A Cold Dose of Reality

Many thought Liverpool's trips to Man City and PSG over the past week could serve as a way to salvage a disappointing season. Instead, Liverpool looked completely overmatched in both games, losing by a combined score of 6-0. 

What went wrong, and how does it get better? Is this all on Arne Slot, or do players like Salah, van Dijk and Wirtz need to shoulder some blame as well?

Check it out and let us know your thoughts!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to America's Anfield, the Liverpool FC podcast brought to you by American Brothers Matt and Johnny. From the heart of the U.S. to the COP, we're talking all things reds every week. Hey everyone, back with another episode of America's Infield. I'm Johnny here with my brother Matt after Liverpool's devastating defeat away at Parc de Prince to PSG 2-0. I feel like, and and I will say, we came back as promised, guys. We we're really niling it here. You know, we did a pod last week. We said, hey, after this match, come hell or high water. We're gonna be here. And look at us. We're not hanging our head into feet. We're we're just you know meandering through it as best we can. Uh you never walk alone. You know what, you know what I mean? Am I right?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

And we knew this could be a rough pod, given we were going at city at PSG.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Indeed, indeed. And it you know, could have been worse. Uh, we'll talk about it obviously, could have been better by far. Um but we want to, yeah, we're gonna give a little overview of that, and and I'm sure it will delve us or we'll delve into other areas of just our Alec for the squad and the rest of the season in Premier League as well, because it's not looking good for the Champions League. But Matt, just kind of initial thoughts on the match overall.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Can I give you both? Just because yeah. Okay. So a couple stats for you. So we lose in aggregate 6-0, 4-0 away at City, 2-0 away today. In our last 10 games, we are four wins, five losses, and a draw, and that draw came to Spurs, who might go down. Um that's really, really bad. And these two games I think were somewhat prove it games for me anyway. I don't know about you, just the fan base writ large, because you want to see, okay, can we up our game? Can we compete against the best? Right? City probably won't win the Premier League, but they might. Um, PSG, I would imagine, a very strong contender to win the Champions League again, one of the best teams in the world. Can you at least show stuff to me, to the fans, that say, hey, even if we lose, no worries. You know, optimistic. Okay. And in both games, I don't feel like we did. You know, I mean, like you can so start with City. You can do the whole, well, we were really good for the first 35 minutes. I don't care, man. Like the the game is 90 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

And yes, we were pretty good for the first 35. I agree. Then we give up a penalty, and then we just folded like a cheap suit. I mean, like it was just, you know, we give up a stupid goal where we don't defend before halftime. And then whatever we said at the half, guys, let's get back into it. All we need is one didn't land at all. We give up two goals fairly quickly, and the game's over. And at a level that we are supposed to be at as a club, to me, it's always embarrassing when the other team gets to kind of say, All right, like we can just relax a little bit, you know, we're up for nothing. That's that's humiliating. Okay. Especially when it's Pep Lenders, it's like calling off the dogs.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

So Well, he can go get a coaching job. Oh, wait, he won't.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

So it's a head coaching job, no.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

That's what I mean. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Yeah. So, you know, we can get into that one in a minute, okay. But anyway, and then today's game, statistically at least, not the final score, obviously, but was a carbon copy of last season's uh uh away leg at PSG. Okay, so possession last season was 7030. Today 7426, 26% possession, by the way. Now at the end I'll be all, but still. Last season XG, PSG 1.8, we have 0.3 today 2.2, 0.2.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

They are worse, getting worse.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Yeah, 27 shots, 10 on target last season, today 18 and 6. Four big chances today. And that's one thing. This could have been way worse. I mean, Dembele misses like one that he should finish in the first half. They're clearly trying to score a tap-in for the third goal late. I don't know what they're doing.

unknown 4:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

You know the chance I'm talking about? I can't remember they score the ball off to the middle and the guy takes a heavy touch.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Anyway, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Three big chances last season, so four versus three. We have zero shots on target today. We have one last year, which is the Harvey Elliott smash and grab goal. Okay. So the only difference a year later is that our goalie doesn't stand on his head and just make great save after great save, right? And PSG um finish their chances, and we have spent$500 million between then and now. Right. And you know, again, I didn't expect to win the game. I don't know about you. I didn't to me what was really disappointing, and I'll shut up, is the mentality and the approach in both games. So the mentality in game one, we just fold no fight. And then today, the approach. Like we should be going in these away games to try to get a result and go toe-to-toe. That we didn't do that today. We went to Bayern Munich in 2019 and won when we needed to. Even the Barcelona game when we lost 3-0. If you go back and look at those stats, it's a 3-2 XG game. We had plenty of chances. We hit the post, if memory serves, right? Right. But we weren't sitting back and just hoping to get to Anfield. So we've lost that, and that to me is the most disappointing thing. And I can't really find anything with these games, and then kind of given that last 10 games overall form that give me any sort of optimism. You know what I mean? Like, so it's it's like a cold dose of of reality for who we are as a club right now.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Yeah, I I mean I totally agree. I I don't know that I have too much to add other than the fact that I think the mentality in game one, like you talked about with City, the embarrassing thing is that we just have no resilience to actually be able to come back from you know giving up a goal or having a having a weak pen or whatever you want to call it, uh, then to even like further the matter by allowing, I mean, just like all these like little moments that build up to give up a goal in the last minute of stoppage time, and that like it was detrimental to the outcome of that match. We're already down one-nothing. You get in in theory, halftime, one-nothing, you can retool and figure it out, but instead uh we give up just a you know terrible uh marking job goal to to Holland. Great header to his credit. Uh and yeah, then we just fold. And to your point, no resiliency coming out of the half as well. So it wasn't like, hey guys, let's and that you know, not to get up in the weeds, that's just something I haven't seen as well tactically from from uh slot this season. Seems like again, I know we're harping on this, but every uh every halftime he he'd make an adjustment and and you know, we could go from there and and turn the corner not so just go around. Yeah, well, and and like you know, to that point, um as a fan, okay, we give up the penalty.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Van Dijk, and and it was a soft-ish penalty. I mean, that I think is it O'Reilly? He's looking for it, right? Right, right. But then you kind of think, great, we're gonna we're gonna fall apart now. Because that's that's what we've done. Right. We had played well. We had, we were probably better. We we were probably better away. Then a pen happens and it's like these guys can't handle that, you know, the bad luck or the bad turn of events when it happens. And so, you know, now like all is lost. That's how I felt.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, that's right. Well, and again, going into going in into this game, like what you'd hope for more fight, you'd hope for like for them to just press like crazy, come out with high energy. Like you said, you're away. What do you have to lose? Like, we we are not expected to win. If anything, you get a draw, maybe you give up a goal, but you get a goal, something of those sort. But I think the thing in this match, like you said, was we came out flat. First, it was folding in against City. We came out flat. It seemed like there was no energy. We were under siege, uh, possession-wise, almost the whole game. They could take two passes and get through our entire midfield. Uh, we had a lot of bad tackles. Uh, it's almost like some of the scouting report, they were like, hey, Kanata, you should just uh body slam people. I don't know what was going on there. That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. It was like he was getting he's like, I think we can use our hands, right? We can just we just, you know. Um, so yeah, and it it didn't seem to adjust or change. Very unlucky first goal. That was sort of a bummer, but it at no point did you see, with the exception of maybe a couple folks, like this urgency. There's just no, like we're in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. You figured they would be like, hey, like let's get after it and see what could happen. We've you know, obviously not playing well in the league, but we've been playing fairly well, ironically, in Champions League. Maybe we can get a result here. This isn't the same PSG team, you know, this season as last season, at least in their own run of play. Maybe we can get lucky, get hot, something, but I just didn't see any urgency save for maybe a couple. Like I saw Dom at least have some energy out there running around, but I mean Ekatique looked weird, Sala sat on the bench, uh Verts looked weird, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah, and and so you know, the other thing that I thought is like take City, for example. This is not a phenomenal city squad, it's just not. They've had some bizarre results recently where they've really kind of opened a door for Arsenal to make it a lot easier to win the league, right? Um, they drew, I believe, at home against Forest, for example, you know? So but again, Forest, you know, among many other things, this is not a phenomenal city team. Okay. And yet we go in and we get spanked 4-0. And then for PSG, like, I'm not trying to hold us to look, they're really talented. It's an extremely tough ask to say, go there and get a result. I get it, I get it. But I'm just saying, shouldn't we demand more than a spread of, for example, today, um, 39 touches in the opposition box for PSG, nine for us last season, 52 and 13, right? I'm not saying that we should go and win away at every you know, major big club in Europe, but I do think we should be more competitive. And we just weren't competitive today. We just weren't that could have been 4-0. The tie could be over. We're lucky it's not.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Yeah, and I think that was the vibe of the game, the match as a whole, is is looking at it, you're like, do we even belong here? Like it was kind of embarrassing in the sense of like, how did we get here? How are these two teams playing in the quarterfinals quarterfinals of the Champions League? We just got completely outclassed. And I think that again, in different ways in the last two matches we've played, that has been the story. And, you know, it it doesn't give you a lot of hope for obviously the rest of this season, but then kind of going forward, it's like, you know, I obviously don't want to open up a massive can of worms, but I'm like, you know, we've talked about this last podcast. Like, does Slad have what it takes? So are we gonna make a change there? If we don't get in Europe, I I could see a lot of players, I mean, Sal is moving on. I could see a lot of other players move on. I could see players that we really like and want to retain say, I don't want to be here. People that we just acquired say, I don't want to be here. Uh, I'm wondering if like the likes of like Isok and Virts are like, do we make a huge mistake?

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Well, I mean, like, so this is our 16th loss in all comps this season. I'm not even counting the shield, okay, where we lost in pens. So, you know, where where I go with that is first to your point, you know, when I knew it was over with Brendan Rogers, excuse me, is when we went and played in the Champions League away at Real Madrid, and this is when Suarez was gone, right? And we lost 3-0 and it wasn't even close. Like they were toying with us, we you know, and we didn't have a good roster because we had done stuff like bring in Balotelli, right? And and things like that, but still, it was embarrassing. And I was like, okay, it's that's it. Like the expectations should be that we are competitive in these games. You don't have to win them, you need to be competitive. I'm not going there yet with slot because this isn't that. Like that was really bad, but this was bad. And and so, you know, if you want to go to that conversation, I tried to teed up this way. So, okay. I thought maybe we could argue, well, we're gonna raise our level against the better team. So we just played two better teams. We did not, we did not clear, fair?

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah, totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

We've struggled against the horrible teams, we've lost to wolves, right? We've tied leads, we've drawn it home to Spurs, like we've struggled against bad teams.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Burnley, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yeah, right. So tell me what I'm supposed to believe about how this gets better. So, how does our mentality, which has sucked this season, get better? If we run it back, is it just a bunch of new players? Is it a different manager? Tactically, tactically, we don't talk tactics a ton, but tell me, what are we hanging our hat on? Where we're like, you know, because at the end of the really bad clap year when the midfield died, I think 22-23, we were like, well, this inverted thing with Trent, I mean, it did kind of work. We went on a run late, you know, like maybe, maybe that's the thing. We don't know. What are we holding on to in either sense? Like, I'm willing to have the conversation, but tell me what exactly is going to be better and how it's going to change. And I don't think anybody knows. You know what I'm saying? Like, nobody can tell me. All we're saying is it's like, look, this isn't all slots fault. Fine. How does it get better next season?

SPEAKER_00 15:09

I I think that's the question, too, is like you can look at it from one of the two ways, is like, yeah, but but the question is like, what's the cause? Sure, we can like play that game all day long, and no one really knows the answer to your point. And it's probably a a mixed bag of of you know a bunch of different things. But at some point, someone has to decide this is how it's going to get better. And it's going to be, you know, probably again, probably a couple things, but is it, I don't think it's just tactics. Is it more players? I don't think we're gonna have money for that. Um, obviously, I think I actually I think there's gonna be quite a quite a bit of uh ins and outs from players this summer, especially if we don't make top five. Um, but I I I just there's an aspect to me, uh kind of going back to maybe I'm just like finally over it, uh, where in both of these matches I felt like there was an air of this is I don't know, it's very simplistic, but like we don't know what we're doing. Like it kind of looked like we had no approach today against PSG. It's almost as if like the slot just didn't show up. It's kind of just like, hey guys, just go do whatever. Like, I don't care anymore. Uh just get out there and like, and we kind of had our formation that we had, we had some people different, you know, Verts was on the right and Salah was on the bench, and but it just looks kind of like shapeless and formless to a certain extent. So I think that's my vote a little bit on like what changes things. Sometimes it's just a new voice, and I know people are like, oh, it's not his fault. Um, but I don't I don't know what it makes it better. I don't think investing in a ton of new players does. I think we have some gaps for sure, but I think we need culture shift and leadership shift and optimism and those sorts of things. I think I think we're just dead inside.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah, well, I mean, I mean we beat up on slot a lot, okay, and and that's fine. Let's actually talk a couple of players, okay? And one of these is slot related and one's not. First of all, so he benches Salah today. We are down to nothing, we need a goal late, and he puts in Rio and Cody Gakpo, and you know, Sala doesn't come in. And to me, I I'm really interested in that because I'm not here to say, guys, Moe's been phenomenal. Like, what's he doing? It's not been a great season. To me, I'm just like, man, he won he's gonna die on this hill. Like, this is the hill he's choosing to die on. And and I just find that fascinating. You know, like I'm not saying he's making an example out of Mo, but I also think, man, like, really? You know, what how bad does it have to be, or how pissed is he really about that interview for that to happen today? Now, we find out tomorrow that Mo tweaks something, okay, fine, take it back. But like in a vacuum, if he's healthy and it's just we're not gonna play him. I find it super interesting that he's like, Yeah, this is the hill I'm gonna die on. I'm not going to play him today.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Well, especially because, yeah, we bring in we bring in Isok, who you know hasn't played in 97 years, uh, but it's two nothing. Like by some stroke of luck, it's still two-nothing. It should be three, four, five something.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Um you have zero shows, you have zero shots on target.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Right, none. And so, but if we nick a goal, smash and grab of a two-one, like it's a it's a one aggregate game. Anything happens going back home. And so, yeah, like you look at everybody on the bench, you're like, I'm gonna pick Curtis Jones, who apparently I hated and now I don't hate, maybe who knows? I'm gonna pick uh Neon.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

He still hates him, he still hates him because he still doesn't start very much.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

It's true. Uh I'm gonna pick Neone, who I've said is too weak to play in the Premier League. Uh, he's too small, not strong enough. I'm gonna pick Isak, who literally hasn't played in a competitive match in months. And then I'm gonna play Gakpo, who I also have uh taken his confidence and just shattered it on the ground. Uh and yeah, then you're gonna stare at the you know best scorer we've had in a decade and just be like, nah, I think I'm good. That is it is interesting. Like again, to your point, he hasn't been great. He wasn't great against City.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

No, you know, he he wasn't he misses another pen. He wasn't great. I get it, I get it. But it's like, you know, I guess my my my counterpoint is it's the mentality. It's like, you know what? To me, he's like, he's I'm trying to get out of here at 2-0. I think that's what that kind of says. You know, like I don't want to sacrifice anything potentially going back. We've got to get out of here at 2-0. And you're right. I would rather him say, you know what? Like, if they score and it's 3-0, they kind of deserve it anyway. We are gonna try to get one because you're right, 2-1, like we're we're we're alive. We're alive.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

And it also like, yeah, to your point as well, it wasn't like it was 50-50 play. Like there, we were so lucky it was only 2-0. So lucky. So it wasn't like we were holding our own, two unlucky things happening, like we're gonna, we're gonna keep it here. You you could have subbed the whole team and they could have gotten three or four or five more goals. It it it wasn't like we it was uh you know a lock that if we just kind of hold Pat, we're gonna keep it at 2-0.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Well, yeah, exactly. Playing defensively or whatever, you know, lineup we it didn't do anything. PSG had four big chances. They they missed several that they should have scored. So um, okay. We haven't talked about this a ton, but let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

I think Florian Verts, let's have the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

I'll have one more after this. Keep going. Oh, okay, good, good, good. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

So again, I don't know about you, like maybe quick podcast thing. I'm not here to like rip the players or you know, the or the manager too much. I don't want to get too personal. Like, I get it, these are people, but we spent 125 mil, maybe more on you know, USD on on verts over the summer. And that conversation's been had a little bit on social media, and it goes like something like this. Well, guys, look, like, you know, the stats go well beyond goal contributions. You know, you should see kind of how it's movement off the ball, really intelligent. You know, some guys aren't finishing. If they would finish, he'd have more assists, blah, blah, blah. And I don't disagree necessarily.

unknown 21:36

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

I just want to be really simple. Maybe I'm just a dummy, but like, hey, I want him, I want more return on my investment than we're getting. He should be one of the best players on the field in a game like this, and it should be noticeable. And too often I just don't feel like he is. I don't see it. I don't see it. And so I'm just wondering again, not calling him a bust, like, you know. It's tough moving from one league to another and you're moving to a different country. Okay, I get all that. I'm just saying, are we right to start saying this has been this has been disappointing relative to the money we paid for this season?

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yeah, no, I I think so. Uh yeah, you'd expect him to and and I think it's hard because, and this is probably an unfair comparison, but you watch them play for Germany and you're like, where's that? Right? Because they played uh internationally not too long ago. I saw some of the clips I didn't watch the matches because I don't particularly care for international football. But um yeah, you see that, and again, it's more of a gaggle of all-stars. I get that, and they've played with each other and know each other. Um, but yeah, you see some of that and you're like, where's that? Why can't we do that? Why is that not working? I think the other thing that I kind of noticed in conjunction with that, with him, and he's sort of the technical player, isn't like the strongest guy on the pitch, but sometimes there's this like, I don't know, like um kind of prancing nonchalantness that he has often. Uh and there's just a part of me where I'm like, man, if if you if I'm him, just thinking out loud, and I'm not, but if I'm him, what I lack in physicality, I'm going to have to make up for in like urgency and effort. And I just don't see that a lot. And there was a lot of like 50-50 duels and opportunities for him to go past guys, and it was clear he wasn't going to beat them physically or shoulder charge them off the ball, but he was like, it seemed like he was moving at like 70%, and that was sort of just a tenor of the whole game, too, because I felt like this is an irritating thing about PSG. Maybe they're really fit, I don't know, but it just looked like if you looked at Dembele or Dewey or Kavarchely, they're just like they're just at 115% all the time.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

They're all Captain America, they're they're like, I could do this all day.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Yeah, you know, it's Tom Cruise in every movie. They're just like, you know, um, and and so that was frustrating to see as it relates to Verts for sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

And like again, you know, I I to your point, I think a part of the whole you it looks like he's moving 75% is just kind of who he is, you know. But but and that's fine. That's fine. I just think my point is Esok's had a lost season because of injury for the most part, but we spent a ton on him. We spent a ton on Verts. You can't like you can't be, if you're gonna be a$125,$130 million player, you have to be a major difference maker all the time. All the time. Okay. You gotta be what Mo Salah was last season. And it's a high bar, but that's the way it goes. I mean, you know, otherwise you'd cost$60 million and the bar wouldn't be as high, but it but it is. And so, like, I I just I don't have a whole lot more to add, but we are gonna need him to play much, much better and have much more influence on these games next season. I mean, we really are like that's gonna be a key. If we want to talk about what's gonna get better, we need our best players, and he is supposed to be one to actually live up to the billing.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Well, and and not to bring up old names, but I think this is the same reason why after a couple seasons we run Nunez out of town, right? Because there's like, well, we brought him in for this much money and just not seeing you know the stats. And I will say, like, I would kill for some of that now. Uh, because I think I think Nunez's fault was not creation of big chances, but completion and you know, like actually scoring some of those. We're not even getting them now.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Well, and just not for nothing, the conversation around those two, very different, interestingly enough. Very different.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Yeah, one like give him time, give him to adjustment. The other one's like, get him out of here, get him out of here. Yeah, it's terrible.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Okay, who did you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_00 25:48

I want to talk about Van Dyke. Let's go. Okay. And I think it's a nice little dovetail here because I'm I'm starting to wonder. Not starting to, I've been wondering for a time now, if the same thing that is happening with Mo, and I don't I don't know where what it is, I don't know how it comes comes across. It just seems as though both physically and mentally, he is just checked out. Uh yeah. I, you know, today, and it wasn't fully him, uh, but the the first goal goes off of Grav's leg, but you also have you know Verge's classic, let me turn my butt to the shot uh move. At first I thought it deflected off of him, and I was like, again. Um but there's a couple couple uh switches they had on counterattacks or breakaways where he kind of left one guy and went to another guy, didn't cover him at all. Uh looks like he's he's severely lacking in speed. Um and again, we've had this conversation. As much as you want to lay a lot of this at the foot of slot with saying, hey, where's our urgency? Where's you know, where's our uh desire to win, our pressing, our mentality, he's the captain. Like, where is it? You know, so if slot's gonna rail at guys at halftime, you'd figure uh in the huddle before the match, in the huddle before the second half, he's the loudest voice on the pitch. Um he's you know, he has a a shaky challenge that is the first goal uh in the pen against City. Uh yeah, I just I'm I'm unimpressed with that. And I wonder if he's sort of edging towards maybe not as quickly, but falling off a cliff as well. Honestly, I wonder if he's gonna be back. I wonder if he's gonna be back too.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

So, okay, a lot to unpack there. So, number one, I do think there's some extenuating circumstances with him. Not trying to be an apologist, but consider we've had a rotating cast of characters to put it lightly at right back. So Connor Bradley's been in and out, Frimpong's been hurt 10 times, Joe Gomez is Joe Gomez, Dom's played there, not easy.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Kirk has took a while to bet in. He's been much better, but it took a while. Kanate has been at times this season just wildly inconsistent. Okay. Sometimes just trash, but like wildly inconsistent, had a rough year. Um and I would argue like our midfield gets played through way more easily than it did last season. So all those things make it really hard for a center back. Okay. And I would say that that is one thing to keep in mind um when it comes to him. The other thing is that he always plays at some point, he catches up to you.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

It has to be that that's my concern, is also he he plays every minute of every game internationally, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Yeah. He plays all the time. There's no break. There's gonna be no break this summer. He's going to the World Cup and then they're gonna come back and play again. There's no break ever. And so even if it's not physical, like mental, like he's just gotta be fried at some level, just burned out. And I'm sure he loves the game a hundred times more than I do, you know, but still, like, you know, it's a job a little more than it is, you know, for for the rest of us that just love it recreationally. And like I say, he's just like you know, the number of appearances season after season after season. Now, to your other point, is he the most inspirational, you know, charismatic follow-me leader? No. And I don't know if that's what we need right now. Maybe it is, you know, and I think that's what some people are saying when they're like, man, I miss Klopp. Is that type of leadership? Henderson was much louder and more demonstrative at times. Milner, even though he was never like captain captain, he was definitely sort of like an enforcer behind the scenes, you know. So um you can definitely see, and you've seen this too in in either teams you followed or teams you've coached. Sometimes you have a little bit more of a like, how do I put this softer, quieter, more reserved personality team. And sometimes that can be tough to like, you know, hey guys, like, are you fired up? Like, are you are you pissed? Like, you know, are you like taking this personally? Anyway, so I can see all that happening. Um and I don't think that when we talk, you know, slot, and this is why we did this today, is that the players are off the hook. I mean, like, right, like Verts has not had a good season. Sorry. Van Dyke has not had a good season at times. I think there's some reasons, but sorry, Moe's not had a good season. Like, I get it. Um anyway, all that to say I would lean more towards this, feels like kind of a season from hell for Van Dyke, more than it might be like him really falling off. I mean, but you know, like I'm willing to be talked out of that.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Right. Well, I think my concern with it is he has one more year on his contract and he's looking down the pike at a lot more of what's been transpiring this season. Like, imagine if we just have another rotating casket. He just got linked with another right back. And who's gonna play center back with him? Is it Kanakte? Because his contract is not signed, and we have two other guys that are young guns, both coming off of pretty devastating injuries. Kirk is the only it's the most solid thing he's got, the most like consistent thing he's got. And then yeah, I think the other thing is we're probably gonna have a rotating cast in other positions as well. I'm thinking back to, and I would never say this because I think he is one of the, if not the best center back uh in in the Premier League. Um, maybe obviously not currently, but um I I wonder sometimes if he was a huge recipient of the benefit of Klopp's system in the way of the way we played, and then now that we've switched and it's gotten worse, it's it's sort of exposed some of what you're describing is like, hey, our midfield doesn't do what it does best, and we're Swiss cheese, and now playing a high line kind of sucks for that reason, etc. So I guess all I had to say is I don't know if it gets better, it gets better for him to get better.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Well, I think, yeah, I think we're saying the same thing. Like, how does he get a mental break? I think the answer is he doesn't, unless if slot is still here or next manager says, hey, we're gonna give you time after the world cup, and it is what it is. That's the only way I can think, you know. Right. Um does he, for example, does he retire from international duty after the World Cup? Maybe, maybe that would buy him some time, but I don't see that getting better in the immediate future. And so, because of that reason, there's just not a ton of rest. There will be more if we get knocked out, because then we're out of everything, it's just the Premier League, you know, from here on in. Um, but yeah, I mean, I you I guess put it this way that was a certainty at that position that we're now moving into the question mark over the summer.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

And it's just one of many question marks.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Yeah, I can't think of a position where we don't have a question mark, to be honest. Like there's nobody there, I mean, truly, dude, there's nobody in our starting quote unquote starting 11 that I feel is nailed on now.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Well, even like Allison, he just he's always always hurt, but he has an injury, a fairly substantial one every season now.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Maybe what he's the I feel like he's the most injured keeper I know of, like that to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

So staying on the field is his biggest thing. So that even the goalie, you know? Yeah. Right back, no, left back. I think Kirkz has that. I mean, again, I'm not, he's not, I wouldn't say he's even like is he a top five left back in the Premier League? I don't know, you know, but like, but again, I think he's one.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Um, Dom is the only other one that I would say needs to be on the field at all times. Like, I have not been impressed by Grav. Max had a weird year, you know. We hate Curtis Jones.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Just sorry, just for levity's sake. Is Mac prepping for plugs this summer? I think so. So you you you noticed, huh? Yeah. He did the well, even one of my kids is watching, they're like, Hey, did he get a haircut? And then he's like, Oh, it's looking a little thin up there. And I was like, Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

And is that when he got UAF it when he got stomped on and they didn't call anything? Oh yeah, and you yeah, that's when I noticed the it was kind of like a buzz cut there. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

That was a buzz, but then like right here, looking a little thin there down the middle. I think he's prepping for the most sala, you know.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Yeah, so anyway, so anyway, back to the exercise. Like left wing, no. Um Esoks in in Ekatique are going to play, obviously. And that's it. Salah's leaving. So did I miss anybody? Like, there's a lot of question marks.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

A lot feeling good about 1.5 players. That's sick.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

So, you know, and what's gonna happen? This is so guys, go listen to our last podcast. We talked about this kind of higher level, but like, and the coach might be gone, and the sporting director might be gone, and we're not pursuing a second club, so Edwards might be gone, and maybe we're for sale still.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Like, yeah, you know, we're gonna change our colors, you know, yeah, it everything.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

So, um, so yeah, anyway, I mean, I don't I don't think we need to belabor it. You know, I think we kind of hit what we wanted to, but like it's just you know, this is a reality check, and I don't have a lot of confidence in the return leg. It's at Anfield, but Anfield hasn't been a safe haven for us this season. Um, and if you look at the Premier League, like we have Fulham at home this weekend. It's a game we should win, but we don't win games we should win as much anymore. And then we're at Everton, who are not that far behind us in the table. We have our bogey team in Palace after that. Then we're away at United, a team that we haven't beaten in forever. So I mean, you know, like we'll see. We'll see. This could get ugly quick.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

It's looking good. Um, by the way, a shout out to one of our listeners who did offer tickets to the film game. I wish we could go. We can't so appreciate the offer. Those are no seriously, much appreciated. Yeah, um, maybe, maybe another time. We'd love that.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

We gotta get out, we gotta get out again, but not not this season.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Uh yeah. Um I was gonna say too, it has been confirmed that uh EPL gets top five uh in the Champions League next season. So that is our only glimmer of hope. But again, we're we're at 49. We are in fifth by one point ahead of Chelsea, uh, and then we're five back of Villa, who are uh currently uh big plumes of smoke coming off of their season. Uh so yeah, a tiny shred of hope. Tiny shred of hope. We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Yeah, we will see. Well, I think that covers it. Good work. Um we will definitely podcast again soon. Even if, guys, even if we're dead inside, we will.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

You never walk alone, you know?

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Never walk alone. Yeah. So uh for Johnny, I'm Matt. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Thanks for tuning in to America's Anfield. If you enjoyed the show, make sure to like, subscribe, and follow us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on YouTube, Twitter, Threads, and Instagram at America's Anfield. Got questions or topics you want us to cover? Send them our way. We'd love to include them in a future episode. Until next time, Up the Reds.