Jamie Carragher is wrong, he left out greatest Liverpool forward ever from his ultimate XI
Jamie Carragher was the latest man to sit in the Stick to Football hot seat and was given the unenviable taste of naming his all-time Liverpool starting XI.
Given the sheer volume of brilliant players Liverpool has had over the years, Carragher unsurprisingly had a hard time settling on a final team, debating with himself who the goalkeeper, the left-back and the right-winger should be. Carragher eventually plumped for Ray Clemence over Alisson in goal, Steve Nicol over Andy Robertson at left-back, and Mohamed Salah over Ian Callaghan on the right wing.
The Sky Sports pundit, however, could find no room for former striker Luis Suarez on the podcast brought to you by Sky Bet, despite the Uruguayan's brilliant exploits during his three and a half years on Merseyside.
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In attack, Carragher chose Mohamed Salah, John Barnes, Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush. All four are Liverpool legends in their own right, but in terms of the peak level they reached, you'd be hard pressed to say they each scaled the individual heights Suarez reached during the 2013-14 season, when he almost single-handedly won the title for the Reds.
Longevity is often factored in when people are choosing a club's best all-time XI, and that certainly seems to be the case here. Mohamed Salah has been exceptional for Liverpool since joining the club in 2017, but few would argue that his peak level for the Reds matches Suarez's best level at Anfield.
It's just a shame Suarez didn't stick around to be a part of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool side, because if he did you can guarantee he would have filled his boots and driven the team to even greater success than it enjoyed.
What Carragher said when naming his team
“I would go with Ray Clemence just over Alisson just the fact that we won so many trophies. Right-back, Phil Neal. I think if I was asked this question at the end of his career I would probably say Trent [Alexander-Arnold]. But I’ll go with Phil Neal for the fact he won four European Cups.
“I would go with Virgil van Dijk and Alan Hansen [at centre-back], I think that would be a great partnership. Andy Robertson may come into the equation. I don’t think Liverpool have had a history of unbelievable left-backs even when they were really successful. I’m going to go for Steve Nicol, he had a great combination with John Barnes.
“Souey has to be in central midfield, so John Barnes on the left Graeme Souness in the middle alongside Steven Gerrard.
“On the right, I think there’s two options; Ian Callaghan, he’s the only player to play more games than me. But Mo Salah’s got to go in on that right side and Kenny Dalglish has got to play.
“I think Ian Rush goes in because of what he won. I think if Luis Suarez had got a league title and European cup to his name I think I’d have put him.”
Carragher's all-time Liverpool XI: Clemence; Neal, Van Dijk, Hansen, Nicol; Souness, Gerrard; Salah, Dalglish, Barnes; Rush