Neville believes Liverpool can achieve top 4
Gary Neville believes that Liverpool are in a fantastic position to finish in the top 4 this season.
The Reds beat Burnley 2-1 on Sunday afternoon, but made hard work of it after going behind early on to an Ashley Barnes goal.
“There are going to be two big clubs and big managers to drop out of that top four,” the Sky Sports pundit said on this week’s edition of the Gary Neville podcast. “You’d have to say, at this moment in time, if every team had the same games towards the end of the season, I think Liverpool could be in trouble.
“They could potentially be the weakest in some ways, but the fact they’ve got a really good run does give them an advantage to get in there. But it’s so tight and it changes week by week.”
Liverpool have built up a reputation for struggling against the ‘smaller’ teams in the league this season, they are unbeaten against teams in the top 10, but all 5 of their losses this season so far have come against teams in the bottom half.
“I’m not sure it is psychological because it’s happened so many times this year,” he said. “I think there’s a style and tactical issue in terms of how Liverpool play.
“We’ve seen some incredible performances from them in big games where teams have come at them and are open and expansive. But when Liverpool play a team who sit back and go into their shape, they don’t seem to have a Plan B.
“This current Liverpool are held back by the fact they haven’t got the strongest squad, but they have been helped this season by the fact they’ve got a good programme.
“They don’t have a Plan B in terms of being able to control the game in a different style, and when teams don’t allow them to use their energy to press they’re far less effective. They have a great chance of getting into the top four, but they do have to overcome this style problem.”
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
