“Looked like a little boy” - Gary Neville slams performance from Liverpool star in 3-0 defeat at Manchester City

Gary Neville slammed Florian Wirtz's performance in Liverpool's 3-0 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday, November 9. He said that the German midfielder has struggled to adapt to the Premier League, labeling it a "real worry".

Liverpool signed Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for a massive transfer fee of £116 million in the summer. However, he has failed to make a big impact, recording just three assists in 16 games across competitions. None of those have come in his 11 Premier League appearances.

Wirtz started Liverpool's clash against Manchester City on Sunday, but was subbed off in the 83rd minute for Federico Chiesa. After the game, Manchester United legend Gary Neville said on The Gary Neville Podcast:

"Wirtz is a problem. Let's just call it as it is. It's an issue. He's £100m+, and to be fair, I said a few weeks ago [Milos] Kerkez looked like a little boy out there. Today I thought Wirtz looked like a little boy. That can't be the case. We've been tiptoeing around him for a few months, around the fact that he's young, he's coming to a new country, but he's £100m+, you're going to have to stand up soon." "He's obviously got something, he's a really good player, he's technically fantastic, but he's been mauled out there today by Matheus Nunes and by others. He's been chucked around the pitch, and didn't deliver on the quality side of things as well, so his performance was a real worry," he added.

Wirtz completed 21/24 passes against Manchester City, completed 1/2 dribble attempts, won 4/8 duels, and lost possession nine times (via SofaScore).

---

Liverpool's terrible run continues as Manchester City edge closer to Arsenal

Liverpool have now lost seven of their last 10 games across competitions, winning the other three. They have just one of their last six Premier League games, and sit eighth in the standings, eight points behind leaders Arsenal.

The Merseysiders went into the clash against Manchester City on the back of a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League at Anfield. However, they found themselves 1-0 down in the 29th minute as Erling Haaland opened the scoring. The Norwegian had seen his penalty being saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili in the 13th minute.

Virgil van Dijk put the ball in the net via a header in the 39th minute for Liverpool, but it was chalked off for an offside by Dominik Szoboszlai. Nico Gonzalez's deflected strike in the third minute of stoppage time doubled Manchester City's lead. Jeremy Doku then completed the scoring in the 63rd minute. Pep Guardiola's side are now second in the standings, four points behind Arsenal.

Edited by Aditya Singh