Manchester United legend-turned-pundit has urged Jose Mourinho to start Romelu Lukaku from the bench against Liverpool in order to play Alexis Sanchez in a central position.
The Chile international played too deep during the 3-2 win at Crystal Palace on Monday night, and this restricted him from making a notable impact, aside from the deflected shot which came onto Lukaku’s part to equalise.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Neville brought up the idea of resting Lukaku with a view to the Sevilla game – as they could potentially free-up Sanchez in the number 9 role, where he found plenty of success with ex-club Arsenal.
“He played centre-forward a lot for Arsenal, I wonder whether at the weekend against Liverpool, Jose Mourinho might rotate a little bit and play him as a centre-forward,” he said, via M.E.N.
“He’s tried him everywhere else and it’s not quite working at the moment and maybe save Lukaku for Sevilla. He’s got to try get Alexis into form. I don’t see him as a right-sided player, he’s played on the left tonight and he looked frustrated. He’s got to try get him out of central midfield.”
Neville has a point regarding Sanchez, who has been pushing far too deep in order to acquire ball possession. However, dropping Lukaku to the bench would appear a bigger blunder, considering the form the Belgian has been in recent months.
The striker has not been fluent in terms of his movement, but his hold-up play has improved immensely, and this has partly contributed to his impressive tally of eight goals in the previous 11 matches.
United lost the possession on numerous occasions against Palace during their comeback win, but they need to avoid a similar repeat this weekend, if they are to come up triumphs against one of the Premier League’s best attacking sides in the form of Liverpool.
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