Gary Neville called Liverpool “soft” and “a good team to play against” and dismissed the idea that this is a transition season for Arne Slott’s side.
On Saturday, Amin Adli scored the final goal for Bournemouth, ending Liverpool’s 13-game unbeaten run. The Reds lost 3-2, their seventh loss in the Premier League.
Liverpool currently sit in sixth place, behind Manchester United and Chelsea, who won on Sunday, and 14 points behind leaders Arsenal.
Neville has warned that if their results don’t improve they will lose the credit they gained from winning the Premier League last season.
“They looked vulnerable and I thought for the first time when I saw them last night, I thought they looked a bit soft,” Neville told the Gary Neville Podcast.
“They’ve gotten a little bit better at what they’re doing, but that’s not who they are. I thought they were sharp last year, but I think they’ve lost their sharpness offensively and gotten softer defensively. They’re getting easier to play against. So that’s a real problem for them.”
He added: “If Liverpool don’t bounce back, they will lose the credibility they built by winning the league last year, and their naivety will have to change.”
“They lost[Marc]Guehi. They didn’t do the job they were supposed to do, so that naiveté will probably continue. It’s different for them.”
“I wouldn’t say they’re a weak group on the pitch, but when you watch them, there’s a bit of an element where you feel like they’ve been treated a little bit wrongly. If that’s developing internally, they’ve got to get rid of that attitude.”
Neville: “This is not a transition season for Liverpool”
Neville also denied claims that this year is a “transition season” for Liverpool, who spent heavily in the summer after winning the Premier League last season.
“This is the most difficult thing to do, but Arne Slott obviously won the title last season with that group of players,” he said.
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Premier League Bournemouth vs Liverpool highlights
“What I don’t agree with is that I’ve heard several people from Liverpool, including the manager, say in several interviews over the last week that this is always going to be a transition season.
“No, forget it. I haven’t heard anything like that. No, by the way, it wasn’t meant to be a transition season. The £450m we spent on all these players in the summer was a season where we won back-to-back titles.”
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Amin Adil snatched Bournemouth’s most dramatic win against Liverpool
“Let’s not rewrite history and rewrite where we were at the beginning of the season and what everyone was saying, including people outside of Liverpool.
“So I’m not saying that the people at Liverpool were (only) crazy, the Liverpool fans were crazy too, but there was definitely a feeling. (Hugo) Ekitike, (Florian) Wirtz, (Alexander) Isak, (Jeremy) Frimpong, (Milos) Kerkes.
“It wasn’t a transitional transfer period. We re-signed the likes of (Mohamed) Salah and (Virgil) Van Dijk, we added (Alexis) Mac Allister and (Ryan) Gravenbirch in midfield, (Ibrahima) Konate at centre-back, Alisson in net and we had a very stable championship team. By the way, this was not a rebuild.
“I think I heard transition mentioned a few times last week, but I haven’t heard it at all, because you can’t rewrite history.
