Gary Neville Critiques £200m Liverpool Duo After St James’ Park Draw

Gary Neville did not bother with niceties. Reflecting on Liverpool’s 2-2 opening-weekend draw at St James’ Park on his podcast, the former Manchester United defender went straight for the jugular of Liverpool’s big-money forward line.

The targets: Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.

The price tag: around £200 million.

The impact on Sunday: negligible.

Isak completed the full 90 minutes. Wirtz lasted an hour before Andoni Iraola hooked him for Alexis Mac Allister as Liverpool laboured through a disjointed attacking performance. For Neville, patience with the club’s marquee pair is running thin.

“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 building around two players signed to transform the attack.

The anger stems from expectation as much as output. Both arrived last summer for huge fees, both were billed as instant game-changers. Right now, Neville sees two forwards short of the edge required to carry a title-chasing side.

“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,” he warned. “For a start, they're too nice, and if you're going to be nice, you'd better be incredible at football.”

That “nice” tag landed hardest on Wirtz. Neville questioned the German’s bite, not his technique.

“I don't see the tenacity in Wirtz in particular,” he added. “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 a write-off. Neville made clear he still believes there is a top-level partnership waiting to emerge if both players rediscover their previous levels.

Isak, in particular, still carries credit from earlier chapters of his Premier League story. The Sweden international battled injuries last season yet has already shown he can terrorise elite defences.

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

That figure hangs heavy. So does the wider bill for a forward line still searching for rhythm.

There is no soft landing on the horizon. Liverpool head straight into another key test next Saturday against Nottingham Forest, with Iraola under no illusions about what he needs from his two headline attackers.

Wirtz must sharpen his movement and find pockets of space that actually hurt opponents, linking with team-mates in the final third instead of drifting on the periphery. Isak has to rediscover the ruthless streak that once bullied Premier League centre-backs and turned half-chances into goals.

The price tags are fixed. The scrutiny is only going one way. Now it is up to Isak and Wirtz to prove they are more than just expensive names on a teamsheet.