Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has voiced significant concerns regarding the club's midfield heading into the new Premier League season, suggesting it presents a "huge problem" that will prevent them from challenging for the title. The Reds finished fifth in the 2025-26 campaign, leading to the dismissal of manager Arne Slot and the subsequent appointment of Andoni Iraola.
Despite signings like winger Victor Munoz and defender Ronald Araujo, Liverpool has yet to strengthen its midfield. Carragher pointed to the lack of defensive cover and the space that was exploited in the previous season as ongoing issues. "The midfield for me is still a huge problem for Liverpool," Carragher stated on The Overlap Fan Debate. "I haven’t watched all the pre-season games, but I watched the last two against decent opposition – it was Leeds and then Monaco. And the problem Liverpool had last season was there was space everywhere in midfield. That has not gone away at all."
Carragher specifically highlighted the potential deployment of Dominik Szoboszlai in a central midfield role alongside Ryan Gravenberch, describing it as "pure box-to-box." He called for the acquisition of an "out-and-out number six" to provide greater stability and depth in the team's engine room.
While acknowledging the individual quality of midfielders such as Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, and Florian Wirtz, Carragher expressed apprehension about their collective effectiveness as a unit. "You can’t say Gravenberch is not a really good player, or [Florian] Wirtz, or [Dominik] Szoboszlai. But as a midfield three, I look at that and think, oh no, there’s almost too much quality, but they all want to go and play and run. And even in pre-season, the space is coming through the middle," he explained.
Following a season where they relinquished their 2024-25 title, and with the departures of key players like Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konate, Liverpool's pre-season form has seen them win two and lose two of their matches. Iraola's side is set to conclude their preparations against Como. Nevertheless, Carragher remains unconvinced that the current midfield configuration, even with a new manager, is sufficient for a title challenge. "I struggle to see how that midfield three [of Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai & Ryan Gravenberch] – who are all individually really good players – is a midfield three that gets Liverpool back to competing for the title," he concluded.
