Neville questions Liverpool over Karius row
Date published: Sunday 18th December 2016 6:05
Gary Neville has spoken about the Loris Karius debate and says Liverpool “added fuel to a fire that wasn’t there”.
Neville hit the headlines recently after criticising the Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius in his role as a Sky Sports pundit.
The former Manchester United man also pointed out that he labelled United midfielder Marouane Fellaini “pathetic” and “battered” Everton keeper Martin Stekelenberg”, but neither of the clubs involved felt the need to pass comment.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp had his say however, as did Karius in a newspaper interview – neither of which were necessary, according to Neville.
Neville told the Sunday Supplement: “It became a big story because the player, coach and Liverpool added fuel to a fire that wasn’t there.
“Two weeks ago my most critical comments were about a United and an Everton player. No one will remember what my comment were because United and Everton never reacted to it, the players never reacted to it and they were forgotten about.
“I called Fellaini pathetic and idiotic and I battered Stekelenburg for his part in Ibrahimovic’s goal. I said Karius transmits anxiety and nervousness to his team-mates.
“The other two stories have disappeared to the point at which no one can remember them, that’s how I would expect press departments of football clubs to deal with these things.
“When Karius did his newspaper interview I knew he would be out of the team in a few days, I knew he brought pressure on himself.
“Young players should always do interviews and me saying, ‘stay clear of the situation’ – my advice to Karius after doing the interview he did – and Phil Neville and Jamie Carragher telling him to stay quiet, as ex-players, we were more guiding him saying, ‘this is not a fight for now.’
“From our point of view as pundits though, we did our job, we created the debate.”
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