Gary Neville was confident that Manchester United would be better than Liverpool this season, but as every gameweek passes by, his comments look more and more ludicrous

"I think Manchester United are currently in a better place than Liverpool — would you agree?" Gary Neville asked Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports at the start of the season.

That was just over two months ago, with the Old Trafford side falling to a defeat at Hull the following day. Now, only goal difference is currently keeping his former club out of the relegation zone.

Things have gone so spectacularly wrong for Manchester United that it is almost inconceivable that Michael Carrick will survive long enough to take charge when it comes to Anfield on the other side of the international break.

Lisandro Martinez — the center-back who spoke out effectively against poor recruitment, which has to include himself — was sent off in comical fashion this weekend as Manchester United lost to Chelsea.

Bruno Fernandes, a man who was dropped for his comments against his manager, was restored to the starting XI and got up to his usual antics: a good player, sure, but a man who should never have been anywhere near the captain's armband.

From recruitment to the ownership, Manchester United is a mess. And somehow, Neville didn't see it coming. Not for the first time, the opinion he formed was bafflingly blinkered.

Rightly a prominent pundit in the majority of circumstances, when it comes to Manchester United and Liverpool, he just cannot help himself.

With his club, Neville cannot do anything but be blindly optimistic; when it comes to Liverpool, the former right-back is so longing for the Reds' downfall that he tries to talk it into existence.

Of course, no one could have seen things falling off quite so dramatically, but Manchester United failed to address any of the obvious weaknesses in its squad during the summer, and has many more games to play now than it did last term. It was always going to find things tougher.

While there were some questions to be asked about Andoni Iraola's experience at the top level, meanwhile, this was a Liverpool team with much potential still to be realized heading into the new campaign. Each of its players — even the new ones who are yet to justify their price tags — are much more proven.

Get Liverpool's new 2026/27 home kit

Liverpool FC have launched their new home kit for the 2026/27, inspired by iconic adidas strip worn during the club's 1989/90 title-winning campaign.

A title charge, which might yet emerge, seemed unlikely for Iraola at the first attempt, but the idea that Liverpool was anything other than the most likely challenger to Arsenal and Manchester City — the latter of whom's circumstances have since substantially changed — was ludicrous.

Liverpool is far from perfect still, and there are plenty more elements of Iraola's game that need to be refined. This weekend's visit of Arsenal is also its biggest test yet.

But only one club out of Liverpool and Manchester United is heading in the right direction, however, and things are not unfolding in the way in which Neville claimed — or, more accurately, desperately hoped — that they would.