Gary Neville is not one to turn down the opportunity to take the piss out of his perennial rival Jamie Carragher.
There was always a distinct possibility then that when he was asked to name his ultimate Liverpool XI that he’d seize the chance to wind Carragher up.
Earlier this week, Carragher was asked to select his dream Liverpool XI and his choice of strikers was interesting to say the least as he’d left out his best friend Michael Owen.
“One went to Man United and one went to Chelsea, so fuck them,” Carragher said of his decision to leave out both Owen and Fernando Torres.
It’s striking then to note the two front men selected by Neville, Carragher’s punditry soulmate, were the two whose defection most stung the Liverpool legend.
If the selection of Torres and Owen up top is mere coincidence, we doubt Neville’s decision to play Carragher at left back is.
Far more likely is that Neville was harking back to the time that Carragher, a centre-back by trade, took the mick out of full backs.
“There’s only two things for a full back. You’re either a failed winger or a failed centre-back,” Carragher said during a Monday Night Football broadcast in 2013.
“Nobody wants to be a full back as a kid. Nobody wants to be a Gary Neville.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3BXhdbkbXY
So when he had free rein to assign Carragher any position he wanted, it seems only fitting that Neville would pop him in at full back.
We just can’t wait until they go up against each other on Monday night, when Liverpool host Manchester United. And with Ryan Giggs along for the ride, Carragher had best bring his A-game.
