Jamie Carragher accuses Liverpool star of playing in ‘slow motion’ during Man Utd defeat

Liverpool gave up two leads in their FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Manchester United as the Red Devils prevailed after extra time at Old Trafford thanks to Amad Diallo’s winning goal

Jamie Carragher had a brutal assessment of Cody Gakpo’s performance in Liverpool’s FA Cup loss to Manchester United saying he ‘plays likes the game is in slow motion’.

The Dutch forward was introduced in place of Mo Salah after 77 minutes but failed to sufficiently impress as Antony forced the match into extra time. Gakpo managed to pick out Alexis Mac Allister, who couldn’t convert his cross, but otherwise had a limited impact.

The Reds were unable to hold out after Harvey Elliott once again handed them the lead as Marcus Rashford and Amad Diallo’s efforts earned Erik ten Hag’s side a dramatic win. Diallo saw red for his celebration as he removed his shirt to receive a second yellow card.

Carragher believes Liverpool were responsible for their own downfall and particularly targeted Jurgen Klopp’s forward line, beyond only Gakpo, for failing to deliver. Though he conceded it was a rare off-day for the club’s attackers.

The former Liverpool defender said on X: “Unbelievable game & it’s a great result for Man United but Liverpool only have themselves to blame. Scored three & still the attacking players were all very poor. Can’t complain too much as they’ve been amazing all season. Football bloody hell!”

Klopp believes his team were on the edge during the game but was pleased with the second half if not the result. The German coach pointed to the volume of football as a reason as to why his team struggled in moments.

He said in his press conference: “Obviously today was on and above the edge, it was really tough for us with the 130 or whatever minutes. United had the clear best start, it was obvious, they scored the early goal.

“We had to organise ourselves a little bit better, we struggled with the man-marking, didn’t play enough, all these kinds of things. In the moment when we found for the first time a way to play then we get rhythm and then it looked really good. Then we were absolutely deserved 2-1 up. And second half was exceptional, absolutely exceptional what we played here.