Garry Neville has said the lapses Manchester City experiences at points in their matches is not something to worry much about.
Against Newcastle United and Arsenal, there were periods Man City’s tempo went down and their concentration looked to have dropped but Neville says that is not something new in football. Citing examples during his time at Manchester United, Neville says his former coach Sir Alex Ferguson used to reprimand them during such moments.
Crystal Palace, Leicester City and recently Newcastle used such moments to beat the Citizens and hand them three of their four losses so far in the season.
“When we [Manchester United] were winning back-to-back titles, we did have periods in the season like this where we dropped points or we weren’t quite at it or even periods in games. Sir Alex Ferguson used to say ‘you’re bored, you lot. I can’t wait until March or April when the games come alive again’. That’s a little bit of what we’re seeing with City. The danger is that sometimes you get bored, you’re too far behind and you can’t catch up.” Neville explained.
The former England star added that the fact that Liverpool and Man City dropped points in their midweek clashes shows that the remaining months in the Premier League will surely be entertaining.
“I think it was really helpful that Liverpool dropped points on Wednesday night – seeing Liverpool all at sea at the back and Leicester creating chances. Liverpool, watching that [Man City’s game], in the first half, would have thought ‘City aren’t quite at it’ and would have got encouragement from it.”
“As much as players and managers say they are concentrating on their own game and don’t think about what other teams do – it’s rubbish. It does have an impact. If the other team are dropping points, scraping through games or not looking solid, you gain encouragement from that. In the second half today, as a Liverpool player, I would have switched off.” Neville said.
Liverpool plays West Ham United tonight at the London stadium and would be eager to restore the five-point gap between them and Man City who plays Everton on Wednesday.