Gary Neville Critiques Liverpool's £200m Strike Partnership

Gary Neville has warned Liverpool’s £200m strike partnership of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz that their “free ride” is over – and says it is time the club’s record investments started delivering performances to match their price tags.

The former Manchester United defender did not hold back on his podcast after watching the pair labour through Liverpool’s Premier League opener at St James’ Park, describing them as his “biggest disappointments” on the day.

Isak completed the full 90 minutes on his first return to Newcastle since becoming the most expensive player in Premier League history last summer. Wirtz did not last as long. He was withdrawn just after the hour for Alexis Mac Allister, having failed to influence the game in the way Liverpool had hoped when they prised him from Bayer Leverkusen for a nine-figure fee a year ago.

Both forwards had teased a different story in pre-season. Under new head coach Andoni Iraola, Liverpool’s friendlies had showcased flashes of the ruthless, fluid attack the club believed they were building around their new front two. The optimism stayed in August. It did not travel up to Tyneside.

“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,” Neville 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.

“I don't see the tenacity in Wirtz in particular. I just see a nice player moving around the pitch, not really ever looking like he's busting a gut to do anything.”

Neville did acknowledge that some players carry themselves with a certain calm, a natural rhythm that can be mistaken for a lack of urgency. He still wants more.

“Sometimes players have that flow about them, but I want to put a rocket up him,” he said. “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.”

Faith in the talent – but patience thinning

For all the frustration, Neville has not written them off. He has seen too much quality from both to believe this is their level.

“I've watched them both for 12 months, and I do actually have faith in them,” he insisted. “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.”

Wirtz did not escape either the criticism or the challenge.

“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.

“They have both had a bit of a free ride. 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.

“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.”

‘Be a second striker, not a wanderer’

Neville’s biggest tactical gripe centred on Wirtz’s positioning and his relationship with Isak.

The 23-year-old had looked sharp as a shadow striker in pre-season, particularly in a 3-2 defeat to Monaco where he operated close to the centre-forward and repeatedly threatened the box. At St James’ Park, he drifted away from that role – and, in Neville’s eyes, away from the heart of the contest.

Wirtz has just eight league goal involvements since arriving from Leverkusen. For a player signed to knit together the attack and punch through defensive lines, that return now sits under a harsh spotlight.

“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.

“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.”

That, for Neville, is the crux. Wirtz, he believes, must resist the urge to drop into build-up zones and instead live where it hurts.

“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 said. “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.”

Liverpool paid for a partnership. So far, they have two expensive soloists still learning the tune. How quickly Isak and Wirtz find their rhythm could shape not only their own reputations, but the direction of Liverpool’s entire season.