Phil Neville: Liverpool are a Mid-Table Team and Not Title Contenders

Phil Neville believes that Liverpool's current position in the league is reflective of their actual standard rather than an aberration in terms of results.

The former Manchester United and Everton man was scathing in his assessment of the Reds, who have dropped out of the top half of the table after a 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace in the league.

Their current situation has come as a major shock for fans, who saw their team on the verge of winning the league last season, missing out by a mere two points.

A lack of goals and an injury to Daniel Sturridge have initiated their fall this season, and they are struggling for ideas all over the pitch.

Brendan Rodgers, who was crowned the manager of the Year last season, has cut a sorry figure with an axe hanging over his head if the results do not change in the upcoming days.

However, Neville believes that the results are a true reflection of where Liverpool are as a team and mid-table is the maximum they can hope to achieve with their current setup.

He adds that their upsurge last season was owing to the brilliance of Sturridge and Luis Suarez, who scored more than 50 goals between them to cover Liverpool's deficiencies in other facets of the game.

"Because of what Liverpool did last season, I think some people came into this campaign with unrealistic expectations of what they could achieve this time," Neville said.

"But they only went so close to winning the title last time out because they were inspired by their world-class front two of Daniel Sturridge and, in particular, Luis Suarez.

"They were never going to repeat that kind of challenge after seeing Suarez leave for Barcelona in the summer.

"Rather than underachieving, their current position is probably a more accurate reflection of this team's level at the moment, especially while Sturridge is injured.

"Yes, that is poor if you compare it to what happened in the Reds' previous campaign, in which they suffered the same number of defeats in total and the outcome of the title race was in their hands with only three games to go.

"But that was a one-off. If you look further back, Liverpool have been a top-eight team playing in the Europa League, not title contenders," he concluded.