Jamie Carragher compares Liverpool and Man City centre-back pairings

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The Reds centre-back pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip has impressed over the past few games for Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield charges.

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has described the contrast between the Reds’ current centre-back pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip to Manchester City’s makeshift pairing of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones (Sky Sports) and suggested that Pep Guardiola doesn’t actually want to utilise the two together.

With Vincent Kompany having departed in the summer and Aymeric Laporte out with a long-term injury, Citizens boss Guardiola is faced with the prospect of relying on Otamendi and Stones, but as seen in the 3-2 loss by Norwich City at the weekend, it has not done particularly well thus far.

In comparison, Liverpool’s Van Dijk and Matip have held firm at the back much more effectively this term, and have helped Jurgen Klopp’s side set the pace in the Premier League with five wins out of five.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher described how Van Dijk is Liverpool’s leader at the back – the “big brother” to Matip’s “little brother”, while Man City are without such a presence now and have been left with “two little brothers”, with Guardiola now forced to utilise the two and being left to rue the fact that “he has not gone big” in the summer transfer window.

“I think what City have now in terms of centre-backs is what I call big brother and little brother,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “Now at Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk is the big brother and Joel Matip is the little brother. Matip without Van Dijk does not look the same. With Van Dijk, he’s calm and he’s confident with the big fella next to him. It’s like when your ma lets you go to the shops with your big brother, you’re OK, you’re safe.

“Pep Guardiola has got two little brothers playing at centre-back. They have got no help. Laporte is not there to help. Kompany is not there to help. At this moment, I don’t think Guardiola wants to put those two on the pitch together but he has got no option because he has not gone big in the summer.”

According to talkSPORT, the Stones and Otamendi partnership has conceded more goals, more goals per game, and a higher percentage of more than three goals conceded per game than any other centre-back partnership under Guardiola’s management at City, while also having a lower win percentage than other City pairings since the start of the 2016-17 season.