GARY NEVILLE CRITICAL OF LIVERPOOL DUO WHO ‘NEED TO GET A GRIP’ IN MERSEYSIDE DERBY
Gary Neville was critical of two Liverpool players during the first half of tonight’s Merseyside derby against Everton.
The Toffees took a deserved lead shortly before the half-hour when, during a litany of defensive mishaps for the Reds, Ibrahima Konate failed to clear a loose ball and Jarrad Brandwaite got the ball over the line after it squirmed underneath Alisson Becker.
LFC had been hanging on at 0-0 until that point, and the ex-Manchester United defender took aim at the two starting centre-backs for the visitors at Goodison Park.
Speaking on co-commentary for Sky Sports, Neville said: “[Virgil] Van Dijk and Konate need to get a grip on this game. It is as if Liverpool have been shocked at what Everton have thrown at them.”
While the two players mentioned by Neville were indeed well below their best in the opening half-hour, the same could be said for their teammates.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin may have been offside prior to the penalty which he had chalked off by VAR in the first few minutes, but it was still a shocking indictment of Liverpool’s defending that he had so much space to exploit between the Reds’ backline.
Everton won the shot count 8-2 by the 30th minute, which was a fair reflection of their dominance throughout the first half.
It’s not just Van Dijk and Konate – everyone in Liverpool’s squad needs to be so much sharper if we’re not to fade anticlimactically out of the title race.
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2024-04-24T20:05:46Z dg43tfdfdgfd