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The Athletic FC Podcast Network. First real shooting opportunity this and the second half for Paris Saint-Germain. Khabar in scalia! What a save!
He got his hand to that, Alisson. Oh, yeah. Dewey to take on Alexander-Arnold and cuts inside and hit the shot! Oh, he saved another one! It's an absolute goalkeeping masterclass from Alisson. What a save! What a shot! What a save! Here's Eastman Dembele, faced by Robertson. Sends it in down, he goes again. That's a brilliant stop again. So good at scooping the ball away like that. All right, Reds, Tony Evans here with Walk On, your Liverpool podcast from the Athletic.
I'm here with James Pearce, live from Roland Garros and Simon Hughes. Well, it only takes one shot to score a goal. We'll talk about that heroic win in Paris. He preys on Alisson and even Darwin. But first, let's get to three words. James, yours surely in Paris must have been, eat myself senseless. Do you know what? I didn't even eat after the game.
Just a couple of celebratory local ales as I put the finishing touches to the Harvey Elliott piece. My three words, never in doubt. Never in doubt. Si, you must have three stunning words for this. I do, I do. David Beckham's face. Ha!
That was the highlight of the night for me, though. It was like one of the scenes in the Burnabout, wasn't it? You know when Real Madrid occasionally concede a goal and it cuts to the president and they're all sitting there desperately trying to not show any expression whatsoever. I just thought it was hilarious. Yeah, it was. It was. It was great. Well, let's hear what you're saying. Ian Miller, Grand Theft Paris. I like that, Ian. Joe Riley, Alison the Redeemer. We've all seen that meme.
John Weller, Smashiest of Grabs. And Brian Joseph, The Red Wall. To join our community of listeners on Facebook, just search Walk On Podcast and join the group.
Well, James, before we go any further and talk about the game, can you explain that Roland Garros comments are made? Yeah, I'm staying in a slightly bizarre tennis-themed hotel. Kinky. It's only about 10 minutes' walk away from Parc des Princes, so it was handy for last night, and it's obviously very close to Roland Garros because when I checked in, I was told I was on court number 31. LAUGHTER
Now, normally you're in course. You know what I mean? James, can I just ask you, it's very interesting that they've actually got the colour theme right here. Obviously, listeners can't see this, but it seems like the walls are all in clay colours as well, which is... Yeah, and if I just tip, I know this is much good for people listening, but of course, you've got the white, you've got the baseline going around. Very clever. It's got a lot of thought into it. There's a lot of rackets attached to the wall.
And then behind my bed was a big tennis net with a slightly unerring mural on the wall of the tennis umpire sat on his chair. Sounds ace, James. I can always bank on you to serve up something special. Yeah, for those listening in black and white, James is in colour. Well, James, 27 shots for PSG, 10 on targets. I tell you what.
I mean, how are we going to compete with that XG for the second leg? I thought you'd be worrying about the XG. Yeah, I was struggling to think late last night of a more bizarre scenario
in Liverpool's European history. Certainly one that I've been to. I don't think I've ever seen Liverpool so comprehensively outplayed yet come away with the victory. I mean, it was for the most part, you were just thinking, can they just possibly cling on? And a draw would have felt like a win in those circumstances. And then for the two substitutes, Darwin Nunes and Harvey Elliott, to combine like they did late on, it was...
It was just around me, all the PSG fans. It was just complete and utter shell shock. And I think we know, when you win a game like that, it's actually probably more special than if you'd gone there and put on a proper show and outplayed them. Oh, yes. We were talking about it on the show. We talked about it a few times.
the greatest way to win is to be absolutely rubbish and score a last-minute winner or late winner. And it was just, I mean, the only thing you can do is laugh. I can imagine, I can imagine in the Parc des Princes the agony there.
of those fans because it was a really lively atmosphere. Oli Kay talked about it earlier on in the week and he was right. Yeah, yeah. Well, I was there in 2018 and they really do get behind their team. You know what? There was a similar flow in the first half to the game in 2018 when Liverpool got absolutely battered and then came into the game the second half a lot more and actually would have been unlucky not to get a point in that game.
But, you know, what I loved about the game is if you try and dilute it and try and explain it, you know, it comes down to two things, really. And I thought Arne Slott was pretty, pretty honest about it because he said we got more than we deserved, really. But he said, you know, it comes down to a bit of luck and let's face it, an outstanding goalkeeping performance by the holy goalie.
and the Holy Goalie the Holy Goalie I haven't seen that have you just made that up now I may have seen it somewhere else yeah yeah but I think that name should stick I mean it was an unbelievable goalkeeping performance and you know sometimes it just does come down to that you know the individual somebody being inspired I think we're so used to watching football
ball now where teams dominate and they end up winning you don't really see games like this very often anymore do you like maybe you know it's sort of like an absolute battering but just stealing a win there's no better way to win Tony no better way in my view no I agree I agree and James Allison I mean I've seen I've seen every Liverpool goalkeeper since the flying pig Tommy Lawrence and
Ray Clements is generally regarded as the best. No longer, no longer, I think we must say, Alisson is the best between the sticks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't, I wasn't lucky enough to watch Ray Clements, but certainly every goalkeeper that Liverpool have had since then, I don't think
any of them come close and yeah it was he described it as the performance of his life for me it wasn't just the calibre of the saves he pulled off and the reflexes and the athleticism and just the way in which his decision making is so good isn't it, the way he comes off his line and narrows angles but like with some of those saves it's where he ended up putting the ball afterwards like he ensured that it was completely out of harm's way
And yeah, it does make me laugh when there's this, you know,
I think it was only a few months back when we were talking about him not even being on the shortlist for goalkeeper of the year. Obviously, Emi Martinez gets deplored as being the best there is. But no, the reality is that there isn't anyone who comes close to Alisson. And I think for me as well, it underlined, it wasn't just a one-off. I think he's been an outstanding form. But it's absolutely crucial that Liverpool keep hold of him because...
you know, there are these kind of murmurings of, well, what does Mama Dash really coming in in the summer? What does that mean? And, you know, clearly he, he, he wants to be and expects to be a number one, the Georgia international. But yeah, it would be, it would be a huge, huge loss because, because I,
It's, you know, Alisson is only 32, which in goalkeeping terms is still very young. And yeah, Liverpool should be building around him for years to come because the reality is the day you move on from Alisson Becker, you downgrade because there's no one better around. Yeah, I mean, say...
James made a great point there about the way it's not just the saves, but knocking the ball out of danger. And if you compare it to our goal, when the keepers go out and like, I don't know, like a crisp, you know what I mean? He should have saved that. Alisson would have scooped that one up and knocked it about 40 yards. Yeah, Donnarumma, I found him really annoying last night. He was complaining about it. Any time a player went near him, he was crying about it.
Meanwhile, Alison sort of just at the other end stood up to anything that came his way. The one thing that really impressed me, and I can only assume this was...
This was not planned, but practiced before the game because the amount of times PSG got in down the side and tried to cut the ball back and Alisson would sort of spring forward and scoop the ball off the floor in the opposite direction. I've never seen a goalkeeper do that as much as he did last night. It was extraordinary because it's a very hard thing to do because he kept on getting distance on it as well.
But yeah, I mean, when I saw him wearing that yellow goalkeeper kit like Banana Man, you know, right at the start of the game, for some reason, I just thought of the game against Napoli at Anfield in 2018-19 when he saved Liverpool in that game with a last-minute block, I think from Napoli's Polish striker Milik, which kept Liverpool in the competition, which they obviously went on to win.
That was one save. I mean, how many did he make last night? I just lost count blocks, full stretch fingertips, coming out for crosses, punching it, catching it. He just seemed in a determined mood last night. And I mean, by his own admission afterwards, you know, what I liked is he said, yeah, I think it was the best performance of my goalkeeping career, you know, so...
I mean, that shows you just how well he played because he has... He saved Liverpool on lots of occasions in games where it's just been like one save or two saves, but this was multiple saves, which reminds again, you know, that Liverpool...
you know they weren't an impenetrable wall as such they did rely on their goalkeeper to get them out of the when they needed to but sometimes that's what you pay a top goalkeeper to do you know sometimes you know it can be a great goalkeeping performance we don't when was the last great goalkeeping performance in football that you can think of where you think wow he's actually you know determined the outcome of this match it's not very often it happens is it no no no no not at all
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It's a Harvey Elliott smash and grab in the park, they prance, and Liverpool somehow have the lead with three minutes left. Goalkeeper gets a hand, he can't keep it out, smash and grab. He's been on the pitch for 47 seconds, it's his first touch of the ball, he's got four goals this season and three of them have been scored in the Champions League, I mean talk about the impact off the bench.
Paris Saint-Germain 0 Liverpool 1 Harvey Elliott Well James Oli on Tuesday was talking about he talked about the atmosphere which I've already alluded to and he's talked he talked about the examination from a from a young eager side and erm yeah what a test I mean Yeah yeah it really was I know
Like sitting there in that first half and the atmosphere was absolutely electric and you could see, you know, how many times do we see at Anfield where Liverpool feed off that and you could see that was the same for Lewis and BK. It reminds me a bit of the Klopp team and the way that sort of circuit between the crowds and the fans, you know, fizzed with energy.
Yeah, because they are a youthful team, packed full of talent. And I think sometimes, although I thought Liverpool were poor for the most part, I think sometimes you do have to acknowledge how good the opposition were. And in the same way, as you said, in the same way as, say, Klopp's Liverpool with that kind of approach.
unsettled, really good opponents. I think that's exactly what PSG did to Liverpool. They pressed them, they were in their faces and Liverpool didn't deal with it well enough. I thought it was interesting. Even in the first 10 minutes, you had Virgil van Dijk
taking goal kicks and just pumping it 60, 70 yards downfield just to get rid of it. And it was like, you know, that's not really the slot way, but it was clearly they were so worried about that press and losing it in dangerous areas that they were trying to rely on, you know, hit it long towards Salah. You know, if you don't win the first ball, hopefully win the second ball. And then there's space to exploit because PSG are so...
so in your faces that if you can get past that there's obviously going to be going to be room to operate in but but yeah Liverpool just never got got
got to grips with it. And yeah, PSG looked like a team, didn't they? 22 games unbeaten, 10 straight wins in a row. And that front three, I thought were outstanding in terms of, you know, no team has come close to asking those kind of questions of Slots Liverpool this season. No one's come close to unsettling them in that kind of fashion. I thought, you know, Bacola, Dembele,
Tavaskalia, you know, it was relentless, wasn't it? What I would say was, yes, they relied heavily on Alisson, but also I thought Liverpool got to grips with it a lot better in the second half. Trent especially, I think, defensively was much better second half. And even although I never thought for a minute Liverpool would steal the game 1-0, PSG were just getting a little bit ragged, weren't they? I think their frustration was getting to them and they...
The dung of the game went on. You thought they're taking now speculative shots rather than getting in behind Liverpool like they did in the first half. Yeah, Si, it's good to see that the conspiracy to give Liverpool Asterix trophies stretches to the continent. I mean, the offside goal, the send-off, the Canarte push.
They were both fortunate for Liverpool, I think. I mean, I thought the offside goal... Tell me if I'm talking absolute rubbish here, Tony, but the player has his trailing leg behind him, obviously, and he's facing the other way. So what advantage is he actually gaining by having his foot there? It should come down to what advantage he's gained, I think. By the letter of the law, yes, it's offside, but...
but it doesn't really make much sense to me because he actually has to turn and then put himself in a position to shoot. So there's no advantage gained by his trailing leg being offside when he's facing the opposite way from the goal. So I personally think that's one of those areas where the rule probably needs to be looked at a little bit. But let's have it right. I mean, I'm not sort of...
you know, fighting justice for PSG. I mean, but I do think about if I was a player. Justice for Beckham. Justice for Beckham. And then, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I obviously watched the game at home on television. The commentary was really pushing for a red card for Canarte. Yeah.
I didn't think it was a red card. I actually, in real time, it looks more of a red card than it did in the replays. But I'm also mindful of the replays that when it slows it down, it lessens the impact that it has on,
on the player because it doesn't look like he's made as much of an impact. So I don't think Liverpool were lucky they rode the look, but that look can sometimes feature in the outcome in football. That's okay. People don't like it because you can't quantify it by a metric.
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. And I also think with offside, if you can't see it with the human eye, then that's not offside. It's stupid. And if that went against us, we'd have the right hump. And I've almost got the right hump for PSG. Oh, and David Beckham. Yeah. And as for commentators, I always remember in Istanbul, I did a little bit on the radio station. They phoned me and they wanted me to do a little phone-in spot. And I'll admit, I've been in the pub all day.
And he says, you know, David Beckham said he's come out and he's supporting Liverpool in this. I said, we don't want him. We don't want any of his...
we don't want your support David Beckham is supporting Liverpool yeah yeah because like they were an English club and I was like we don't want you don't want you none of yous none of yous go and support Milan and so that's the way I feel about it anyway James what a bold move it was to take off Salah by the way do you know that Si's written a book about Salah called Chasing Salah available in all good bookshops very good very very good you know yeah I thought I thought that was the kind of bold move we've
kind of come to expect from slot I think I think a lot of other managers would have kept Salah out there because you were thinking well if if we create anything you'd want Salah to be on the end of it but he wasn't the only one but I think that was that was as ineffective as Salah has been all season I thought the fullback did a really good job in terms of
I mean, Liverpool in general is an attacking force. Lewis and Riquet talked about them having three fighter jets in the front line and it didn't really come off quite like that, did it? I think all three were well and truly grounded last night.
But yeah, credit to Slott because, you know, Salah, you could see when the number went up, wasn't particularly delighted to be hooked early. He never is, is he? Because I think he looks upon every minute of football he misses as like a personal slight. But yeah, what an impact from Harvey Elliott. I was absolutely delighted for him because he's had a really rough season. And I don't think...
I think he's one of those players that's just been really, really unfortunate. I don't think he's done much wrong,
It's just that, you know, clearly Zabozlai has gone to the next level in terms of his development under slot. And when you look at the basis of that midfield and the balance, you kind of look at Elliott and you go, well, you're obviously not, you're not another Gravenberg, you're not another McAllister. You know, he will have his eye on Zabozlai's place. But of course, Curtis Jones has got his eye on that place in the side as well. And Elliott could also do a job wide right, like he proved last night. But
But again, Salah doesn't hardly miss any games. His durability is incredible. So that's kind of led to a situation where we're in what early March and Harvey Elliott's only started four games in all competitions. And they were, you know, three domestic cup ties and that Champions League dead rubber against PSV. So, but yeah, I also, I think the other thing was to come straight into a game of that intensity and magnitude and to show that kind of calmness and composure and
with your first touch. I think he'd been on the pitch 47 seconds. It was just a special moment. Yeah, it was brilliant, wasn't it? And we've got to have a positive wave for our favourite big dope, Darwin. I thought it was a game for him, Tony. I thought this felt like a game for him because, as James says, absolutely right, the forward line just didn't work.
I think you've got to get, I mean, I thought, I think Nuno Mendes, the left back, is the best left back in Europe now. I've seen, I just think he's got everything. Salah didn't have a good night, but, you know, right across the pitch, PSG were pretty dominant, weren't they? But I didn't think that they were leaving space behind. And if you unleash Nunes, he can stretch the game a little bit and relieve a bit of pressure. Yeah.
He played a vital role in the goal, didn't he? That's exactly what you want for him. He made it difficult for the centre-half, contested it, and then found his composure with a perfect pass to Harvey Elliott, the squiggly-haired winger. I remember Partridge describing Monty Don as a squiggly-haired horticulturalist.
I've nicked that one. All my best material isn't mine at all. Oh, so you've nicked that one as well? No, no, sorry. Any original item? Remember the good old days of Robocops and Gardeau Cival? Simon Hughes originals? Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, Nunes. Nunes, I mean, I thought he did very well. So, yeah, a good night for him. Slot, um...
you know, said after the game that it's been a difficult couple of weeks for him, but that performance should give him some confidence. I'll say, I'll say. Well, he was signed, you know, after Origi left. James, is he the new Origi? He'll probably never come with that ambition. But to be honest, have it to me.
If he can get one in the Champions League final, yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah, as Simon said, I think Nunes deserves a lot of credit for the way in which he obviously channeled his emotions after a tough few weeks. It can't be easy when... And it was something of a gamble from Slot, I think, publicly criticising him the way he did. You never really know which way it's going to go. But yeah, I thought he gave Liverpool a focal point in attack.
in those closing stages that they hadn't had previously. I thought Diogo Jota really struggled on the night. Same with Diaz. If anything, I was surprised there weren't changes earlier in the game considering how one-sided it was.
But yeah, you just want to see Darwin Nunes build on that now because we know what he's capable of. He showed it for the goal, didn't he, in terms of the physicality, the strength, the power. I think it was Marquinhos that he held off and then gets his head up, picks the right pass. I mean, that's been a weakness of his game too often in terms of decision making, but he got it absolutely spot on to the point where Harvey Elliott didn't even need to break stride before he tucked it in that bottom corner. So
So, yeah, I mean, for all the kind of noise around Nunes after, you know, the miss against Villa, it was this idea that, you know, you just cast him aside was never going to be realistic. I mean, he was, you know, I would still be very surprised if he's still at Liverpool next season. But between now and the end of May, he could still have a really big part to play in, you know, a potential double or even treble winning achievement. Yes, he's a player for moments, really, isn't he?
Yeah, I'm afraid he is. And as I said, it did feel like that was a moment for him, really, because the two centre-halves for PSG, very good players. They're all good players, aren't they? I've got to say for Tignia as well. They weren't quite Robocops though, were they?
But mainly because Liverpool couldn't really get the ball off the pitch that much. You know, they couldn't get close enough to the opposition's box where I think Jota's at his best. But it was just a perfect sort of moment for Nunes, really. You know, go on and make life difficult for them and
Stop making them think that they can just have the ball as much as they did. And he did. And you sort of alluded to Divock Origi. Maybe he might have that impact in certain games, you know, where they just need a 10, 15 minute, 20 minute burst of pace, power, chaos, and just upset the rhythm of the opposition.
and he definitely did James said earlier I thought PSG weren't quite as good in the second half I think one of the reasons why was Nunes the other reason I thought Curtis Jones came on and did really well for Liverpool kept the ball a bit better than some of the other midfielders so the substitutions definitely definitely worked for slot last night when you judge it against the outcome
They've got to come back to Anfields and we'll talk much more about that next week.
But this set is not over, is it, James? I wish it was. No, it's definitely not over. And I think that's why, despite the manner of the win and how special it was in the circumstances, the celebrations were pretty muted. And certainly Virgil van Dijk, he was very, very keen to ensure that feet remained firmly on the floor. And when a team causes us as many problems as they did here tonight,
it would be stupid to think that such a narrow margin of victory is going to be kind of definitive going back to Anfield. So yeah, there's a lot of hard work still to be done. We saw how dangerous PSG are. I think it's highly unlikely they don't score at Anfield just because I think of the way in which they play on the front foot. I don't think their approach will change too much if
They're going to have to be bold, chasing that one goal deficit. So, yeah, Liverpool are going to have to be a lot more polished, a lot more composed. But it will be a different game. With the Anfield factor, such a fortress for Liverpool so far this season. And I do feel that although PSG, and I'm sure Luis Enrique will be banging the drum about, look how many problems you've caused Liverpool. There's no reason why you can't go and turn this around.
I think psychologically that will be very tough for PSG to take losing a game in that fashion. Yeah, I think Liverpool can't play the same game at Anfield, to be honest, and cede the possession. Slot said this post-match that they're expected to suffer. But I think with Anfield, I think you're going to have to try and get on top of them and trouble them more because it could have the reverse effect at Anfield where the crowd gets really twitchy.
if you just try and think well we'll try and see it out I just don't think you can do that in a home game they're going to have to show more courage on the ball and more composure and the Liverpool team has that capability let's not forget I mean they've done that
throughout the course of the season but you know i do think that certainly the results and phases of the game will give the liverpool players a huge amount of confidence that they they can ride it out against opponents like psg who are excellent on the ball i mean the three of them up top it was like having three peak michael owens wasn't it really you know when they were
Michael Owen put the ball in the net occasionally. There is that, yeah, there is that. You know, very exciting to watch. But Liverpool, I have to say, the game is, the tie is not over. Liverpool will have to perform better at Anfield. Particularly, you know, just as much as Anfield and the atmosphere on countless occasions has worked for Liverpool. If Liverpool give the ball away as much as they did, if they don't show enough courage, it could very well work against them.
Yeah, and there's our message to everyone who'll be going to Anfield. No twitchiness. No twitchiness. Don't forget, here at Walk On, you can get in touch with the show by emailing us at walkonattheathletic.com. Any questions, memorable moments you want to discuss, or even your own voice notes, just send them over to walkonattheathletic.com. Well, James, you've got a couple of days in Paris, haven't you? Long lunches...
huge dinners, you know, in that Parisian style. In fact, I'm told that they blend into each other. You know, as soon as you stop here, you get off here, you're going to stir the Parisian lunch and you'll finish about midnight. Do you know what? The highlight
in terms of the cuisine actually, was the cheese board on offer in the PSG Media Lounge. It was very Parisian. You know, it wasn't your bowl of scouse
It was, there was a cheese board, a board with a selection of cold meats and breads. And, you know, if you were being highly critical, you'd say it was only half a job because you had to basically make the sarnie yourself. Any blue, James? Any blue cheese? Yes, there was, there was. Yeah, I had a little bit of everything just to be on the safe side because you don't want to miss out, do you?
No, well, yeah, well, no, no. But, Si, you know, back to feasting. Are we going to feast on Southampton and get another three points? I mean, we need 21 from the final 10 games. I don't think we need that many because I think Arsenal drop points. But Southampton are not going to have 27 shots. No, Philosophy FC. Oh, no, they've sacked Russell Martin now, haven't they?
Well, that hasn't really worked out for them, has it, to be fair. Very simple answer, Tony. I think Liverpool beat Southampton quite easily. I know Arnaud Slott was very keen to press home the importance of this fixture after the game last night, saying we've got a really big game against Southampton and we need Anfield to turn up with the weekend as well.
but Southampton are sort of caught at the moment they seem like one of those in between teams too good too good for the championship players too good for the championship but not quite good enough for the Premier League so I'm afraid they're going to get relegated and I fully expect a Liverpool team that threatens to run away with the title to beat them quite easily
Well, James, yeah. But, I mean, November's reverse fixture was anything but straightforward. 3-2. And they had to work really hard, didn't they? They did, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a struggle that day, wasn't it? It was, you know, Salah.
Salah from the penalty spot, wasn't it, that settled that one? Really scrappy. It was one of probably the few times this season where Southampton have been properly competitive against a decent side because they're in serious danger of registering the worst
Premier League season from anyone on record with their results of late, you know, lots of chopping and changing. And yeah, they're certainly not in the kind of shape they were that day where, you know, Russell Martin probably was fair to claim they deserved something out of it because Liverpool weren't at their best and kind of managed to
managed to grind it out and they were helped by some pretty dreadful individual errors from Southampton. Certainly the penalty they gave away that day was completely unnecessary. It was when they were playing Russian roulette when they were building up from the back were players simply not good enough to play that way. So yeah, for me on Saturday, it would just be really interesting to see how slot...
handles the fact that in the build-up, I'm sure when he does his press duties on Friday, he'll be talking about, I'm not thinking about PSG. All the focus is on Southampton. And he will know that when there's a big game just around the corner, there's a real danger that everyone gets a little bit complacent and there's a lack of focus, especially because he will know the narrative around this will be how many do Liverpool beat Southampton by not, whether they win the game or not. But
Yeah, I think what he does in terms of team selection is going to be fascinating because I think common sense tells you you should be holding a few back for Tuesday because
because it is such a quick turnaround and because it is Southampton and I think also because he's got that trust in his squad you know that you look at all those players who came on last night you know you Curtis Jones as Simon mentioned you know Taro Endo you know Nunes Harvey Elliott you know there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't reward those players with a start against Southampton and still be absolutely convinced you'd get the job done so um
So yeah, and I suppose the other thing is, you know, and I thought it was interesting that Slott touched upon this last night in his press conference, was he was already talking about needing the supporters on Saturday, because he will know as well, there's every danger that everyone just turns up on Saturday expecting it to be a formality. And obviously we know from history that sometimes when that happens, you get a smack on the backside. Yeah.
Yes, I mean, it's one of those sometimes... Yeah, that image of James getting smacked on the backside is just disturbing me. Knocked me off my stride there. It's not after I'm speechless, but you know what's... Anyway, three o'clock at Anfield can sometimes be a little bit, you know, against Southampton, you know, it's not exactly...
They're not exactly big rivals. But the title's still to be won, isn't it? Despite some people's triumphalism, me, on the show occasionally, it still needs to be won. Well, there's still a long way to go. I mean, it's only the beginning of March. I mean, I try and sometimes think back to previous seasons when Liverpool have been going for the title, particularly the two seasons where they did miss out to City on the final day.
So much football left to be played, but obviously the difference in this season is the dynamic that Man City aren't involved. And it's Arsenal who are stumbling around in the dark and don't seem capable of putting a run which would be required to go and take it from Liverpool. I know Arsenal beat PSV.
By a resounding scoreline. Did you see the XG on that, Tony? Did you see the XG on that game? Don't tell me about it. Let me just get this. Let me just dig this out. Let me just dig this out. I've got it on my phone. Brace yourself for this. So the final score was PSV Eindhoven 1, Arsenal 7. PSV Eindhoven had 52% of the ball compared to Arsenal's, well, 48%.
The XG was 1.38 PSV to 1.85 Arsenal. So Arsenal way overperformed the XG and PSV sort of just underperformed.
So really, Arsenal didn't win the match that comprehensively. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, back on real earth. So we now leave boring but true, but get back to walk on. Sorry, I wasn't malfunctioning like James the other week when he started reeling off all sorts of data like he was in Star Wars. But anyway, yeah, I mean, I think...
I think Liverpool will win the league. Now, I just don't see a scenario where they don't unless they have this horrendous run of injuries or something to key players.
But there's no indication of, you know, certainly of players pulling up with muscle tears. The only chance of that might just be really, really bad luck, you know, impact sort of thing. I just think Liverpool are too far ahead. Psychologically, Arsenal obviously has a really resounding victory over PSV. I think they have a better chance in Europe actually this year. I think Arsenal, the team seems better set up for Europe actually with the way they play football this season. So,
Yeah. The only thing, as James alluded to, complacency. But you just, come on, you'd expect them to beat Southampton at home. Maybe I'm being too simplistic about it. They did have a difficult game. They better have. They better beat Southampton. They did have a difficult time down in Southampton in November. But that was when Southampton still had some hopes of staying up as well. You know, that they were still trying to prove themselves in the Premier League. It wasn't too far into the season where they were cut adrift.
Obviously, they haven't had a good run under the new manager who's new to the Premier League, Ivan Djuric, who's come off the back of a bad spell at Roma. He's a sort of manager who seems very skilled at a mid-table Serie A club, but maybe nothing above that and certainly maybe not the Premier League. But yeah, I just think Liverpool will win. I like a Saturday afternoon at three o'clock. That's my perfect game.
No, I agree. I agree. James, who are we going to see out there? What's the team news? It'll be interesting to see whether Cody Gagpo comes back into contention. Looking at him lifting Alisson off his feet after the final whistle last night, his ankle problem can't be too bad. He certainly handled that challenge okay. Yeah, like I said before, I think it'll just be interesting how he plays it.
in terms of having one eye on Tuesday night, despite the fact he will obviously be banging the drum about all eyes on Southampton. But I just think how quick the turnaround is, coupled with, and again, he's not going to say it, but how bad Southampton have been and how little hope they have remaining. I just think, why would you feel the need to push your main starters, all of them through it? I think...
I would reward someone like Wataru Endo with a first Premier League start of the season. Why not give Harvey Elliott his first Premier League start of the season?
you know, potentially turn to Darwin Nunes up top. Curtis Jones could offer you fresh legs in that midfield department as well. So, and then you could always have those big hitters if you wanted to on the bench as a bit of an insurance policy. If, if things don't go, don't go as you, as you would have hoped, but, and then I guess, you know, he might, he might freshen it up with Simakas as well, might he, yeah.
left back, you'd have thought with Bradley still being missing that Trent will have to push on and get another one under his belt. But yeah, it's just this...
But it's just such a different type of challenge, this one, isn't it? Because you're going into a game where, apart from the prance on Wednesday night, everyone was like, this is going to be a proper test of this Liverpool team. Nobody is expecting Liverpool to be remotely hassled whatsoever by Southampton. But sometimes those games can bring with it their own challenges because for those Southampton players, they can just play with complete freedom. But Liverpool should still have far too much for them.
Well, definitely, definitely. Well, thanks to James and Simon for joining me and you two for listening. We'll be back next week before PSG's trip to Anfield. Oh, I'm excited already. We'll catch you then.