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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Gary Neville slams Seamus Coleman over his role in Liverpool goal

Gary Neville criticised Seamus Coleman for his role in Liverpool's opening goal in their 2-0 win over Everton on Monday night.

The Republic of Ireland and Everton captain failed to win the ball with a challenge on Darwin Nunez which resulted in the Uruguayan charging up Coleman's side of the pitch and crossing to Mo Salah, who put the ball past an awfully positioned Jordan Pickford in the Toffees goal.

Neville was critical of both Coleman and Pickford over their roles in the goal.

READ MORE: Liverpool star Cody Gakpo makes "struggling" admission after finally ending goal drought

He said on Sky Sports: "At the edge of the box, if you look at Coleman, once you go there you can't stop, you've got to go and win it, take everything and give a foul away.

"He jumps. Your job is to delay the counterattack, he quickens the attack up. We know how good Liverpool are on the counterattack, they've been like that for years...

"Pickford's positioning is not interesting, it's just bad. I have no idea what he's doing.

"It's almost as if he thinks the ball isn't going to Salah at all and is going to the back post. He makes a real mess of it.

"It's an open goal and he makes it very easy for Mo Salah."

Liverpool secured their first Premier League win of 2023 as Cody Gakpo got a second in the second-half, which was his first goal for the club.

Asked how he felt after the game, Liverpool manager Klopp said: “Relieved – that’s it, that’s the main feeling since the final whistle.

“I’m happy with the performance. It was necessary that we played the game we wanted to play and not the game Everton wanted to play.

“You cannot avoid it all the time but they didn’t have an extremely high number of set-pieces. With the all aggression you have to show, you have to make sure you don’t overdo it because each set-piece is a massive threat and something they want to have.

“I thought we did that really well. On top of that we were super-dominant, switched the sides, kept the ball and kept them running.

“Both goals came from counter-attacks – that is allowed as well – and I loved both goals.

“For both goals we had three options in the box. A lot of things were different tonight so it was our best game for a while.

“We needed this game, we needed this performance. Our people absolutely deserved it. I loved the atmosphere – even before we scored. It is an insane atmosphere people create here.”

Everton manager Sean Dyche felt his side started strongly but did not recover after being caught out for Salah’s 36th-minute opener, which came seconds after James Tarkowski hit the post at the other end.

Dyche said: “I think they had the upper hand in the early stages without opening too much up.

“Our shape was good but then it changed in 15 or 16 seconds. We hit the post and didn’t react as quick.

“We know Liverpool are good in the transition phase and we conceded a goal without needing to.

“At half-time we said we had to use the ball better but then if you give away another goal so quickly it is very difficult, especially here.

“We kept plugging away but there were too many sloppy passes and too many turnovers.”

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