Gary Neville Slams Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United for Low Standards
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has slammed some of the Premier League's top clubs for lacking intensity and balance, and he believes the standard of the English top flight is dropping.
The former Manchester United defender was dismissive of both Liverpool and Arsenal's recent performances when discussing the pair's 2-2 weekend draw on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football show, unfavourably comparing the encounter to Atletico Madrid's remarkable 4-1 win against Athletic Bilbao.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Neville believes the English top flight has a long way to go before returning to the European dominance it enjoyed in the late 2000s, per the Daily Mail's Matt Morlidge:
"I was immensely disappointed with the [Liverpool versus Arsenal] game. I didn't enjoy it. There isn't intensity to stop opposition playing.
Atletico Madrid - there's a team that resemble a top side. We've really dropped below this level of intensity. Chelsea have got it, City have a bit, but Liverpool's games with Arsenal and United were a million miles away from being big games. [...]
In the game at Old Trafford [Man United 3-0 Liverpool] and yesterday, there were too many attempts at goal. Balance has gone too far in one way. Get that back, then we'll be back to three or four teams back in the Champions League semi-finals.
"
Indeed, Premier League sides do seem to have dropped off in European competition with overall quality markedly lower than at the end of the last decade.
Between 2005 and 2012, at least one Premier League club was represented in seven of the eight Champions League finals in that period, with an English club winning the competition on three occasions.
In the last two seasons, only Chelsea have reached the last four of the Champions League, the Blues being convincingly out-played by Atletico in last season's semi-final.
In the current campaign, while three Premier League sides have qualified from the group stages—Arsenal, Chelsea and City—again, only the Blues look likely to go deep into the tournament.
It does certainly seem as though the majority of English football's historically major sides—specifically Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United—have dropped far below the level of the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
The Times' Tony Barrett agrees with Neville that the Premier League's biggest games now lack genuine quality and intensity:
Meanwhile, after the Liverpool game, Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain criticised his side's ability to see games out against the toughest of oppositions, per the Daily Star's Bruce Archer:
"It’s really disappointing for us. I don’t think we played that well today, but sometimes you need to win those games when you don’t play well, especially away from home at a hard place at Anfield. [...]
To be 2-1 up so late on, we’re really disappointed we weren’t able to see it out.
"
The oft-repeated myth of the Premier League being the best league in the world is seemingly being debunked this season with only Chelsea showing a level of consistency and quality to match the best in Europe.
As Neville points out, standards have to be higher if teams like Arsenal, United and Liverpool are to return to Europe's elite but there are certainly the resources available to add quality.
However, simply bringing in higher-profile stars will not automatically solve the problem Neville has highlighted.
For that to happen, the overall quality of the top sides has to collectively improve as the competition for the top spot in the Premier League needs to intensify, with Chelsea and City the only realistic contenders this term.
