Gary Neville was speaking after Liverpool’s 2-1 Premier League loss to Tottenham.
Neville had suggested that although Liverpool have their spirit back, they won’t challenge for the Premier League title this season.
After a strong start to the season, the Reds suffered their first defeat of the campaign against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening. The game, however, was marred by a number of controversial calls made by referee Simon Hooper and VAR official Darren England.
If Liverpool had beaten Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, then they would have replaced Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table. Pep Guardiola’s boys had been handed their first league defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier in the day.
And even though Liverpool spent big in the summer in a bid to overhaul their midfield, with Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch all joining the Anfield club, Neville believes the Reds could still be lacking a “true holding player,” which could prevent them from challenging for the title this season.
Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, the former Manchester United right-back said:
“They’ve definitely got a spirit, a fight, Klopp’s teams always do. I don’t think they’ll challenge for the title.
“Their midfield is better and settled in quicker than I thought they would, but I still think there will be some challenges that they haven’t got a true holding player.
“They’re in a pretty decent place. Klopp might not challenge for the title this season but another transfer window or two and he may have something quite special.
“If Nunez, Diaz, Salah, Jota, Gakpo, Gravenberch, if those players can start to build something this season they may be in a place next season where they can challenge again with one or two more additions. They aren’t far away.
“Klopp will be in a good place from where he was in the transfer window when he was wondering what was going to happen and there was a little bit of dismay amongst Liverpool fans that they wouldn’t get those midfield players they needed.”
