Gary Neville took aim at no fewer than seven Liverpool players who are doing Jurgen Klopp no favours, though described one theory behind the Reds’ struggles as “nonsense”.
Any hopes Liverpool would fly out of the gate once domestic football returned have been quickly put to bed. They’ve bowed out of both the League Cup and FA Cup over the last six weeks and a dismal run of league form has seen Klopp’s side slip down to 10th.
The Reds are yet to win a single league match in 2023. The humbling 3-0 defeat to Wolves on Saturday ensured they’ve won zero, drawn one and lost three in the calendar year thus far.
Alarming statistics are everywhere at present, and few are more worrying than Leicester’s Wout Faes being Liverpool’s top scorer in the league since the World Cup.
His double of own goals puts him clear of Salah, Van Dijk, Bajcetic and Oxlade-Chamberlain who each have one goal to their names.
In the aftermath of the defeat at Molineux, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville savaged seven Liverpool players who aren’t pulling their weight.
But while the common consensus is Liverpool’s midfield is the biggest issue, Neville turned his gaze on the defence and attack.
Liverpool attack aren’t gelling; defenders “shambolic”
The Man Utd legend told the Gary Neville Podcast: “Really poor, I’ve only seen the highlights, I watched the five to 10 minutes.
“Defensively… they were shambolic, individually, collectively, easy to play against, it’s not going perfectly well for them up front either.
“Gakpo, Nunez and Salah just haven’t hit it off yet as a front three – that might take some time. But the rest of the team is in a bit of a mess, they’re conceding really, really poor goals.
“To be fair, for the first time after a game I’ve probably seen Jurgen Klopp in some way apologising. Almost like where do I start reaction after the game.”
Liverpool’s back four for the Wolves clash saw Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson flank Joel Matip and Joe Gomez. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are both currently sidelined with hamstring issues.
Matip was at fault for the first goal, while Robertson was guilty of failing to close down Matheus Cunha and then Adama Traore for the second and third goals.
Neville continued: “Look there’s internationals still in that back four, all of them are and nowhere near good enough, individually and collectively there’s no excuse for that.”
Gary Neville dismissed seven-year theory
One theory put forward to explain Liverpool’s struggles regards Klopp teams running aground after seven years.
His Dortmund side were bottom of the Bundesliga at Christmas in his seventh season at the helm. However, Neville completely dismissed the notion the arbitrary seven-year mark is anything but a red herring on Merseyside.
He continued: “Absolutely no excuse for that, there are other teams who’ve had injuries who’ve coped better, I don’t know why they’ve gone to pieces.
“People say this happened in his seventh year at Dortmund, I dismiss all that nonsense.
“They’ve obviously got the ownership stuff, looking at other clubs thinking ‘we need to spend more money, we need a rebuild’ and all that.
“But at the moment, I always think if you’re getting the best out of the current players that you’ve got – Liverpool have a damn good squad – they’ve got some injuries, that’s a factor, but the players out there have to be doing a lot better than they are.
“That was not good enough from Liverpool Football Club and what they have achieved in the last few years they’re well below the standard, they need to wake themselves up.
“It’s getting to that point with Liverpool where you say to yourself, ‘there’s worrying signs and worrying performances and individual performances are well below that level’.”
SOURCE: teamtalk.com
