“We’re being served this crap.” Neville outraged by a recent Premier League trend

During a recording of the Stick To Football podcast, Manchester United legend Gary Neville raised an unusual issue in modern football. He analyzed the number of touches players get based on their position and came to a disappointing conclusion: nowadays, defenders and goalkeepers see more of the ball than the most talented and creative players on the team — the midfielders and forwards.

“We don’t go to football matches to watch Brighton’s centre-backs, do we? We’re seeing so many defenders on the ball, and I thought to myself, there’s just too much of them and the goalkeepers.

So I looked back at the last five years of my career. The five players with the most touches in the Premier League when I retired from United — I checked the 2006/07 season — were Fabregas, Scholes, Alonso, Gilberto Silva, and Lampard. Midfielders, holding players, the ones who dictate the game. Those were the guys who dominated possession in the final five years of my career. Were those the players I’d want to see on the ball? Some, yes — most of them, but maybe not all.

Now take the last five years in the Premier League… let’s look at last season: Virgil van Dijk, Josko Gvardiol, Levi Colwill, William Saliba — four defenders in the top five. The season before that — Rodri, Lewis Dunk, Van Dijk, Saliba. The year before that — again, Lewis Dunk.

You could say the game is evolving — and it is — but isn’t the job of a football coach and a team to give the ball to their best players?”

At this point, Roy Keane cut in: “Isn’t that because more teams are sitting deep? Isn’t that part of the reason?”

Gary continued: “However you look at it — and we keep looking — we’re being served this crap. We’re watching centre-backs, full-backs, and goalkeepers touch the ball hundreds of times more than the most talented players on the pitch.”

Published by Patrick Jane
16.04.2025