Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher's CBS comments went too far - but brilliant Kate Abdo saved him

You know you've screwed up when Micah Richards isn't laughing. To leave punditry's answer to Doctor Hibbert, a veritable gigglestick in sensible knitwear, wide-eyed and stony-faced is to have really misjudged a zinger. On Tuesday evening, live on international television, Jamie Carragher blurted out an attempt at a joke that landed like a Ming dynasty vase on a concrete pavement, and suddenly that time that he accidentally spat on a child didn't seem so bad after all.

For those of you who are blessed enough to not spend your lives chronically online, help yourself to a dollop of context; over the past couple of seasons, American broadcaster CBS Sports has been dominating the affections of football fans across the globe with their refreshingly joyous Champions League coverage. Hosted by the superb Kate Abdo, with analysis from Thierry Henry and the aforementioned Carragher and Richards, the show has stumbled across a dynamic that is unpredictable, engaging, and genuinely quite funny. Clips and snippets regularly go viral, and even those without access to CBS itself have been won over by the omnipresent panel and its light-hearted antidote to the usual self-serious stuffiness of punditry writ large.

And then, of course, there is - in the minds of many viewers, at least - the flirtatious energy between Abdo and Henry. It's a narrative trope as old as storytelling itself, the classic 'will they or won't they?' - except the answer here is a resounding 'no, they won't', because Abdo is happily engaged and Henry has been married since 2011. Those things don't always prevent illicit relationships from blossoming, but anybody with so much as half a brain cell can tell that they are little more than mates having a laugh and hamming things up a touch because, shock horror, it generates traffic.

To that end, the Abdo/Henry jape is unspoken, an in-joke between those in the studio and anybody watching along at home. Except, on Tuesday, Carragher said the quiet part loud. During a post-match segment after Arsenal's dramatic penalty shootout victory over FC Porto, the former Liverpool defender, kitted out in a Gunners shirt for reasons that probably made sense at the time, told Abdo and Henry they would would be the ones to wear it next, only for the presenter to insist that she is 'loyal to Manchester United, thank you very much'.

Without thinking, evidently, and with the distinct slant of a giddy schoolboy at the back of an unruly classroom, Carra retorted, 'not to Malik'; Malik being Abdo's fiancee. Cue tumbleweeds and toe-curling awkwardness, as the pundit issued the nervous, desperate chuckle of a man who chillingly realises he has just shot himself in the foot. Eventually, as the smoke cleared, Abdo replied: 'Why would you even say that?'.

And it's a very valid question. There's a saying, that dissecting a joke is a little like dissecting a frog; nobody really cares and the frog dies. In one fell swoop, Carragher shattered the delicate, finely-tuned order of CBS' magic formula, and left us all dazed and blinking in an uncomfortable new post-quip world.

The outcry was understandably raucous, with some observers even going as far as to suggest that Carragher should be sacked for his insensitivity. The last time a one-liner was received this badly, Will Smith smacked Chris Rock in retaliation. Then again, there were some readings of the situation that felt both excessive and unwelcome. Richard Keys offering his opinion on acceptable workplace banter, for instance, feels a little like Gary Barlow commenting on ethical tax payment methods.

But really, this is not a tale of Carragher's lapsed judgement. Rather, it is another shining illustration of why Abdo might just be the best in the business. Not 24 hours later, the host delivered an opening monologue to CBS' coverage that swept the drama under a proverbial rug while reminding everybody watching as to just how superlative she truly is.

'This group has been together now for three and a half years now', Abdo said. 'I grew up with a brother, and it feels like I've gained three more here. Let me introduce you to the group again.

'Thierry Henry - the golden child. Can do no wrong. Always says the right thing. Sets the example for the rest of us. Can he be intimidating? Yes he can. But he is the big brother that we all look up to and aspire to.

'Then there is the middle child. Jamie Carragher. Chip on his shoulder. Capable of saying anything for attention. Does he go too far sometimes? Absolutely. Does he apologise? Yes he does. But all of us have that annoying family member that we all love and accept.'

Perhaps it is worth emphasising that the onus should not fall on Abdo to clean up Carragher's mess. If the pundit doesn't spout his childish interjection in the first place, no deftly-handled cold open is required at all. But at the same time, it has felt as if an incident like this has been a looming inevitability for a while.

CBS have chased virality, to their benefit, for months on end, and in doing so, have blurred the line between professionalism and chumminess. When it works, it works very well, but it is also an inherently dicey tactic, as Carragher unwittingly proved this week. The pundit, and the broadcaster as a whole, should all be thankful that they have Abdo around to drag them out of bother.