Gary Neville is not the most likeable character and he has often got nothing but negativity to push against Chelsea. It’s obvious he doesn’t like the owners and the way they have ran the club so far.
Like everyone, he is entitled to an opinion, even though most people think his opinions are often wild and wide of the mark.
You will remember, I went on his Overlap show not long ago and I stuck up for the club big time. I did what I could to go back at Gary. But he backs his opinions and so he should really. Why wouldn’t he?
He is a pundit that brings clicks, and that is why companies like Sky Sports use him. That won’t change because it brings drama, so we just have to live with that. The media hate Chelsea and that will never change either and to be honest, I actually prefer it that way!
Neville’s bottle-jobs comment caused a real stir, and I am sure that Sky will be licking their lips at the amount of cash that will bring in for them in one way or another. That’s a real result for them.
Let’s first just remind ourselves what Neville said and in what context it was said in.
“In extra-time it’s been Klopp’s kids against the blue, billion-pound bottlejobs,”
Said Neville on commentary after Chelsea went a goal down against Liverpool in The League Cup Final on Sunday.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Neville took up his right of reply to further explain what he meant by the comments.
“I’m not going to sit here and say it was an instinctive commentary moment. I mean it was instinctive as I didn’t know what was going to happen in extra time. Peter [Drury] did about 30 seconds after the goal went in and Carra had about 25 seconds.
“If you heard my commentary of Chelsea during extra-time, I was getting angrier with them from the first minute to around two minutes to go.
“I could smell the fear in Chelsea when I noticed they were sitting off Liverpool. Why were they letting these young lads and Jurgen Klopp grow in confidence?
“There was a chorus from the Liverpool fans for about five minutes because they could smell the blood and the fear in those blue shirts.
“At half-time, Mauricio Pochettino had to get the message into his players that they had 15 minutes to beat or not lose to a side that only had two players who would get into their starting XI – Luis Diaz and Virgil van Dijk.
“They needed to leave that pitch with no regrets. Chelsea had to grab the moment but they shrunk.”
Reading the above, in my opinion, he isn’t wrong here.
What is wrong is to call Chelsea bottle-jobs. Because they aren’t bottle-jobs. Not on the whole. I think the players at times this season have proven that they do and can have a good team spirit, and I think that they have also showed us that they do have a togetherness about them. I’ve complimented that a lot recently and it is clear to see. We have often shown grit, fight, determination, intensity, and passion. It has been there even though it’s massively inconsistent.
We know they lack leadership and experience, and that is why they looked so nervous under immerse pressure on Sunday. That side only comes with time.
But on the whole, this Chelsea team are NOT bottle-jobs.
So Neville’s original comment for me was harsh and wrong. But the meaning of it was correct, and how he has since explained it, for me, is correct.
Chelsea bottled that game against Liverpool, but not because they are bottle-jobs, but because they don’t yet have the experience, or an authoritative manager with gusto [not Malo].
However you want to read Mauricio Pochettino’s comments about the players playing for penalties and whether he instructed it or not is irrelevant. He is the HEAD COACH. If you want your players to do something or stop doing something, then you tell them that, you lead them, you instruct them, you COACH them. It’s really simple. And no, I’m not buying any calls about tiredness because we have no European football this season and also had a week off whilst Liverpool played on the Wednesday. So I’m not even hearing that.
That is where we bottled the game, in extra time, sitting off them. Neville is 100% right with his comments above, in MY opinion.
We will never get a better chance to beat Liverpool in a final. They were depleted of most of their star players and regular starters. And then they bought on a handful of players who had barely played senior football. They were there for the taking, but Chelsea hid away rather than standing up, and that is just a maturity thing and a lack of leadership from the group on the whole and the coaching team, and a lack of experience.
But to call Chelsea bottle-jobs collectively is just incorrect, for me at least. So in that sense, Neville was wrong. But I maintain, we did bottle that final, but there is a clear difference between the two terms.