Gary Neville Makes Bizarre Arne Slot Liverpool Claim in Jamie Carragher Clash After Man Utd Win

Liverpool extended their perfect start to the Premier League season with a 3-0 victory over Manchester United.

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville found themselves in a heated debate following the Reds’ win. Neville, a former Manchester United defender, claimed that Arne Slot was Liverpool’s third choice to succeed Jurgen Klopp as the team’s manager, as pressure continues to build on Erik ten Hag.

Luis Diaz scored twice, and Mohamed Salah added another in a dominant performance under the new head coach. Liverpool now enter the September international break tied on points with reigning champions and current league leaders, Manchester City.

Liverpool remain the only team in the first three Premier League matches to have not conceded a goal, achieving clean sheets against Ipswich Town, Brentford, and Ten Hag’s Manchester United. The Reds were dominant at Old Trafford and could have secured an even larger margin of victory, but Trent Alexander-Arnold’s goal was disallowed for offside, and other chances from Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Darwin Nunez went unconverted.

After the game, Sky Sports pundits analysed the result, with Daniel Sturridge and Carragher representing Liverpool, while Roy Keane and Neville represented the host contingent.

The performance of Ten Hag’s team came under further scrutiny due to the nature of the defeat. Casemiro lost possession twice, leading to both of Diaz’s goals, while Alexis Mac Allister dispossessed Kobbie Mainoo in United’s half to set up Salah’s third goal of the season.

Carragher commented that Manchester United’s owners, Ineos, lacked the resolve to dismiss Ten Hag following their FA Cup victory over Manchester City. During the summer, several managers were rumored to be linked to the managerial position at Old Trafford after last season’s eighth-place finish.

Here’s the full transcript of the debate.

Jamie Carragher: I don’t think anything is really going to change, what we saw there is what we saw last season where teams are running at United’s back four. I’ve seen this before at Liverpool in Brendan Rodgers’ first season, FSG didn’t know what to do so they changed the staff, exactly like Erik ten Hag’s done. The manager is the main man, he dictates, not coaches, Rodgers was gone in October. Erik ten Hag said we’ll see where we are at the end of the season, yes it’s three games, I’d be surprised if he’s still in charge at the end of the season, the football, Jason Wilcox made a statement at the end of last season about a philosophy – there isn’t one. We can see it with Slot in the first three games, doesn’t mean he’ll be successful but you can already see something. With United, it looks like a mess. I’ll be totally honest, the ownership didn’t want to keep him, the cup win put them in a position where they were scurrying round Europe speaking to agents and managers trying to find someone better than Erik ten Hag, they couldn’t so they stuck with him and they didn’t have the nerve to make the change they felt they needed to do. It felt like they were delaying the inevitable.

GN: I don’t agree with the nerve bit, he used bottle in the gantry and that’s why we were arguing for 20 minutes. He said the ownership bottled it at the end of the season…

Dave Jones: Jamie said that?

Jamie Carragher: They did, you know they did.

GN: Oh my god… how can you say they bottled it? They were really open about the fact they went for a manager to replace Erik ten Hag, they couldn’t find one. Bayern Munich had a frw months to replace Tuchel, they found it difficult and went for their third and fourth choice, Liverpool had six months to replace Klopp and Arne Slot was third choice. It wasn’t easy to find a manager for Manchester United or any club in Europe.

Jamie Carragher: So you are openly admitting that they were looking for a manager? Exactly (they admitted it), they were looking for a manager so they don’t want this manager. If you’re happy with your manager, you don’t speak to other managers. Bayern Munich and Liverpool, they knew the managers were gone six months before the end of the season.

Gary Neville: And still couldn’t find a manager.

Jamie Carragher: I know, it doesn’t matter.

Gary Neville: It does matter.

Jamie Carragher: If you’re happy with your manager, you don’t go flying around Europe speaking to agents.

Gary Neville: GN: Erik ten Hag wins the FA Cup and it shocks everyone, Ineos and they think, ‘we’ll look around and see if we can find a manager’, They still couldn’t find a manager who would take the club forward better than Erik ten Hag could. Liverpool couldn’t find manager first, second or third (choice)…

Jamie Carragher: What are you talking about?

Gary Neville: Managers at the end of last season, clubs were looking in the summer and couldn’t find one. Ineos tried to find one, they couldn’t and decided because Erik ten Hag won the FA Cup they would stick with him. What part of that didn’t you understand? (Would they go for Arne Slot) Well they didn’t want Arne Slot probably, they didn’t think he was a guarantee to take on like Erik ten Hag. It should be demeaned that two trophies in two years is a really bad time, finishing eighth is unacceptable but in Manchester United’s history, they went years without winning trophies. It took Sir Alex Ferguson six or seven years, Jurgen Klopp five years, Arteta is on a journey it takes time. It shouldn’t be sniffed at.

Jamie Carragher: After three years, Jurgen Klopp was in a Champions League final, you could see something building.

Gary Neville: It’s not good enough.

Jamie Carragher: For the fact I’m saying they bottled it, what would change were we going to see?

Gary Neville: There is a thought process that every manager at Man United is very bad.

Jamie Carragher: And you always blame the Glazers, who are you going to blame now?

Gary Neville: What they’ve tried to do is give a stable platform above him, that actually it might not be the coach, it might not be the right balance around him. They’ve get the right support staff and see if this manager can thrive. I don’t think that’s wrong.

In other Liverpool news, The “Incredible” Liverpool Moment That Pleased Arne Slot Most Against Manchester United