Everton’s dramatic 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace on Thursday night sparked jubilation on the blue side of Merseyside, but also brought to the surface another emotion in Richarlison.
The Everton striker played his part in the turnaround, scoring the second of the three second-half goals. And while he was happy to keep his team in the Premier League for another season, the Brazilian had another thing on his mind post-match: hitting back at Jamie Carragher .
The former Liverpool defender has repeatedly called Richarlison out this season over alleged gamesmanship and feigning injury. He was once again tweeting about the striker on Thursday night, writing: "Talking about Richarlison going down is nothing to do with bias. Every Everton game I do he goes down three or four times like he's got a big injury then just gets up! It's not about getting a penalty or a foul but pretending he's hurt when he's not."
Buoyed by his part in the Everton win, Richarlison took aim at Carragher, tweeting: “@Carra23 wash your mouth before you talk about me and Everton. I don't respect you." Carragher replied: "I actually quite like this, if Twitter was about when I was a player I’m sure I would’ve called pundits out quite a lot!!"
Social media has indeed made it easier for players to respond to specific criticism thrown their way by pundits. But even in the pre-social media era, there was plenty of back and forth, as Carragher himself well knows. Here Mirror Football takes a look at five of the best examples.
Jamie Carragher vs Adrian Durham
Back in 2007 the shoe was very much on the other foot, with Carragher the player responding to criticism from a pundit. The incident with talkSPORT host Durham came after reports that Carragher was considering calling time on his international career, aged just 29.
The out-spoken Durham called him a “bottler” on national radio, arguing that Carragher should have continued with England and fought for his place in the side. That did not go down well with the Liverpool defender, who called into talkSPORT to have it out with Durham.
“It would be interesting to see if you’ve got any bottle,” a furious Carragher said down the phone. “Come down to Liverpool and say it to my face, then we’ll see. Don’t call me a bottler on national radio in front of thousands of people, I’ve been proving myself for eight years.”
Durham did indeed go down to Liverpool and the two ended up kissing and making up.
Robbie Savage vs Leighton James
Another annoyed player and another radio phone-in show. In 2006 Savage was unhappy at being frozen out of the Wales squad by manager John Toshack. Former Wales player Leighton James had taken Toshack’s side, so Savage decided to call in live to Real Radio Wales and have a bizarre argument.
After a strange discussion about how difficult it was to get hold of mobile phone-less Toshack, things got personal. “You weren't a bad player but you weren't the greatest player in the world," Savage snapped at James, who won 54 caps for Wales. "You were a technical player but you weren't the best tackler. And if I played against you nowadays, dear oh dear."
James shot back with “you wouldn't catch me son” before offering a prescient prediction: "One day, when you have got a command of the English language Robbie you will perhaps become a pundit."
Paul Pogba vs Graeme Souness
Perhaps the most well established pundit vs player story of the past decade. Souness is not a fan of Manchester United midfielder Pogba and has frequently criticised his performances, attitude and out-field activities. This had been one-way traffic until April 2020 when Pogba had an opportunity to hit back at the former Liverpool manager and midfielder.
"I didn’t even know who [Souness] was," Pogba said on the UTD podcast . "I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I don't know the face but the name [I do]. Like I said, I’m not someone that watches a lot of [punditry], I watch a lot of football but I don’t stay after the game to listen to what they say about ‘Why they did this’ or ‘why they did that’. I like to focus on football."
Loris Karius vs Gary Neville
Throughout his Liverpool career Karius has been the subject of much pundit criticism. The vast majority of that came after his disastrous display in the 2018 Champions League final – his last ever appearance for the club that he will finally leave on July 1.
But that dramatic end to his Liverpool career came after plenty more from pundits, including Sky Sports duo Carragher and Neville. Speaking in an interview in December 2016, Karius explained that he respected Carragher’s opinion, as a former Reds player, but made a sly dig at Neville’s spell as Valencia manager when discussing his opinion.
“Carragher was here at Liverpool for a long time so maybe after the game he was a bit frustrated,” Karius told the Daily Mail . “He is probably still a supporter. I have to accept it. What critics say right after the game, I don’t know what I think. If you asked them again would they say it now?
“And I don’t care what Gary Neville said. He was a top player, then he was a manager for a short bit and now he is back to being an expert again. But he is always very critical. I think he does it to everyone. I just hope that when I do well he will comment on that. We will see in the future.”
David Luiz vs Jamie Carragher
Carragher has been a busy pundit during his years with Sky Sports. Former Chelsea defender Luiz was another of his targets, with the Brazilian labelled a “liability” who all-too-often has “brain freezes” at crucial moments in matches. It’s fair to say that Luiz wasn’t too bothered by Carragher’s opinion, given he never won the Premier League himself.
"They talk and say, 'This player is not right for this league'. Yet I won the league. These people have forgotten the past,” he told the Daily Mail last year. "You cannot say, 'David is a player who never won, you won’t win anything with David'. That is not true! You have to base your opinion on something real, not something fake.
"I use the word perception. That is all it is. I am not going to fight to change the perception of these people, who decide to have this view of me because they want to. They have not analysed me properly. I am not going to waste my time on that."
