Premier League pundit and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville passed a controversial commentary on Chelsea players after the team’s EFL Cup loss to Liverpool, MySportDab reports.
According to Neville, an injury-stricken Liverpool, who lined up their academy stars against Chelsea late at Wembley had their way against Chelsea because Chelsea players could not level up their performance with the heavy cash that has been sunk into the team by new owner Todd Boehly.
In a rather satirical but serious tone, Neville called Chelsea players ‘billion pound bottlejobs’ to mock the team’s underwhelming show against Liverpool’s kids despite parading a squad with a transfer value of over a billion pound.
Reacting to Gary Neville’s comment which has gone viral, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino described it as unfair and unnecessary.
‘I didn’t hear what he said, but if you compare the age of the two groups, I think it is similar.
“I have a good relationship with Gary and I don’t know if that’s how I can take this opinion. But I respect his opinion.
‘Of course, we made a few changes with [Conor] Gallagher and [Ben] Chilwell in extra time, it is true we didn’t keep the energy of how we finished the second half
“He (Neville) knows the dynamics are completely different. I think it’s not fair to talk in this way, if he said that,’ Pochettino said.
The game ended barren in regulation time. Both sides found the back of the net but were chalked off after VAR check before the game was stretched into extra time.
Chelsea lost it at the death when Virgil van Dijk headed home a late stunner just at the stroke of the final whistle to condemn the Blues to a defeat and hand the Reds their 10th EFL Cup title.