In the 20th episode of the Stick to Cricket podcast shared via their official X handle, Manchester United legend, Gary Neville along with cricket stars Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook, David Lloyd, and Phil Tufnell dissected football with a little bit of cricket insights.
The conversation started with Neville reflecting on his old days playing cricket in the summer until his manager, the great Sir Alex Ferguson told him he couldn’t risk it because of insurance concerns.
Moving on to football and its affairs, Neville gave his opinion on Liverpool F.C and highlighted Mohamed Salah’s performance, noting the Reds’ spine of players.
He mentioned that Liverpool had dipped a bit but the experience of players like Virgil van Dijk and Salah could help them recover. After they lost to Chelsea, Virgil van Dijk himself had predicted that it was going to be a tough season for Liverpool.
In Gary Neville words,
Liverpool have dipped a bit. I think they’ll be alright because I think Salah and Van Dijk at some point will click. They’ve got a spine of people, a spine of players.
Softfootball earlier reported Salah’s disappointment in Liverpool’s performance this season. However, shortly after that, Salah led his club, Liverpool to a 2-0 victory in a match against Aston Villa at Anfield.
The podcasters went on to analyze the performance elite athletes who are getting older and Michael Vaughan chipped in,
I keep hearing, I don’t know who said it that Selah’s legs might have gone, is that right?
Neville went on to give his reply with a blend of insights from cricket,
What’s the equivalent in cricket? I don’t know— Lost your pace. I mean Ronaldo is still scoring goals, even though he’s older, so I think what Salah’s starting to do is be more efficient. He’s starting to sort of hang around that area where he scores, but he’s lost a little bit.
When David Lloyd suggested that Manchester United could tackle their problems by signing players like Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, Neville explained that it was a delicate situation for United. He said,
Where they are at the moment, they are in that sort of edge, it can go to like sixth or it can go to 15th quite quickly, you know because of the stage of the season we’re in and I don’t think we can be in 13th, 14th, 15th in November. I think that would be a problem.
The podcast offered football insights through the lens of cricket along with sharp analysis from the game’s most respected voices.
Watch the podcast on their official X handle below:
