Gary Neville is talking garbage and Liverpool knows why latest idea would ruin Premier League
Gary Neville’s at it again. As if some of his pre-season predictions weren’t bad enough, now he’s come up with a plan that would well and truly ruin the Premier League.
We’re only five games into the new league campaign, and already the former Manchester United captain has put his foot in it. Having sensationally predicted that his old club would finish in the top four and Liverpool wouldn’t even make the top six, Arne Slot’s side made him look rather foolish when they brushed aside Erik ten Hag’s team with ease earlier this month.
Clearly undeterred by Jamie Carragher rightfully giving that forecast all the respect it deserved, Neville continues to not let common sense get in the way of any of his ideas, as made evident in the latest episode of The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet, where he announced his grand plan to ‘improve’ football.
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"At the end of [drawn] league games [I'd introduce] penalties for an extra point, so you get two points [if you win the shoot-out]. Make it exciting for a fan that comes. If a kid goes to a game for the first time or it might be their only game this season, and sees a 0-0 or a 1-1 draw, there would be a winner at least. Kids love penalties, my girls [would] love penalties at the end."
There’s just one big flaw there Gary – namely, your whole idea.
Fans in the USA might be wondering what all the fuss is about. After all, the whole notion of a tied game has been virtually abandoned by the likes of the NFL and NBA. Crucially though, teams have absolutely no reason to play for draws in those leagues. There is no threat of relegation, no European places to fight for that could make millions of dollars worth of difference to clubs.
Imagine, if you will, two clubs battling it out for survival in the Premier League. They both manage to earn a draw at one of the sides fighting it out for the title, but while one of them loses the subsequent penalty shootout, the other manages to luck out and gains an extra point. Does that really seem fair?
It would be an endlessly frustrating scenario, and Neville’s summation that it would make games more exciting is, to put it bluntly, absolute garbage. Liverpool fans know all about teams coming to Anfield and parking the bus in the hopes of stealing the point, imagine how much worse it would get if teams knew there was the chance of getting an extra point.
And it’s not just teams at the bottom end of the table to worry about. Take the Reds’ game against Manchester City at Anfield last season, for example.
Liverpool had been firmly on top of their title rivals after equalizing from the penalty spot via Alexis Mac Allister, and should have got a penalty in the dying seconds for Jeremy Doku’s appalling challenge on the Argentine. Imagine then losing a penalty shootout which would have seen City draw level with the Reds in the table, despite barely even deserving one point, never mind two.
Although there is more of an art to penalty shootouts these days thanks to the ever-improving analysis in football, they are still, at their heart, a complete lottery. It’s used as a last resort in tournament football, where there can be no draws, and the idea that it could make a telling impact on a league season is simply ridiculous.
Let’s hope the powers that be aren’t listening to Neville.