Jamie Carragher said Joe Gomez was “all over the place” for Liverpool in their 2-1 defeat to Leeds and urged Jurgen Klopp to do something about it.
Klopp’s side suffered their fourth defeat of the season on Saturday, their first loss at home for 19 months, to leave them eight points off the top four after 12 games.
They got off to a terrible start as Rodrigo was gifted the opener at Anfield in the fourth minute.
Attempting to play the ball back to his goalkeeper from the touchline, Gomez’s pass was overhit and misdirected, allowing Rodrigo to easily tap the ball into an empty net.
Gomez continued to have a torrid time, to the extent where Carragher believed he should be subtituted at half-time, as he was in the 4-1 defeat to Napoli in the Champions League earlier in the season.
“Joe Gomez has been all over the place in this first half. He really has,” Carragher said while on commentary duty for Sky.
“He had a poor first half in Napoli a few weeks ago and Matip came on at half-time. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw [Ibrahima] Konate at half-time either.”
But Gomez wasn’t replaced and played a part as Crysencio Summerville scored the last-gasp winner for Leeds.
Dragged out of position for no particular reason, with both James Milner and Curtis Jones closing down Wilfried Gnonto on the wing, Gomez was too late to make a difference as the ball was crossed into the middle, where Patrick Bamford set up Sommerville to send the away fans into raptures.
Despite the suspect defending, Graeme Souness reckons Klopp’s biggest problem is in midfield, where the players “don’t have it in their legs anymore”.
He said: “I think when you look at the midfield. Thiago 31, Henderson 31, Fabinho 29. And after that you have Keita who is about 27, you have Oxlade-Chamberlain who is out and is injured at 29.
“You have Curtis Jones who is 21 and the other young player who started tonight Harvey Elliot is 19.
“Go back to start of the season, Jurgen said his midfield felt vulnerable because with the age group and the chances of injuries.
“We know it is a very hard league to play in and it’s a long nine months at times, so to expect the two young guys to come in and take you through most of the season is a big ask.
“I’ve said it since the start of the season, the midfield they have now is no longer the midfield that is going to win them the big trophies.”
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