Few appreciate the work of a full back more than Gary Neville.
Neville will go down as one of the greatest full backs in Premier League history and he knows exactly what it takes to make it in a position that often goes underappreciated by pundits.
The former Manchester United defender has rowed back on his criticism of Liverpool left back Andy Robertson, who has been keeping Alberto Moreno out of the side in recent weeks.
Since the summer Liverpool have spent big on Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but the £8 million acquisition of Robertson from Hull City has flown under the radar and game by game, it’s beginning to look like an incredible piece of business.
So impressed has Neville been by the young Scot that he’s agreed to withdraw some of his critical comments towards Robertson earlier this season.
“We comment a lot on players in this job, and I actually made a – not a derogatory comment about Robertson – but I said I didn’t think he was good enough really earlier on in the season,” Neville said on Sky Sports.
“I thought he was more of the same as Moreno – better going forward, not quite good defensively.
“I have to say that, in the six months – and he’s still got a long way to go – he has proven me, not wrong, but I do feel as though I have to correct myself.
“He has impressed me a lot and has done better than I ever imagined he would, in both sides of the game.”
After the Reds threw away a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 against Arsenal in December, Neville recommended that Jurgen Klopp should part ways with some defenders above whom some question marks hovered.
Neville lumped Robertson in with a group of players that he believed were in over their heads with the Merseyside club.
Neville said: “You look at that and you say, ‘Do I want Moreno at left back? Do I want Robertson at left back? Do I want Klavan as my centre back playing at Real Madrid away or Barcelona away?’ You can’t. You can’t have those players in those games. It’s impossible. So they’ve just got to go.
“It’s sad and you don’t like saying that because they are probably good pros and they’ll have great careers. They are good lads but they shouldn’t be playing here at this level at a club that is trying to win the league.”
