Gary Neville has called on Liverpool attackers Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak to prove their worth following their disappointing display in Sunday’s 2-2 Premier League encounter at Newcastle.
The pair struggled to make an impact for Andoni Iraola’s side, who needed a stoppage-time penalty to secure a point in their season opener on Tyneside.
Isak, who completed a £125million move from Newcastle to Anfield last summer, passed up two excellent chances and managed just six touches inside the opposition area. Meanwhile, Wirtz, signed for £115m from Bayer Leverkusen, was withdrawn after an hour having failed to influence proceedings.
Both players had underwhelming first seasons at the club, where Arne Slot was replaced in May with Iraola, the former Bournemouth boss brought in to try to unlock their abilities. However, speaking on his podcast, the Manchester United great stated that the big issue for Liverpool is they have this quarter-of-a-billion-pound forward partnership and people have been fairly lenient about them. They will need to begin delivering soon, or they will face significant scrutiny. To start with, they are too soft, and if they are going to be soft, they had better be absolutely brilliant at the game.
Neville said he does not see that fighting spirit in Wirtz particularly. He just sees a pleasant player jogging around the pitch, never appearing to be exerting himself. That can happen sometimes, players have that relaxed style about them, but he wants to kick him up the backside. He wants to kick him up the backside because he has the ability, there is talent there, he understands his position. The main letdown for him on Sunday was those two.
Neville continued that he has been monitoring them both for a year, and he does genuinely believe in them. He thinks Isak is an outstanding player and people have seen it. He never saw anyone give Gabriel and Saliba or Van Dijk and Konate more trouble than Isak did when he was playing for Newcastle. He has seen him be brilliant. Now Liverpool supporters, his teammates and coaches need to see that form because that is £125m spent on him.
Neville said Wirtz needs to get his act together. Enough is enough now, they have discussed him plenty. He is young and moved to a different country, and Neville is supportive of him. They have both received some leniency. Obviously Isak was injured last season but Arne Slot lost his job, and Wirtz has performed like this, so let us be clear, this has made Neville demand some real focus now. He can see a real player in there, but cannot keep tolerating this, and he has been taken off after an hour when they needed a goal but were 2-1 down, so no, that is not acceptable.