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Liverpool news: Gary Neville reveals TWO concerns for Jurgen Klopp despite Cardiff win
LIVERPOOL came up with another huge victory in their search for a first league title in 29 years by beating Cardiff yesterday - but Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville felt there were two areas of potential worry for Jurgen Klopp.
Gini Wijnaldum’s well-hit effort from a clever corner routine caught Cardiff out before the hour mark while James Milner made sure of the three points late on after Mohamed Salah was felled inside the box by Sean Morrison.
The win in south Wales moved the Reds back to the top of the Premier League table with three games remaining of the campaign.
Title rivals Manchester City visit arch rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday night (8pm) in a game that Liverpool will be hoping their bitter rivals can do them a favour.
The Merseyside outfit are relying on another team to trip Pep Guardiola’s City up between now and May 12 or miss risking out on the title in agonising circumstances.
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool could end up failing to win the league despite accruing 97 points if they win all of their remaining games and City do likewise, with no team having ever failed to win the Premier League when they have amassed in excess of 90 points.
But despite securing a ninth straight victory across all competitions with their win at Cardiff, ex-United full-back Neville highlighted two possible concerns for Klopp about Liverpool’s performance in the Welsh capital.
Neville told his self-titled Sky Sports podcast: “[Nathaniel] Mendez-Laing looked like he had the beating of [Trent] Alexander-Arnold.
“The issue was, how many times could Cardiff get the ball in good possession in good areas to Mendez-Laing? He definitely had the beating of Alexander-Arnold.
It’s not a weakness, until it’s been exploited
“But Liverpool had 75 to 80 per-cent possession near half-time and it won’t have been too much different towards the end of the game.
“That was the issue if you’re a player like Mendez-Laing, you’re having to do a lot of running back and not getting the ball too much in the final third. That helps obviously. I had it myself as a player at Manchester United, the times when you were exposed was less because you had the majority of the ball.
“These teams now are keeping 75 to 80 possession against the lower teams in the league. That made it comfortable for Alexander-Arnold in the second half. He recovered well.
“I think he’s a brilliant full-back, his set-piece delivery was critical. I thought he scuffed the corner but Wijnaldum came across and hit it perfectly. That was the opening goal which was always so important in this game.
“The other, not weakness, little bit of doubt I would say is you look at Alisson at a couple of set pieces and he was flapping. He flapped at one in the first half and flapped at one in the second.
“For that, you’d have to say going up to Newcastle - I don’t think against Huddersfield - but with the games they’ve got left he’s going to have to show some composure on set pieces.
“But it’s not a weakness, until it’s been exploited. It’ll be forgotten about if Liverpool don’t concede from those moments.
“That was the only thing, the nervousness around that left-hand side of Cardiff’s attack and maybe a little bit on Alisson at set pieces a couple of times.”