Neville names Liverpool star who would improve any side in world

Gary Neville believes Roberto Firmino could start up front for any side in the world, so good has been the Liverpool centre forward this season.

The Reds roared a massive 16 points clear at the top of the table thanks to the Brazilian’s brilliantly-taken first half-strike which secured a 1-0 win at Tottenham, extending their unbeaten record to 38 league games.

In amassing an astonishing 61 points from a possible 63 over the first 21 matches of the campaign, Liverpool have now made the best-ever start to a top-flight season in any of Europe’s top five leagues.

Such records clearly do not concern Jurgen Klopp, though.

And with his fellow pundit Jamie Carragher explaining why Liverpool should now be regarded as the best side in the world, Neville instead chose to underline the brilliance of Firmino.

“Their centre-forward, Firmino, I think any manager in the world would have him as their centre-forward in their team.

“I think he’s absolutely incredible, Firmino. Selfless, brilliant, scores goals, sets things up, you can link off him, he makes all the right runs. He’s just an outstanding player.”

Neville now believes the win at Tottenham means Liverpool have an unassailable lead in the title race and things they will be impossible for anyone to catch.

“They are outstanding, brilliant to watch and doing everything a championship-winning team should be doing. I can’t see anyone stopping them,” Neville added. “I think the lead is unassailable.”

Speaking on Sky Sports, he added: “It’s a huge win, although they were a little sloppy in the second half.

“They are outstanding, brilliant to watch and doing everything a championship-winning team should be doing. I can’t see anyone stopping them.

 

“The records for Klopp are incidental right now. The only thing that matters is lifting the Premier League trophy.

“Klopp will never say it but his team are playing so well and are so in control and they are still growing and getting better.

“He won’t care if he loses one or two games, he just wants that trophy.

“When we were asking Pep last year about records, because City have won it before they probably could look to beat their previous title victories but for Liverpool it’s all about getting that first Premier League title.”

Klopp felt Liverpool should have scored more than one goal and, while pleased with the win, insisted there were elements of their performance to improve on.

 “First and foremost the result is the most important thing. One team deserved to win and that was us,” he told Sky Sports.

“To win at Tottenham is pretty special. That the game wasn’t decided after 50-60 minutes was our fault.

“It was very intense for us. You can expect them to defend deep in this stadium, but it was 4-6-0 in the first half.

“If it was easy to win here, a lot more teams would do it.

I’m over the moon about the result, but we have to talk about the performance.

“We should have scored more goals – that’s the truth. We have to be honest with ourselves. We could have scored more and we have to – especially in this stadium against a team like Tottenham.

“We were on the ground towards the end and they were coming forward. The spell we’ve had, it costs you rhythm. In the second half a couple of our players were slightly exhausted, but we fought through that.

“We played super football in their box, but for 90-95 minutes you have to be ready. We were, but we still have to do better.”

On the flip side, Spurs boss Mourinho had plenty to moan about and claimed Klopp’s side were “lucky” to claim all three points.