Gary Neville fired a direct warning at Liverpool over what he perceived to be their greatest strength during the 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Sunday.
The Sky Sports pundit shared that he thought the Reds’ ability to sprint quickly, press quickly and transition quickly was their biggest asset and claimed when they can’t do that, they’re worse for it.
Neville shared that Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino were a big part of the Reds being able to do that and questioned whether they had the stamina levels to keep that style of football up as the season goes on.
“This Liverpool team their greatest strength is their ability to sprint quickly, press quickly, transition quickly but when they don’t have that they lose a lot,” said Neville while commentating on Liverpool v Man City for Sky Sports ( Sky Sports Premier League, October 10, 17:40).
“I think there’s a big drop off in quality but you saw it against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup here, there’s a big drop off in quality between Mane, Salah, Firmino and the ones below.
“Can these three really keep their energy levels up every single Wednesday, Saturday?”
OPINION
This topic was constantly brought up by pundits last season. Can the Reds really keep playing high-tempo football and win multiple honours? Well Jurgen Klopp’s side weren’t able to a provide a definite answer to that question as they ended their last campaign with no silverware to show for their efforts. However they didn’t exactly look tired by the time May came around and they also reached the Champions League final. Therefore there’s no reason to suggest that Mane, Firmino or Salah can’t keep going at a fast speed as the season goes on. While the attacking trio aren’t firing on all cylinders right now, the Reds are still carving out decent results. Klopp’s team may have suffered a defeat courtesy of Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday but to recover to get a 0-0 draw against Man City is impressive. The Reds may not have shone bright against their Premier League rivals but achieving a draw against them isn’t a bad result.
