Neville criticises ‘useless’ Liverpool attack

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Gary Neville has criticised Liverpool’s attack and midfield after Arne Slot’s side suffered a third straight defeat in a 2-1 loss at Chelsea.

After Moises Caicedo’s thunderous first-half opener, Liverpool had got themselves level again in the second half through Cody Gakpo.

However, Estevao’s stoppage-time finish off the bench sealed a win for the home side.

Despite hoping to complete a comeback, Neville feels that last season’s champions Liverpool were extremely poor in their attempts to chase the game, especially as Chelsea suffered further injury problems in defence with Josh Acheampong and Benoit Badiashile forced off.

“I thought after they scored, I was really disappointed in their level of performance,” Neville said on the Gary Neville Podcast.

“A lot has been made of Liverpool’s defensive work and rightly so, but that’s not why they’ve lost this game. They’ve lost this game because in the last 15-20 minutes, their creative players, their players in the final half of the pitch, the midfield players and the forwards were absolutely useless.

“They were giving the ball away like you wouldn’t believe. Gakpo, Salah, the wastage. Wirtz, not knowing how to get into a game in the last 15 minutes when it was there for the taking and just sort of ended up almost marking Caicedo.

“I thought their front players were terrible. Salah is sublime. How can you criticise the consistency and reliability and brilliance of him, but some of the decisions of him today, when he comes inside and you think he should pass it or you think he should do something better with it, and his finishing was poor.

“Isak, I thought he’d started the game sharp but didn’t quite get into it.

“Wirtz, when he came on, I was disappointed with him. He looks very immature in his knowledge of how to play the game.

“I just see him sort of jogging around, and I see him going too deep when he shouldn’t go too deep, and I see him standing next to players when he shouldn’t be standing next to players. Sometimes I see him being too honest – it sounds crazy going back and defending.

“He should be almost half cheating, almost like keeping an eye on that deep line midfield player just in case he can spring off him and go the other way on the counter attack. He’s quite predictable at this moment in time in terms of picking up his position and he was disappointing.

“Liverpool were poor today. That’s the most disappointing last 15 minutes I’ve seen from Liverpool in a long time because I think when Chelsea have that back four in play, you’ve scored a goal so you’ve got to go on and win that game.

“Everything said Liverpool should go and win that game but they’ve not done it and that’s a problem for them.

“We’ve got a title race on. Arsenal have had a great week, Liverpool have had a poor week and I think it makes for a great next six months because it’s going to be a real battle.

“For Liverpool they’ve got some work to do but they’ve got experienced players, they’ve got world-class players and individuals in their team and they’ve got a great manager.

“They’ll sort it out but the full-backs have to step up, Wirtz has to start playing and understanding how he’s going to sort of connect with Isak and the other forwards in the team.”

Neville’s criticism extended to their backline with the former Manchester United full-back suggesting Liverpool have defensive issues too.

“[Milos] Kerkez looks like a youth team player,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“I know he’s a good player but he looks like he’s playing for the U21s. He looks so naïve; he looks like a baby out there.

“He’s losing, he’s losing 50-50s against Pedro Neto. It’s not as if he’s coming from a different country, he’s got a lot of games under his belt in the Premier League.

“I expected him to slot in because one, he’s playing alongside Virgil van Dijk, the best centre-half in the world, so if you want to play in a back four you want to play with great defenders and he’s doing that.

“He’s got players who work hard on that side – it’s not as if he’s got Salah in front of him on this side which is a bit more difficult for the right back because you always get a little bit more exposed.

“I have to say from the first 10 minutes of that game against Bournemouth on the first day of the season on that Friday night, he struggled.

“Let’s be clear, Liverpool’s full-backs are struggling. Frimpong looks like he should be playing as a right winger – he doesn’t perform like a right-back. Conor Bradley isn’t doing it, and Andy Robertson, I think he’s battling but he’s not quite where he was a few years ago.

“Liverpool’s problems I think at this moment in time as much to do with full-back as anywhere. They need to button that down.”

Slot: Summer changes have impacted us

Speaking after the game, Liverpool boss Arne Slot suggested changes over the summer have impacted his side.

“I think you’re never close to your ideal [team],” Slot said.

“You have to work really hard to reach a certain level and then it’s very hard in football because you also play against very good teams to keep that level going. What I mean by that is consistency.

“But it’s clear that we had a lot of changes in the summer. Players came in at different moments. Last week, there has hardly been any training time and still we need to try to bring these players in.

“The result would have been better today with a draw or a win, which was both possible. I don’t say we deserved it, a draw we definitely deserved, then we would have had a great start to the season, if you take into account everything that happened in the summer in Liverpool.”

Have Liverpool lost their balance?

Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp believes Liverpool have lost their balance in their search for a winning formula after their summer transfer business.

“Those last-second goals end up running out, you run out of luck, and then you get caught the other side. It’s become a difficult thing,” he said.

“When I watched Liverpool last season, the one thing I always felt was they had control – they had a lovely balance about them, a steady back four and then Ryan Gravenberch in front.

“Now that manager wants him to have a slightly different role, that’s fine, but you can’t change too much about what was so successful. They are losing control in important matches. They are too open all the time. It’s been end-to-end, that’s not what Liverpool were last year.

“Last year, from Arne Slot, it was one of the most incredible managerial performances. To a certain extent, it all made sense; they didn’t really buy any players.

“This year he’s got different players and he’s trying to fit things together quickly.

“Things haven’t quite gelled in the way he would have liked. Alexander Isak will need time, Hugo Ekitike will need time. I thought it would all slot together perfectly but it hasn’t.”

Redknapp also believes Liverpool are feeling the impact of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure after he secured a free transfer to Real Madrid in the summer.

“They’ve got problems at full-back. They’re missing Trent (Alexander-Arnold).

“They haven’t played the same right-back since the Burnley game. (Conor) Bradley had a tough 45 minutes. (Milos) Kerkez hasn’t quite adapted either – the pressure of playing for Bournemouth isn’t the same.

“They have problems all over the pitch but especially at full-back with (Andy) Robertson’s injury at the end. This international break could be a good chance to reset.”

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