Jamie Carragher has defended his view on Liverpool 's transfer policy after Danny Murphy accused him of "looking for excuses" following their horrendous 4-1 defeat to Napoli.
The ex-Reds teammates, who spent seven years playing alongside each other at Anfield, have found themselves in a war of words on Twitter in the wake of their former club's latest humiliation. Liverpool were 3-0 down before half-time on Wednesday as they got their Champions League campaign off to the worst possible start.
A second goal from Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski made it 4-0 shortly after the break, before Luis Diaz broke through the Napoli defence to score a sublime consolation goal. Jurgen Klopp admitted post-match that the Reds must now "reinvent" themselves after a dismal start to the new season, prompting an intense debate among fans and pundits.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Thursday morning, Murphy defended Liverpool's owners who Carragher has criticised, particularly due to their failure to splash out on a new midfielder. Presenter Jim White asked Murphy whether Carragher was being "being wise after the event," alleging that Carragher has claimed "Liverpool massively got their transfer ideas in the summer wrong."
The ex- Fulham captain replied: "Yeah, I think he's looking for some excuses or reasons and not looking at the obvious which is a simple mindset change that some of the players who've become complacent. They're thinking they're a bit better than they are and need to get back to some basics."
Murphy's and White's claims provoked Carragher into responding, as the former England centre-back tweeted: "Not once said Liverpool got it massively wrong in the transfer market & I'm not being wise after the event! Everyone knew LFC needed/wanted a midfielder, Klopp, club, fans. They tried for [Aurelien] Tchouameni & couldn't get [Jude] Bellingham right now. Keep up with the click bait bull****."
One thing which Carragher certainly did criticise was Liverpool's limp performance in Italy, as he lamented their 'worrying' display on CBS Sports. "The problem is not that game, forget this game. For me the big worry is if this is something that is going to carry on through the season," Carragher admitted.
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"Is this the end of the cycle? Have Liverpool massively got the transfer ideas in the summer wrong? Because this team looks so far off it and it has been at full pelt for five or six years under Jurgen Klopp. I'm not going to criticise their attitude because what this team have done in Europe and the Premier League, the mentality is fantastic.
"But is this a massive drop off physically because of the way they have played the last five or six years. How intense they have been, can this team get it back? That's the worry for me, what the future of this team is. It’s the performances more than the results."
