Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, Martin Tyler and Gary Neville have been discussing the modern right-back and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
There are few pundits more qualified to speak on this matter than Neville. After all, he won countless trophies as a right-back for what was arguably the most successful club side in history.
However, 11 years on from his retirement, Neville can’t quite get his head around how some of the modern-day right-backs operate, and Martin Tyler rightly pointed out that the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold are simply playing a different game to the one Neville played.
What’s been said?
Neville and Tyler were having a chat about the modern right-back position.
“When it comes to the game itself, I was thinking to myself ‘how would I have played as a right-back in that match?’ I would have coped maybe because you adapt with fitness and stuff, but that’s a different level than I had to face 10, 11, 12 years ago,” Neville said.
“Yes, but you were never asked to play like Trent Alexander-Arnold were you?’ Martin Tyler added.
“No, nor Reece James, nor Azpilicueta who is an experienced player who I used to play against. Azpilicueta the job he was asked to do at wing-back, that was a big ask. The game is quicker, the running is harder and they’re running faster.”
Game has changed
At one point, Neville was arguably the undisputed best right-back in Premier League history, but now, the game has changed.
Jamie Carragher once said that the right-back position was one of the most unfashionable in football, but now, some of the biggest stars in the game are full-backs.
Alexander-Arnold is undoubtedly one of the best, but the likes of Kyle Walker, Reece James and Kieran Trippier have changed everything.
This is a new era, and while we’ll never know if Neville would have coped, it would have been interesting to see how he’d have performed if he was born 20 years later.
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