.“Vincent Kompany has turned into Mr Rash,” - Gary Neville

Vincent Kompany was in the spotlight after just 11 minutes of his side’s 2-1 defeat at Liverpool as Philippe Coutinho snatched the ball off him and raced away towards Joe Hart’s goal before finding Jordan Henderson, who curled the ball into the top corner.

Kompany was heavily criticised for his performance during City’s Champions League defeat to Barcelona and Neville dubbed the Belgium international 'Mr Rash’ after watching an unconvincing display at Anfield.

“I don’t know what’s happened to him. He needs to settle his game down. Kompany loses out on a 50-50 with Coutinho.“Vincent Kompany has turned into Mr Rash,” the former Manchester United full-back said

“He’s going through a difficult moment, Vincent Kompany. It’s hard to know where his next good game is coming from.

“We’ve all been through those periods. He’s usually someone who is so dominant and a leader for this team, every time the ball goes near him he’s struggling.”

Manuel Pellegrini admitted he had spoken to Kompany following City's 2-1 defeat to the La Liga side and the stats back up Neville's assertion that the centre-back has gone off the boil.

“Brendan Rodgers would have been delighted when he saw Manchester City playing 4-4-2. We always talk about the problems City have in the centre of midfield.

“Because those two central midfielders are not aware of what’s going on around them, the knock-on effect is that Kompany feels he has to step in when it’s not his job. Mangala is then left on his own

."But another former Liverpool defender, Phil Thompson, jumped to the defence of Kompany, claiming his confidence has been affected by Pellegrini’s tendencies to chop and change his back four.

“I think the biggest problem is actually who’s playing alongside him,” Thompson told Sky Sports.

“They’ve changed their back four so much this season and, for me, it’s knocking Kompany’s confidence.

“Zabaleta has not been as good this year, while Clichy and Kolarov are being alternated between games.

“And the centre-half alongside him, whether it be Mangala or Demichelis, are changing far too often too. There’s no consistency around him and it’s causing him to underperform.”

culled from skysports