‘Enough is enough’ – Neville tells Liverpool star he needs ‘a rocket up him’ after Newcastle draw | OneFootball

Gary Neville has hit out at Florian Wirtz for his performances since joining Liverpool and insists the German now “needs to sort himself out”.

The Reds came from behind twice at St James’ Park on Sunday to rescue a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United in their first match of the Premier League season.

Liverpool are still looking to improve their squad before the end of the transfer window with a few signings – but it’s currently a team that looks like it needs more.

Wirtz cost the Reds £116m last summer and is an example of how big-money transfers can’t solve your issues as the Germany international turned in another average performances.

Neville insists he “can’t keep watching” Wirtz while he keeps turning in passive performances with the Liverpool attacking midfielder needing “a rocket up him”.

The Manchester United legend said on his Sky Sports podcast: “I don’t see the tenacity in Wirtz in particular. I just see a nice player moving around the pitch, not really ever looking like he’s busting a gut to do anything.

“Now that can happen. Sometimes players have that flow about them, but I want to put a rocket up him. I want to put a rocket up him because there’s ability there, there’s talent there, the understanding of his position.”

Neville added “Wirtz, he needs to sort himself out. Enough is enough now; we’ve talked about him enough. He’s young and he’s come to a different country and I’m all for willing him on.

“I can see a real player there, but I can’t keep watching this stuff. He’s been subbed after an hour and they need a goal, but they’re 2-1 down, so that’s not right.”

Newcastle head coach Matthias Jaissle argued that the award of a penalty in injury time, which gave Liverpool their equaliser, was “really soft”.

‘It’s either a foul or it’s not a foul’ – Nicol

Jaissle’s take on the penalty incident, which saw Victor Munoz taken out by Newcastle defender Lewis Hall, annoyed Liverpool legend Steve Nicol.

Nicol said on ESPN: “What does that mean? It’s either a foul or it’s not a foul. If it’s a foul, it’s a penalty and it’s not soft. You can’t have this ‘soft’ nonsense. If you’re gonna come out with that…I’m sorry, I don’t get it.

“If that was in the other penalty box, I’d be saying the exact same thing. I don’t get where the debate is, because it’s clear as day for me.”

On Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai being exposed in midfield during the match, Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola told reporters: “I think it’s just not personnel.

“I understand, you are telling me basically that Ryan Gravenberch is the six and he is on the edge of the box, but if he shoots and he scores we are saying ‘what a play from Ryan Gravenberch‘.

“I also don’t want to take this from his game, but we have to adapt as a team to these situations and we have to know that these situations can happen.

“I think the second goal probably we did better in terms of having the numbers to defend, we don’t make the foul, go to the first challenge, probably reduce the distance with the ball-carrier, so it’s an incredible goal.

“Situations [are] just not because one person is playing there, [it] is something that we have to correct between a lot of players.”