Reds hold their nerve to keep Wolves at bay
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James, I hear on the rumour mill you've been really nervous, but we'll go into that in a minute. But so I'm going to come to you and get the three words, because it's an easy way of playing your way into the game, isn't it? You can settle down, stop shaking, get your three words out there. You know, simple pass. Try and get my belief back. I'm going to go with just calm down. I agree. I agree. Si? F*** the bed.

Oh, oh. Supposed to be family friendly. You know what? I was actually thinking of just calm down, but I thought somebody else is going to go, you're going to say it, so s*** the bed. How about wet the bed? Wet the bed. There you go. Can I correct myself? Wet the bed. Wet the bed. Let's see what you're saying. Brian Joseph, what champions do. Dave Walton, however they come. Damien Roach, we look tired. And Jamie Underwood, huge 10 days.

To join our community of listeners on Facebook, just search Walk On Podcast and join the group. Salah, did you ever doubt him? The Premier League's marksman hits the spot. Well, yeah, before we get to Liverpool Wolves, James, I hear on the rumour mill that there was another match where your nerves just showed and you embarrassed yourself.

Yeah, yeah, I've had a difficult, a difficult period. It was 24 hours after the Merseyside Derby. I usually play Fiverside football on a Tuesday evening, but I couldn't play on the Tuesday. And kind of, it was, it's like mates of mates who organise a Thursday evening game in South Liverpool. So, and I noticed on the WhatsApp group, they were one short on Thursday morning. So I said, yeah, yeah, stick me down, I'll play.

and I hadn't played in this game for four or five months. So anyway, I turned up at eight o'clock, maybe still a bit distracted by the drama at Goodison the night before, put my car keys and my bottle behind the goal, did a few stretches, had a look around, thought, well, there's been a bit of a turnover in personnel since I last played before Christmas. But, you know, as it happens, these things happen. We get going. I thought it was a bit weird it was six against five because I thought, why hasn't someone said in the WhatsApp group that

We had the wrong numbers. But anyway, played on. Decent enough game. Realised I was probably the oldest player on the pitch by about 20 years. But again, fine, like...

got to nine o'clock everyone shook hands went and got my car key and my bottle of water just as i was walking off the pitch one of their lads came up to me and said um out of interest who do you know here and i said well it's christian's game isn't it he organizes it he was he was like uh there's nobody called christian here i said oh he's obviously just not around this week but he organized it then he went never heard of anyone called christian he

He said, are you sure you're on the right pitch? And I was like, yeah, of course I was. Yeah, of course I was. Anyway, bit of a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I look up, look on the next pitch.

And there's Christian and his mates on the next pitch. I just spent an hour playing on the wrong fiver side. I managed to ruin two games in one night because I made the one that I did play in was six against five. And the one I should have played in was six against five. So, yeah, slightly embarrassing. Rang a fellow I know who's good friends with this Christian afterwards and said, I think I've done something really stupid here.

Can you check with him that I think what's happened actually happened? And then he rings me back and fits a laughter saying, yeah, they couldn't really understand why at nine o'clock they saw you walking off the pitch next to them. You should have been on their pitch for the last hour.

So, yeah, title races do funny things to you. You know, you come to walk on, right? And you think to yourself, we're going to talk about Liverpool, we're going to talk about the Premier League, we're going to talk about the Champions League. No, we're going to come to walk on and you're going to get five asides as well. And you're going to get embarrassing five asides. And do you know what the worst thing is as well? It was that then it turns out that one of the lads who plays in the game I should have played in used to play in the game that I actually played in. I'm getting confused now.

So he is still in their WhatsApp group. So then he's sending me screenshots from their WhatsApp group going, has anyone got any idea who that fellow was who just turned up and played? So there's two points here. They've got to be amongst the most polite lads in Liverpool to let you go on for the whole hour without saying anything. Exactly. Why haven't they said something? And secondly, are they going to invite you back? So many, I can't answer. I mean, I don't think I can show my face. Was the obligatory James Pearce hat trick?

I only bagged two. Oh, here's the biggest point. Internationally famous James Pearce with more than a million followers on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it, who's recognised in the streets and is responsible for many of Liverpool's problems.

goes on to a pitch in Liverpool with 10 other fellas and none of them go, hey, that's that James Pearce fella. And why is he on our pitch ruining our game? I know, it is baffling. So, well, let's talk about ruined games. Oh, not ruined games. Wolves, nearly. Oh, yeah. Ruined things. Well, actually...

I didn't think it was quite as bad as everyone said. Oh, Tony, I did. It was a horrible game, wasn't it? Come on. Yeah, but you know what? What did you think was good about it, Tony? Aside from the excruciating... The first half was excruciating as well, I thought. I'll tell you what I thought was good about it. They got two goals up and Wolves couldn't score two. That's what I think was good. That is good, yeah. I mean...

Haven't we had this out before? What do you want? To be entertained? Because if you do, you're dead to me. Yeah, no, that's true. I can accept that. And to some extent... I will send you off to another game. You can't play in my five-a-side game anymore. You cannot claim after that game that Liverpool does not evoke strong reactions and feelings.

Because it certainly made me very, very nervous indeed. I thought Liverpool were terrible at first half as well. And I was like, how on earth are they 2-0 up here? It's like they just strolled into this very comfortable position. I just think maybe they got a little bit too complacent. I mean, I actually think Wolves are a half-decent team. I say half-decent because I think half of the players are decent and the other half are not. I think...

you know the two Brazilian lads in midfield are good the Brazilian guy up front is very good and then 8 Norrie at left back is a good player as well and I think those four players would probably get into most if not all top half teams the problem is with the rest of the team but Liverpool that was the first time I've watched Liverpool in a long time particularly at home at Anfield maybe since the lockdown season when I was like oh god what's going to happen and

But he got through it, as you say, Tony. I mean, to some extent, that's all that matters. If he go and beat Villers, then nobody will talk about this result or performance, should I say, as being significant in any way. Yeah. And James, you know, we come off to the Everton game, emotions were running high and that was an exhausting effort. So you go into a Sunday, Sunday two o'clock kickoff where Anfield's going to be

There's only one or two teams that would make the atmosphere lively for two o'clock on Sunday. It's going to be a bit flat. I mean, what struck me is they got two up and sort of declared, which we've praised in the past, but it was one of those occasions where you probably wish they would have...

not switched off. Yeah, yeah. And I think what worried me a little bit was a feature of this season has been Liverpool getting better in games and almost like stepping it up in the second half. And that's what I expected to see. I expected Liverpool to go and push on, get that third goal and just kill it off and control it. But they, I mean, they lost all control of that game. I think it's as poor, I think, as that the midfield three have performed together previously.

all season. I mean, Wolves, I thought you've got to give them credit. I think Pereira impacted the game well with his substitutions. Kunja,

you know, as Simon said, I think he was probably the best player on the pitch. But it just got so nervy and it didn't help. You know, obviously, you think that Salah scored, it gets disallowed for the offside. You think you've got another penalty, it gets rightly chalked off after Simon Hooper was sent to the screen by VAR. And then obviously, once Kunya scores, it was panic, really, the last 15-20. And

And I was looking around thinking, it's middle of February. Like Liverpool are on the brink of going seven points clear. Everyone just needs to calm down a bit. And it was one of those days as well where the players didn't help the fans and the fans didn't help the players because it was like every mistake on the pitch, the groans and the sense of like nervousness in the stands just grew and grew. And then you could feel that then that then had an impact on the players. So yeah,

Yeah, it was a tough watch. I mean, I've rarely seen the free kick that Endo won deep into stoppage time where he just managed to get his kind of body between...

between the Wolves player and the ball and then felt the nudge and went down and got the free kick. It was celebrated like a goal, wasn't it? It was like just that sense of just utter relief that they'd managed to scrape over the line. Well, yeah, let's not calm ourselves down with some soothing statistics. Our producer Guy has provided me a suite of stats. Ha ha!

They've won 30 of 40 matches across all competitions, which is the most across Europe's five big leagues. And only in 1920 and 82-83, which is 37 and 39 respectively, have they reached 30 wins in fewer games. They've taken 60 points from 25 league matches under slot. And the only manager to win more points in his first 25 is Jose Mourinho.

and have now scored more than two goals in 17 successive matches at Anfield. The joint longest-runner scoring two-plus at home since joining the Football League in 1893,

You know, say, when you score two goals at home with such leg regularity, you've got a chance because the opposition have got to get two or even three. And the way they've been playing, that's unlikely. That was, I suppose, what made the second half all the more remarkable. I mean, the stats have been wheeled out. You know, Wolves has 10 shots to Liverpool's none. And Liverpool this season have sort of

They don't blow teams away, as we know, but they do create a lot of chances by just chipping away, chipping away, but they just totally lost control the second half. I just think

It was quite interesting to listen to Virgil van Dijk after the game because he did admit, you know, he said that we were nervous. You know, he wasn't afraid of admitting this, which I think is a good thing, actually. You know, it's not very often you hear the Liverpool captain coming out actually saying, you know what, yeah, we were a little bit nervous. And quite clearly, you know, that the impact of the draw in the Merseyside derby, it seems to have affected the players a little bit. But what they should take confidence from is the fact that they did see it out. So next time they're in that position, you know, they should remember the fact, well, we did see it out, you know, one way or the other. Yeah.

But Liverpool, by and large, I always expect them to score now. You know, they've got... By comparison to Arsenal, I suppose this is the thing. It's now really between Liverpool and Arsenal to win the league, isn't it? No, yeah, definitely. I think. You look at Liverpool's firepower compared to Arsenal's. I mean, obviously, we'll talk about Arsenal a bit later on. I think Mourinho was their saviour on Saturday. I don't think that's sort of manageable over a long period, whereas Liverpool have got...

a plethora of different options, albeit, strangely, I don't think if you put a room of five Liverpool supporters together, maybe you come up with different answers about who should be the number nine, depending on who the opponent is. So there is that issue. But yeah, I mean, Liverpool, despite not playing particularly well in the first half, even into the second half, could have found themselves 3-0 up quite easily and then the game would have been dead.

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Remember, here at WalkOn, we want to hear your thoughts on the pod. Your questions, queries and even voice notes. Send them all to walkonattheathletic.com. That's walkonattheathletic.com. Well, getting back to the win over Wolves, we saw Diaz back on the left, James, and he scored, you know, and won the penalty.

He's more suited to that position, isn't he? Yeah, I don't think it was any surprise, was it, that he just looked much more effective back out on the left. And we've talked about it before, haven't we, on the pod, about I can understand why...

slot has played him centrally at times and in certain games it has worked you know Leverkusen the Champions League would be the perfect example of that but there's also been other times where he has looked lost centrally he just looked so much more comfortable I think he the movement was good for the goal you know he ends up bundling it in and then you know again you

I thought he did brilliantly for the penalty because he does enough to kind of force that mistake from the defender just by being all over him but not conceding the foul. It's one of those strange ones, isn't it? Because obviously Wolves are furious with the penalty award because Diaz is never getting the ball once he touches it. But

you know, that's the reality is he was very clever Diaz because he knew the way that Zal was coming hurtling out. He just had to get a toe on the ball and it didn't matter where the ball went. He was get your toe on the ball and the keeper's going to clear him out. And that's exactly, exactly what he did. So,

Yeah, it sounded, listening to Slot after the game, it sounded like Gagpo would be struggling to be fit. I think he's got a slight ankle problem. It sounds like he said he thought it might come too soon for him Wednesday's trip to Villa Park. So maybe he'll stick with Diaz on the left. But I also think playing Diaz centrally at times is almost...

It almost kind of just illustrates the issue that Slott has got in that number nine role because nobody has nailed it down for various reasons, haven't they? I think Jota, because of his struggles with fitness, and he's still clearly trying to get back to where he was. And of course Nunes is... I mean, you could do a 27-hour podcast just on Nunes, couldn't you? Because just when you think...

He's making strides. He delivers a cameo like Sunday where he became a big part of the problem in that last 20, 25 minutes. I think where the other subs that Slott made, I think Kwanzaa deserves a huge amount of credit for what he put in. You know, the challenge on Manefsky, I think come the end of the season highlights reel,

you know, how important could that challenge be in terms of, you know, saving Liverpool from what would have been a really damaging draw. Endo, again, put in a shift when he came on. Same with Conor Bradley. But yeah, Nunes, Nunes is a problem. Yeah, well, just before I go to say on this, I want to ask you, because we talk so much about your eating habits. Have you ever scored with your belly? No.

Of course I have. Not deliberately, but it's just there. Because, you know, that's where most of your talent is focused. It's the biggest weapon. But, Si...

You know, what do Liverpool want? What do slots Liverpool want from a centre-forward? Well, I think it's very different to, you know, what Jürgen Klopp wanted out of his centre-forward. Obviously, Firmino was the creator rather than a goal scorer and the goal scoring options were from the wide areas. Whereas I do think slot wants more goals from his centre-forward side.

it's quite clear to me he wants the centre forward to occupy the two centre halves but without running around necessarily that much to the point where you know that he's going to be dead centre of goal when an opportunity comes that way when you watch the Feyenoord team that's the way it was a bit like Man City really you have this here the argument about Erling Haaland you know we could be involved more in the build-up he could be involved in this he can do all this but

Really, Pep Guardiola just wants him there to score goals and finish off moves, which is why I think Jota is the favourite player that he has if you can keep him fit because he's the best centre-forward finisher at the club. I mean, I'm sure Mohamed Salah might argue otherwise, given his goal record. So, yeah, when he say occupy the two centre-halves or the three centre-halves,

it's getting in between them and testing them physically when a ball goes into the box, which is something that Chot is really, really good at. You know, he's very good in the air. Could have scored, you know, I think he had a chance in the first half. He's the best of them in my view. And it's why Nunes probably doesn't really fit into the slot where you're playing as well. You know, because he obviously, he's at his best when he's unleashed.

Do you think, James, that the recruitment departments will be sitting there at the moment thinking, OK, in the summer...

We know what slot wants. Well, at least I know what slot wants from a centre forward. Let's go out and get him. Yeah, I would be really surprised if Liverpool went into next season with the same options in terms of a number nine as they've got currently. I think, yeah, there are big questions about Nunes' future beyond this season. I think I wrote about it at the end of the January window that Liverpool had been contacted by intermediaries from the Saudi Pro League about Nunes

new nerves in January to sound them out essentially whether there was a deal to be done and it was Liverpool were adamant that there wasn't because you know regardless of whatever fee was on the table it wasn't the right time that they that they were committed to keeping this group together to try and get every last drop they can out of the season and I think also which again is probably part of the issue for the summer but you know it's how you know where do you go to replace him

you really have to look at Arsenal and how desperate they were to bring in a number nine in January and they didn't do it did they so I can completely understand why Liverpool didn't look to

to shake things up in January. But yeah, I think there will be changes in that attacking department in the summer. Diaz is another interesting one, isn't he? In terms of, you know, approaching the last couple of years of his contract. And there was a lot of noise last summer, wasn't there, about potential interest from Barcelona. You know, to me, that's kind of smacked of someone who was almost looking to,

I think it clearly was being used at that interest a little bit to try and get an improved contract because he is still on the same contract as when he first arrived from Porto. So there's probably a big decision to be made there in terms of do you renew and commit to Diaz for the foreseeable future? Or is this some other time to cash in and invest money in a kind of a younger option in that front line? When you think really,

how well they've done and, you know, scoring two goals a game. And yet we're still talking about how the front line hasn't quite gelled in that sense. I think it's a real testament to what Slott's achieved in the first, coming up for two thirds of the season, Si.

Yeah, well, Slott continues to say this, as he has done all season. You know, it's been quite easy for him because he's just basically, you know, the difference between the football he wants to play and Klopp wants to play isn't altogether that different. But I think it is vastly different. I know the last couple of years Klopp was more possession-based football than

But the expectations on them in fields is vastly different, I think, now. Oh, yeah, of course. Vastly different, vastly different. I mean, even under Klopp, when he clearly wanted more possession football, I mean, you don't sign Thiago if you don't want to keep the ball a little bit more and test the opposition in a different way. But now, you know, you're seeing it at their best. You know, the Liverpool midfielders, particularly McAllister, Gravenberk,

dribbling with the ball a lot more and drawing... The direct. Yeah, they're more direct. They're using the ball rather than filling in space for others. Obviously, we know about the full-backs. You know, the expectation of the full-backs are totally and utterly different. Andy Robertson isn't being asked to get further up the pitch. Trent certainly isn't being asked to get up wide. He's certainly not being asked to go centrally or drift centrally as he did yesterday.

quite a lot in the last 18 months of clock so the football is very different i think you know in a lot of ways the structure of the team the expectation on the players so you would think you know providing there isn't a revolution over the summer which there could be you know i was going to say to you sorry a lot depends on what happens with salad i mean you've written a book about salad it's called chasing the salad it's very good thanks thanks thanks again but um

This is the thing, isn't it? It's like, you never want to be changing too much all at once, do you? Any football club, really. The most successful ones tend to do it bit by bit. Now, if you're talking about changing potentially three out of contract players, it would all go in. And then there's other areas of the pitch that probably need attention as well, as we've already said.

the centre forward question marks left back question marks the goalkeeper we've discussed that before so that's as many as six players you know that there's there are doubts potentially over certainly

Again, we're sort of speculating about the latter three points. But that's a big turnover of half a team. Now, I wasn't nervous during the Wolves game, Si, but this is making me nervous. This is making me very, very twitchy. I'm off to play in the wrong game tonight. Only an idiot would do that, Tony. Come on. Yeah. But it is, you know, it's...

I know you've mentioned it before, Tony. It's like, they're quite fortunate that the league position is so good. You know, if they were trying to get into the Champions League, if they were a little bit further behind...

you know, in the chasing pack, this will be getting more attention, I think, at the moment, you know. Yeah, without a doubt. So it's a testament to slot to put Liverpool in that position while changing the team, I wouldn't say radically, but quite significantly. You know, Trent's job in the team now really is not to go forward too much and to use his passing range by knocking it down the line as much as possible. You know,

in Salah's direction and getting people around. He's a right back. He's a right back, basically, yeah. So it has been a big change, but there could be even bigger changes to come. But I'm very wary of too much change all at once because that suddenly turns into a discussion about, oh, well, you know, it's a season of transition for Liverpool. And even if you win the league, nobody really wants that. Some people might say, well, if they win the league, I don't really care about next season because they've won the league. Well, I do, personally. Well, I do as well, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Tottenham winning the league, Arsenal left it really late in their win at Leicester. And I bet you they were at least as nervous as we were for a long while, it looks, if they were going to draw. But they don't play till Saturday against West Ham.

and going 10 points ahead, if we go 10 points ahead, and I think we can discard anyone else in the title race, James, but 10 points ahead, what does that do to them psychologically? And what does that do to us psychologically? Yeah, I think it would be huge, especially ahead of that game at the Etihad on Sunday, you know, if Liverpool can secure that 10-point cushion at Villa Park. Yeah, I watched Arsenal against Leicester on Saturday, and they were...

they were very unimpressive. Obviously there'll be a big focus. There has been a big focus on Liverpool's performance level against Wolves. And I think you'd have to say that performance level also wasn't great against Everton. So I think, you know, that creates a degree of concern going into, you know, a huge week with these two away matches, but also, and I think this was part of the thing I wrote about today was in terms of dealing with the nerves and anxiety that

you have got to factor in who is chasing you. And it's not this, I think we're all just still so programmed into thinking you have to be perfect. You have to, you know, every drop point is a disaster. And it's like, it's just not the case. I watched, you know, Arsenal didn't look like winning that game for 80 minutes on, you know, on Saturday. Mourinho ends up kind of the hero, you know, I heard him speak afterwards saying he'd never even played centre-forward games

in kids football let alone at that level but um you know in the end they ground it out but yeah I just I look at that Arsenal team and I don't I don't see them being capable of putting together 10 or 11 wins which what they're going to need in a row to really really crank up the pressure so um yeah Liverpool have just got to take care of their own business I think

They're going to have to play better. I think we all know that. But yeah, it's such a potentially defining period of the season, isn't it? Because I think if you can come out of this week with four points out of six, that is a massive step towards winning this title. Yeah, well, let's talk about that with Greg Evans. Villa was Greg's former patch and...

As always, it's a pleasure to have Greg on. Hiya, Greg. Have you ever blundered into the wrong game of Five Aside? What a welcome, that is, with no context or background.

I mean, blow me. I might have when I was a kid, but I can't remember doing that for a very long time. James went and played a game last week with strangers when his actual game with people he knew was on the adjacent pitch. Oh, right. Okay. Okay. I slightly understand. I understand a little bit better now.

It sounds very much like an intro to Would I Lie to You, wouldn't it? But that's a level of discourse. But we want serious stuff from you, Greg.

Villa, well, I mean, you could argue it's been a bit of a disappointment. Loads of emotion in the Champions League run and, you know, it's had an impact on the Premier League form. Injuries, particularly at the back. How would you see them setting up against Liverpool? And of course, you know, Unai Emery has only really had one success against Liverpool, hasn't he? Severe. He's struggled since he...

came to the Premier League? Yeah, I think Villa have given Liverpool maybe a better run for their money than in previous years with Unai Emery in charge. There was obviously the 3-3 draw last season, wasn't it, when John Durant got a couple of late goals and there was obviously the season where Firmino scored in the last minute as well and Villa were

Villa were pretty impressive in that game. So they've had a little bit of success, albeit not quite managed to get a win yet against Liverpool, but under Emery. So it'll be an interesting game because, you know, Villa are 12 games unbeaten at home. They've also beaten Bayern Munich this season, but they've dropped a lot of points and drawn a lot of games. I think they've drawn six out of those 12. So injuries are starting to add up. So it's going to be difficult for them. Yeah, I mean, Emery tends to play a high line.

well, against everyone, but, you know, where you think perhaps Liverpool, you might drop off, he tends not to.

Is that something that could be profitable on Wednesday? Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, obviously Liverpool's incredible attacking line with Salah in such good form, with so much pace, you know, in the Liverpool forward line, depending on whether Nunes or Diaz plays, you know, those are the players that are going to go and hurt Villa. And we've seen Villa try to really attack and they almost ended up playing with four forwards.

in the last game against Dipswich when they finished up with a sort of 4-2-4 formation trying to get that goal that got them over the line to win and weren't able to do that. And that's kind of been the story of the season. They've played against some of the lower ranked teams and haven't been able to get over the line. Actually against some of the better teams. Okay, they lost to Arsenal very early on, but Bayern Munich was one example. And some of the other teams that are slightly higher up, Manchester City as well, they've beaten. So,

maybe favours them to set up a little bit more pragmatic and try and hit them on the break because the normal playing style isn't quite working for them. Are you nervous about this one, Si? Am I nervous? No, I'm not nervous. It's been a theme of this podcast. I'm not nervous. You look nervous. Do I? I didn't think you looked nervous because, listeners, you can't see him, but he was lying flat out back off camera.

And he sat up in shock when I asked him a question. He's like, I'm on a podcast. I was stressed. I was listening to Greg. Yeah, right. What was your favourite point of the ones he made? The one about Aston Villa was really good. I'm not nervous about...

As such, I think I can always tell how Liverpool are generally going to perform by the first five minutes. If there's a couple of wayward passes and it's a bit loose, I'll be worried then. I just think they've got to be a lot sharper in possession. They were too loose against Wolves. I'm afraid I thought it started with Trent, if I'm being honest. A bit too loose defensively.

trying to be too adventurous, not incisive enough. Just keep the ball simple and get the ball moving as quickly as possible. I know that sounds a little bit Sunday league, but I just think sometimes you've got to start off as you mean to go. And

But against Wolves, they were trying to be a little bit too clever, I thought, too early. And then they lost confidence when it didn't come off, you know, quite a lot of the players. So I think Villa's draw against Ipswich, 10-man Ipswich, should give Liverpool, you know, the confidence that if they go and put the foot to the throat, they can get a result there. And I really do think it's a big match because if you look at what Arsenal have got to come, you know, after the West Ham game at the weekends, I think they've got...

Forest away which isn't going to be an easy game for them I know they've tailored off a little bit recently but at the city ground they're going to be bang off for you I think then they've got Man United away which is a guaranteed three points and then they've got Chelsea at home you never quite know what Chelsea do yet they'll be keen to beat Arsenal definitely so they've got a relatively tough run coming up so I think if Liverpool can get three points at Villa Park you know it eases the pressure a little bit against the City game ahead of the City game and

Villa Park is the site of Liverpool's famous victory in 2019, which I think tilted the title towards Liverpool. And I do think of a Liverpool win on Wednesday. I just can't see Arsenal having the squad to wrestle it back. Yeah, I agree. I agree. James, I mean, briefly, because we know you've got to run off and disrupt someone's game. Who do you think we'll see there? Yeah.

In the team? Yeah. Do you know what? It's going to be interesting to see what he does, isn't it? Team-wise, because I know he was adamant slot after the game that fatigue didn't play a part in that second half performance against Wolves. He said that for him, it was more mental performance

And it was the kind of mental scars of conceding so late at Goodison. And he just felt that that had knocked his players. And then he talked about how, you know, the disallowed Salah goal and then the penalty being overturned, despite both of them being correct decisions, he said, just kind of like, again, dented them. And then with Kunya's goal, they'd kind of lost their way so alarmingly. So, yeah.

Yeah, I think he probably will freshen up. I'd like to see Curtis Jones come back into the side. I thought he was great off the bench at Goodison. I know it probably got a bit lost amidst his role post-match in all the mayhem. But of course, he's served his one-match ban now. And I just think he'll be fresh. I just don't think he's let Liverpool down at all when he has played this season. I think he'll help them out.

gain a bit more control in that area so I think maybe maybe Jones for Zbozlai and then it wouldn't surprise me if he freshens it up at fullback as well with you know whether he decides to bring both back in Simakas and Bradley or just one of them I think you know some some some freshness and energy there would probably help Liverpool as well yeah I mean I

Greg, we'll probably see Rashford's, won't we? And we know that Trent has had his ups and downs against Rashford's in the past. So do you think Bradley would be a better matchup? I mean, I really enjoy Bradley at the moment. I think...

It's hard to say whether he's a better defender than Trent yet because the sample size is so small, but he gets stuck in, doesn't he? And, you know, you love that. I think you look back to the Real Madrid performance. He was excellent on that night. I think he really backs himself up against any forward he comes up against now. So Rashford in his two sort of short appearances off the bench for Villa has looked quite lively.

I think that Villa's attacking department is pretty strong. The fact that they brought Rashford and Asensio in, albeit on loan, has really strengthened an already very strong attacking line-up with Watkins, Ramsey, Morgan Rodgers and some other players attacking there as well. So I think Villa's issue more so is in defence. I think that's where they need to be really concerned because

Still got injuries to Esri Konza, Paul Torres, who are the two defenders who have played the most games together in this Villa team over the last couple of seasons. So they're going to go up with Mings, who hasn't played many games over the last two years, and Di Sarsi, who came in on loan from Chelsea and has only played one game. So it's a real makeshift bat line that haven't played much games together. I think that'll be the area that Liverpool are really trying to try and attack. Yeah, 100%. And...

Last question. Have you got anywhere that you want to say, James, because obviously it's culinary adventures, one of the main topics of this podcast.

You know, is there any way in mind for him? You've got to have a curry or a balty in Birmingham, haven't you? That's probably your best option. There's not too much around the ground, though, to be honest. Balty pie sounds good to me. So that's it from Walk On, your Liverpool podcast brought to you by The Athletic. Thanks to James, Simon and Greg for joining me and you two for listening. And before we go, I just want to tell you about Connections Sports Edition, a new game for sports fans from The Athletic.

It's basically a daily dose of trivia. It's so satisfying to solve. And let me tell you, it's very addictive. Play now at theathletic.com forward slash connections. We'll be back on Thursday before the trip to Manchester City. We'll catch you then. The Athletic FC Podcast Network.