Get off Jamie ‘The stalwart’ Carragher’s back

Football fans and critics have a very short memory. Opinions that stem out of this memory also lack rationality and border baseless criticism.

Since the last three years, Jamie has been getting a lot of stick for his lack of defending. As a Liverpool fan, my reflex is to defend one of the greatest players to have ever played for the club.  But it is not only about the bias.

Every defender has a bad game. Footballers go through lean spells but World-class footballers put in that one performance that silences their critics. And Jamie did just that in the Merseyside Derby.

Carragher undoubtedly has lost some pace but his astute reading of the game has not deteriorated one bit .On a sunny, pressure-packed afternoon, Jamie Carragher stamped his class at Goodison Park.  Tim Cahill has an effective aerial prowess and scores headers with ease in the league. Carragher won almost every aerial ball against Cahill .Everton were a depleted side after the sending-off but its always harder playing against 10 men and Carragher effectively killed off , the unpredictable Louis Saha’s game with his incisive tackling .He did not put a single foot wrong.

Carragher’s verbose and organizing skills often go unsung. You rarely see a mix-up between the goalkeeper and the defense. Carragher plays every game with his heart on his sleeve and is still one of the first names on that team sheet.

Within the England setup, Jamie Carragher is under-rated. He is no less than John Terry and as effective as Rio Ferdinand (if not better). In my opinion, he did not get enough games to prove his mettle .This fact being emphasized by Fabio Capello persuading him to come out of retirement. What has instigated me is the fact that even Liverpool fans have been questioning his abilities. His last-ditch tackles have saved countless games for Liverpool.

Lets rewind Liverpool fan, If Jamie Carragher can out-wit and out-fight Andriy Shevchenko in a European Final with a strained muscle, he deserves more than ‘carra’s getting old’.  He has been found wanting in a lot of games , he drops too deep , he doesn’t get forward too often , doesn’t score too many goals but he had Fernando Torres in his pocket at Stamford Bridge , the same Fernando Torres who walked all over Nemanja Vidic (arguably , the best defender in the league) at Old Trafford

Do not write him off yet.

Jamie Carragher can defend, just ask the AC Milan squad of 2005/2006.



Comments

[strebby]

I both to an extent agree and disagree with this, he, and any other player are not beyond criticism when they get things wrong, if carra has a bad game then we are entitled to say so, yes he has been fantastic for us over the years, the fact is over the last 2 years he has been going downhill, and when that starts affecting the team then it becomes a problem. But for you to say in your last line and i quote "Jamie Carragher can defend, just ask the AC Milan squad of 2005/2006" is just plain ridiculous...if we were basing todays team selections on what players did 6 years ago, luis garcia would still be pulling on a shirt week in week out, hell why not go even further back and bring sami and stephane henchoz back....can you not see how ridiculous that statement is? the guy was 27 in that final, he's now 32\33, lost a lot of what little pace he had and is making costly errors and constantly just lumps the ball up for andy carroll(hence all the stick carroll gets but thats another argument for another day). Dont get me wrong i still think he should be in squad but when all of our defenders are fit and coates is up to speed, then carra should be used as we used sami in his last 2 or 3 years. We simply cant base todays team selections based on what players have done in the past.