‘Flabbergasted’ Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher slam ‘shambolic’ Liverpool after horror first-half vs Brentford

SKY SPORTS pundits Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher tore into Liverpool after their “absolutely shambolic” first-half at Brentford.

The Reds were lucky to go into the break only 2-0 down after the buzzing Bees tore them to shreds.

Liverpool were torn to shreds after a woeful first 45 minutes at BrentfordGetty

Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards held no punches in their assessment of Liverpool’s first-half struggles in the capitalRichard Pelham / The Sun

Brentford had TWO more goals disallowed as Jurgen Klopp could only watch on in stunned amazement.

And speaking on Sky Sports at the break, Richards said: “Brentford are absolutely buzzing.

“Liverpool held that ridiculously high line and Brentford exploited it.

“It’s been really poor from Liverpool.

“I’ve been flabbergasted by the effort of Liverpool, there is no organisation, no concentration.

“I said before the game that I thought Liverpool were back to their best but they have been awful in that first half.”

Fellow pundit Carragher went on to call his old club’s performance “absolutely shambolic”.

Klopp responded by making THREE half-time substitutions, replacing Virgil van Dijk – who looked all at sea in the first 45 minutes – as well as Harvey Elliott and Kostas Tsimikas.

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The Liverpool boss introduced Joel Matip, Naby Keita and Andy Robertson.

After Klopp made his triple half-time change, Carragher added: “It could have been anyone.

“Klopp could have made five changes, he had to do something.

“It will be interesting with the van Dijk change whether that is an injury or just a substitution.

“That was an unacceptable first 45 minutes from Liverpool.”

Van Dijk was later spotted on the bench with his leg strapped up suggesting he picked up a knock.

But the subs paid instant dividends as Darwin Nunez thought he’d pulled one back moments into the second half with an excellent finish, only for it to be chalked off.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain did halve the deficit two minutes later, nodding home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s millimetre-perfect cross.

However, Brentford scored a late third through Bryan Mbeumo to kill off any hopes of a comeback.

The result moves the Bees up to seventh, just one place and two points adrift of Liverpool – whose top-four hopes took a massive hit.