Carragher worried by Liverpool form

 Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, seen here in January 2008, believes the club are suffering a more serious problem than just a bad spell.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes the club are suffering a more serious problem than just a bad spell.

The Anfield club were stunned 2-1 by Championship side Barnsley in the FA Cup midweek and are 19 points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal.

“I wouldn’t call this just a bad spell,” Carragher said.

“It’s been a lot longer than that. We realise we are not playing well enough. It’s not a matter of putting your finger on one reason.

“It’s simply because we have not been good enough. We’ve still got the Champions League to play for and we have to fight for that fourth place, so every league game is going to be important. We have to make sure we are in the Champions League next season.”

Despite taking the lead against Barnsley, Rafael Benitez’s team conceded an injury-time winner to increase the pressure on the under-fire manager.

Things do not get any easier for Liverpool as Tuesday they face Inter Milan, who lead Serie A by 11 points, in the first leg of their Champions League second round match at Anfield.

“At every club there are ups and downs, but we realise we are going to get a lot of criticism in the next few days and rightly so,” added Carragher.

“We’ve got a massive game coming up against Inter, so we’re going to have to get over this because the Champions League is massive for us now.

“It’s the only thing we have left that we can win.”