‘Hasn’t been as lively’… BBC pundit thinks £4.3m Liverpool player had a ‘difficult’ game, didn’t look himself

Follow us on Google Discover

Pundit Pat Nevin has suggested that Liverpool ace Harvey Elliott wasn’t looking as lively as usual against Manchester City.

Liverpool hosted Manchester City in a real title battle on Sunday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola’s record at Anfield isn’t great but his hopes of a win were raised when John Stones converted a Kevin De Bruyne corner.

City couldn’t find a second goal though and Liverpool were superb after the break, quickly winning a penalty through Darwin Nunez.

Alexis Mac Allister dispatched with aplomb and Liverpool may be a little disappointed not to have found a winner having had the best of the second half.

In fact, City arguably got away with one late on as Jeremy Doku could have very easily been penalised for a foul inside the area.

Pat Nevin on Harvey Elliott

Liverpool produced a fine team display but one player didn’t really impress pundit Pat Nevin.

The former Chelsea man told BBC Sport that he felt this was a difficult game for Liverpool man Harvey Elliott.

Elliott was forced into a right-wing role with Mohamed Salah only fit for the bench.

Elliott didn’t exactly look comfortable there and, certainly in the first half, didn’t really hold his width and kept drifting into a more familiar midfield role.

Nevin suggested that Elliott didn’t look as lively as usual and felt that Jurgen Klopp would have been tempted to replace him with Salah at half-time.

“It has been difficult for Harvey Elliott actually. He hasn’t been as lively as he usually is,” said Nevin.

Elliott played the full 90 minutes with Klopp seemingly believing that he was better off keeping him on the pitch.

Elliott only recorded one key pass, one tackle, one interception and two accurate crosses, but put in exceptional work rate throughout.

Klopp knows that he can trust the £4.3million midfielder to put in a real shift and that is certainly what we saw against City.

Maybe the creative side didn’t flow as naturally as usual but Elliott certainly made his presence felt in other ways at Anfield.