Gary Neville has claimed that Liverpool are to blame for allowing the row involving himself and Loris Karius to escalate.
Karius responded to recent criticisms of the out-of-form Reds goalkeeper by Neville in the media during a recent interview with a national newspaper.
The ex-Manchester United defender’s brother Phil and Sky Sports colleague Jamie Carragher subsequently waded into the row surrounding the German.
That prompted Jurgen Klopp to launch a public and impassioned defence of his goalkeeper, in which he heavily criticised both of the Neville brothers.
But appearing on Sky Sports’ Sunday Supplement programme, Neville insisted that the fault for the public war of words lies with those at Anfield.
He said: “It became a big story because the player, coach and Liverpool added fuel to a fire that wasn’t there.
“Two weeks ago my most critical comments were about a United and an Everton player.
“No one will remember what my comments were because Manchester United and Everton never reacted to it, the players never reacted to it and they were forgotten about.
“I called Marouane Fellaini pathetic and idiotic and I battered Maarten Stekelenburg for his part in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal.
“I said Karius transmitted anxiety and nervousness to his team-mates.
“The other two stories have disappeared to the point at which no one can remember them, that’s how I would expect press departments of football clubs to deal with these things.
“Once Karius did his newspaper interview I knew he would be out of the team in four or five days, I knew he brought pressure upon himself.
“I always say young players should always do interviews. Me saying, ‘stay clear of the situation’, which was my advice to Karius after doing the interview – and also Phil Neville and Jamie Carragher saying ‘shut your gob’, we weren’t actually talking as pundits.
“From our point of view as pundits, we’ve done our job. We created the debate. I’d say we were more guiding him as an ex player or a coach, saying ‘this is not a fight for now’.”