Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher mock Gary Neville over his protection of Solskjaer

The duo couldn't resist a sly dig at their fellow Sky Sports pundit

Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher couldn't resist the chance to poke fun at fellow Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville over his protection of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - again. The duo, who are known for the odd wind up or two on Neville, responded to the appointment of Steven Gerrard as Aston Villa manager, with a couple of clever tweets. Gerrard joined from Rangers on Thursday (11 November) and Richards took aim at Neville, drawing a hypothetical parallel between Carragher and Gerrard, who famously played together for Liverpool for over a decade. Neville has received large-scale criticism for his backing of his former teammate and the former Manchester City defender jokingly wanted to know if Carragher would do the same should Gerrard find himself under pressure. In his tweet, he said: "I wonder if @Carra23 is gonna protect Gerrard like @GNev2 protects Solskjaer" followed by several eyes emojis before adding "but that’s not my business" with a frog emoji. https://twitter.com/MicahRichards/status/1458780167787139073 Carragher wasn't going to miss out on the chance to have a dig at his old friend and replied to Richards' message with the caption: "They should keep him as they’ve tried Dean Smith & Steve Bruce before so they’re not going down that road again!" with a laughing emoji after. https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/1458781967474958341 The former Liverpool defender's response was in reference to Neville's previous views that, because Manchester United have already tried the big manager fix with Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, neither of which went to plan, Solskjaer should be given time to turn things around. So far Neville has yet to respond to the tongue-in-cheek comments, but no doubt he'll have something to say which will result in Richards and Carragher laughing at him. Related links:

• Gary Neville says he refuses to call out “mate” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
• Steven Gerrard confirmed as new Aston Villa manager
• Gary Neville responds as Rio Ferdinand calls for Solskjaer sacking