It suggests he played central midfield. As the top four players on the pitch in terms of passes made were central midfielders. Nothing more, nothing less. Throwing stats back at you, 41% of the game was in the middle of the park.
He hid from the ball from throw ins and set pieces. Watch the game back for proof.
By the way, from your own site provided there, Neville had the lowest "rating" of any outfield player on the pitch from either side, coming in at 6.14. But I assume that stat doesn't matter as it doesn't fit what you're trying to say - I assume the website has plucked that from thin air and are "blinkered" too?
Another stat - 348 short passes to Liverpools 273, simply because of the lack of adventure from the middle of the park. The pass type makes a world of difference - don't try to be disingenuous. A player who sprays around 30 yards passes all game is marked the same as a player who makes a 2 yard pass on the stats. Has Michael Carrick been the 3rd best midfielder in the EPL this season? No. But his passing stats indicate he has.
In layman's terms, he gave away the ball whenever he tried an actual pass of note. For Neville, that would be three times.
Comparing him to what Gibson dpes? No, no, no. World of difference. Don't care what the stats say - that ability to arrive on the periphery of the attack and back up the play, the extra yard of pace, the ability to switch a pass, to keep a move going forward... to say he did as well as Gibson yesterday displays a fundamental lack of footballing knowledge and suggests you're just going on stats rather than what your eyes are telling you.
And stats can lie. According to that website, Michael Williamson has been the 8th best passer of a ball this season. Yeah, sure. ^^ Sunderland have the best defence apparently - so that's why they're 14th in the league then? Magaye Gueye had one fewer dribble than Kevin Mirallas yesterday - so I suppose they were pretty close in terms of quality and impact on the pitch?
Neville dived and made the manager look like a t*t, he nearly gave a goal away by letting Shelvey jog past him in midfield, he did his trademark sandwedge-foot crosses to nothing, he shirked responsibility all game for anything other than a simple pass that Jan Mucha could have received and distributed in midfield.
He's a liability. People are praising him for actually running about a bit for 20 minutes in the first half. But being slightly better than pure dogsh*t is still dogsh*t, and people saying he played "really well" are absolutely bonkers.
'Throw stats back at you' - Like i've disputed these facts?
I believe the rating is calculated using an algorithm and is therefore subjective. And once again, in your attempts to distract from your original comments, you're attempting to create an argument over other stats and facts that I've not even questioned, I've only provided stats that were relevant to your original post about him giving it away - other stats, while interesting, aren't relevant.
I don't dispute any of that, and at no point have I said passing well makes you a good midfielder - again, you're coming up with arguments that aren't relevant.
And that's pretty pathetic really, what exactly is a 'pass of note' if you don't mind me asking?
And just to be absolutely clear, I was not suggesting that Neville is in any way better than Gibson at anything, I said he did well at what Gibson does best, which is keeping possession. It's not complicated.
Stats can lie when you present them in a complicated argument, but your original post wasn't complicated at all, you said, and for my own personal enjoyment I'll quote it again: "[Phil Neville] gave it away consistently" - that is not a complicated statement and has easily been proven wrong.
Neville's dive was embarrassing, but again, not relevant.
It's quite easy to see what has happened here, you clearly dislike Neville, so you made up some stuff about him giving the ball away without giving it a second thought - now that the original statement has been proven hilariously wrong, you're backtracking and trying to complicate the argument. We've all done it at some point.
Neville pisses me off sometimes as much as anyone, but it staggers me that people like yourself are either intellectually incapable or simply blinkered when it comes to recognising when he does anything remotely good, he did his job yesterday and he did it well, and when it came to collecting and distributing the ball, he clearly did a good job, so instead of planting your head in the sand, just admit it every so often, otherwise you'll find that nobody will take you seriously.
