Liverpool defenders and goalkeeper will 'kill' any chance of success, says Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp
Multiple mistakes gifted Tottenham a 4-1 victory on Sunday that left Jürgen Klopp accepting that his side have not been good enough in recent weeks
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Your support makes all the difference.Gary Neville claimed Liverpool will never win any success with their current defensive problems because their back line and goalkeeper “always kill them”, following Sunday’s heavy 4-1 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
The former Manchester United defender was on commentary duty for the Wembley Stadium encounter that was over as soon as it started, with Harry Kane needing fewer than four minutes to open the scoring before Son Heung-min doubled the lead in the 19th minute.
The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, subsequently removed Dejan Lovren on the half-hour mark and re-jigged his entire team to try and stem the flow of the repeated counter-attacks from Spurs, but while Mohamed Salah pulled one goal back for the visitors, a third from Dele Alli on the stroke of half-time and Kane’s second strike secured a one-sided victory.
Lovren was partially at fault for the opening two goals, while goalkeeper Simon Mignolet did not cover himself in glory for Kane’s second, and Neville criticised Liverpool’s entire defensive line as well as the Belgium international for not being at the required level to match the club’s star-studded attack.
“This team can be scintillating, but the centre backs and goalkeeper will always kill them, they are not good enough, they will always let you down,” Neville said on Sky Sports.
While Neville’s rivalry with Liverpool has been well documented over the years due to his career-long stint with United, a former Anfield favourite in Jamie Redknapp was equally as damning of Klopp’s side.
The former Liverpool midfielder was frustrated with the repeated individual mistakes that Liverpool’s back-four make over the course of a season, and suggested that the rest of the team may be getting frustrated that their hard work in attack is being punished by their own teammates, before again highlighting the club’s failure to sign adequate replacements in the transfer window last summer.
“Going forward Liverpool are as good as any (team), but if I played in this team it would drive me mad with the individual mistakes this back four makes,” Redknapp said.
“These are individual mistakes, time and time again, and that's why the manager wanted to buy a centre back in the summer.
“They are just not good enough, individually or collectively, they are going to keep making these mistakes week-in, week-out. It must drive the likes of (Philippe) Coutinho crazy because know they have to score three or four goals to win a game.”
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