Keown hails Carragher

One of Kenny Dalglish’s masterstrokes against Chelsea was playing a back three — and no-one relished that more than Jamie Carragher, writes Martin Keown in his Daily Mail column.

One of Kenny Dalglish's masterstrokes against Chelsea was playing a back three - and no-one relished that more than Jamie Carragher.

It meant he could fully commit to tackles and one-on-ones while knowing there was cover from Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger.

It made him more positive in his defending. That is usually not the case in a back four and at times, Carragher has had Glen Johnson bombing forward and been exposed. The older Carragher gets, the more he will appreciate the help.

He was excellent against Chelsea and his passing was as good as I've seen it - he even hit a few raking diagonal passes. Agger looked comfortable on the ball too and with Pepe Reina rolling it out to them, it reminded me when Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson used to hog the ball at the back."

What Carragher does so well is to put in blocks and tackles. He has quick feet and prods at the ball and pinches it. He is a leader and is always trying to pass information to his team-mates - in fact, he is very demanding of himself and them.

With Carragher, there is a real attitude of 'over my dead body will they score'. That was never clearer than in his match-saving tackle on Fernando Torres.

In Dalglish's system Raul Meireles and Steven Gerrard broke forward well to assist Dirk Kuyt and were very intelligent in their use of the ball.

Playing on the left suited Johnson too. He had to turn inside on to his right foot but all his options were inside and so he linked up well. Chelsea's lack of width meant they couldn't contain Liverpool's wing backs. If they could have done, Liverpool's formation would have felt like a 5-3-2, not 3-5-2.

Source: Daily Mail

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.