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FORMER Liverpool manager Roy Evans has told Liverpool to forget about trying to find a like-for-like replacement for Jamie Carragher.

Evans says the 35-year-old centre-half is a one-off and the Reds will not be able to sign a replica this summer when he retires from playing.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers must target someone completely different to Carragher, says Evans, but a player who is going to adequately fill the void.

And Evans says one of the requirements of the new man at the back is adaptability and the ability to play alongside the side’s other defenders Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel.

“We’ll have to get somebody to replace Jamie Carragher and Brendan did mention in his press conference (after Everton) that he will look hard and long to replace him,” he said.

“But the trick is that you don’t replace Jamie with someone like him; you replace him with somebody different, because there isn’t another Jamie out there.

“There’s somebody different – a different type of centre-back.

“You have to get one of course. You have to get one that can play with Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and the others.

“We’ve got a couple of young lads who are desperate to get in (to the side) as well. We’ve got to fill a void in terms of Jamie’s personality and his ability.”

It is likely that Skrtel will be given the chance to stake his claim to fill Carragher’s place with Agger sidelined for the final two games of the season.

The Danish defender is to receive treatment for a long-standing back problem and so will miss matches with Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.

Skrtel, who has been largely relegated to the bench since January, now has a chance to impress Rodgers.

And Evans believes Carragher, in the last matches of his career, will have a similar desire to do well.

“Carra will be starting to think, ‘I’ve only got two games to go’,” said Evans. “He’ll be desperate to play. He’s just got to enjoy the two games.

“He’ll be saying to the lads that there is no such thing as two games that mean nothing. For Carra these two games mean everything.

“He won’t want to go out having lost his last two games.”

With captain Steven Gerrard also missing from the Fulham and QPR games because of shoulder surgery, Carragher will lead Liverpool out.

But with Carragher no longer vice captain next season, Evans says Gerrard is more important than ever to the Reds. “I think Steven will be even more important (when Carragher leaves) but in a different way,” he added.

“Steven is vocal enough – he’s not a quiet one, he passes on information and is loud on the pitch.

“Maybe he has to be a little more vocal now.

“But from the back, you can see everything and you can organise a lot more (like Carragher). Steven runs into forward positions where he can’t see what is going on behind.

“I don’t think Stevie can take any more of a role that he is already played. But he can be a little more vocal – unless we get somebody in who can take over Carra’s mantle.”