Carragher says Liverpool's defence has lost them the title

By Ben James, dpa

London (dpa) - Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes poor defending has cost his former team-mates the chance of winning the league title for the first time since 1990.

Liverpool let slip a three-goal lead with 11 minutes to go as Crystal Palace hit back to force a 3-3 draw on Monday night, leaving Manchester City huge favourites to overhaul them at the top of the table.

Carragher's former team sit one point clear of City but have only one game remaining to City's two.

Now a pundit on Sky Sports, Carragher said he felt sorry for Luis Suarez, who left the field in tears at the end, but not for their kamikaze defending, which saw them ship three goals at the end.

"That is not acceptable, for all the plaudits Liverpool have had in the last few months - and deservedly so as they have been the most outstanding team in the Premier League to watch and excited us all," he said on Sky Sports after the match.

"But that has been their Achilles' heel all season. Even when they've been winning games it's been 4-3 or 6-3 or 3-2. We always felt the defence would come back and haunt them with the goals they've conceded.

"Tonight's the night, not so much the back four but as a team defensively the goals conceded have come back to haunt them.

"You can't keep conceding goals at this level and expect to win big trophies. It's not acceptable the way they've finished that game in the last 20 minutes."

"It's a bit of a freak, of course it is, but we've been saying for months now that the defensive side of this team is not up to scratch and is not at the level of Premier League champions."

Carragher said the central defenders, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho, were too deep, inviting trouble.

"Liverpool were throwing men forward and people were staying up front and maybe weren't coming back, but the back four and the defensive side of this team have shown they can't cope with the pressure.

"I look at those centre-backs and that's weak mentally for me, not pushing out," he added.

"That's 17 games Sakho and Skrtel have played together now and one clean sheet. They always concede goals whenever they play together," Carragher concluded.