‘I have to say’: Gary Neville says there’s four Liverpool players who are really ‘struggling’ right now

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Gary Neville has said that every single one of Liverpool’s back-four are struggling right now.

Speaking on commentary duty on Sky Sports, Neville watched on as Liverpool conceded three goals to Tottenham Hotspur.

Thankfully for the Reds, Diogo Jota saved the backline’s blushes with his last minute winner – which led to Jurgen Klopp’s side winning the fixture 4-3.

But it still wasn’t the best day to be a member of Liverpool’s defence.

None of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk or Andy Robertson enjoyed their finest games at Anfield.

And Neville actually feels like they are struggling at this point.

He said: “There is a lot of talk about Liverpool’s midfield or the time but I have to say, that back four has been outstanding for a number of years but it lets you have far too much encouragement nowadays.

“All of them are struggling, individually. A lot of the mistakes we see are down to individual errors and not dealing with their duels.”

A fair criticism?

It is fair to say that Tottenham’s attack is the strongest part of their team, and Liverpool won’t have to come up against players of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son’s quality every week.

But the back four has been too porous this season, regardless of who has been put out.

Alexander-Arnold’s defensive struggles have been well documented, but both Konate and Van Dijk had difficult afternoons yesterday.

Van Dijk was skinned by Ivan Perisic for the first goal, which was a sight so rarely seen in previous years, and Konate seemed to find it difficult to cover for the marauding Alexander-Arnold, who now wanders into midfield often.

With the likes of Joel Matip and Joe Gomez also not always convincing when called upon, it may be time to bring in a couple of defensive reinforcements this summer – if the budget allows it.