Liverpool star compared to Arsenal legend by Jamie Carragher
Jamie Carragher has been impressed with the performances of Liverpool star Ryan Gravenberch this season (Picture: Getty) Jamie Carragher has lauded the performances of Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch and believes he should be in the running to winhe PFA Footballer of the Year Award. The former Ajax star put in another dominant performance last night as the Reds overwhelmed Tottenham and powered into the Carabao Cup final with a 4-0 win at Anfield. While the likes of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk dominate the headlines, Gravenberch has quietly emerged as an integral component of a Liverpool side that are starting to eye an unprecedented quadruple. The 22-year-old endured a difficult first season at Anfield but a change of position under Arne Slot has seen the Netherlands international justify the hype that surrounded him when he joined Bayern Munich from Ajax. ‘It is really interesting as they thought a lot of him when he came in,’Carragher said of Gravenberch ahead of last night’s second leg. ‘The reason Bayern Munich let him go was because they played a different system. Liverpool played 4-3-3, he was more of an attacking midfielder, he would go on runs with his long legs. ‘When Liverpool tried out players in the six, he was trialling them. They weren’t fully sure of the idea – he was he was more attacking. I was really intrigued, but I couldn’t see how it would work. Jamie Carragher enjoyed many Premier League battles with Patrick Vieira (Picture: Getty) ‘The highest compliment I can give him is he would be in the running for player of the year, he reminisces of Patrick Vieira, the long legs, moving through midfield. He has been a revelation.’ Rather than basking in his latest success, meanwhile, Slot is already thinking about another competition ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup trip to Sky Bet Championship side Plymouth. The Liverpool manager said: ‘It’s pleasant, although if you know me a little bit, my thoughts are more on Sunday already than thinking about the final in the month. ‘Our performance was something that pleased me. Reaching a final should always be special, even for this club, because this club is used to playing finals, but still we are working very hard every single day to try to improve players and the players want to improve themselves every single day. Ryan Gravenberch is enjoying a superb season (Picture: Getty) ‘But we’re also in this business to play finals, although we know how difficult the final is going to be because we faced Newcastle already and they were very impressive yesterday as well. ‘But there are many games to be played before that final and this is where our focus should be at.’ Liverpool completely dominated the game and won with little alarm with goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil Van Dijk, while injury-hit Spurs hardly threatened. Slot said: ‘Tottenham have so many injury problems, that’s probably the main reason why they are conceding goals. ‘But they are always able to score goals as well and create a lot, so for us to be so aggressive without the ball that it took them 80 minutes before they had their first shot on target, should tell you a lot about our work-rate without the ball.’
Jamie Carragher has lauded the performances of Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch and believes he should be in the running to winhe PFA Footballer of the Year Award.
The former Ajax star put in another dominant performance last night as the Reds overwhelmed Tottenham and powered into the Carabao Cup final with a 4-0 win at Anfield.
While the likes of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk dominate the headlines, Gravenberch has quietly emerged as an integral component of a Liverpool side that are starting to eye an unprecedented quadruple.
The 22-year-old endured a difficult first season at Anfield but a change of position under Arne Slot has seen the Netherlands international justify the hype that surrounded him when he joined Bayern Munich from Ajax.
‘It is really interesting as they thought a lot of him when he came in,’Carragher said of Gravenberch ahead of last night’s second leg.
‘The reason Bayern Munich let him go was because they played a different system. Liverpool played 4-3-3, he was more of an attacking midfielder, he would go on runs with his long legs.
‘When Liverpool tried out players in the six, he was trialling them. They weren’t fully sure of the idea – he was he was more attacking. I was really intrigued, but I couldn’t see how it would work.
‘The highest compliment I can give him is he would be in the running for player of the year, he reminisces of Patrick Vieira, the long legs, moving through midfield. He has been a revelation.’
Rather than basking in his latest success, meanwhile, Slot is already thinking about another competition ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup trip to Sky Bet Championship side Plymouth.
The Liverpool manager said: ‘It’s pleasant, although if you know me a little bit, my thoughts are more on Sunday already than thinking about the final in the month.
‘Our performance was something that pleased me. Reaching a final should always be special, even for this club, because this club is used to playing finals, but still we are working very hard every single day to try to improve players and the players want to improve themselves every single day.
‘But we’re also in this business to play finals, although we know how difficult the final is going to be because we faced Newcastle already and they were very impressive yesterday as well.
‘But there are many games to be played before that final and this is where our focus should be at.’
Liverpool completely dominated the game and won with little alarm with goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil Van Dijk, while injury-hit Spurs hardly threatened.
Slot said: ‘Tottenham have so many injury problems, that’s probably the main reason why they are conceding goals.
‘But they are always able to score goals as well and create a lot, so for us to be so aggressive without the ball that it took them 80 minutes before they had their first shot on target, should tell you a lot about our work-rate without the ball.’
