GARY NEVILLE sparked bemusement amongst fans after saying he had talking parrots on his shoulders giving him opinions.
The co-commentator was the focus of a lot of fan attention during Tottenham’s action-packed 4-1 defeat to Chelsea.
There was plenty to talk about for Neville as he tried to dissect a number of controversial decisions made by referee Michael Oliver and his VAR team led by John Brooks.
And when discussing Cristian Romero’s kick on Ruben Colwill, Neville said he had two parrots on his shoulders giving him his opinions.
He said: “I’m 50/50. I’ve got a parrot on one shoulder saying red and a parrot on the other saying yellow.”
Fans were left perplexed by Neville’s strange comment, with one mocking Neville’s previous remark that he thinks of holidays as mini-retirements.
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They said: “Has Gary Neville just said he’s got a parrot on his shoulder saying yellow card and another saying red? A parrot?
“He needs a two-week mini-retirement. He’s losing the plot on that gantry.”
Another added: “The madness of this game has really distracted from Gary Neville talking about having a parrot on each shoulder giving him opinions about red cards.”
And a third wrote: “Gary Neville has parrots on his shoulders… eh?”
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Other fans remarked on how much Neville spoke throughout the match, with one viewer joking about how often he reacted to incidents by saying: “oooh”.
Neville was more certain in his view on Destiny Udogie’s two-footed lunge on Raheem Sterling, which he felt deserved a red card.
Udogie was booked for the challenge and the VAR upheld Oliver’s decision.
Neville and Sky Sports’ main commentator Peter Drury were kept on their toes by the thrilling London derby.
Dejan Kulusevski scored six minutes into the contest and moments later VAR was sprung into action for the first time to confirm Son Heung-min had scored from an offside position.
Next came the Udogie tackle which Neville described as one “professional footballers hate”, claiming the left-back was lucky to stay on the pitch.
That incident seemed to spark 20 minutes of chaos as moments later Spurs’ Cristian Romero escaped a red card after lashing out at Ruben Colwill, kicking the England star in the back of the leg.
But the Argentine would not stay on the pitch much longer as he caught Enzo Fernandez high on his leg in the box with a follow-through after initially making contact with the ball.
The decision to send off Romero came after a lengthy VAR check which ruled out Moises Caicedo’s long-range goal because Nicolas Jackson had unsighted the goalkeeper from an offside position.
Sterling also had a goal chalked off for handball during the same phase of play as Romero’s kick on Colwill, leading to a lengthy VAR delay.
Neville struggled to keep up with every decision as he compared Romero’s kick on Colwill to David Beckham infamously hitting out at Diego Simeone at the 1998 World Cup.
But there was more controversy to come as a VAR check was carried out to determine whether Reece James elbowed Udogie – the Chelsea captain was allowed to stay on the pitch.
Colwill was also involved in a spat with Pape Sarr and almost lost his head before being ushered away by Emerson Royal.
Injuries to James Maddison and Micky van de Ven led to 12 minutes of stoppage time, with Neville sharing his sympathies for the pair.
In the second half Neville branded Udogie “stupid” after he needlessly dived into another tackle on Sterling and received his second yellow – sending Spurs down to nine men.
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Eric Dier also had a goal chalked off by the tightest of offside calls that also took VAR several minutes to judge.
While a late Jackson hat-trick had Neville purring about what the striker could offer Chelsea now that he has had a big confidence boost.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
