"This is a MASSIVE worry for Liverpool" 😬 | Gary Neville reacts to Liverpool's loss to Man City

Welcome everybody, Gary Neville is back from the USA and here is the newest edition of his podcast from the Etihad Stadium where Manchester City have beaten Liverpool 3-0. They've beaten them Gary, thoroughly.

Yes, emphatic, a really good day for Manchester City and look before the game I don't think there was anybody that was walking into this stadium with any great knowledge of what the score was going to be. I think just seen Michael Richards after the game saying that he was intrigued before the be. I think I just seen Michael Richards after the game saying he was intrigued before the game. I think I was something similar. I actually thought and said that Liverpool, I fancied Liverpool just to sort of nick it.

I thought they'd have too much for City up front. I thought that Liverpool's centre-backs would handle Haaland. But it was a really bad day for Liverpool. We'll come on to that shortly. I think the first thing to start on today is Pep Guardiola's thousandth game. I think I remember, I think I scored in Stralick's, Ferguson's thousandth game at Manchester United. You did, Champions League game, Leon. Yeah, I scored. That's an incredible achievement, hey.

You just think about greatness. I mean Pep Guardiola is a great, great manager. the best team in the world. And I think that's what he's doing. He's got a great team. Pep Guardiola is a great great manager 1000 games. I think you said he say 716 wins wins, which is 71% win rate, which is

just obscene. Um and. This isn't his greatest team or his best team that he's had in those 1000 in those 1000 games. You think about the team here the world, which is probably the greatest team of all time and then the treble winning team here and.

The title winning teams, but what his team have done today is give them a glimmer of hope going into November transfer November international break that the four points off

Arsenal. They've got experience. They've got a few players who have been around the block and they've got a manager who knows and he knows how to win. And if I was Manchester City right now, and I'm sure Pep Guardiola knows how to win titles more than any of us, he'll be just thinking,

let me hang on Mikel Arteta's shoulder, come on, let me be close enough to him to apply that pressure. He's the one you wouldn't want near you. And today for me, the whole fixture was around who's gonna emerge, who's gonna come out of this match thinking that they can challenge Arsenal, who's going to be the team that think they can get close enough to them? And I thought it would be Liverpool.

I think City have been inconsistent, but I was badly wrong. And Pep Guardiola's thousandth game was a really good one for him and his team.

So if you say, and most people agree that this isn't his kind of premium team.

No, it's not.

I mean, how do you categorize him? There isn't a David Silva, there isn't Kevin De Bruyne, there isn't a Guerrero, there isn't a Yaya Touré, all of these great, great players he's had. How do you sum up what this team actually is?

I mean, it's a team I actually like watching. It's imperfect. the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the

best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the

best of the best of the best of the way he plays. It's a different. Like you come into games knowing the outcome was when I watch city now, you're not quite sure of what's going to happen today. Being a perfect

example, but they are imperfect. There are a lot more physical. They've got Highland up front who is devastating, but again, he's not. He's not. He's not smooth in the way in which he

plays, but he's an absolutely brilliant player. Nico Gonzalez the way they link. They're not as good playing out from the back through the goalkeeper or the back four, but they're still a very good side, and it feels like a team that you know Pep Guardiola staying here to

build another great side. And I don't quite think they're there. But what they do have is a team that's not as good as they are. They're not as good as they are. They're not as that you know Pep Guardiola is staying here to build another great side and I don't quite think they're there but what they do have is some players you know you look through the spine of the team in Guardiola and Stones, Diaz, Rodri, Foden

Bernardo, Sylvain Haaland and the goalkeeper who know how to win so if you can keep those players together and somehow you know keep some momentum going and get close they're gonna be able to get the ball back. And they're going to be able to win. So if you can keep those players together and somehow, you know, keep some momentum going and get close. They're going to be

really, really dangerous towards the end just through their experience. But it is an imperfect team. It's a team that you don't feel. Mrs consistent and reliable as the

one that they've had previously see me criticize Manchester City over this period because you know through the period I was at United for 20 years there were two or three seasons where you needed a transition to be able to build another side and Sir Alex Ferguson did that and when you keep a manager for so long we were conditioned about 10 15 years ago to say you know you couldn't keep a manager anymore for a period of time and have success like it happened with Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson, you can't. You can't. You can't deliver. You know, continual success and look, this is going to be interesting in this next

six months of what happens with city. I would say there's still quite a lot of work to do to convince me that they're going to win a title. I think Arsenal the better team, but the one

team that I'm going to be playing against is Arsenal. I think Arsenal're going to win a title. I think Arsenal are the better team, but they're the one team that I wouldn't want and the one manager that I wouldn't want on my shoulder going in

down the back straight. Just a quick word if you would on Jeremy Doku, who you made your man of the match today. He's a full sort of glitzy player, isn't he? Do you think there's substance there? Oh, steady. You can't hear me. There's a lot of viewers who prefer that option. Would you say he has substance to go with that glitz?

He's one of those players that I would describe as being a nightmare to play against, but probably a nightmare to play with. Because you don't know what he's gonna do. He sometimes holds the ball when he should release it, the ball. He's got a lot of confidence in him. He's got probably a nightmare to play with. You don't know what he's

going to do. He sometimes holds the ball when he should release it. He sometimes releases the

ball when he should hold it is

inconsistent with his final cross or his past. Or a shot. But you can never ever doubt his courage. And you think about the kid in the street that basically gets told to go and the way he's got the ability to take players on. That's what I

love about document today. I thought he was devastating in that game and again where Liverpool's tactic was to try and sit deep, be compact, be narrow. He's perfect because he

does have the ability to unlock a defense that's deep lying. He's got lots of players behind the ball. Take not just one player on one on one. You can take two on and slip through a few times today. I thought it was absolutely brilliant to watch. And I didn't think Conor

Bradley did badly against him. I didn't think Conor Bradley had a bad day. I thought he was one of Liverpool's better players. But I just thought Doku today was sensational. He was a difference maker. And yeah, well done to him. And if you can add that consistency, and it's usually the case that wingers are the most inconsistent players on the pitch because they have the most difficult job to try and sort of do things that are different the way he's got to be. He's got to be a top winger. I think it's obvious that wingers are

the most inconsistent players on the pitch because they have the most difficult job to try and sort of do things that are different and when you team the game so you can add a bit more

consistency and reliability to his decision making in the final third and his execution of the Passover the cross. He's got a great chance of becoming a top the game. I think he's got a lot of talent. He's got a lot of understanding of the game and like you say, be more. More

predictable to his teammates and still be as unpredictable to the opposition. I do want to put a special mention for materials. Nunes the right back. I thought and have thought he's a real

weakness for city every time I see Nunes at right back and because Nicole Riley's he's excellent. I think it's because he's a good player. Because Nicole Riley is excellent. Nicole rather because he's younger left back. You sometimes feel that it is back

for is just gonna be more vulnerable. But New Jersey is doing done a really good job out there today. In fact, if you said to me, you know, name a second player for city on the

pitch. I think he'd probably be out there in terms of sort of sometimes in our positions to say that a player isn't at the level and I'm sure City fans have looked at it and thought well is he good enough? Why is he playing right back? We signed him as a midfield player but he's doing a good job out there and certainly today I thought he was excellent and I think he deserves a mention. Okay so Liverpool, they beat Villa, they beat Real Madrid, there was a sense that all was well again, what's not well? I think of all the games they've had in the last month,

or six weeks when they've been dropping points and losing matches, I would say that is a massive worry today for Liverpool fans watching that game. And I think Arnold Slot will be looking at that game, particularly the first half, and think, that's nothing, that's nothing of a performance. I was trying to get my head around where it was, because just five or six minutes before half-time,

it came to me that City had this game by the scruff of the neck, go and get your second, because this lot have gone. Their legs had gone, it was almost as if they couldn't get up the pitch, they couldn't move, they were walking, and you never, ever accuse a Liverpool team in this last five, ten years of throwing the towel in,

and they didn't throw the towel in today by any stretch of the imagination, but physically and mentally they looked beaten. Now, look, it has been a difficult week for them, they have had Villa, they have had Real Madrid, I get it, but today was such a big game, and to come out there and lack confidence, play so passively, they kept playing back the way, the way he played. He was playing. He was. Lack confidence.

Play so passively. They kept playing back the way they kept can I take kept playing back to his goalkeeper cannot get playing back to other players. I mean, can I see after about 10 15

minutes? I was like, How many touches can I say? And I went obviously press my book in there. You will have heard me. He's had 24 25 touches. And I said this about a year ago, it's not a tactic to let your centre-back have the ball the most. Obviously if it's Van Dijk, we know he can pass, but Haaland were shutting Van Dijk off, they were letting Canarty have the ball,

and it was almost as if they had no idea about how to play through. Their tempo in the game was nothing, they looked physically really well short in the game, physically short in terms of their running, physically short in terms of their running, physically short in terms of actually just getting out muscled. Thought Verts in particular,

I thought it was a really bad day for him. He would've been quite always, we've been tiptoeing around him, haven't we? For a few months, around the fact that he's young, he's coming to a new country,

but he's 120. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been

really good. He's been really

good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's been really good. He's got the ball. I was a little worried if I was on the slot looking at that team is a few of them look like they can't

run, and I always think that when you're going to lose in street, you start to die. He started started out everything. And that's wrong because obviously there's some excellent

players out there with great attitude, so it's not a time to sort of throw the baby out with look at what he's got, look at how he sets up post-international break, and think about how he fixes the problems, both going forward and in defence. They looked terrible at the back, I thought they got messed around today, I thought they looked like City could score lots of goals. They weren't good enough up front, the combinations weren't there,

Salah isn't in great form, Virts is a problem. Let's be clear, let's just call it as it is, it's an issue. He's 120 million quid and to be fair, I said a few weeks ago about Kyrgios that he looks like a little boy out there. Today I thought Virts looked like a little boy and that can't be the case. He's a German international of great standing and he looks well short in respect of what you'd expect in a top physical Premier

League match, so they've got to get him up to speed, they've got to get that sort of little bit of tenacity into him and that little bit of something that means that he'll start to get into form. Because what they have to do is stick with him and persist, but they've got to find a way to get the best out of him. You've got Ekotike, it was challenging for him come on. Yeah, problems all over the place. And he's got to identify where.

Can they still be a part of it? Top end?

I'm going to say yes, just because I think that if it clicked, something could happen. They've got basically firecrackers in that dressing room. They've got world-class players and they've got big characters. You know, Alisson, Van Dijk, Salah are huge characters. You know, they're Premier League greats. So if they can just pull it together

with the managers, obviously they had a great first season and the young ones can start to gain some confidence. I put Robinson as well in terms of the experience that he's got on McAllister. I mean, it's that second band of players you've got experience around, you know,

Van Dyck, Alison and Salah. the moment, there is a worry and today it looked like a team in the first half that physically and mentally was short. But another thing that and sometimes it can happen. It looked to me like they concentrated and I might be completely wrong. So how would I know what they've

worked on in the last 24 48 hours? It felt to me like sometimes you can play a game where you've thought so much about how to stop the opposition that you forget about one of the most important things

as a top club going away from home in a big game is you've got to play. You've got to take the ball, you've got to have rhythm in your passing, you've got to demonstrate authority. When you're in play in that first five, 10 minutes

away from home in a big game, you're sending a message in that first five, 10 minutes to the opposition players in the ground, the stadium, the 50,000-60,000 people in here, that we are ready to play and come and take you on at your own game, and be able to stand up and be counted. Liverpool shrunk, I felt, in that game in the first half, they shrunk, and I could never accuse them of that.

I thought it was a really, really poor performance, it was one of the worst that I've seen from a Liverpool team for a long, long time, in terms of them being insular and a little bit scared, but a little bit like... They didn't know what to do. I think it was a worry. Second half they got a little bit better, but do you always get a little bit better?

I actually would have expected to see substitutions at half-time, I think it was worthy of two or three of them coming off and doing, you know, but Arne Slots, you know, very experienced. I could understand why he maybe said to the players that are out there first off, get out there and give me a better 10, 15 minutes than that or else I'll make changes. And he did that. But yeah, the third goal was a killer for them. Um, they might point towards that Van Dijk header in the first half. I thought it definitely should have been a goal.

But I think from what Van Dijk just said on here, he said, I don't want to really talk about it. And I think that's the right approach. When you've lost 3-0 and you've been well beaten, don't whinge about a refereeing decision. But I do think it would have made a difference.

And I do think it was definitely a goal. I don't think it affected Donnarumma at all where Robertson was. So that made me feel hard done too with that, but they need to basically go and have a good look at themselves because they've hit high standards, that team and the group of players who know how to win things and they'll know that they're nowhere near at the moment.

Arsenal are still top of the league. I was at Sunderland last night Gary and I'd forgotten, I haven't been there for nine years. Yeah. What a fabulous thing they've got there. It's a great football stadium. Their people are so invested in that team. They were terrific and they took points from Arsenal. I presume you saw most of the action.

I saw most of it before I went and watched Richard Ashcroft. I didn't see the final goal. But I can imagine, obviously I've seen it since. Brilliant for Sunderland. I thought it would be awkward for Arsenal. I don't think there's any shame whatsoever in Arsenal drawing that game.

I think that you'll always feel that when you're winning as a big club and then a team equalizes against you, it's a sucker punch. You feel like, oh, it's a killer for you, but you know, you're not going to have it all your own way during a season. They've been sensational last in this last six to eight weeks.

But that was a game that always had a little bit of a sort of banana skin around it. It just felt that way. You know, Sunderland, the way in which they set up defensively, they're very well organized. They've got a real threat going forward. They've got a momentum in the stadium, the fans are with them, they're back in the Premier League, and I remember going up to Sunderland, I remember going to Roker

Park and playing, let alone the Stadium of Light, and when it's rocking up there, it truly does rock, and they've done brilliantly this season. The first game of the season, I was massively impressed with them in that performance against West Ham, and I know West Ham have had a challenge at the start of this season, but the right attributes, the right principles of a team coming up, being hard to beat, being physical, running forward with real aggression and meaning and passion, and getting balls into the box and filling the box,

things that I just think are simple things, a team coming up from the Championship, we've seen some right nonsense over this last few years of players playing out from the back and trying to be sort of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City when they've come out of the Championship. It's just impossible to play football at that level like Manchester City can do. So I'm glad that we're seeing what we're seeing from Leeds and from Burnley and from Sunderland which is a more pragmatic

style but I think equally as effective and more I actually think to be fair when you see a team play like that I really admire it and love watching it. And from an Arsenal point of view, acknowledging obviously that it's irritating,

to say the least, to concede in stoppage time.

Very.

Would you go so far as to say that actually that point at Sunderland isn't too bad? You know, that's a really hard place to go.

No, I'm not sat there at all. Watching Arsenal get a point there at Sunderland yesterday and thinking in any way, shape or form. I'm surprised if that in

my predictions earlier on in the week on the podcast, I said, I thought it would be a draw. Um so I'm not sort of rewriting history after the game. I genuinely thought this could

just be a game that might just and cause them a problem and they've conceded two goals. They've conceded a goal in the last minute. That'll hurt them because they're a proud team defensively and they're a great side defensively, but they've got to accept that then just, you know, it's a Premier League, it's a marathon, not a sprint, and there are gonna be some bumps along the way.

And I just think that was one of the bumps that you get. that. Obviously they're not going to be able to get straight back on the bike because obviously they've got an international break, but I wouldn't be in any way, shape or form putting that down to anything other than what normally happens in a Premier League season. That thing that you would say to yourself is no, did you expect to win every single match? No, no team does that. Manchester City at their very best haven't gone through a season winning every single match you're bound to drop points you are gonna lose games and drop points you know ordinarily and that's what's happened but I wouldn't be screaming and shouting if I was an Arsenal fan and I know

they're not and I certainly wouldn't be sort of screaming and shouting if I was an Arsenal player or coach and I know they're not either because Mikhail Arteta will be no way they'll be they'll be really disappointed because it'll just give you that... When you lose a game like that, when you draw a game like that with a goal in the last minute, it's like having a cloud over your head, you try and forget about it in the next 24, 48 hours, but it just comes back and you think... And it just gives you a bit of a sickly feeling, but it's normal,

that's what happens to teams that are proud, that are used to winning and want to win a league they should feel like that but it's important that when they come back in a couple of weeks they get after that three points and win the

next game. The other big winners at the top end this weekend a couple of obviously high-profile draws but Chelsea got a win they had Wolves at home and Wolves are the story club this weekend they've got rid of Wynn manager they had a caretaker in charge yesterday and Rob Edwards has chosen to cash in a promotion race with Middlesbrough for a relegation scrap with Wolves which is his club you know he lives locally he has family you can see all sorts of emotional attachments

but it's a it's an interesting career choice what's your take on all of that?

I mean that's the thing really isn't it for Rob Edwards that he's he's local to Wolves it's the a dream job for him. And he wouldn't have wanted to hand his notice in at Middlesbrough and exit there lightly. Middlesbrough will be absolutely furious, and they'll feel badly let down, the Middlesbrough fans, it's a great club that I'd like to see back in the Premier League at some point in the future,

because of just generally my memories of playing up there and knowing how those great Brazilian players, the other players that they had, you know, Gazza and Merson and all the others. So for me, I want to see Middlesbrough back in the Premier League, but I can see why Rob Edwards, as as jump ship, he probably will say when he finally speaks and he is appointed that this is the only job that he would have done so. And he'll be apologetic, he'll feel like he's letting you know sometimes in life you're making a decision which is right for you and your family and what you need and you know you have to

look after number one i know people talk about loyalty and loyalty is very important i stand by it trust and loyalty but if you get an opportunity to for something that's so brilliant for your life and for your family then not many people would turn that down. I think if Middlesbrough fans can probably try and understand that, as much as it won't help them right now, get over the disappointment and the feeling of being let down, I think they'll probably recognise that Rob Edwards is a Wolves fan.

And if someone was offered the Middlesbrough job and it was their dream job, they'd expect that person to leave and go and take it. And they wouldn't think anything of it. And of course he gave us a lot of fun at Luton for a while didn't he? He did. He engendered

something, there was a spirit about him. He made that sort of a family club. It's

one of the great achievements, Luton getting to the Premier League. So look, I mean have Middlesbrough, sorry, have Wolves appointed him in the... no team I don't they said awful starts the season they look well short so are they planning already for what could be an inevitable relegation I know that they'll say all the right things but yeah it's a big job for him to go there and try and turn that round and maybe they're preparing for what would be a championship next year which you know you get the parachute payments and they want obviously someone who knows the championship to be able to take them

back up so yeah they'll have a free hit Rob Edwards will have a free hit in terms of trying to turn it round but he'll also have to start preparing for what could be an inevitable relegation and there's a long way to go but it doesn't look good. Any other business Gary? No I don't think so I think that I watched the United game yesterday at lunchtime that was a game that swung back and forward a game where you're thinking Manchester United can go into second,

they're winning, you think Man Utd can control the game, and all of a sudden Tottenham go and score two goals and you think it's euphoria for them, and you're thinking at the end of the game for United it's a good point, and for Tottenham they'll be disappointed that they've given away against each other. I'm a little bit disappointed that they've

sort of given away that last minute goal. But. Yeah, I think that both of those clubs United and Tottenham. Will just be a little bit. I mean, look, it's been a good month for United.

You know, United started this month by obviously beating Liverpool after the last international break, and they've got eight points out of their the way they've got the chances. If you just said to me Liverpool away, Forrest away

Brighton at home and taught them away as they points is a great result. But because they got six in the first two. There's an element of thinking well, if they just got another two or

three points, they'd be right up there at this moment time in second, but I think United should really be looking and Tottenham. If they can get it the European games. I think they're going to be a bit more. You know, more united really with the fact they're

not in Europe. I think it's tougher for Tottenham with the fact that they've got the European games, but united, they really should be thinking around top four. They really

should because there's no one grabbing it at this moment. You look at Chelsea. Um you know, they're sort of obviously up the way that we've been playing in the last couple of weeks, and we've been playing really well, and we've been breaking and so it's about consistency now. After this international

break, I always think this is the sort of biggest frustration. These three international breaks that we have, and then I think to myself, you've got them two or three months of lots of sort

of games the winter the winter slog. If you like this is what You come out of January and then you start to see where really everybody is. But there's a good opportunity for United. Bournemouth have lost today, I think Forrest have picked up, that's a decent win for Forrest, they've picked up four points in two games. So it's starting to equalise itself out, it's starting to work itself out. But interestingly, I think today the big story, obviously, is Pep Guardiola's

thousandth game in the city, within four points of Arsenal and they've dominated the champions and you know thousandth game in the city, within four points of Arsenal and they've dominated the champions and you know Arnaud Slot is here doing his interview now and I think he'll be very worried tonight.