'Shocking' Reds 'won't win the league' if Slot ignores huge 'problem' Bournemouth exposed

Jamie Carragher says Liverpool “won’t win the league” if Arne Slot doesn’t “solve” a problem that Bournemouth exposed on Friday night.

The Premier League champions kicked off the 2025/26 season with a thrilling 4-2 win over Andoni Iraola’s side.

Summer signing Hugo Ekitike opened the scoring on a superb Premier League debut before Cody Gakpo made it 2-0 four minutes into the second half.

Liverpool looked open at the back all game and they were eventually made to pay when Antoine Semenyo finished a swift counter-attack that exposed substitute Wataru Endo at right-back.

Twelve minutes after halving the deficit, Semenyo punished the Reds in transition again, drilling a lovely left-footed shot into the bottom corner to level proceedings.

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Bournemouth could have gone on to win the game but Federico Chiesa’s first Premier League goal in the 88th minute helped Liverpool get all three points, with Mohamed Salah adding a fourth deep into stoppage time.

Liverpool’s gung-ho approach left the club’s former defender, Carragher, astonished. On punditry duty for Sky Sports, the 47-year-old slammed the Reds’ “absolutely shocking” approach to the game when 2-1 up.

“It is unbelievable,” Carragher said on Friday Night Football after the game. “It’s fantastic from Semenyo – but Liverpool have had this problem.

“How many players were ahead of the ball – maybe eight players – when they were winning 2-1? That can’t happen. It’s absolutely shocking at this level.

“For Semenyo to run that far and get his shot away is incredible – but where Konate is going? He had a really, really poor night tonight at centre-back.”

Carragher emphasised how easy it was for Bournemouth to cut through Slot’s side and is convinced the Dutch head coach has to change his approach.

“That is not right. It’s not,” he added.

“It’s only game on top of the Community Shield – but I’ve watched enough football in my life. This idea that everyone bombs forward, it’s not for me. I don’t like it.

“At no time last week in the Community Shield did I ever feel Liverpool were in control of the game. You can draw 2-2 with Palace, that can happen. But it’s how easy Crystal Palace could get at Liverpool, how easy it was tonight.

“In the first half, Bournemouth should have been at least 2-0 up at one stage.”

Liverpool have signed teenage defender Giovanni Leoni to provide more depth at the back, while Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi remains a transfer target.

It was a difficult evening for Ibrahima Konate next to Virgil van Dijk and Carragher, who described the former as “absolutely shocking” during commentary, isn’t sure the personnel matters when Slot’s tactics is leaving the two centre-backs so exposed and isolated.

“There is definitely a problem that Arne Slot has to solve,” Carragher said.

“People say they need a centre-back – a centre-back doesn’t fix that. He just takes Konate’s place.

“It’s about the make-up of the team with two attacking full-backs and a No 10 who is more interested in getting on the ball than defending like [Dominik] Szoboszlai was last season.

“If Liverpool continue like that, I don’t think they will win the league.”

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