Pep Guardiola and Jamie Carragher have been involved in a verbal spat due to the recent comments of the Manchester City manager. The Spaniard took a jibe against Sky Sports pundits for stating that his side has been complacent in the last few weeks. After the clapback from Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville came out to give his opinion on the situation.
Taking on TikTok, the former Manchester United legend said: “We’ll start with the fact that the old master Pep has had a go at me and Carra. Me for not winning four in a row – sorry Pep, apologies for that. And my friend James from Liverpool for not participating in the Premier League title celebrations at all during his career, which did make me chuckle slightly.”
Neville went on to repeat Jamie Carragher’s response on X and how the former Liverpool player pointed at the ownership of Manchester City and the pending 115 charges against the club from the Premier League. Neville sounded disappointed in Carragher: “The dirty little Scouse dog Carragher had to go back at Pep didn’t he? He can’t rise above it and see it as a compliment.”
Neville>Carra at least he can take a banter pic.twitter.com/jnFvPVWAxM
— Emir🇸🇪🏆🏆🏆QUADRUPLE WINNERS (@FodenCTID) December 6, 2023
The former England international added: “Carra, I reckon you’d have won a Premier League title, mate, if you hadn’t kept kicking the ball in the back of your own net. That would have been a massive help to your team.” Following on his advice, Neville backed down from responding to Pep Guardiola, rather he took a cheeky jibe against his colleague and friend by pointing out his abysmal record of own goals.
Jamie Carragher is among the list of players who have scored the most own goals in the Premier League. In his 508 Premier League games for Liverpool, Carragher scored seven own goals. The own goals didn’t stop Liverpool from winning any Premier League title but it was a clever way from Neville to defuse the situation.
Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City are struggling
Guardiola boldly predicted that Manchester City would win the Premier League title this season before those controversial comments against Jamie Carragher. The prediction came back off the criticism from reporters who were worried about the defending champions’ recent form. Coming into the Aston Villa fixture, City drew against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham.
The matter got worse when Unai Emery’s side dominated Manchester City at Villa Park and gave Pep Guardiola’s side their third defeat of the season. Leon Bailey scored in the 74th minute to send Aston Villa above Manchester City in the table.
Manchester City have failed to win in four consecutive Premier League games for the first time since March 2017 👀😬 pic.twitter.com/8DTBivbzas
— LiveScore (@livescore) December 7, 2023
After the match, Guardiola admitted that his side is struggling at the moment: “We struggled, especially in the first half and the second was completely different. In the final third, the quality of the pass and the movement. We didn’t find it all game. We know what’s our level and as a manager, we have to find a way to win games. We’re struggling a bit. I’m here to help them.”
Arsenal and Liverpool registered hard-fought away wins in their fixtures to give them some breathing space above Manchester City. Arsenal leads the table with 36 points, followed by Liverpool at 34 and Aston Villa at 32. Manchester City is at 30 only three points above Tottenham, who have a game in hand, and ‘struggling’ neighbors, Manchester United.