Search icon

Football

02nd Jan 2024

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher divide opinion with Team of the Season picks

Callum Boyle

Can’t please everyone can you

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have divided opinion on social media after they picked their respective teams of the season for the 23/24 campaign so far.

Both picked relatively similar XI’s after naming eight players and even picked the exact same back-four of Trent Alexander-Arnold, William Saliba, Virgil van Dijk and Destiny Udogie.

The two also selected Declan Rice in the middle of the park as well as the three forwards of Mohamed Salah, Jarrod Bowen and Heung-min Son.

Neville decided to go for an attacking 4-2-4 formation whereas Carragher picked a more common 4-3-3.

In goal, Carragher went for Spurs’ Guglielmo Vicario, while Neville picked Liverpool’s Alisson Becker.

It was the midfield however that caused the biggest divide after Carragher chose Cole Palmer and Bernardo Silva, snubbing Rodri and Erling Haaland.

While no Haaland would’ve come as a surprise to most, it was the decision to leave Rodri out that Neville picked up on.

He said: “Rodri is the best midfield player in the world in his position.

“They’ve won two trophies already and are about two points, three points off the top of the league. I can’t believe you’ve not picked Rodri in that midfield.”

The only three games Manchester City have lost this season is when Rodri hasn’t been playing.

Despite picking no Aston Villa players, the pair agreed on Unai Emery being the manager of the season so far but the decision not to select any players from his side threw up plenty of debate on social media.

“Do they hate Villa or something?” wrote one person.

A second commented: “Villa second in the league but no players are in either team. Big six bias is so tedious.

“Second in the table and not a Villa player to be seen. Imagine if any of them start playing well!” added another.

Related links: