I have had a personal affinity with Jamie Carragher all the way through his career. I was there on his Anfield debut against Aston Villa. I’ll never forget him booting Andy Townsend in the air after 22 seconds of that match, and he scored with a header from a corner in front of the Kop in the second-half.
I’ve watched him as a central midfielder, a left-back as we had that great season in 2001, a right-back and finally, a centre-half, where I have seen him put in so many awesome performances. Picking a favourite JC moment is tough, and it would be easy to pick Istanbul.
But for me, his finest moment was the Chelsea semi-final in the same year. I’ll never forget walking into Anfield that night, it was electric. That only intensified after Luis Garcia’s early goal. We had our lead, and something to cling onto for the rest of the game.
Chelsea battered us, as you would expect them to as they were at the time a much better team than we were, and we had a lot of defending to do. And this is where Jamie Carragher comes to the fore. Defending deeply suited him perfectly I always thought, his anticipation and reading of the game was always excellent and he saved us on so many occasions in this game it was untrue.
Every time a ball bounced loose, Carragher was there to avert the danger. Every time a half chance looked like it was going to fall to a Chelsea player, Carragher was there. Every time a last ditch header was nicked away from an onrushing Chelsea player, Carragher was there. Every time someone had a shot at goal, Carragher was there to make the block.
It would have been typical of the way football kicks people in the balls for that last second Eidur Gudjohnsen miss to have fizzed in off his studs. It was about the only time in the whole game a Chelsea player had found themselves unmarked. I’d love to ask Carra about that – how did he miss it?
Everything else had been magnetically attracted to him or big Sami all night. It was about five centimetres away from an own goal. Not only would it have dumped us out but it would have been a tragic end to the best individual display I have ever seen in a Liverpool shirt.
I’ll never forget coming in from this match and just catching the end of the highlights. Benitez’ tongue was bleeding, presumably from screaming and shouting instructions. Jamie Carragher probably had blood dripping from his chest.
The most committed, resolute and downright heroic individual display I have ever seen. Take a bow in May JC, because you deserve it.
And thank you for everything, with hopefully a few more memories to come.
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Its like someone has died today,saying gudbye to Mr.Liverpool,he eclipses Gerrard as he never held us to ransom twice.he wil never be replaced ever in the future as der only ever wil be jc,thanks for the memories
Well said . I hope to see Carra as manager some day
A true legend…….walkon Carra,you’ve never walked alone!
He was definitely the most passionate player at liverpool over the last decade or two.no one shows the same pride in the red jersey as well as J.C. Surely he will be brought back in to the underage system in the very near future,No money can buy that kind of heart & committment that he has displayed over the years,He seems to be a modest human being as well,imagine him & Sami in charge a few years down the road would surely be awesome,best wishes J.C for the future.