Liverpool's Right-Back Dilemma: Risks and Consequences
Liverpool spent the summer convincing people their business was smart, measured, under control. On paper, it looked that way. Two defenders through the door – Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes and Ronald Araujo on loan from Barcelona – sounded like the work of a club tightening up at the back.
Then the season started, and the right side of defence was laid bare.
Neither Jacquet nor Araujo arrived as a specialist right-back. Neither was signed as the clear, long-term answer to one of the most demanding roles in Andoni Iraola’s system. That gap, glossed over in August, now glares under the floodlights.
Calvin Ramsay was shipped out on loan. Conor Bradley, whose emergence had brought real bite and energy down that flank, suffered a serious knee injury. Suddenly, Jeremie Frimpong is the only senior natural right-back in the squad.
For a club that talks about titles and Champions League runs, that is a thin, almost reckless position.
Carragher Calls It Out
Jamie Carragher didn’t dance around the issue. Speaking on Stick to Football, he laid Liverpool’s logic bare and then tore it apart.
“Conor Bradley got his chance and got a bad injury. My problem with it is, he's a good young player who's done really well, but if someone gets a bad injury, he's not that good that you don't replace him.
"You'd wait for Trent to come back and you'd wait for Andy Robertson to come back. Unfortunately I don't think we should be waiting for Conor Bradley to come back. You go and buy a right-back because Frimpong isn't one.
“When Conor Bradley comes back, he's then got to fight for his place and I think that's fair; but this thing of 'we've got to wait for Conor Bradley to come back' – no. We're Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“You can't wait for Conor Bradley. We've got to get him back and good luck to him, but they've made a massive mistake.”
Strip away the emotion and the argument still stands. Bradley is talented, brave on the ball, and gave Liverpool a different dimension when he broke through. But anchoring a whole season’s planning to the recovery of a 20-year-old full-back returning from a serious injury was always a roll of the dice.
Frimpong Under the Spotlight
Bradley’s lay-off isn’t just about a date on a medical report. Players can be declared “fit” long before they are truly ready. Match rhythm, timing into tackles, confidence in the body – those things take games, sometimes months.
Liverpool cannot reasonably expect Bradley to step straight back in and hit his previous peak from the first whistle.
That reality leaves Frimpong carrying the load. He offers pace, direct running, and real attacking thrust. In the final third, he looks like a weapon. But his recent performances have not fully convinced when Liverpool are forced backwards. Positioning, one‑v‑one defending, the constant balancing act between bombing on and locking the door behind – those questions keep coming.
In Iraola’s set-up, the right-back is not a luxury runner. He has to provide width, cover transitions, and read the game with ruthless discipline. Any weakness there, and the whole structure tilts.
There is another layer of risk. Frimpong’s own fitness record last season was not spotless. Relying on him as the single natural option becomes a double bet: on his form, and on his body holding up from August to May.
One strain, one awkward landing, and Liverpool are back in the land of square pegs in round holes – midfielders shuffled into defence, improvised solutions that already failed to convince during parts of 2025/26.
Depth on Paper, a Hole on the Pitch
This is where the frustration bites hardest for supporters. Liverpool did act in defence. They brought in Jacquet. They secured Araujo, a versatile operator capable of playing across the back line.
But cover is not the same as a specialist.
The Premier League exposes makeshift full-backs quickly. Araujo can fill gaps, plug holes, help in different zones. That is not the same as having a dedicated right-back who understands every demand of the role, week after week, against elite wingers and relentless pressing schemes.
Liverpool’s planning feels one step short of complete. The structure is there, the intention is clear, yet the most obvious vulnerability has been left to chance.
So Iraola now walks a tightrope. He needs Frimpong fit, confident, and improving fast. He needs Bradley’s recovery to be smooth and his reintegration to be handled carefully, not rushed out of desperation.
Because right now, Liverpool’s right-back situation is not just a talking point. It is a live problem, one that could shape the next few months at Anfield.
If this was a calculated gamble, how long before the club discovers just how costly it might be?
