Gary Neville admitted regret after describing Chelsea as “a multi-billion pound job” in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final defeat against Liverpool, but claimed the Blues “cringe” when given the chance to win the match.
Neville was in the commentary box for Liverpool’s eventual League Cup victory at Wembley and lashed out at Chelsea when Virgil van Dijk headed the only goal of the game in extra time.
The former Manchester United and England full-back produced a now-iconic reaction as the goal hit the back of the net and used Chelsea’s lavish spending under co-owner Todd Boehly against them.
Chelsea have spent close to £1bn on transfer fees since the Boehly/Clearlake Capital takeover in 2022, often paying inflated fees for young players with potential who have so far largely fallen short.
Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino responded to Neville’s scathing analysis during his post-match press conference and Neville has now offered further explanation on the meaning behind his initial statement.
Gary Neville has admitted his regret after describing Chelsea as “billion pound jobs” in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final defeat.
Neville mocked Chelsea after suffering an extra-time defeat against Liverpool.
Neville was infuriated by Chelsea’s unwillingness to attack a Liverpool team full of youngsters.
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‘I feel bad now. I’m not going to sit here and say it was a knee-jerk comment moment. It was instinctive because I didn’t know what was going to happen in extra time, Neville told Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
“But Peter (Drury) did it about 35 seconds after the goal, Carra did it about 25 seconds and I was getting angrier. If you listen to my comment during extra time, I got angrier at Chelsea from the first minute of extra time until two minutes to go because I could smell the fear in Chelsea, from the first minute of extra time when he said ‘why are you sitting in front of them? Why are you letting these young guys grow?’ Carra just mentioned it.
Then Jurgen Klopp started to grow. I remember there was a chorus, a song, that the Liverpool fans sang for about five minutes because they could smell the blood and fear in those blue shirts.
He continued: “And I came to the extra-time break and said that somehow Mauricio Pochettino or those players had to solve that if they got to this position at the start of the season and told themselves that they had 15 minutes against a Liverpool that only They have two players who would normally be in their starting eleven, which are (Luis) Díaz and (Virgil) van Dijk, who would have their hands cut off, they would take advantage of this opportunity, they have no regrets.
“I was just coming from the point of view of the game, of not regretting that a team has not seized the day and the moment, has not seized the opportunity. Chelsea cringed – and I use the word cringed – and maybe ‘bottled.’ It’s a very strong word, but playing with absolute fear, paralyzed, whatever you want to call it, that’s what we saw yesterday in extra time.
Neville offered an even deeper explanation for describing Chelsea as “bottle jobs”, suggesting they were afraid to attack in the extra 30 minutes of play and claimed that Pochettino’s revelation that his team were taking penalties confirmed his intentions. .
Neville’s critical comment referenced Chelsea’s lavish spending under co-owners Todd Boehly (left) and Behdad Eghbali (right).
Neville delivered his scathing critique when Virgil van Dijk’s extra-time header sailed into the back of the net.
The 49-year-old also added that there was an “instinctive” element to his words, stating: “I’m not going to say words like ‘man up’.” But there is an element here: football at the highest level, where you have to perform under scrutiny.
“And actually, Dave, I was in a position at the end of the game where I thought, ‘that’s a tough, bottled word, and I was only referring to the last 30 minutes of the game, because I thought Chelsea did pretty well.’ “. in the first 90 minutes.
“But then I heard Mauricio Pochettino say that he felt his team was playing on penalties, it almost cemented the idea in my mind that they did freeze. Because whoever it is, in a team playing against such a weakened Liverpool, with three guys on the field who, to be fair, found things very difficult in the last few minutes of regulation, why did they do what they did? Look, does it make it more difficult? That’s not the purpose of I said that yesterday.
“I’m here, basically, to work for Sky Sports and deliver lines that I’m instinctively passionate about.”