Gary Neville thinks £49m Liverpool player was ‘brilliant’ on Sunday, but there’s a problem

Follow us on Google Discover

Pundit Gary Neville has praised Liverpool winger Luis Diaz as ‘brilliant’ – but the end product was ‘scruffy’ against Manchester City.

Liverpool gave Manchester City a real battle at Anfield on Sunday, despite missing so many players through injury.

We know that City don’t exactly love playing at Anfield but they did take a first-half lead as John Stones scored the opener.

City just couldn’t get going after the break and Alexis Mac Allister pulled Liverpool level from the spot.

The Reds may feel a little frustrated to not find a winner having created some great openings in the second half, but it just wasn’t to be.

Gary Neville on Luis Diaz

Luis Diaz was guilty of not having that finishing touch.

The Colombian was played clean through on goal by Mohamed Salah but got the finish all wrong, firing wide.

Another chance came Diaz’s way but a heavy touch inside the box allowed Kyle Walker to get back and clear the danger.

Still, Diaz was a constant threat and simply didn’t give up, causing Walker no end of problems down Liverpool’s left side.

Pundit Gary Neville offered his view on Diaz whilst speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast.

Neville noted that Liverpool should have scored through Diaz, but felt that his end product was too ‘scruffy’.

Neville felt that Diaz’s overall performance was ‘brilliant’ and full of energy with only his end product letting him down.

“There was that period, wasn’t there, of about five minutes where Liverpool had those four or five shots on goal where should have scored and should have gone and got the second, and Diaz was just scruffy,” said Neville.

“As brilliant as he was and as energetic as he was, he was scruffy with his final bit,” he added.

This felt like seeing Diaz of a couple of years ago, when he made a huge impact after arriving from Porto in a deal worth up to £49million.

Diaz has managed six goals and three assists in the Premier League this season but maybe hasn’t quite hit the same levels since suffering injury woes last season.

The 27-year-old still has enormous quality though and we saw so much of it on Sunday; sadly for Liverpool, not the finishing part.