Charting how Liverpool’s 24-25 season has made Gary Neville lose his mind
Predictions can be a fool’s game, but Gary Neville’s consistently bad takes about Liverpool are something else.
Having previously reported the seven worst opinions the Sky pundit has made, we are looking back at this season alone to see just how wrong he was about the runaway leaders.
While we admit that not many saw Liverpool as title winners, the former Manchester United full-back was particularly negative about the side down the road.
Here are some things Nevile had to say about Liverpool that have aged like milk
Liverpool are “well below Arsenal and Man City”
In fairness to ol’ G. Nev, there weren’t many predicting a Liverpool title win before a ball was kicked, but what makes this particular take so bad is that he said it six games into the season.
By this point, Liverpool had already moved to the top of table, winning all but one game against surprise package Nottingham Forest, and Salah had already scored four goals.
But still, Gary reckoned the Anfield were a step behind.
“I didn’t feel like I was watching title winners being honest with you,” he said. “They’re well below Arsenal and City but I don’t think that’s shocking anybody.”
They are now 15 points clear.
Liverpool fifth, Man Utd third in pre-season predictions
If we are giving Neville the benefit of the doubt when it comes to title winners, his prediction that Liverpool to miss out on the entirety of the top four is less forgivable.
Speaking during the first Monday Night Football of the year, Neville and Jamie Carragher gave their top four predictions and Liverpool did not make the cut.
“Manchester City second, Manchester United third, although I say that with a laugh, Tottenham fourth,” Neville said.
“I mean Manchester United the season before had a good season. The last one was a disaster. I do think they’ll improve enormously. I hope Tottenham finish fourth, I think they play great football.
“My view would be that the impact of Klopp will take its toll just going off evidence of history, that’s it,” Neville explained.
“Evidence of the history of a manager like that leaving at some point, I think there’ll be some pain this season for Liverpool, and it could cost them.”
Just a reminder, United and Tottenham combined have scored fewer points than Liverpool this season. Oof.
Kobbie Mainoo will have a better season than Harvey Elliott
In Neville’s defense, it was a joint prediction between him and Carragher but when asked to predict the best youngsters of the 2024-25, both said Mainoo over Elliott.
Fresh from a winning goal in the FA Cup final, Mainoo was expected to kick on this season but an injury in October saw him miss nine games and he has failed to make a real impact since Ruben Amorim’s arrival.
Elliott meanwhile has been in good form for the title leaders, even despite breaking his foot in September.
Returning in December, Elliot has played 11 games this year and recently scored the winning goal in the Champions League tie at PSG.
Mainoo, in seven more games, has failed to score and is rumored to be on the verge of an Old Trafford exit.
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Manchester United have a better midfield than Liverpool
Neville really put all his chops on Mainoo as it pushed him to say Manchester United had a better midfield than Liverpool.
That’s right. Manchester United who against Arsenal fielded a midfielders with two 33-year-olds had a better midfield than the young and hungry Liverpool side.
To be fair, few foresaw the re-emergence of Ryan Gravenberch but even without mentioning him – Neville didn’t in his prediction – the likes of Elliot, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister seemed stronger even without the benefit of hindsight.
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Picking Arsenal as title winners…in January
Oh Gary, did you not learn?
Five months on from predicting they would miss out on the top four, Neville still did not plump for Liverpool to go on and win the title.
For some context, Liverpool reached the halfway point of the season seven points clear of second-place Arsenal but Neville still reckoned it would be the London side to come out on top.
“Liverpool are massive favourites and in great form but there’s still a long way to go.
“Arsenal have been through the mill in the last few years, they’ve gone to the wire and sometimes when you win your first title, it doesn’t happen in the most expected way.
“It sticks out to me that if Van Dijk gets injured, it’s a completely different story.
“If Arsenal can close the gap to six points on Wednesday, that could dwindle quite quickly if Van Dijk [was injured] – he’s such an immense player for them.
“They’ve proven they can live without Alisson, who was equally as important a few years ago, but now with [Caoimhin] Kelleher backing him up, they’ve got that covered.
“They’ve got options going forward – [Mohamed] Salah would be a blow because he’s world-class – but they’ve got [Diogo] Jota, [Cody] Gakpo, [Darwin] Nunez.”
However, all those players largely stayed fit and instead of the six-point gap shrinking, it has grown to 15.
Liverpool to finish out of the top six to be the surprise of the season
Doubling down on his “Liverpool are going to have a terrible season” belief, Neville went even further during the Stick to Football season preview.
Asked for a surprise of the season, and with Carragher having just said Erik ten Hag making it to Christmas would be a surprise, Neville bit back with Liverpool to finish outside the top six.
Latest update – Ten Hag was sacked in October and Liverpool are 25 points off seventh-placed Aston Villa.