Neville – Mahrez was selfish to take Anfield spot-kick
GARY Neville believes Riyad Mahrez was ‘selfish’ to take City’s late penalty against Liverpool on Sunday.
The Algerian winger had the opportunity to win the match for Pep Guardiola’s side late on at Anfield, but blazed the set-piece high over the bar.
First-choice penalty taker Sergio Aguero had already been substituted in the match, meaning City lacked a designated player to take responsibility.
Gabriel Jesus had been set to take the shot, before Mahrez commanded the ball and placed it down on the spot.
Mahrez had missed five of his previous eight spot-kicks, and Neville thinks his ‘anxiety’ could have been to blame for the poor effort from 12 yards.
“It was an unusual situation where the main penalty taker was off so you were leaving decisions to players on the pitch,” Neville said.
“There was no Vincent Kompany on the pitch to provide authority to decide who was going to take it.
“Pep Guardiola came out of his technical area and was pointing at someone, while Benjamin Mendy got involved.
“Gabriel Jesus was on the spot initially then Riyad Mahrez came over and said ‘I’m having it’ and pointed towards his chest.
“In that case, you’re slightly undermining each other in public – it’s almost like you’re saying you don’t trust someone to do it properly.
“Naturally then that puts more pressure on yourself. It was such a poor penalty – he leant back. “Mahrez hasn’t hit the ground running at Manchester City – he’s not been amazing since joining and he’s fighting with some really good players to get into the team. “There’s a little bit of authority with him as he took the penalty, but there’s also a bit of selfishness – as he looked like he wanted to be the hero. “You saw his penalty map come up with the three misses and you then think he’s got anxiety with previous penalties as it means you’re not perfect at them.” Gary Neville