Gary Neville has refused to pass up on the opportunity to poke fun at fellow pundit Jamie Carragher after Richarlison’s scathing review of the former Liverpool star.
Everton avoided relegation on Thursday night by beating Crystal Palace 3-2 on a historic night at Goodison Park. The Toffees headed into half-time 2-0 down but goals from Michael Keane, Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin ensured that their side would be playing Premier League football next season.
Amongst the celebrations, Richarlison decided to take aim at Liverpool hero Carragher – who has criticised him previously. He wrote on Twitter : “@Carra23 wash your mouth before you talk about me and Everton and I don’t respect you,” followed by a poo emoji.
Neville then decided to double up on Carragher, as he likes to, by joking that he agreed with the Everton striker’s opinion. He quote tweeted the message with the caption: “Know how you feel mate.”
Carragher also responded to the tweet, though not in the manner that many expected. Rather than getting into a heated debate with the Brazil international, he agreed with the forward for coming out and being vocal in his criticism.
He quote tweeted the message, saying: “I actually quite like this, if Twitter was about when I was a player I’m sure I would’ve called pundits out quite a lot!” The striker is yet to reply to the former defender's message.
Carragher has never shied away from criticising Richarlison, especially in the Merseyside derby. The Liverpool legend was on commentary for Sky Sports for the feisty encounter and implied that Richarlison was ‘play acting’ on one occasion.
As half-time approached, the 25-year-old fell to the turf clutching his ankle – with Abdoulaye Doucoure opting to cynically foul Fabinho so that his team-mate would be able to receive treatment. Carragher reacted by saying: “Honestly, get up. Get up, carry on. If Doucoure gets a yellow card because his teammate goes down.
“Stupid from Doucoure trying to stop the game but Richarlison, there's nothing wrong with him.” The comment appears to have filtered back to the striker, who has been linked with Manchester United lately, and has not gone down overly well – understandably.
Frank Lampard will be keen to keep Richarlison heading into next season with hopes that his side does not have to endure a relegation battle. He has scored 10 goals and assisted five so far this season, which has certainly caught the eye of many clubs given that he has impressed at an underperforming outfit.
Speaking after his side’s win, followed by a pitch invasion, Lampard said: “What we've just seen, it's Premier League safety, it's not Champions League. But what it means to the club and circumstances they were given in. The character of this club, the fans, players, just got us through. The spirit of the club was immense.
“There are a lot of people who work so hard for that, the players, the board, the fans, my staff. It's a huge night for Everton and now we want to take that forward.”
