Players turned the tables five times after Richarlison hit Carragher back

Richarlison pursued Jamie Carragher after Everton’s dramatic win over Crystal Palace – and he’s not the first player to question an expert’s opinion

Everton’s Dramatic 3-2 comeback Thursday night’s win over Crystal Palace sparked celebrations on the Merseyside blue side but also brought another emotion to the surface in Richarlison.

The Everton striker played his part in the turnaround, scoring the second of three goals in the second half. And while he was happy to keep his team in the Premier League for another season, the Brazilian had something else on his mind after the game: hit back at Jamie Carragher .

the previous Liverpool defender has exclaimed Richarlison repeatedly this season about alleged shenanigans and fake injuries. He tweeted about the forward again on Thursday night, writing: “Talking about Richarlison’s downfall has nothing to do with bias. Every Everton game I do he goes down three or four times like he has a big injury and then just gets up! It’s not about getting a penalty or a foul, it’s about pretending he’s injured when he’s not.”

Buoyed by his role in Everton’s 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 that, if Twitter had existed when I was a player I’m sure I would have challenged quite a few experts!!”

Indeed, social media has made it easier for players to respond to specific criticism from experts. But even before social media, there was a lot of back and forth, as Carragher well knows himself. here mirror football takes a look at five of the best examples.

Jamie Carragher versus Adrian Durham

In 2007, the boot was very on the other foot when Carragher the player responded to an expert’s criticism. The talkSPORT host Durham incident comes after reports that Carragher is considering retiring from international football aged just 29.

The outspoken Durham called him a ‘bottler’ on national radio and argued Carragher should have continued with England and fought for his place in the side. That didn’t sit well with the Liverpool defender, who called talkSPORT to set it straight with Durham.

“It would be interesting to see if you have a bottle,” an irate Carragher said over the phone. “Come down to Liverpool and tell me to my face and we’ll see. Don’t call me a bottler in front of thousands of people on national radio, I’ve been proving myself for eight years.”

Durham actually went to Liverpool and the two kissed and reconciled.

Robbie Savage versus Leighton James

Another angry gamer and another radio phone-in show. In 2006, Savage was unhappy to have been dropped from the Wales squad by manager John Toshack. Former Welsh player Leighton James had sided with Toshack, so Savage decided to call Real Radio Wales live and engage in a bizarre argument.

After a weird discussion about how difficult it was to get Toshack without a phone, things got personal. “You weren’t a bad player, but you weren’t the best player in the world,” snapped Savage James, who had 54 caps for Wales. “You were a technical player, but you weren’t the best tackler. And if I played you today, oh dear.”

James fired back with “you wouldn’t catch me son,” before making a prescient prediction: “One day, if you master the English language, Robbie, you might become an expert.”

Paul Pogba vs Graeme Souness

Possibly the best-established pundit vs. player story of the past decade. Souness is not a fan of Manchester United midfielder Pogba and has frequently criticized his performances, attitude and outfield activities. It was a one-way street until April 2020 when Pogba had the opportunity to hit back at the former Liverpool manager and midfielder.

“I didn’t even know who [Souness] was,” said Pogba on the UTD Podcast . “I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I don’t know the face but I do know the name [I do]. As I said, I’m not someone who watches a lot [punditry], I watch a lot of football but I don’t stay after the game to listen to what they hear about ‘why they did that’ or ‘why they did that’. I like to focus on football.”

Loris Karius vs Gary Neville

During his Liverpool career, Karius has been the subject of much expert criticism. The vast majority of that came after his disastrous performance in the 2018 Champions League final – his last appearance for the club, which he will leave for good on July 1.

But that dramatic end to his Liverpool career came after many more pundits including Sky Sports duo Carragher and Neville. In a December 2016 interview, Karius explained that he respects Carragher’s opinions as a former Reds player, but thwarted Neville’s spell as Valencia manager when he spoke about his opinions.

“Carragher was here at Liverpool for a long time so maybe he was a bit frustrated after the game,” said Karius Daily Mail . “He’s probably still a supporter. I have to accept it. I don’t know what the critics say right after the game. 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 time and now he’s an expert again. But he is always very critical. I think he does it to everyone. I just hope he will comment on that if I do well. We’ll see in the future.”

David Luiz vs Jamie Carragher

Carragher was a busy pundit during his years at Sky Sports. Former Chelsea defender Luiz was another of his targets, with the Brazilian being dubbed a “responsible man” who all too often has “brain freezes” at crucial moments in games. 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’. Despite this, I won the league. These people have forgotten the past,” he said Daily Mail last year. “You can’t say, ‘David is a player who never won, you don’t win anything with David’. That’s not true! You have to base your opinion on something real, not something fake.

“I use the word perception. That’s all it is. I will not fight to change the perception of these people who choose to have this view of me because they want to. You didn’t analyze me properly. I’m not going to waste my time on this.”