If the job of a pundit is to deliver lines as big as the game they are commentating on, you could say Gary Neville smashed it out of the park here.
“A beautiful goal,” Sky Sports’ lead commentator said as Rayan Cherki waltzed through Liverpool’s weary back four to seal the strangest of victories for Manchester City. “But not necessarily beautiful for the game.”
As a one-liner, it was very, very good. But did it sum up the views of the watching public? I’m not so sure.
Neville does a brilliant line in righteous indignation, whether it is the Super League, a bad offside call or the latest tragi-comedy at Old Trafford.
But he does not always seem to sense which way the wind is blowing. When it comes to City, he presumes everyone thinks like he does.
“A popular goal in that away end,” Neville said after Erling Haaland’s brilliant opener. “But not necessarily a popular goal in the rest of the country.”
"This is really bad for the Premier League, and it's going to continue for a few months"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 11, 2026
Gary Neville's immediate reaction to Man City's win over Liverpool at Anfield. pic.twitter.com/Enej2OQmeB
Not so fast, Gary. Scroll through social media and the mood was, well, as weird as the game itself.
Because it was not just die-hard Blues who seemed to be relishing Anfield’s bubble being burst. Fans of Newcastle, Aston Villa, Everton and a few other clubs outside the established elite appeared to rather enjoy City’s show of defiance.
That is not to say they condone what City’s ownership did, or that they will not celebrate if the full force of Premier League justice comes down on the club. It is just that they absolutely hate the closed-shop Premier League that Liverpool, Neville and Jamie Carragher have come to represent over the past fortnight.
It is all very surreal, but it is something Sky, for whom Neville, Carragher and Roy Keane have become synonymous with its coverage, clearly have not come to terms with yet. They have City voices, of course, and Micah Richards spoke well here.
But the loudest yelps come from the red side, and that is not a great look. Tune in on Sunday and you could predict the tone of the coverage. There was little great insight, just indignation.
You had to feel for them, in a way. We are only a few weeks into the season, but already the entire campaign is in danger of being overshadowed by what happens in airless rooms somewhere in central London, with lawyers battling it out away from the television cameras that have paid a pretty penny for sporting drama.
With the fate of the season now in their hands, we have to find a way to cover and discuss football matches that might ultimately mean absolutely nothing. Sky’s big beasts had a crack at it, but they face a dilemma.
Run down the product too much, as Neville threatened to do, and you risk making viewers question why they should keep tuning in. Downplay the seriousness of what City did and you will be accused of a whitewash. They cannot really win.
The whole afternoon felt like Sky Sports’ cast of experts reluctantly breaking the fourth wall, a point acknowledged by Carragher earlier in the day when he stressed that the network had played along with City’s success for the best part of a decade.
“When they won trophies, we didn’t mention the charges. But people say respect the process – the process is done, they’re guilty,” he said, not unreasonably.
But therein lies the rub for Sky, which paid more than £6bn to televise a league won multiple times by a team now found to have cheated on an industrial scale during that period.
“Agueroooo”, “Where do you want your statue, Vincent Kompany?” – these are not just City moments, they are Sky moments, too. How do you square that circle?
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By the end of the broadcast, Neville had left us in no doubt.
“If you could take me off Man City games until the verdict is heard, I’d be delighted,” he said, knowing Sky would do no such thing and that he would be seething if they did.
“We should be eulogising about an away win at Anfield, but there’s that thing at the back of your mind. It’s hard. You’re imagining if these guilty verdicts stand then by January or February this win won’t mean anything.
“It’s not good for the Premier League right now. It’s really bad for the Premier League.”
And, judging by Sunday, really difficult for Sky, Neville and Carragher, too.