WHILE Luis Suarez was grabbing the headlines at the Britannia Stadium on Wednesday night, it would have been easy to overlook another pointer to Liverpool’s future.

As Kenny Dalglish’s side fought from a goal behind to win through to the last eight of the Carling Cup, there was one man missing from the heart of defence: Jamie Carragher.

Carragher, who started the match alongside Sebastian Coates at centre-back, had been substituted at half-time for Martin Skrtel.

Now, this is no claim of a direct correlation between Liverpool’s revival and Carragher being absent. After all, few players represent as much desire to succeed as the defender.

Nor is this signalling the death knell of Carragher’s glorious and decorated Anfield career that stands at a remarkable 679 games and still very much counting.

But, aged 34 this coming January, even the former England international accepts he is entering the twilight years of his career.

And given the plethora of centre-back options at Kenny Dalglish’s disposal, Carragher faces an increasingly strong challenge to his starting role.

Daniel Agger, left-back at Stoke, is again available, although given his injury-prone record that may not be for too long.