Manchester United legend Gary Neville believes Liverpool cannot challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title despite their current position. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville made a bold claim by undermining Liverpool’s Premier League title chances, despite the Reds’ current position of second in the table, with only one point separating them from Manchester City.
This season, Liverpool has won eight of its twelve Premier League games, with three draws and one loss. Despite being level on points with Liverpool, Arsenal is Neville’s choice to challenge the Citizens for the Premier League title. The Gunners are third because of the goal difference that keeps Liverpool ahead.
Last season, the Reds finished eighth in the Premier League table after 12 games, 10 points behind league leaders Arsenal. City were one point behind Arsenal at the time and still finished first.
Neville told Sky Bet’s Stick to Football Podcast (via Mirror) that Liverpool are not capable of challenging City in the same way that Arsenal did last season. He stated:
“I think that Arsenal can win the league this season. Starting like this, the football will come, the football that we saw from them last season will come. The fact that they’ve started a little bit slower, I never think is a bad thing, they’re sat there in the pack behind (top). I don’t think Liverpool are (capable).”
Liverpool’s season makeover and contentious refereeing
During the summer transfer window, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp overhauled the midfield and sold many long-serving players. Many senior team players regressed due to age, which contributed significantly to the Reds’ struggles last season.
Klopp has dubbed his new-look squad “Liverpool 2.0” because he has implemented new tactics and a different style of play in his current squad. The group’s age has decreased, but they have maintained the core philosophy of “pass and move” alongside Klopp’s counter-pressing.
The Reds appointed Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold as their senior team captain and vice-captain respectively. Van Dijk has started the season in sensational form despite receiving a red card against Newcastle United.
Liverpool’s only loss came against Tottenham Hotspur in an enormously controversial way due to the blatant errors from match officials. The game involved a VAR mess when the referee disallowed a legitimate opening goal of the match from Liverpool.
Furthermore, Liverpool ended the game with nine men after receiving two red cards. One of the red card recipients, Diogo Jota received two yellow cards in quick succession. Even though, Spurs’ fullback Destiny Udogie tripped himself during the Portuguese forward’s first booking.
Liverpool have suffered from controversial decisions in several games yet they have managed to continue their sensational form. The Reds have scored the second highest goals in the Premier League with 27 goals. Liverpool and Arsenal jointly lead the Premier League with the fewest goals conceded, both allowing only 10 goals so far.
Many Kopites chastised Neville for sticking by the referees throughout the ordeal, despite PGMOL’s apology. Despite being a credible football pundit, we believe the former Manchester United fullback lets his bias get the better of him.
No Kopite would have predicted that the Reds would recover so quickly after last season. However, Klopp’s “Liverpool 2.0” is playing fantastic football and appears to be capable of exceeding the success of “Liverpool 1.0.”
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