‘Cannot cope’: Neville & Carragher laud Leeds favourite & compare him to Old Trafford legend

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Mark Viduka played for Leeds United over a four-year period.

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have lauded one of Leeds United’s great players Mark Viduka and claimed that he is someone who would ‘grace the Premier League today’ and a player you ‘cannot cope with’. 

The former defenders shared how difficult it was playing against the Leeds favourite in a special edition of Monday Night Football where they were looking back on great games from the past.

One match they looked at was Leeds’ 4-3 win over Liverpool from 2000 when Viduka blasted home four goals at Elland Road in one of the great encounters of the Premier League era.

Speaking to Monday Night Football Retro (23/03/20 at 19:35 pm), Carragher, who played in the above game, compared Viduka to Manchester United legend, Mark Huges, as Neville first shared his thoughts on the player. 

“Looking at Mark Viduka, I think he would grace the Premier League today if he was playing,” Neville told Sky Sports. “He’s such a great player. Technically he was brilliant. His hold-up play. Almost ahead of his time in terms of the way he played the game. He would have enjoyed a lot more today than back then when he was getting booted.  

Carragher added: “There are certain players who physically, you cannot cope with them. You have to in some ways play against them in a different way. Viduka was someone who always came to the ball to receive the ball to his feet – he was very much like Mark Hughes for Manchester United. 

“You were never ever going to get in front of him. You were never ever going to knock him off the ball. You were almost going to accept that he was going to hold the ball up.”

Viduka would absolutely rip it up in today’s game because he would suit playing as a lone striker and the seemingly soft nature of today’s game would make his robust nature even harder to handle. 

It has been some 16 years since Leeds graced England’s top-flight and they will want to recreate such great games with the likes of Liverpool again next season.

Both are on the cusp of ending some painful years at their respective grounds, with Liverpool two wins away from becoming English champions after 30 years, as Leeds can see the finishing line in their race to earn promotion.