Liverpool's Midfield Woes Exposed Again
Jamie Carragher watched it unfold for barely five minutes before snapping.
Liverpool’s new Premier League season, sold as a reset after last year’s chaos, was already unravelling at St James’ Park. One turnover, one gaping chasm through the middle of the pitch, one ruthless Newcastle break – and all the old doubts came roaring back.
Newcastle needed no invitation. Liverpool gave them one anyway.
Possession was coughed up in the hosts’ half and suddenly the entire centre of the pitch opened up. William Osula drove into the empty green ahead of him, unopposed, head up, picking his moment. His pass released Anthony Elanga in behind a disorganised backline and the finish past Alisson Becker was as simple as it looked. Five minutes gone. Same story.
Carragher fumes at familiar flaw
Carragher had spent the build-up to the season warning that Liverpool were far too easy to slice through in midfield. It took less than a handful of minutes on Tyneside to prove him right.
The former defender and now Sky Sports pundit went straight onto X after Elanga’s opener, posting bluntly: “LFC midfield all bombing forward – happened all pre season, madness!”
It was not the complaint of a man surprised. It was the complaint of a man tired of repeating himself.
Old wounds, still open
This is what will sting Liverpool supporters most. The weakness is not new, not subtle and not exactly hidden. Teams stormed through the middle of them last season, racking up chances and goals in numbers that would have alarmed any club with serious ambitions.
Fifty-three Premier League goals conceded in 2025/26 should have triggered a clear response. A proper holding midfielder. A top-level shield. A reset of the balance that has looked wrong for too long.
The transfer window has been open since the start of June. The problem has been obvious since long before that.
Yet as the clock ticks into late August, Liverpool still have not added a specialist defensive midfielder. Lewis Steele has already played down the likelihood of a big-money push for Crystal Palace’s impressive Adam Wharton in the final days of the window, cooling one of the more eye-catching suggestions to fix the issue.
The club are chasing Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, a move that fits their long-standing desire for attacking depth and future-proofing out wide. But every time a runner charges through the centre of the pitch unchecked, the same question hangs in the air: where is the elite No 6?
Pressure rising on and off the pitch
On the touchline, Andoni Iraola will know exactly what he has just seen. Midfielders streaming forward, space abandoned, the back line exposed. It is a coach’s nightmare because it is structural, not incidental.
Expect his half-time words to be sharp. They need to be.
The conversations in the boardroom and recruitment meetings may be even sharper. Richard Hughes and his team have watched the same patterns play out for over a year. Now, with the season already biting and the window closing on Tuesday week, the room for error has almost gone.
Liverpool can talk about systems, tweaks and coaching all they like. Until someone is signed to lock that midfield door, days like this will keep dragging them back to the same uncomfortable truth.
