Occasionally, former Manchester United fullback Gary Neville has something insightful to say and has earned his reputation as one of world football’s most recognizable pundits.
However, more often than not, Neville’s analysis leaves a lot to be desired and is frequently looked down upon for elements of bias that are clearly a bit larger than mere kernels.
In his latest nugget of wisdom, Neville weighed Liverpool’s chances of winning the Premier League, placing his biggest rivals behind Manchester City and Arsenal, glossing over the Reds almost completely as contenders.
That’s bad enough, given Liverpool are literally first in the Premier League through six fixtures and look even stronger offensively under Arne Slot, but Neville’s explanation for why is truly galaxy-brained.
Neville said on the creatively named “Gary Neville Podcast”,
“They’re going to have a good season it looks like and maybe get Champions League football. I didn’t feel like I was watching title winners [at Wolves] being honest with you. They’re well below Arsenal and City but I don’t think that’s shocking anybody.”
Wait, wait, wait…Liverpool are “maybe” going to get Champions League football? Maybe? If the battle is so close, please tell me which four teams are clearly better than Liverpool, because, if anything, the Reds have been and currently are a lot closer to Man City and Arsenal than the teams on the bubble of the top four, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
Liverpool were in the title race last season and got better this season with the rebound of Luis Diaz, the breakout of Ryan Gravenberch, and the realization that Cody Gakpo’s best role is around the goal.
Perhaps Liverpool let us overlook them with a couple of lackluster seasons in 2020/21 and 2022/23, but aside from those two blips on the radar, the Reds have consistently been Premier League title contenders.
To write them off after beating Wolves because the result wasn’t sexy enough is downright ridiculous, because, by that logic, Arsenal would be the most unserious contenders of them all with how many wins they’ve ground out over the years with a mid-table, dig-those-heels-in approach from Mikel Arteta.
C’mon, man. Liverpool deserve more respect. They are literally top of the table.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.
