Gary Neville Calls Out Liverpool's £200m Duo
Gary Neville has stopped tiptoeing around Liverpool’s £200m front line. The gloves are off.
Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, the marquee arrivals meant to drag Liverpool into a new attacking era, were labelled the club’s “biggest disappointments” at St James’ Park as Neville demanded a sharp upturn in performances.
Isak completed the full 90 minutes on his first return to Newcastle since becoming the most expensive signing in Premier League history last summer. Wirtz, who had also flattered to deceive, was hooked just after the hour for Alexis Mac Allister. Neither came close to justifying their price tags in Sunday’s league opener.
On the Gary Neville Podcast, the former Manchester United defender made it clear the grace period is over.
“The big thing for Liverpool is they've got this quarter-of-a-billion-pound front two, Isak and Wirtz and bloody hell, we've been kind to them,” he said. “They're going to have to start playing sooner or later or else, to be fair, they're going to get quite a lot of criticism.
“For a start, they're too nice, and if you're going to be nice, you'd better be incredible at football.”
Neville’s main frustration centred on Wirtz. The German, signed for a nine-figure fee from Bayer Leverkusen a year ago, has yet to impose himself consistently in the Premier League.
“I don't see the tenacity in Wirtz in particular,” Neville said. “I just see a nice player moving around the pitch, not really ever looking like he's busting a gut to do anything.
“Now, that can happen. Sometimes players have that flow about them, but I want to put a rocket up him. I want to put a rocket up him because there's ability there, there's talent there, the understanding of his position.
“The biggest disappointment for me [Sunday] is those two.”
This was not an off-the-cuff outburst. Neville has tracked both players closely over the last year and, despite the criticism, insisted he still believes they can deliver.
“I've watched them both for 12 months, and I do actually have faith in them,” he said. “I think Isak's an exceptional player and we've seen it.
“I never saw anybody give Gabriel and Saliba or Van Dijk and Konate a tougher time as Isak did when he played at Newcastle in a black and white shirt. I've seen him be devastating.
“Now Liverpool fans and his team-mates and coaching staff, they need to see that - because that's £125m they've spent on him.
“And then Wirtz, he needs to sort himself out. Enough's enough now, we've talked about him enough. He's young and he's come to a different country - and I'm all for willing him on.”
Neville’s patience, though, has clear limits. He argued both players have enjoyed what he called “a bit of a free ride”, with Isak’s injury issues last season and the turbulence around the dugout shielding them from sustained scrutiny.
“Obviously Isak was injured last season but Arne Slot loses his job, and Wirtz has played like that, so let's be clear, this has got me to start some real focus now,” Neville said. “I can see a real player there, but can't keep watching this stuff and he's been subbed after an hour and they need a goal, but they're 2-1 down, so no that's not right.”
Wirtz’s role under the microscope
Pre-season had hinted at something very different. Wirtz looked lively as a shadow striker, especially in the 3-2 defeat to Monaco two weeks before the opener, floating off Isak and threading passes in tight areas. That role seemed to suit him.
At St James’ Park, he drifted away from the Swede. Liverpool’s attack drifted with him.
The 23-year-old has managed only eight league goal involvements since arriving from Leverkusen. For Neville, the tactical tweak is obvious: get Wirtz closer to his centre-forward and keep him there.
“Sometimes I think he moves around too much,” Neville said. “Sometimes I don't think he's close enough to his striker, I don't think he understands where the game's going to be won and lost.
“When I played football and No 10s sometimes drifted too deep, or too wide, they would get a right rollicking off our manager.
“The game's not going to be won out there, the game's not going to be won back there, the game's going to be won in the final third, in and around the box.”
Neville wants Wirtz living in that chaos zone, not floating in safe spaces.
“Combining with your striker, getting crosses in, getting little passes, getting little side passes down the side of the centre-backs, being close enough to your forward so that you can combine with him. And I don't see him combining with Isak.
“I just feel like Wirtz has got to think about being involved in the build-up less and think about being a second striker. He's got to think about his output and what he needs to do, and that is feed Isak with little passes down the side of centre-backs. He might only get the ball two or three times in that position in tight games where teams are lying deep.”
The message is blunt. Liverpool have spent a fortune on a front two designed to terrorise defences, not decorate games.
The time for promise and pre-season flashes has gone. The next few weeks will show whether Isak and Wirtz can turn Neville’s faith into something more tangible than another expensive what-if.
