Gary Neville Critiques Liverpool's £200m Duo After Draw

Gary Neville did not bother with niceties. Reflecting on Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at St James’ Park on the opening weekend, he went straight for the club’s two most expensive forwards: Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.

Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the former Manchester United defender questioned both their impact and their edge, pointing out that Liverpool have already shown remarkable patience with a front pair costing close to £200 million.

Isak completed the full 90 minutes in the draw, while Wirtz lasted an hour before Andoni Iraola turned to Alexis Mac Allister in search of more control and incision. The performance left Neville unimpressed.

“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,” he said, laying bare the frustration around two players signed to transform the attack, not blend into it.

Expectation has followed them from the moment they walked through the door last summer. Both arrived as statement signings, both were supposed to drag Liverpool into a new attacking era. Neville’s verdict is that, right now, they are falling short in the most basic requirement for Premier League forwards: aggression.

“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,” he continued.

The focus, in his eyes, fell particularly sharply on Wirtz.

“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. The biggest disappointment for me [Sunday] is those two.”

It was a brutal assessment, but not without a caveat. Neville stressed that the talent is there and that both players have already shown, elsewhere and in flashes, exactly why Liverpool paid such huge fees.

Isak’s case is complicated by his fitness record. The Sweden international wrestled with injuries last season, yet still showcased enough quality to convince Liverpool to make their move. Neville has seen that version of Isak up close.

“I've watched them both for 12 months, and I do actually have faith in them. I think Isak's an exceptional player and we've seen it,” he said. “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.”

That is the crux of it. Liverpool did not spend £125m on Isak and a huge fee on Wirtz to talk about potential and patience for long. They paid for end product. They paid for fear in opposition defences. At St James’ Park, they did not get enough of either.

There is no soft landing, either. Liverpool host Nottingham Forest next Saturday, and the scrutiny will only intensify if the front line misfires again. Iraola, still shaping his team in his image, will expect an immediate response from his star forwards.

For Wirtz, that means sharper movement and smarter positioning, knitting play together in the final third rather than drifting on the fringes. For Isak, it means the ruthless edge Neville remembers from his Newcastle days: cleaner runs, quicker decisions, colder finishing.

The money has already been spent. The patience, Neville warned, is running out.