Echo

Gary Neville slams four 'absolutely useless' Liverpool players in scathing putdown

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Gary Neville slammed Milos Kerkez and a number of his Liverpool team-mates following the Reds' defeat to ChelseaGary Neville has slammed Milos Kerkez in a scathing critique of the defender following a below-par start to his Liverpool career. The Hungarian shone for AFC Bournemouth last season with his form earning him both a £40m move to Anfield and a place in the PFA Team of the Year.But he has ultimately struggled to recapture such form for the Reds to date, with the 21-year-old one of a number of players who have not been at their best as the reigning Premier League champions struggle for form.Liverpool fell to a third-successive defeat away at Chelsea on Saturday evening, following on from losses to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray, as they surrendered top spot in the Premier League table in the process.READ MORE: Alexander Isak makes blunt admission as Liverpool struggles continue - 'It's the worst'READ MORE: 'Maybe something much bigger' - National media ask major Liverpool questions after Chelsea lossKerkez, who has made the most appearances for Arne Slot’s side so far this season having featured in all 11 of their matches, started the game but was withdrawn after 55 minutes during another difficult showing.And Neville, who was on co-commentary duties for Sky Sports at Stamford Bridge and is regarded as one of the best full-backs in Premier League history, was not impressed with the 21-year-old’s performance.The Manchester United legend pulled no punches as he claimed that Kerkez ‘looked like a baby’ and a ‘youth team player’ when taking issue with his latest performance.“The boy Kerkez, to be honest with you, at this point in time, he looks like a youth-team player,’ he said on The Gary Neville Podcast.” “I know he’s a good player, but he looks like he’s playing for the youth team, or the Under-21s.“He looks so naïve; he looks like a baby out there.



He’s losing 50-50s with Neto!“He’s had Premier League experience, it’s not like he’s come in from another country.“He’s got a lot of games under his belt, he’s played at these grounds before, so I expected him to slot in.“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 is doing.“And he’s got players who work hard on that side, it’s not like he’s playing on the right with Salah in front of him, which is always a bit more difficult because you always get a little bit more exposed.“But I have to say from the first ten minutes of that game against Bournemouth on the first game of the season, he’s struggled.”Slot would concede that Kerkez is still adjusting to the increased demands at Liverpool when explaining his decision to withdraw the defender against Chelsea."Milos was more and more tired,” he told Sky Sports. “He played 90 minutes in two games and now for the third game in a week, which he’s not used to when he played at Bournemouth.“You could feel and see it got more and more difficult to keep going and their wingers are a threat so we decided to make a change over there.”Meanwhile, Kerkez was not the only player to earn Neville’s wrath, with the former England international also taking aim at both Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley, as well as Liverpool’s attacking players.“Frimpong looks like he should be playing as a right winger, he doesn’t perform like a right-back,” he said.

“Conor Bradley just isn’t doing it and Andy Robertson is battling but he’s not quite where he was a few years ago.“Liverpool’s problems are as much to do with full-back as anywhere. They need to button that down.”He continued: “A lot has been made of Liverpool's defensive work, and rightly so, but today 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 midfielders and the forwards who were absolutely useless.“They were giving the ball away like you wouldn't believe.