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They have ripped it up. Champions with a month to spare. All right, Reds, Tony Evans here with Walk On, your Liverpool podcast from The Athletic. And what a podcast it is. Liverpool have sealed the title, the second in five years. And I'm
I'm here with Simon Hughes and James Pearce, both at Anfield. Hiya chaps, what was today like? Yeah, just unbelievable. Me and Simon are still sat inside the stadium now. You know, what is it, coming up to a
two hours after the game had finished and you can still hear thousands and thousands of fans celebrating on the streets outside Anfield the party is in full swing out there and I don't think it's going to end any time between now and the trophy lift in a month's time it's just one of those unforgettable Anfield days which are memories that I think everyone here will cherish forever. Sire, same for you obviously?
Brilliant, Tony, yeah. Liverpool provided what I hoped they would, a tiny little bit of jeopardy in the game when Tottenham scored. I told you not to trust them, didn't I? Well, that's the thing. I did trust Tottenham to score, but I did not trust them to defend that lead. And, you know, I think 22 minutes later, it was 3-1 and it was all wrapped up.
So, yeah, I mean, the whole place was bouncing. Even though everybody knew what was going to happen. I mean, you can still hear the crowd now. It sounds like the stadium's outside. I'm really looking forward to getting down Walton Breck Road and having a pint. Well, you're begging me three words first. All right, OK. Liverpool are champions. There you go. James. Get in there.
So that's what Simon and James think is what you're saying. Dennis Rowan, champions of England. Mohamed Nagy, Arnie Slott, na-na-na-na-na. Oh, I'm not even going to do that, but it just counts as one word. We'll let you get away with that. Mark Manon, back on pitch. And Tim Norris, Tony was worried. Well, there was a bit. To join our community of listeners on Facebook, just search Walk On Podcast and join the group. Mo Salah, sunshine pain!
Well James, what a way to get it done
the way they come back it just it said everything about the team didn't it it did yeah yeah we've seen throughout this season that they've been able to win games in different ways that's why they've been as successful as they have been you know there's been times when they've blown opponents away you know you think about the 6-3 down at Tottenham and the demolition of
of West Ham in particular. Other times when they've dug deep and really ground it out. And yeah, it was special seeing that today, to do it in style. As Simon said, that little hint of jeopardy early on with former Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke nodding spurs ahead. But I just think...
Even then, you just sensed there was this energy around the place where instantly, as soon as Tottenham scored, it was like, no, no, no, this isn't happening. The noise in the stands just got cranked up and up.
And you could see the players responded to that. And what was it? What were they behind for? I think four or five minutes before Diaz equalised. And it was a poor decision from the linesman. Actually, it looked pretty clear straight away that it had been onside. And then sure enough, after a VAR check...
The goal stood and then the sense of just joy. I think because it was a few seconds before the referee actually signalled the goal that people got wind of the fact that it was going to get overturned. The noise just spread like wildfire around the stadium and then after that,
Liverpool didn't look back. It was fitting, really, that in the end, you know, the game was an absolute procession because the season has been like that in terms of the title race. You know, for all the kind of talk of little wobbles and all the rest of it, Liverpool are 15 points clear of Arsenal. It's never even been close. 15 points! Never been close. And I saw, like, on social media, some Arsenal fans going, no one's really interested in what's happening at Anfield. Get over yourselves, you morons! So, the thing that struck me is that
You know, we've seen over the past few months, we've seen Anfield get nervous and we've seen that transmitted plays. None of that today. It was all business. Everyone was all business. Yeah, I've never seen Anfield like this, actually, because let's face it, the context behind it is totally different to anything we've seen before. Liverpool could actually win the title at Anfield in front of a full house, certainly since the first time since 1990. But then you've got to go back much further to think about...
sort of a moment like this before, you know, something like this has happened at Anfield, which hasn't happened for such a long time. I mean, I didn't, there was no nervousness inside the crowd, even when they went 1-0 down. There was a sense of caution inside the city, I'd say, earlier on in the day. There weren't many people shouting, you know, champions, champions, champions, like they were at the end of the game. It was more, we're going to win the league, but I just felt that people didn't want to quite get caught out and look a bit silly, you know. But as soon as you got close to the ground, I mean,
I mean, it was like, I don't know, I'm trying to think of the right words, but it was like going to a cricket match in India. You know what I mean? It was like the absolute fervour. I mean, I had a quick shandy there.
in the Grove pub before the game. And in the distance, you couldn't see Anfield, but you could see this red smog hanging above it, you know, because of all the pyrotechnics. And I was just like, I've never seen that before. A clear day and this redness in the sky. It was incredible. And, you know, there was no nervousness inside the stadium. As soon as Tottenham scored, actually, the crowd just sort of roared back. And it was the first time this season, really, certainly at Anfield,
I can think where Liverpool have really put their foot to their throat as well. I think after going behind, they wanted to make a point and they could have scored a few more goals in the end. But, yeah, that Salah goal, I mean, that Salah goal will...
will be I think the moment that people always remember because of the way he celebrated it I mean I'm not usually into selfies and all this new technology in football but I thought that was a pretty cool thing to do for a young kid you know what I mean I think it's a brilliant point that moment the contact with the crowd from Salah it showed the relationship between the players and the fans
Yeah, it was a brilliant moment, wasn't it? The fact to take the phone off the lad like he did and to pose for that selfie. The cop absolutely lapped it up, didn't he? And of course, it's kind of been a feature of the season that on his social media channels all the way through, Salah has been doing selfies with whoever scored the goals that week, which obviously has involved taking a lot of pictures of himself.
throughout the season. But yeah, I thought it was a lovely touch. And then, of course, Salah involved in the fifth as well in terms of just his sheer presence forcing Udogi to force the ball past his own keeper. And yeah, I'd never seen anything like the scenes inside Anfield today. It was different to... It was just a celebration. It was just a...
like an unbelievable sense of achievement and just, I don't know if you could just, you know, there were young kids in front of me, like, who were just being like thrown into the air by their dads and their granddads. And you think, you know,
Because that's... And for a lot of people here today, this was like a once-in-a-lifetime. Even the fact that it's the first time in 35 years... Yeah, it's the first in a lifetime. It's not once in a lifetime, but first in a lifetime for many people. First in a lifetime. Yeah, exactly. Because... And as Simon said, because of five years ago and being denied all those trappings that should have come with such an incredible achievement, that did just make it extra special. And...
And also being here today, you couldn't help but think, thank God that Palace did not get that late winner at the Emirates in midweek because it was so much better doing it on your own terms like Liverpool did today. We need to thank Everton for their late equaliser. Yeah, we need to thank Michael Oliver. They've done us loads of favours over the years, haven't they? So thank you, Evan. Anyway, listen, size just put us coat on.
which makes me think he's ready to go out and celebrate. James, can you persuade him to stay while I say to the listeners, we want to hear how you feel, how you felt today. We want to hear, well, yesterday, by the time you heard this, we want to hear your response to winning the title. So send us some emails, some voice notes, so walkonattheathletic.com, because you know what? On a day like this, we want to hear from everyone.
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alright Si he's kept you there you're not going to celebrate just yet but I won't keep you that long Arnie Slott you know first year as a manager winning it I mean no one expected what an achievement you know we were watching him at the final whistle really just to see his reactions I mean
I mean, he just went round shaking everybody's hands. You can probably hear the fireworks going off around Anfield now. He was very... I mean, he didn't sort of move himself from the position that he's taken all season of just being quite sort of measured in his response to it. He said in the press conference afterwards that the only part of the day where he got quite emotional was when he was coming into the stadium on the team bus and he could see, you know, the masses of people and what...
It was only then he really, really, truly understood what it meant. And I think he said, you know, we cannot not deliver today. You know, words to that effect. We have to do it today. You know, I can imagine going on a bus all the way down Anfield Road with the crowd being like that. It must be so many fireworks going off. But yeah, I do have my coat on. I actually didn't do what Virgil van Dijk asked for. I've actually turned up to Anfield today.
Not wearing any red. Unlike James, James has got a nice fetching red polo shirt. I'm wearing a blue Berghaus jacket just to be a total knobhead, I guess. Well, after our Fashion Weekly spot, I'll return to James, who is not so sartorially obsessed, but...
I mean, yeah, Slot will have experienced what the Anfield crowd's like, obviously, throughout the season. I think there'll be a lot of players there who've never quite had a moment like this. Players, management, staff, who've never had a moment like this in their lives, never mind their careers.
Yeah, undoubtedly. I mean, I think obviously even you think of the old guard, you think of people like Alison Becker, you think of Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson and Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, you know, even those who were part of that title winning team five years ago, they didn't, they never got to have this, did they? They never got to experience scenes like we saw. And
And that is why it resonates so much. You think back to those ones who have joined since. You think of people like Alexis McAllister, Zabozlai, Ryan Gravenberg, who were part of that midfield rebuild coming up to two years ago. And coming into the club at a time when they would have been entitled to think, well, where are Liverpool heading here? Because I'm
they were joining a team that couldn't offer them Champions League football. Yeah, you know, it's just been this remarkable ride. And as for Slott, yeah, I mean, he's so understated. And as Simon said, I was thinking, surely he's going to, like, just lose it a little bit at the final whistle when kind of it finally dawns on him what he's done. But he didn't. He kept...
He was incredibly restrained. There was a little bit of dad dancing in front of the cop during the celebrations that followed. I thought it was nice the way that him and his staff all ran up to the cop and took the acclaim of it because all of them, not just Slott, he'd be the first one to say, Johnny Heitinger, Sipka Holschoff, Aaron Brigg, people like that.
have played such a big part and they've all kept a real low profile. None of those backroom staff have had the spotlight whatsoever and that's been by choice. They've wanted to operate in the background, they've wanted to go under the radar, but after something like that, they shouldn't remain under the radar because we need to celebrate what they've done because I think it was 343 days ago today
Jurgen Klopp stood in the middle of that pitch and basically gave that rallying call and said this isn't the end, it's just the start and with new energy and new belief the future will be bright but I think it's
it still needed someone none of us thought it would be that price no no no exactly it felt at the time it just felt wildly optimistic yet it's turned out to be gloriously prophetic and you know it's I think a lot is made of the fact that slot inherited such a good squad which is true
But, my God, hasn't he taken those players to the next level? And you could go through the team and there's so many examples of players who had lost their way a bit towards the end of the clock reign, who had been absolutely rejuvenated by slot and the change in style, the change in methods, which has enabled Liverpool to keep more players fit for longer. No, that's not luck. It's not luck that Liverpool have had less injuries than Arsenal. It's about attention to detail. 15-100.
15 points clear will never be lost. Slott is a football obsessive. And again, I think there was a nice moment down below not long ago when Richard Hughes and Arnaud Slott embraced. And you think...
You know, rewind a year ago when, obviously, Richard Hughes had just been appointed by Michael Edwards. And again, it was predictable at the time that people were going to be like saying, well, really? Are these guys the right ones? And then, of course, Edwards picks Hughes. I think everyone had questions and that's reasonable. You know, Si, you wrote early on, you went to Rotterdam to talk about Slotnick. You were very, very positive about him.
But, I mean, you know, probably even you didn't see this happening. But, I mean...
But it's truly remarkable what they've done. And just before you get to answer that question, if indeed it is a question rather than a series of statements put together for you to react to, did you do any dad dancing? Because I can imagine you strutting your funky stuff. No, my dad dancing is related on, I think. I made a man, I want to give him a name check because he's waiting patiently outside. He just texted me saying it's ****.
boss out here and made up that you're keeping me waiting. But yeah, to answer the question about Slott, I had my reservations before I went over to Holland. I mean, I'm not saying when I went over to Holland I thought, oh yeah, he's going to come and make Liverpool champions straight away. But I came back more convinced that he had... Wasn't that your intro? Arnie Slott will win the title with Liverpool in his first year. Yeah, well, the thing is, when he...
When it was announced that Jürgen Klopp was going to leave, I thought straight away, well, who do you want? And you've got to look at what managers have done elsewhere, which is comparable to Liverpool. And the only two names that I could think of was Arne Slot, based on what he'd done at Feyenoord, and Simone Inzaghi at Inter. You know, he's obviously a very good manager, but then I just thought...
I had some reservations about Nzaghi because he didn't speak English or much English. And when I went over to Slott, it was very clear to me he's still a very young manager. Doesn't have a huge amount of experience at the top level. But his record is absolutely incredible. I mean, he's...
in his short managerial career he hasn't really had a bad run of form you know he seems to be able to know how to react to bad situations both in game and then after games and that's shown itself of course this season Liverpool did have a sticky week you know against PSG and Newcastle it was a bad week you know it was I can understand why people were like you know people are obviously going to be disappointed when you perform the way they did against Newcastle and get knocked out against PSG
but, you know, I think that, you know, I think by and large that the response to it since he got going again after the international break following, I'm trying to think now, was the full match after the international break or before, it all melds into one, but largely, you know, he's been able to win match after match after match after match after match and,
and that is not easy to do in football and all the you know Virgil van Dijk spoke afterwards Slot said the same thing afterwards you know it is all about consistency and getting into the right patterns and all those sort of things that all managers and players speak of but it's easier saying it than doing it and
Yeah, I mean, if somebody would say to me at the start, I think I said at the start of the season, the aim has to be Champions League and then maybe have a go next year. I never thought he'd be able to win the league, particularly with City being the way they are. But you know what? I think that just shows you, you know, I think people think the football is predictable and, you know, you tend to know the outcomes mainly. But,
I do think sometimes if you've got special characters coming into football clubs, which obviously Slott must have something about him to be able to take on the burden of replacing somebody as popular as Klopp. He hasn't tried to be Klopp. In fact, he's been the opposite of Klopp. They play a very opposite style of football as well now. I think you're on mute. Workday starting to sound the same. I think you're on mute. Find something that sounds better for your career on LinkedIn.
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James, there's something I want to pick up on that Si said when he was talking about those games and, you know, the Fulham said they all meld into one. And there's a bit of that in football in general, not just Liverpool and not just because we're in the business and we're on that sort of treadmill of football. But there is a sense that the games have constant backdrop to our lives and, you know, it goes on and on. And, you know, and there's parts of, you know, the old Liverpool way is just wake up tomorrow and start planning for the next one. But...
I think there's a point, and I think the COVID title taught me this, and I was thinking about it a lot today, is that you've got to just stop for a moment and think how special this is. You know, when football gives you a gift like this, you have to just stop, embrace it, and enjoy it, and make sure you never forget it. And I think that's a crucial thing about us as fans and people who work in the business, and also the players
the players, the supporters, everyone. You know, this is a monumental achievement. Enjoy it. Take time out of the madness of the game that seems like, you know, you're always thinking about the next thing just to enjoy what's happened today because it was exceptional. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. And you do need to soak it in.
soak it up you know you have to take a step back and appreciate the size of the achievement because I think there has been a lot of nonsense spoken in recent months especially once it became increasingly clear Liverpool would be crowned champions about you know it being a weak Premier League season and you know and as if as if other teams having problems was was somehow dented dented what Liverpool have done they're on what are they on 83 points
They could end up with 94 points. They're 15 points ahead of Arsenal. When you think Arsenal have got, obviously, those PSG games to come in the Champions League, it's not inconceivable Liverpool could win this league by 20 points plus. That is what a demolition this has been this season. And in the context of losing probably the most transformative manager in the club's history since Bill Shankly.
And also, you think back to last summer and all the angst and all the fury about the lack of transfer activity and not signing a plan B to Zubamendi when he got cold feet about leaving the mountain range and making the trip over from Sassier Down. I bet he's casing those mountains today. Well, I hope he's happy with them. That's all I can say. But yeah, you have to...
You have to frame it in that context, don't you? It was, you know, Arnaz Slot's had one new player to work with and that's, you know, a backup attacker who's played, I think, 33 minutes of Premier League football all season. And I think there is an obsession in just the modern era, full stop, especially probably fuelled by social media of,
always looking ahead, always, well, what now? What now? You see it every summer when it's like, well, are they going to sign now? And then, you know, they've signed someone and it's like, well, who's next? Who's next? And it's like, this is one of those moments where if you can't just take a step back and enjoy this for what it is, then being a football fan, it really isn't for you. I agree, I agree. Which makes me, leads me into the next question, Si.
How do you intend to celebrate? When do you think you'll stop? Well, I've been with my wife for 20 years, which is obviously 20 years out of the 35 years of Liverpool trying to win the league, ideally in front of a crowd. So she promised me a few weeks ago that, you know, when Liverpool do it, you can have three nights out on the bounce. But unfortunately, a lot of my mates haven't been able to secure...
such freedom so tonight is going to be a big one I think you can hear the fireworks going off now yeah we're going to I don't know whether we're going to have much to write tomorrow but I think it'll be done with a few tender heads on a day like this you know you do want to be with
You want to be with your mates. You want to be part of the community. You want to be part of that communal experience that is being a fan. And it doesn't matter whether you're at Anfield or you're the other side of the world. This is just a wonderful time to be a Red. Yeah, I think I've got 11 hours till I have to start doing the school run.
So as long as I'm back, back for that, there shouldn't, shouldn't be any issues. But, but yeah, it was, I've, a mate of mine has just sent me some footage from outside and yeah, it, it's, it doesn't look like the, the celebrations are going to be, I'll be getting dimmed anytime soon. So yeah, just, just can't wait for it. And what,
What a remarkable season this has been. You know, a few knocks along the way, of course, the disappointment of going out with the Champions League and losing the Carabao Cup final in the way they did. But,
The biggest prize has been landed, hasn't it? And it's been landed in incredible style. And I think you've got to give credit as well to... Michael Edwards was out there on the pitch, like he usually does in situations like that. I think back to when they won the Champions League in Madrid in 2019, he stayed well away from...
the bulk of the celebrations and he did the same today hanging around on the halfway line with a few other dignitaries but I think it's only right as well to credit him with this because certainly in the wake of Klopp announcing that he was off
that was FSG's trump card really wasn't it in terms of we need to get this guy back on board and of course it ultimately took them having to effectively offer him Mike Gordon's job as the key decision maker on football matters for Liverpool and FSG full stop to get him back but
What an inspired decision that proved to be because it was Edwards who rebuilt the football operations with Hughes and Slott coming in and look where it's taken Liverpool to now. Well, it's taken it to the biggest day at Anfield in 35 years. And I think at that point, we need to let the boys go. And so thank you to James and Simon and you two for listening.
Remember, we really do want your views on winning the league and how you celebrate it. Send them to us. Send voice notes to walkonattheathletics.com and we'll try to get them in the next episode. So we'll be back later in the week, basking in glory. That's if those two rapscallions, James and Simon, surf us by the time we're ready to record next time. Because, frankly, the night they're going to have when they leave Anfield is going to be so...
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