Liverpool: Arne Slot's team are soft and easy to play against, says Gary Neville after latest defeat at Bournemouth
Arne Slot's Liverpool remain winless this year in the Premier League after their 3-2 loss at Bournemouth - a seventh league defeat of the season; Gary Neville warns they will lose the credit they earned last season if results do not improve
Sunday 25 January 2026 22:26, UK
Gary Neville has called Liverpool "soft" and "a nice team to play against" while dismissing the idea that this is a transition season for Arne Slot's side.
Amine Adli bundled home a last-gasp winner for Bournemouth on Saturday to end Liverpool's 13-game unbeaten run, with the 3-2 defeat a seventh loss of the Premier League campaign for the Reds.
Liverpool are now sixth in the table - 14 points adrift of leaders Arsenal - after slipping behind Manchester United and Chelsea, who both won on Sunday.
Neville warns they will lose the credit they earned for winning the Premier League last season if results do not improve.
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"They've looked vulnerable and I have to say I thought for the first time last night watching them, I thought they looked a little bit soft," Neville told The Gary Neville Podcast.
"They've become a little bit nice in bits that they do, and that's not them. I thought they were cutting last year, they've lost that sharpness in their attacks, and they've gone soft I think in terms of their defending, they're easier to play against, so it's a real problem for them."
He added: "Liverpool are going to lose their credit that they built up through winning the league last year if they don't start getting themselves together, and that softness to them is going to have to change.
"They lost out on [Marc] Guehi. They did not do that piece of business that they should have done, so maybe that softness will continue. It is unlike them.
"I won't say they are a whingey bunch on the pitch, but there's a bit of an element of looking at them that feels like they've been hard done to a little bit, and they've got to get rid of that attitude if that's what's developing inside."
Neville: This is not a transition season for Liverpool
Neville also rejected claims that this is a "transition season" for Liverpool after spending heavily in the summer after winning the Premier League last season.
He said: "It's the toughest thing to do, and Arne Slot has obviously gone and won that title with that group of players last season.
"What I'm not buying, I've heard a couple of interviews in the last week from Liverpool people, including the manager, saying that it was always going to be a transition season.
"No, forget that, I'm not listening to that. No, it wasn't going to be a transition season, by the way. Your 450 million quid you spent in the summer on all those players was the season that you're going to go and win back-to-back titles.
"Let's not rewrite history and where you were at the start of the season and what everyone was saying, including non-Liverpool people by the way.
"So I'm not saying that [just] Liverpool people were getting carried away. Liverpool fans were getting carried away, but there was definitely a feeling. [Hugo] Ekitike, [Florian] Wirtz, [Alexander] Isak, [Jeremie] Frimpong, [Milos] Kerkez.
"That wasn't a transition season transfer window, that was adding to a very stable squad of champions with the likes of [Mohamed] Salah and [Virgil] van Dijk re-signed, with the likes of [Alexis] Mac Allister and [Ryan] Gravenberch in midfield, with [Ibrahima] Konate at centre-back, Alisson in net. This wasn't a rebuild by the way.
"So I think I've heard transition mentioned a couple of times in this last week, I'm not hearing that at all, because we can't rewrite history.
