Jamie Carragher slams ‘absolutely idiotic’ Granit Xhaka for aiding Liverpool comeback
Granit Xhaka‘s decision to engage in a scuffle with Trent Alexander-Arnold and inadvertently ignite Liverpool in Sunday’s 2-2 draw has been criticized by Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher as “absolutely idiotic.”
Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring after eight minutes and Gabriel Jesus scored just before the half-hour mark to give the Gunners a deserved two-goal advantage.
But as the half-time whistle drew near, Xhaka felt aggrieved that he had not won a foul and argued with Alexander-Arnold, lashing out with his elbow and colliding with the full-back.
Both players received yellow cards, which seemed to ignite the blue touch paper, energizing a previously subdued Anfield and allowing Liverpool to score a goal before halftime.
The Merseysiders were by far the superior team in the second half, laying siege to Arsenal’s goal and earning a late equaliser through Roberto Firmino. If not for the excellent reflexes of Aaron Ramsdale, they could have claimed all three points.
Carragher believes that Xhaka’s altercation with Alexander-Arnold invigorated both Anfield and Liverpool’s players and was largely responsible for Liverpool’s dramatic turnaround after falling behind by two goals.
After being asked if the incident with Xhaka had an effect on the game, Carragher told Sky Sports: “Yeah I think it did. I mean, it sounds silly, I’m glad Xhaka did it… but I’m angry with Xhaka.
“I’m not an Arsenal fan, but if I was an Arsenal fan: what are you doing?! It’s absolutely daft. The game is in your hands and you get involved.
“Even the challenge, the arm, why do it? And now coming back, head-to-head with Trent, riles the crowd up. Absolutely idiotic from Xhaka to do that.
“And you know what, he’s been fantastic this season in a slightly different role, higher up the pitch, had a huge influence on this team. But that was going back to the old Xhaka.
“Honestly, who knows whether it led to the goal, we don’t know, but just for an experienced player to do something like that, in this ground, in the position they found themselves in…
“There was only one way Liverpool would get back into that game and that was with the help of the terraces.
“If that was just a football game, Liverpool right now can’t compete with Arsenal. But with the energy in the stadium they can. And [Arsenal] almost lost the game.”
Fellow pundit Roy Keane agreed, saying: “There’s enough Liverpool fans in the team, they react to that, they’re an emotional team and it certainly helped them, absolutely. But Xhaka, these lads aren’t going to change their ways. He’ll probably do it again next week.
“But it changes the energy in the stadium, though Liverpool still have to produce bits of quality which they did. And that one mistake didn’t help Liverpool create six or seven great chances in the second half – that was pure quality from brilliant attacking play. But it gave them a bit of a lift, no doubt about it.
“You have to show a little bit of fight, but there’s a time when to poke the bear and to leave the bear sleeping. He poked it at the wrong time.”
Jamie Carragher slams ‘absolutely idiotic’ Granit Xhaka for aiding Liverpool comeback