Can Slot's side build on this season? | Real Madrid confirm they'll play in the Copa de Rey final | Howe returns to Newcastle duties
21:27 Share

Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Dave Reid and joining me are ESPN's Mark Ogden and Ian Laderman from the Daily Mail. Welcome to you both.

We're going to start with the mirror. Liverpool just need that one point against Tottenham at Anfield to secure their record-equalling 20th league title. And Arne Slott has said that he thinks his side will be better next season, Mark. How much better do you think this Liverpool team can get?

I think that's debatable you know because I'm not quite sure I think in the past in the past few years obviously Man City have won the league four times in a row and dominated I think and even under Jurgen Klopp you could see that this Liverpool team that he built was going to was going to you know have success for a period of time I think this Liverpool team it seems to have been they had a great first half of the season maybe you know Klopp's great players certainly came to the fore second half of the season they haven't been quite so good now they've obviously tied down Salah and Van Dijk for two-year contracts looks like Trent's going to go but I

But I think Liverpool do need to make some changes to the squad in the summer. Obviously, they need a new right-back. They probably need a left-back as well. People like Kerkes coming in. Maybe need a centre-forward. So I think that next season is going to be... They're going to be favourites, I guess, at the start of the season. But I don't think they're going to pull away that far because I think Man City will strengthen again. I think Arsenal will be strong. I think Liverpool have actually...

They've got over the line now because of what they did at the start of the season, the first three or four months of the season. If you look at some of the results second half of the season, drawing it home to Man United, losing at Fulham, early exit of the Champions League, losing the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle, I think there have been flaws that we've seen come to the fore. So I think Arne Slott's talking up Liverpool's ability to develop. But I do think it's going to be harder than usual because this team looks like it is in the midst of a rebuild already.

And talking of that rebuild then, Ian, how many signings do you think they need this summer if they are to improve and get better next season? Well, Mark's touched on a couple of them there. Right back and left back. Obviously, we expect that Conor Bradley will step up to replace Trent, Alexander-Arnold, but you need depth, you need more than one right back. So there's probably one there.

central defender Van Dijk and Canarte have done very well this season they've been fit and that's been one of the keys to Liverpool in their first year under Arnaud Slott they haven't had an awful lot of injury problems players have stayed fit that was one of the reasons that they hired Slott because his record on injuries it was excellent and that has proved to be the case can they do that again next season

Will Liverpool get the same levels out of Mo Salah? Again, can he go to the well and drink as voraciously as he has this season? They've got a bit of a problem through the middle. Nunes hasn't worked out. Jota is injury-prone. So I think there's improvement to come in some players. Zobislai, Mikalic, Sig Gravenbach can all improve, but I still think maybe they need a natural. A natural number six, I think, would help them. Obviously, he wanted one last chance

Some of them thought they'd got one, it didn't happen, so that could help them. But the other side of this debate, and I absolutely take on board what Mark says, I think I probably agree with him, I don't think they'll improve without buying. But what's the competition going to do? We always presume...

that clubs like City will come again. It's a huge ask for City ahead of next summer. Complete rebuild. They've already bought three or four players in January. They'll buy three or four more in the summer. Possibly a new goalkeeper, central defender, probably another holding player, wide players. Heck of a rebuild at Manchester City. Who knows how they're going to line up. Can Arsenal improve

as they need to and what's going to happen to the teams who've done brilliantly this season to get in the Champions League. If Newcastle are in the Champions League, Forest, Villa, how will they cope with that? So Liverpool have it all on to improve, but I would ask, will they need to improve to win it again? And we have to talk about the potential scenes that we could see at Anfield on Sunday.

How, Mark, do you think they will handle the occasion of it? And what do you think it will mean to the supporters, the city, the club, if they manage to get over the line on Sunday? Well, in terms of the team, I think they'll handle it quite easily. I think it'll hammer Tottenham. Seriously, I think it could be three or four because you couldn't really ask for a better opponent at a home game to get a point than Tottenham. So I think they'll win quite easily. And I think Liverpool fans are desperate to celebrate it because obviously when they won the title in 2020 during the COVID year, the

the fans couldn't celebrate it. I mean, I was there the night that they won it, I think it was in Crystal Palace, and there was nobody in the stadium, but you could see all the fireworks coming off round about, but obviously it wasn't, you know, what a usual title celebration would be. It's a case of, you know, people that have... I mean, I've heard Liverpool fans say that they want to celebrate with their mates they've been going to games for 30 years, but they haven't celebrated a title with them because the last time they celebrated a league title, you know, in normal times was in 1990, so...

I think a lot of people have waited a long, long time for this. Liverpool have won the league. It's there bar the one point. So it'll be a carnival time at Anfield. They're going to do what they didn't do in 2020. They're going to make up for that. And I think, you know, quite right. They deserve to win the league this year. They were fantastic in 2020. So if they have a double celebration because of that, then fair play. They've been the best team. So,

I just think it's going to be a day of celebration in Liverpool and it's going to go on for quite a while, I think. Yeah, you suspect so. A crowning moment for Liverpool, possibly on Sunday and probably as well for Mo Salah. An astonishing season, 27 Premier League goals, 18 goals.

Premier League assists. The Guardian, written by Jonathan Liu, has written a piece about how he's now become a scouser. Mo Salah could well sweep all the end-of-season awards, but maybe not get Ian Ladyman's vote for the Football Writers' Player of the Year, Ian. So, I mean, you've caused a great debate in the office, I must say, because I saw the headline and I thought, what a load of nonsense, Ian.

But then I read your piece and you almost persuaded me by the end of it because your vote is going to Bruno Fernandes. Talk me through it.

Well, it's nice of you to say that you've actually read the piece because I do find these days in the world of instant judgment and social media, et cetera, and snap headlines that that is half the battle. A lot of people who come at you or come at me have actually usually just read a headline and there it is. You can see it there. So here you go. Look, there has been an awful lot of activity on my social media feeds on the back of this. Not a lot of it. Not a lot of it positive or supportive.

But here we go. Look, the argument for me is very, very simple. I think Mo Salah will win it, by the way. I think most of my colleagues in the Football Writers Association will vote for Mo Salah. He'll be a very worthy winner. Of course he would. He's won it before, by the way. But you've got a choice when you make these votes, how you look at it. You can just vote for who you think is the best player in the country, OK? If you do that, then...

Up until this season, Kevin De Bruyne probably would have won it for the last five years. You can give it to the player who scores the most goals or the most assists or he keeps the most clean sheets, etc. Or you can look at a context and you can look at the environment in which a player is being asked to play. And that's what I've tried to do on this occasion. Look at someone like Salah. Brilliant season that he's had up until the last season.

six weeks but he won't dive into that look at someone like Salah he plays for a club that's perfectly set up for him and a system that's perfectly set up for him it's been a very straightforward season relatively speaking for Salah and for Liverpool look it's same same for Declan Rice at Arsenal for example you look at Bruno Fernandes Bruno Fernandes has been asked to exist and thrive and lead a team and drive a team within the middle of absolute chaos

Manchester United, although they are trying to improve, are not a particularly functioning football club. There's uncertainty at the top of the club. They've had a change of coach. They've got a dressing room that's full of players that by and large aren't good enough. And in the middle of it is Bruno. And what's been so impressive about Fernandes is the fact that he has kept his levels high. And that, for me, is always a judge of a very, very good player. It's easier, not easy, but it's easier to play well

in a team that's playing well. It's a lot harder to play well and keep your levels high when everyone else around you is failing. And that, to me, is what's been so impressive about Bruno Fernandes this season. He scored goals. He's made assists for other players.

He's led that team. And as my column suggests, I do wonder where on earth Manchester United would be right now without Bruno Fernandes. And that is why he gets my vote. And as you probably noticed, I'm quite convinced of it and prepared to stand by it.

I'm here for it, Ian. I'm here for it. I mean, actually, you know, I'm sure a lot of United fans would agree with you. And his numbers do stack up. 17 goals, 16 assists across all competitions this season for Bruno Fernandes. His numbers are incredible when you look at the Manchester United team that he's playing alongside.

Mark, I wonder what your take is on this. Do you think Mo Salah will win it? And what do you make of, I know the obvious criticism for Bruno Fernandes as a captain this season from ex-players has been around his temperament. Can you see that criticism of him this season? Well, I think Mo Salah will win it. But, you know, so I am inclined to agree with what he's written about Bruno Fernandes. And I might be the only person that does. But, you know, here I am going to put my hand on his shoulder and say I agree because his temperament,

has been much better. I mean, 18 months ago, I thought that, you know, Bruno was never a captain and it was annoying to watch him throw his hands in the air, complain about referees, complain about his teammates, but he's changed this year and he's really grown as a character in the last six months. And I think, you know, it's become a bit of a trend now to give the awards to the goal scorer of the best team or the best player in the best team. It's not always like that. I think that, you know, Bruno Fernandes, like he said, has had a

a massive challenge this year to play with a pretty rubbish Man United team. And some of those players, many of those players aren't good enough to be Man United players. He's carried that team like a, you know, like the kid in a school team that's way better than everybody else and he's dragged them to success. It's like watching Stephen Gerrard's Liverpool at the depths of their poor team. But at least they had people like Torres and Alonso and Jamie Carragher. Or watching Brian Robson back in the 80s drag a United team to success.

But Bruno Fernandes has done it with a far worse Man United team than Gerrard or Robson ever played with at Liverpool and Man United. So I take Ian's point. I don't think he's going to win it. But I'd be tempted to vote for Bruno Fernandes as well for those reasons that he's been a fantastic player in a terrible team. And to keep his level so high, you've only got to think where Man United would be right now without Bruno Fernandes. They wouldn't be in the Europa League semi-finals and they'd probably be 17th in the Premier League.

And we're going to stay with Manchester United because Ruben Amarim has spoken to the media in his news conference. Mike McGrath in The Telegraph has written about this. Amarim claiming that everybody wants to play for Manchester United. Reminds me of that Michael Spicer sketch where he says, this is Manchester United Football Club and just repeats it over again. Does everyone still want to play for Manchester United Football Club, Ian?

No, I absolutely don't think they do. I absolutely know where Ruben Amo is coming from. Manchester United remain the most famous football club

in this country, possibly in the world. Liverpool fans would argue with that. Real Madrid fans would argue with that. But, you know, they're pretty much up there. They do have a pull. The history, the glamour, the glory, all the rest of it, it is there. But footballers these days are driven by two things. Well, three things. The country they want to play in, the chances of success and how much money they'll get paid.

And at the moment, Manchester United cannot offer players a chance of winning the Premier League in probably the next year or two. And they can't offer them the most money anymore either. So they can offer them cashiery.

and they can offer them this great city that I live in, if you forget about the weather, but you can't tick the other boxes. So you've got to sell it on a football, from a football perspective, not just a historical perspective, or, you know, George Best and Bobby Charlton, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, it doesn't work that way anymore, I'm afraid. You've got to offer them a feasible suggestion that they can come to Manchester United and win. And at the moment, that's a harder sell.

Let's move on and talk about the boxing for a moment as a big all-British fight taking place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Chris Eubank Jr. against Connor Benn. Chris Eubank Jr. has had a tough Friday where he failed to make the weight by half an ounce and will be reportedly fined £375,000. Mark, I know you've seen some of this build-up. It's been spicy, some might say nasty at times. How do you think events will unfold on Saturday night?

Well, I think Eubank will go in there a lot heavier than he is now. And he'll probably go in there about a stone and a half heavier than Connor Ben. And that kind of shows you that this isn't really a fight of kind of equal weight. You know, Connor Ben's a welterweight. Eubank Jr. is a super middleweight. So there's a big gulf in weight there. And you only have to look at the two fighters at the weigh-in to know that even though Chris Eubank's lost a lot of weight, he's a bigger, much bigger figure than Connor Ben. So I'd be slightly concerned at that. But obviously the other concern is that Eubank has dropped so much weight. Can he...

Will he be fit enough, well not fit enough, but will he be able to rehydrate himself enough to be able to fight in the condition that he wants to be in? Is he putting his body under too much stress to fight a dangerous fighter, albeit one that's a much lighter fighter than him?

That's the danger, that there are too many risks at play here in terms of weight loss and people taking on a fight between two fighters that, again, they're not matched physically. So there's a little bit of concern. Obviously, I know there's a big build-up with it and the fact that it's Eubank versus Ben and they're trying to replicate the rivalry of the 1990s between Chris Eubank and Nigel Ben, which is one of the greatest rivalries in British boxing. But there are a lot of concerns about this fight. And I think Chris Eubank's seen it and said he's not going to go. He thinks it's a circus. Well...

That might be... He's a judge, isn't he? He's a good judge of boxing. I think if he's saying that, then I'd be a little bit alarmed. Let's get to the Daily Mail, where we're talking about Eddie Howe. He's returned to work now after his bout of pneumonia. He's praised the club doctor, who alerted him to symptoms and said that he needed to go to hospital. An important subject, I guess, for...

for a lot of men who will be watching this as well, Ian, as well about listening to your body and going to see someone. But a remarkable story and a remarkable thing, really, that Eddie Howe's had to go through over the last few weeks, would you say, Ian?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, sometimes in this business, there are certain stories that actually only need the quotes. And this is one of those stories. I read it earlier on Mail Online, actually, when I heard that Eddie had been speaking. And I was just totally absorbed by what Eddie has said, his story of

being at home, being under the weather, having a high temperature, being unable to sleep, but just thinking that he'd just fight it off and there was no need to make a fuss. And ultimately only going to hospital when Newcastle's club doctor visited him at home and kind of semi-diagnosed him and said, you need to go to hospital.

And you read about what happened when he got there and et cetera, et cetera. And Eddie's own quote, which was something I'm praising, but where he says something like, it's just as well that I did because the alternative wouldn't have been good. You know, we can only imagine what he's alluding to there. So a fascinating story to read.

Great to see him back. I didn't think we would see Eddie back this season. When I was on this programme a couple of weeks ago, listening to what Jason Tindall had said, I did not think Eddie would be back before the end of the season. It's great to see him back. I presume he's back at the right time. I hope it's not too soon because he said it himself, need to listen to our bodies and I'm sure he has on this occasion. And yeah, I think there's probably a lesson in this for all of us.

Absolutely, I think we would echo that as well. Extraordinary story happening over in Spain ahead of the Copa del Rey final. It's been covered by a lot of the Spanish newspapers as well. This is ahead of the Real Madrid against Barcelona game. Real Madrid unhappy following...

A press conference from the officials, the referees ahead of the Copa del Rey final. They don't like comments from the VAR, Gonzalez Fuertes and the referee, Ricardo de Burgos Bengochea. Real Madrid TV released a video of what were in their views, refereeing mistakes, which I guess impacted Real Madrid. Astonishing, really, there were stories that perhaps Real Madrid were thinking of boycotting the game. They're not. They have said that they are going to play Real.

in this game. Mark, is this an example of Florentino Perez trying to flex his muscles once again? Possibly, but every element of this story is just crazy. I mean, the fact that you've got the Real Madrid's official TV channel publishing a video showing the mistakes that this referee has allegedly made in the past, which is bad enough. That's the story itself.

Then the fact that the referees are giving a press conference before a game. I can't imagine any of our referees, well, they don't speak anyway, but can you imagine the referees giving a full press conference before the FA Cup final talking about the game ahead? It just doesn't stack up. Then you've got, obviously, Real Madrid acting like children, basically, as they did with the Ballon d'Or situation when they refused to turn up after Vinicius Junior didn't win it with Rodri winning it earlier this year. I mean, Real are basically, I don't know what they're trying, they're trying to kind of influence, I guess,

of a different referee at the weekend and trying to throw the weight around. And, you know, I've been told by, you know, our guys in Spain that this is all rooted in the case that Barcelona allegedly paid referees or referees...

officials money over a 17-year period between 2001-2018. There's an investigation going into that and Real Madrid believe that obviously this is proof that referees don't like Real Madrid. It's a lot of rubbish really. It's just nonsense that Real are acting like this and it's really overshadowed a massive game. But they're playing Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final so obviously Barcelona, big rivals, they want to get an edge. But I don't see how they win because the referee, whoever it is now, and I'm sure it would be the same referee who was appointed, is under so much pressure and every decision will be scrutinised even greater now.

And the referee for the game within that news conference gave a story about his son going to school and the way that his son was teased by his friends for what his dad does and how he's been refereeing, essentially. It brought the referee to tears, which is quite astonishing pictures. Now, in Spain, they have done this on a few occasions ahead of the Copa del Rey final where officials have given news conferences. Is that something, Ian, that you think should be considered in this country or is that not the way that it should be going?

No, I absolutely do not. I'm consistent with this. People often talk about whether referees should be in front of sky cameras, for example, after Premier League games to explain their decisions. Absolutely not. I'm very much of the old school of the referee's decision being final and they don't need to explain those decisions to anybody apart from for the people who employ them as part of a drive to get increased standards.

But what I will say about this, two things. It's absolutely disgusting that Real Madrid have allowed referees to be collateral damage from their ongoing petty rivalry with Barcelona. It's absolutely pathetic. But you know what? Watching the press conference footage on the channel earlier, it made me think, I'm actually quite pleased that this has happened. And I'll tell you why. It's because...

There has to be a reckoning at some point about how football and all of the football community, and I include myself in that, all of the football community looks at and treats referees. There is not a single stakeholder, certainly in the English game, who treats referees properly.

Players don't treat them properly. Managers don't treat them properly. Supporters don't treat them properly. They don't get treated properly on social media. And to a degree, they don't always get a fair hearing by the mainstream media either. And it absolutely has to change. And now that we've seen a referee sit and talk emotionally about the effects

that the criticism that he's received has affected him and his family, maybe it might just make us all think... Well, it won't. It won't change the way players and coaches behave. But for the rest of us, it might just make us think that these guys...

are flawed, like the rest of us, they are human beings. And by the way, Real Madrid TV, instead of posting a montage of the mistakes that this official is supposed to have made, what about posting a montage of the mistakes that their players made over two legs against Arsenal? Because if they showed that, then we'd be here all night, wouldn't we? I'm sure, yeah. And Ian, we've just got about 30 seconds left. You've been down to Forest ahead of their FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. What's the atmosphere like ahead of that game?

It's full of opportunity, isn't it? I mean, Forrest are in a brilliant position, hunting down a place in the Champions League, which, you know, the old European Cup, which Brian Clough won twice. And they're in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, which is a competition that Brian Clough never managed to win. Forrest haven't won the FA Cup since 1959, I think. So opportunity is knocking for Nuno and his players against Manchester City on Sunday at Wembley.