Gary Neville offered a hilarious analysis of Everton’s penalty at Luton Town by playfully shoving his co-pundit Jamie Carragher.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Toffees were awarded a spot-kick in the first-half of their 1-1 draw against the Hatters on Friday night.
After a VAR review, Teden Mengi was penalised for having his arms around Jarrad Branthwaite and bringing him down inside the box when defending a corner.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Neville and Carragher analysed the incident and used their Premier League experience to explain what was wrong.
“I’ve always said this about holding shirts, you’ve got to know when to let go,” Carragher said. “You can have a little bit of a jostle, a little bit of holding here and there but there’s a time and a place where you think, ‘I’ve held on for too long now.’
“You can probably get away with a second but you’ve got to let go, and he just doesn’t let go and this day and age, you’re not going to get away with it.”
Neville then added: “The element of surprise as a defender is that you look like you’re not marking him. Just as the ball is about to be kicked, if I’m marking him, you do that…”
Neville then puts his arm into Carragher as if he’s trying to hold him off on the pitch and slightly shoves him, before looking at his reaction and jokingly saying: “He’s not happy now.”
“You make sure just before the ball comes in, you do that,” he then said before repeating what he did to send the Liverpool legend off the screen.
Host Kelly Cates laughed but when Carragher gave the same back to Neville, she warned him: “Oi careful, don’t get me involved in this!”
The art of marking as told by @GNev2 and @Carra23
Enjoy… pic.twitter.com/EkUZfsp1DM
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 3, 2024
The Manchester United icon continued to demonstrate what the defender needs to do before imitating Mengi putting his arms around Branthwaite.
Neville further said: “You can’t do that, that’s just not a movement that any defender does so he’s a little bit naive, a lot naive there.
“Look it happens, but that’s not a movement a defender or a motion a defender should do.”
Cates then joked to cuddle Carragher again or he’ll have to ‘buy him dinner’ having been on the receiving end of some playful roughness.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the resulting penalty at Kenilworth Road before Elijah Adebayo equalised for Luton just minutes later.
Everton are already safe from relegation but the point still keeps the Hatters in the bottom three with two games left to play.
