'Could have won the league': Jamie Carragher names the two players he wishes Liverpool had when he was playing
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Liverpool had to wait 30 years in between their last two league title wins. 1990 to 2020 was a long old time for supporters.
It wasn’t as though the Reds didn’t come close during the intervening years, though. Many title challenges were launched, none successfully.
One of the closest came in 2008/09, when Liverpool finished just four points behind Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
That was a United team packed with quality. Just look through the list of names: Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov and it goes on.
As it happens, the Liverpool squad also wasn’t too shabby itself. Going well under Rafa Benitez, the Reds had assembled ‘the best midfield in the world’ along with players such as Fernando Torres.
Jamie Carragher was also a mainstay in that team and the centre-back has been looking back on how close Liverpool came for the Stick To Football podcast.
Jamie Carragher longs for Mo Salah or Sadio Mane
The one thing that Liverpool were truly missing as part of the 08/09 group was an elite wide player.
While the spine of Pepe Reina, Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard and Torres was undoubtedly world-class, the wingers let them down a little.
Dirk Kuyt was a very good player for Liverpool and worked hard on the right. But he never quite had the X factor that was needed to challenge for the top, top honours.
Meanwhile on the left, Albert Riera had been picked up on the cheap and would ultimately only last two seasons at Anfield.
READ MORE: Gary Neville names the best Liverpool team he played against during his time at Man United
So, speaking to Gary Neville – who was of course part of that title-winning United side – it was not a surprise to hear that Carragher thinks adding a Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane to that Liverpool squad would have pushed them on to be champions.
“We just didn't quite have enough in the wide areas,” laments the former defender. “You [Neville] say this a lot – you never played against an amazing winger for Liverpool. You never played against a Ronaldo, a Giggs.”
“A Salah, Mane, Diaz or Jota,” replies Neville. “None of your wide players in the time, and I played against you for 15 years, not one of your wide players was as good as the four you have got now.”
“I think if we had a Mane or a Salah we could have won the league that season or made it a bit tighter,” adds Carragher.
Who did Jamie Carragher pick in his all-time Liverpool XI?
As part of Thursday’s podcast, Carragher also picked his all-time Liverpool XI.
From the 08/09 team, only Gerrard makes the list, with the likes of Alonso and Torres perhaps not a millions miles away.
Looking to the wings, though, and Carragher does include Salah as the best right-sided Liverpool forward of all-time.
There is no place for Mane on the left, however, as the pundit picks the legendary John Barnes in his place. We suspect Sadio may have been a not too distant second.
That Mane and Salah even come close to such an illustrious mention shows just how good they were in their pomp as a duo. We were spoiled.
