Jamie Carragher calls on Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp to improve squad depth at Anfield

Liverpool need to improve the depth in their squad if they are to have any chance of success next season, according to former Reds captain Jamie Carragher. The Reds pipped Arsenal to secure Champions League qualification on the final day of the Premier League season but were left to rue the threadbare nature of their squad, which was pushed to its limit during the winter period.

Their involvement in Europe's premier club competition heightens the already pressing need to add numbers to the squad, something Jurgen Klopp is keen to press on with.

A deal for Roma winger Mohamed Salah seems to be edging closer with reports suggesting that Liverpool have agreed a £35m fee with the Giallorossi for the Egyptian, and Carragher, who spent the whole of his 17-year football career at Anfield, is keen to see his former side ramp up their recruitment drive and make the squad stronger in terms of both numbers and quality.

"The actual team, the XI, could go up against anyone – we saw that in the big games with some great results in those games," Carragher told Liverpool's official website. "But over the season, especially around Christmas and January, it was evident that the squad wasn't big enough or strong enough. That needs adding to.

"But rather than just adding players to the squad, you want to add players to the team. If you add three or four players and they go straight into the first XI, three or four of those who were playing week in, week out last season go to the bench.

"It makes the bench a lot stronger and your team a lot stronger. It's not just numbers. It's about getting the right quality that can go straight into the team."

In order to achieve harmony within the Liverpool dressing room next season, Klopp will have to master the art of squad rotation. Carragher was at Anfield when Rafa Benitez attempted to juggle players during the late 2000s and believes that particular aspect of management to be a 'real skill' that the former Borussia Dortmund boss will have to become proficient in, if he harbours serious aspirations of bringing silverware back to Merseyside.

"There were a lot of free weeks last season. But now you're going to have to chop and change, that's the name of the game," the Liverpool stalwart added. "It's not easy to get that right, picking the right players at the right time is a real skill. And it will be huge, especially with Champions League football in midweek if we get in there.

"And then you're playing Saturday morning or Saturday at 3pm. It's not a great turnaround in terms of time, recovery and recuperation.

"[Klopp] showed last season, at times, if someone wasn't right he didn't play them. You go back to the Stoke game, how vital that was – [Philippe] Coutinho and [Roberto] Firmino were on the bench because they weren't right physically.

"If any player isn't right physically throughout the season, he won't play them. He needs that squad because he will have to chop and change."