Carragher or Coates?

THREE weeks ago, I wrote a glowing tribute to Jamie Carragher as he passed through the 700 game barrier for Liverpool in the away tie with FC Gomel and I lauded him as one of my favourite ever players.

This most certainly still stands, but a few tongues are now wagging after Coates and not Carragher played in last weekend’s pulsating match with Manchester City.

“Is it the end of Carragher?”

A touch premature if you ask me.

We all know, Carragher included, that Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger are Liverpool’s first choice centre back pairing and have been more or less for 12 months now. Uruguayan Sebastian Coates, a deadline day signing in August last year, has waited patiently for his turn to play first team football on a regular basis. It’s not unlikely that he will still be waiting. My theory is that the reason he played against Manchester City is that Carragher doesn’t have the legs to play two games in three days. He probably could if needed, but in a game like the one on Sunday which was always going to be close, you can’t afford to have too many pairs of tired legs as the last 15 minutes approaches.

New manager Brendan Rodgers also seems intent on giving youth its chance, a point further proven by the bold decision to select Raheem Sterling in the starting eleven on Sunday. A move, which in my eyes at least, turned out to be a very right one as the youngster gave City’s three centre halves a torrid time. Whilst the City game is a big gamble to throw anyone into, how are we to assess the impact young players are going to have if we don’t play them? I thought Coates had a good game and kept City relatively quiet. Both of their goals came from our mistakes, none of them Coates.

The big thing with Coates is that he does have a mistake in him every game. It might not be a big one, although he has made errors that have cost us goals in the past, but you always get the feeling that he is likely to get caught in possession or let the ball run under his foot, or something similar. He’s only a kid, it’s to be expected. He really ought to have a big future ahead of him.
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I’m of the opinion that it wasn’t as massive a gamble to throw Coates in as some are making out. He’s already hit the ground running as he played for Uruguay at the Olympics, though they had a poor tournament and bombed out in the group stages. If anything he is more likely to be able to play games in quick succession than most players in the squad.

But the baton is nowhere near handed over, not just yet. Carragher has at least this season, and probably the next as well before Coates is automatically above him. We are going to play a lot of games this season should we qualify for the Europa League on Thursday. There is plenty of room for them to both play at the moment. Neither are first choice but obviously both are at opposite ends of their careers but neither first name on the sheet; Coates is young and inexperienced and Carragher is vastly experienced but struggles against pace.

I would argue that the two players are actually going to be our second choice pairing. If we get draws against lower league opposition in domestic cup competitions, or get weak Europa League opposition then it makes sense to rest Agger or Skrtel or both and give Coates the chance to play alongside Carra, who has never been shy of administering instructions to the younger players.

Coates is a work in progress, he’s just a young lad who didn’t play much last year and who is still learning the English game due to his shortage of playing time. His performance against City was very positive and there is no doubt in my mind that he can become an important player for us. But to put him ahead of Carragher in the central defensive positions at the moment is something that needs to be greeted with caution at the moment. There’s a lot of life left in the old dog yet…
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