footballer these days.
March 12th, 2007 @ 01:37this is one of the worst football related articles i have read. in the past 6-8 months, jamie carragher has faced shevchenko, drogba, c. ronaldo, ronaldinho, eto’o, rooney and messi, to name a few, and made them all completely ineffective. if outplaying the best players in the world consistently does not merit a place in an international line up, what does? as ‘alectricity’ said, ahmed bilal shouldnt be commenting on liverpool fc.
March 28th, 2007 @ 15:39Jaime
April 1st, 2009 @ 16:21