Gary Neville insists Liverpool are “mentally and physically drained and look like they’ve run to the end” as he slumps down to their midfielders including the star signing Thiago Silva.
Liverpool has fallen 10 points behind the league leaders Manchester City after Sunday’s 4-1 loss. After a glut of injury problems and a run of four defeats in seven, Liverpool has seen their title defense aspirations go up in smoke. For this reason, Nevill has called their run of form an “alarming dip”.
Neville said, “Liverpool are, at this moment in time, nowhere near the team that has been absolutely exceptional for three years. I was light on Manchester City last year when they had that year off. Having had three exceptional years of performance, and I’m going to be light on Liverpool this year. This because you can’t go every single year for four years. It’s inconceivable”.
“There’s going to be a dip at some point and we’re seeing the dip. It’s an alarming dip. It’s here at this moment in time”.
Liverpool was handed a lifeline when Ilkay Gundogan blazed the first-half penalty into the kop. But, City was ruthless in the second half.
Neville believes there was no lack of desire from Liverpool in their second-half collapse. But, he says they are struggling to keep up with their previous supreme physicality.
“I’ve been in teams that haven’t won titles in seasons where your minds there to say ‘actually, we can do this. We can catch these’ but then your body goes put there and it doesn’t come with you”.
“Liverpool’s physicality at this moment in time is not allowing them to get back where they need to be. They’re still the same players, they’ve still got the same desire. I don’t think it’s a desire issue, I’m not looking at a group of players here that have switched off and had enough, that have climbed the mountain and are not going again”
“They just look drained, absolutely mentally and physically drained, like they’ve been run to the end”.
Neville Backs Liverpool to Challenge again Next Year.
Neville backs Liverpool to challenge again next year when they will have key players fit again. However, he says they need to reset between now and the 2021/2022 season.
“You could go down the rough of ‘oh they’re one season wonders, they were never that great”.
“That’s not the right time to say these things. This Liverpool team has been great for three years and they need an opportunity now to reset in the next few months. Come back next season and go again”.
“That’s what Manchester City did last year. City were awful last season to the standards that they’d set themselves. But they’re now coming back to it”.