Time for Carragher to take a step back

Liverpool’s most loved player, the player who has the strongest affinity with the club; a player who claims to pray every night for divine intervention for Liverpool; Jamie Carragher’s place in Liverpool’s Hall of Fame is already assured, but is his time in Liverpool’s first team coming to an end?

Carragher has been a fantastic defender for Liverpool over the years, powerful and intelligent, determined and inspirational. His role in the side over the last decade cannot be understated, but now at the age of 31, he is no longer the same player. It is generally assumed that only a slight lack of pace has prevented Carragher from being truly world class, in his prime he had all the other attributes a defender needs to reach the very top of his profession.

But now as Liverpool’s season is falling apart and calls for change increase, perhaps it is time for a change at the back. At 24 and 25 years of age, the time is right to give Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger the chance to form a centre-back partnership that could be the foundation of Liverpool’s play for the next few years. The two have been interchangeable in the past but together they could be a real force. Skrtel looks low on confidence right now but at his best is completely dominant in the air while Agger is one of the best with the ball at his feet. They have complimented each other well on the rare occasions they have played together and it is certainly something that Benitez should consider. Perhaps right now isn’t the best time for a change as Carragher’s passion will be needed as Liverpool attempt to rescue their season, but a change will have to be made at the back sooner rather than later.

As already mentioned, Carragher has never been the quickest of defenders, but this season he appears to have slowed further. Attackers with real pace give him all sorts of problems and he is often reduced to giving away free-kicks in dangerous areas to deal with them. Not the best thing to do given Liverpool’s poor record of defending set-pieces this season. West Ham’s young striker Zavon Hines gave Carragher a torrid time earlier in the season, a player with little top flight experience was able to run the former England international ragged by virtue of his pace alone. Against Theo Walcott on Sunday, Carragher was forced to halt the young Arsenal man’s progress with an off-the-ball block; he was lucky not to concede a free-kick and a yellow card as Fabio Aurelio was punished for a similar offence later in the game.

Liverpool have problems with confidence throughout the team and Carragher is one of the few that can inspire those around him with his passion for the game, but past this season Liverpool cannot afford to carry him; passion is no substitute for quality, his loss of form this season has been drastic and he is now a passenger in many games. He has been a great servant to the club, but perhaps it is time for a changing of the guard.