Carragher: It’s like watching children play
British football pundits lambasted Liverpool after they blew a 3-0 first-half lead to draw 3-3 with Sevilla in a Champions League Group E game at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher led the charge, saying it was like "watching children" in the second half.
He said on Viasport Football: "It was a shambles, and thankfully I'm not allowed to swear also, because I'd like to swear when I see that second half!
"I didn't see Liverpool keeping a clean sheet, but to be 3-0 up and to see how Liverpool gave the goals away, and the actual game intelligence, it was like watching children play."
Rio Ferdinand, meanwhile, opined that the Reds just "don't know how to defend".
The former Manchester United defender said on BT Sport: "They are better on the front foot, but the best teams can mix and match, and at the moment this Liverpool team don't know how to defend."
Sevilla's three goals came from set pieces - a free-kick, a corner and a penalty - leaving Paul Merson to believe that Liverpool's players do not take enough responsibility on set-plays.
The former Arsenal man told Sky Sports: "It's happened too many times at set-plays, especially at corners, and I question whether they are working on corners...
"Concentration levels are poor... Liverpool simply do not take enough responsibility at set-pieces to ensure that their man doesn't score."
Ex-Reds defender Steve Nicol put the blame for Liverpool's "schoolboy defending" on manager Juergen Klopp.
He told ESPN: "The second half was an absolute abomination. Complete and utter schoolboy defending. And, for me, the blame has to go straight down to Klopp.
"When you're 3-0 up away from home in Europe you keep it tight. You move up and back as a unit."
While Nicol pointed the finger of blame at Klopp, his fellow pundits trained their ire on left back Alberto Moreno, who gave away the penalty and a needless free-kick, from which his boyhood side scored.
Ex-Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard said on BT Sport that Moreno's mistakes "changed the whole game".
Carragher admitted that the Spaniard has upped his game this season but said his former team need a new left back, simply because the 25-year-old will never rid his game of "rash decisions and rash tackles".
Former Liverpool midfielder and manager Graeme Souness, meanwhile, told Ireland's TV3: "It is as if he doesn't understand the position... He frustrates the life out of me. I think he is an accident waiting to happen." - WIRE SERVICES
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