Jamie Carragher makes demands of two players to get Liverpool back in the title race

Wirtz and Ekitike

Jamie Carragher has admitted he wants to see more in front of goal from Liverpool duo Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.

The two summer signings have become hugely important to Arne Slot following injury blows in the squad and several others underperforming.

It was a difficult start to life at Anfield for Wirtz while Ekitike flew out of the blocks.

The roles have somewhat been reversed recently with Wirtz shining and Ekitike scoring just two Premier League goals since mid-December.

While Wirtz is often the best player on the pitch, direct goal contributions have been hard to come by with Carragher wanting to see more definitive impact in the final third from both.

Carragher

“In the second half of the season, Wirtz has been fantastic. But he still doesn't have the numbers to back it up.

“But you still love to watch him play football. There's no doubt we're seeing his real quality now. He's influencing the game.”

“At Sunderland, no-one had won there before. He didn't get the goal or the assist, but if you watch that game, he was the best player on the pitch.

"Wirtz and Ekitike are doing well at the moment. But you feel they would need to go up another level to get Liverpool back in the title race next season."

The attacking duo have developed a good understanding on the pitch with Ekitike's and Liverpool's struggles against Nottingham Forest on Sunday somewhat down to Wirtz's absence. He was due to start at the City Ground but pulled out at the last-minute due to injury.

Thankfully for Liverpool, he does not look set to miss a period of action, judging by Slot's injury update after the game.

When asked for an injury update, Slot said: “We don’t think it is very serious. He felt his back too much during the warm-up to start.

"He wasn’t able to be 100% or close to 100%. So we decided not to play him but hope and expect him to be with us next week.”

Alexis Mac Allister scored the decisive goal against Forest this past weekend with Liverpool largely outplayed by the hosts. After the game, Carragher also made his thoughts perfectly clear on the overall performance and showings from three players.

Carragher began: "That's one of the biggest robberies I've seen in the Premier League this season.”

"[Rio] Ngumoha did more in 15 minutes than [Mohamed] Salah and Cody [Gakpo] did before that. He changed the game and needs to be starting games. There's no-one better in getting last-minute winners in Premier League - and that is Liverpool."

#ad - Get your Liverpool F.C. Men's Baseball Baseball - https://amzn.to/3N29Se9