Gary Neville has insisted he doesn't worry over Liverpool's immediate future following a poor start to the Premier League season but insisted a prolonged period of poor results could spell trouble for the club's owners Fenway Sports Group.
Having faltered during the early weeks of the new season with draws to Fulham and Everton, and defeats to Manchester United and Napoli, the Reds were once again frustrated on Saturday afternoon as Brighton and Hove Albion visited Anfield and secured a 3-3 draw.
It was a performance lacking in intensity and authority, that summed up the troubles of Jurgen Klopp's side so far this term as, after impressively restoring parity from two goals down, they squandered a 3-2 lead in the final quarter of the game.
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Klopp's assessment of the result was rather damning as he described his side's performance as "horrible" and "horrendous", citing the ease with which Roberto de Zerbi's side were able to play through the lines as a major problem. But with Liverpool looking like a shadow of the side that amassed a 63-game campaign last term and went within two games of an unprecedented quadruple, Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United defender Neville has leapt to the defence of the Liverpool manager but warned owners FSG about potential trouble if their lack of investment causes the Reds to fall further behind Manchester City.
"You could argue they should’ve signed a midfield player in the summer and all those kinds of things, also they’ve been punching well above their weight, haven’t they?" said Neville on the Gary Neville podcast. "Exceptional manager, brilliant manager, great team-spirit married with the fans over the last few years coming together, they’ve had an outstanding time but when you compare their net spend with these two clubs today [Man City and Man United], they are competing with both hands behind their back.
"When Liverpool start to perform at their level; how they’ve recruited, how Jurgen Klopp’s coached the team, how the team have performed, when they start playing at where the investment takes them that’s where I think there will be an issue with FSG. The Liverpool fans will be thinking, ‘Hang on, we have to spend as much as the other clubs’ like Chelsea have done this summer."
Despite adding Darwin Nunez, Calvin Ramsay and Fabio Carvalho to their ranks this summer, Liverpool failed to address their ever-ageing midfield. It was only once Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara suffered injuries during the month of August that Anfield officials swooped in for a deadline day loan move for Juventus and Brazil midfielder Arthur Melo.
But despite their early-season struggles, Neville believes Klopp will be able to turn it around for Liverpool even if they are unable to challenge for a second Premier League title under the German this term.
"I don’t panic too much about Liverpool and if I was Liverpool I wouldn’t panic too much," added Neville. "I believe they’ve still got the best performing manager in the last four or five years with what he’s done with the spend he’s had, but at the moment it’s not right.
"We’ve not seen the ferocious press. We all know it’s not right but they’ve built up too much credit in my view to stick the knife in at this early point after a difficult start to the season.
"Yes Liverpool fans will be worried, yes Jurgen Klopp will be worried, there will be some disappointment where they are now and realise they’re miles off this level today [Man City] and you think how are they going to compete for the title this year, they’re probably not but you never know because Jurgen Klopp has done the exceptional and can do the exceptional and has over the last few years surprised us massively.
"How they stayed on City’s coattails, just to do what they did was incredible, Liverpool are no doubt not at their best. Nunez has got to settle in, Diaz, Nunez, Jota, Salah, they’ve got exceptional players up there but they’ve got to get up there, that standard that they’ve always set and that’s not always easy. They’ve been outpunching opponents they shouldn’t have been for a number of years now."
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