Inside The Game: Jamie Carragher – 'It was impossible not to pick me'
Jamie Carragher speaks exclusively to More Than A Game.
Jamie Carragher would have left Liverpool had he failed to keep down a first-team place.
Carragher spent his entire career with the Reds, making 737 appearances between 1996 and 2013, winning the Champions League, two FA Cups, three League Cups, two Community Shields, the UEFA Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup.
Yet while Carragher himself acknowledges he might not have had standout ability, he believes his attitude and mentality separated him from the crowd and made it impossible for him to be dropped.
In an exclusive Inside The Game interview, coming to More Than A Game, Carragher discusses:
His desire to play every minute, every week.
The mentality that he believes set him apart.
His upbringing as a player.
Switching from attack to defence.
Coping with the pressure.
[I’d have moved] if I’d have been [in and out]. I could never have been a sub. Not in an arrogant way. I just couldn’t have trained all week, had that mentality, but then not had a game at the weekend.
DESIRE
“I didn’t have a choice. I knew players coming to Liverpool, didn’t care who they were, they wouldn’t have my personality or character. I knew it. It was impossible not to pick me,” explains Carragher when asked why he was happy to be so versatile during his playing career.
Having come through the ranks as a striker, Carragher preferred playing in midfield, yet found himself heading into Liverpool’s first team as a full-back. So, when the opportunity presented itself to nail down a spot in the starting XI, he grasped it with both hands – even if it meant playing in an unfamiliar role.
“I knew I played a few positions but it wasn’t like Alan Harper, at Everton, where he’d play anywhere but when everyone was fit he wouldn’t play. I still played when everyone was fit. It wasn’t changing positions every few weeks. I was right-back for a season, then left-back for a season, then back to right-back for a season.
“[I’d have moved] if I’d have been [in and out]. I could never have been a sub. Not in an arrogant way. I just couldn’t have trained all week, had that mentality, but then not had a game at the weekend.”
Carragher understands plenty of players do not share that same desire, though for him it was a case of all or nothing.
“I can understand because most players are like that. I was a little bit different – that’s why I got to the level I got to. It wasn’t because of my ability or physicality or pace. It was my mental strength, the way I saw the game. My last season at Liverpool, I played 25 games.
“For a lot of players, that’s enough. For me it wasn’t enough, so I retired. James Milner, probably played 25 games or around that [in 2022-23], he might have done that for two or three seasons. I couldn’t do that for one. So as soon as my games went down to 25... it was: ‘I can’t train all week and not have a game. I’m out of this’.
“You probably have three groups [of players]. There’s not many who were like me. You weren’t playing for yourself or a manager, you were playing for the club and the supporters.
“Then you have a group who aren’t too obsessed with a club but they’ve got their own personal pride and that’s fine; I might have been like that if I’d had played for a different club, didn’t have the connection with the city, or I’d have played abroad. You still give everything, but it’s not the supporter mentality.
“Then you’ve got the ones who just don’t give a fuck, really. Every club’s got them. When stuff isn’t going well, fans say they’re all like that, but most of them do [care]. But there will be two or three who don’t. You’ve just got to accept that – there’s not a lot you [as a player] can do about it. But if I was a manager, I’d have a massive problem with people like that.”
GRASSROOTS
Carragher puts his mentality down to his upbringing, citing the influence of his father, who managed amateur teams.
“I played three years above. I was a centre-forward. I was playing with 11 year olds, I would have been seven. Then the year after, I was playing two years above. I was a centre-forward as a kid at school, but the more I played for open age [teams], I wanted to play as a midfielder. I wanted to do everything. When I was playing at my own age, because I was a lot better than everyone, I almost felt like I couldn’t trust them. When you’re playing two years above, you’re getting onto their level, so I could let them do their job. But the longer it went, when I played in my own age group, I’d get so frustrated. In my own age group, I played midfield, and the teacher told me to play up front. But as soon as the teacher left, I told the other lads that I was playing in midfield!
“It was maybe from my dad. He was an amateur football manager so I’d stand next to him in the early 1980s, then in 1984-85, I started going the match – the Everton games. I was obsessed with football. I read everything, Shoot magazine, I just couldn’t get enough of it. I was always someone who thought about football, wanted to know more. Watching my dad’s team, then I’d be in the back of a van listening to men talk about football, their opinions.”
If I hadn’t adapted to playing full-back, I’d have had to have left Liverpool.
OBSESSED
With such a drive comes pressure, however.
Carragher feels the same way about Liverpool now, as a fan and pundit, as he did as a player. That gnawing, sinking feeling that follows a defeat would haunt him, and still does.
Indeed, Carragher sought out advice on how to cope with that self-inflicted pressure.
“When you go home after a loss, it’s not then. It’s when you go to bed, wake up and the first thing you think about is that result, it’s in the pit of your stomach. I had that as a player.
“You wake up and go ‘Oh God’ and it takes three or four days to get over. I’m like that with Liverpool now. I couldn’t get rid of that as a player, I saw a psychologist over it. It didn’t change it, but I used to see them three or four times a season, and it was just nice talking about it.
“I’m not going to complain, it’s the best job in the world. Train, play football, get a few quid, but nobody really knows how you deal with it. I was beating myself up over results or not playing well, and this was when I was at my peak. I was putting pressure on myself because I knew I could go up against most players. I’d go into games thinking ‘I can’t have a bad game, I’m one of the main players for Liverpool’. If I didn’t play well, would the team play well? Even if a goal wasn’t my fault, I’d be obsessed with it, with keeping clean sheets. It’s just the way you are, there’s nothing more you can do about it.”
REGRETS?
Carragher’s versatility and determination to play every game meant he had to wait until 2004, and the arrival of Rafael Benitez, to truly cement a place in the centre of Liverpool’s defence, where he would go on to become a stalwart until his retirement in 2013.
Would he have done things differently as a full-back? Perhaps, but Carragher knows he always put the team – one that enjoyed stellar success – first.
“One reason [why I didn’t get forward] was I used to think of the team too much. I’d almost think ‘If I go there, would I get back in time’. Sometimes I do regret that a bit, think about yourself. When I came back from a broken leg, I’d watched the team for four months, I knew I’d been getting a bit of stick before it, so I thought ‘Just go sometimes’.
“But, reason two: physically, I wasn’t an amazing athlete. I wasn’t fantastic and to be a top full-back you’ve got to be constantly up and down. I probably should’ve done a little bit more, but I wasn’t encouraged to do it by the manager and we had two centre-backs who couldn’t run, really. They were great players, so our thing was about being solid, strong, but we basically had four centre-backs.
“I’m not daft, I got stick off the crowd, and I’ve got no problem with that. I’m not blowing my own trumpet, I was always about the team first, rather than me bombing forward. I’d never played full-back in my life until the Liverpool first team; ended up there for England at a World Cup; ended up winning trophies for Liverpool at full-back. I know I got a bit of criticism but I’m proud of what I did.
“When you’re a goalkeeper or centre-back it’s very difficult to go in there as a youngster, because you’re still finding your way, and if you make a mistake [in those positions], you’ve not got that consistency, you can cost the team, so that’s why everyone worries about young centre-backs and goalkeepers. You don’t really see young centre-backs at the top teams. Rio Ferdinand is a good example: he had a great grounding at West Ham. A good side, but you’re expected to lose a few games here or there, then he goes to Leeds. You’ve got John Terry on the flip side of that, but he’s probably the best centre-back we’ve seen in the Premier League.
“You’ve got to be top drawer and at that age I was very good but wasn’t someone a superstar. If I hadn’t adapted to playing full-back, I’d have had to have left Liverpool.”
To watch the full interview with Jamie Carragher, subscribe to More Than A Game’s YouTube channel.
By Patric Ridge