Salah's stats, Adidas announced, and Darwin decision
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You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. The Athletic FC Podcast Network. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

All right, Reds, Tony Evans here at Walk On, your Liverpool podcast from the Athletic. I'm here with James Pearce and Simon Hughes. Well, another good weekend. There's just too many of them these days, isn't it? You know, how about injecting a bit of misery into our lives like a couple of years ago? No, no, we don't want that. We don't want that. We'll talk about the win over Southampton before turning our attentions to PSG. But first...

Let's get your three words. James, I'm going to come to you this week. Can I go with mind the gap? Oh, yes, you certainly can. Yes, I love the London underground, you know, illusion there as well. You know, because let's face it, Arsenal, when they moved to Highbury, they actually not only moved from South London to North London, they changed the name of the local tube station there.

Yeah, they can remember victories like that. A long time ago, hundreds of years ago. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but I'm going to say United, United, United. On a Liverpool podcast, Tony. I never thought, I never thought in my life that Man United would be scrambling around desperately for points, helping Liverpool move closer to the title. Who'd have thought that? These are heavy days.

What I particularly enjoyed about it is that, like, you hope that both of them lose, Arsenal and United, but it can't happen. So the next thing is both of them drop points. So it was the perfect result for me. Anyway, let's see what you're saying. Pete Jones, almost perfect weekend. I think Pete's right. John Wallace, arrange the parade. James booked that bus weeks ago. On email, Dennis in Wisconsin. Slots, sub star.

That's easy for you to say, Dennis. Sounds like a snail going across a gravelly path, that, doesn't it? Yeah, you know, it's painful for me to say. And Ray Nash, Darwin the Enigma. To join our community of listeners on Facebook, just search Walk On Podcast and join the group. Oh, James, a bit of a mild scare in the face there for Danfield, but in the end, there wasn't much to worry about, was there?

know that that kind of blast early in the second half from on the slot side got the job done didn't it it was it was a strange game I mean when I was still over in Paris at the back end of last week and we talked about it and we said how many times have you seen this where there is like a

a bigger game just around the corner and despite people saying all the right things and you know Virgil van Dijk saying it was all about Southampton and slot saying about how you know for the fans get there get there early and make sure it's bouncing it's like we all know in the real world it was never going to be bouncing for Southampton at home at three o'clock on a Saturday and and it was really flat and lacklustre the performance for 45 minutes I think

slot Mr. Trick I think by not making more changes I thought he would have you know players like Harvey Elliott and Endo I think it would have given you that freshness

Liverpool were so badly lacking in that first half because they created next to nothing against one of the worst teams we've seen in the history of the Premier League and then the mix-up between Virgil and Alisson leads to them, Southampton, getting the lead. But yeah, credit to Slott. It was another example of his changes making a huge difference. The three players that he brought on at half-time, Elliot, McAllister, Robertson, just gave them that energy and dynamism they'd been lacking and

And yeah, in the end, it was a comfortable win and nobody went away thinking about the first half. Yes, I... Salah. Now the third. Sally, haven't you written a book about him called Chasing Sally? That's my reaction. A little giggle every week when you mention this, Tony. Well, yeah. No, now the outright third highest goal scorer in the club's history.

I mean, you know what? All right, you can say. I'm not having that. I'm just not. I've never, ever subscribed to that. I was about to say that and you took the words out of my mouth. Yeah, I just, I've heard this argument a few times the last few weeks. Oh, but if you look at the goals you scored this season, they're just penalties. It's like, but you've still got to put the ball in the back of the net. I mean, it is essentially all,

Another way of looking at it is a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, isn't it? Which is a shot at goal, which isn't easy to always score the goal. I know it's sort of more weighed in the striker's favour, but he's still got to put the ball on the back of the net. And not everybody can do it with the consistency that he delivers. So as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter whether it's a pen or not, really.

What strikes me is the asteriskization of the world. People can't just go these days. Oh, Liverpool have been great this year. Oh, the Premier League stinks this year. They know the standards dropped. Put an asterisk on it. Oh, Salah. Salah. He's only scored 743 goals in a season. But...

but 702 were penalties, put an asterisk on it. You know, stop it. Stop it. We're way better than everyone else. And Salah's way better than anyone else. There are no asterisks.

Liverpool are just great this season. I know we're on a Liverpool podcast and we're sort of duty, well, not duty, but we're more likely to say Liverpool are a very good team, which they are, though. They are a very good team. And I think people forget, in the context of this conversation, about the standards of the Premier League. I'd say four or five of the sort of mid-ranking teams are performing much, much better this season. They've improved. They've recruited well over the summer. Meanwhile, the better teams haven't had...

as good as seasons, including Manchester City. Some of the other teams below them haven't recruited as well. Liverpool...

didn't do any recruitment, but have obviously got a level of consistency in the performance. I don't think it's been necessarily easier for Liverpool to get to this point, if I'm being honest, because a lot of the other teams, you know, that you wouldn't ordinarily expect to be taking points off the top teams have been doing so, but not against Liverpool. You know, so Nottingham Forest's results at Anfield shows that, you know, some of these teams are very tricky opponents and Liverpool have managed to find a way through. I mean, the Southampton game,

I didn't expect them to win. When they fell behind, I can't deny I was a little bit worried because the performance wasn't great. But the reality is when you've got players of the quality of Salah and the players off the bench to bring on, I think McAllister has very quietly become a very important player for Liverpool. When he's on the pitch, I just think he played better. And I think you can probably rotate Zobber, Sly and Jones, but the Gravenberg-McAllister

McAllister axis when that's broken up Liverpool aren't quite as good but I mean Salah's just been ridiculous I mean he was poor against PSG I'd say by his own standards one on one against it's Nuno Mendes right yeah and he was one of the you know as I said last week one of the best full backs or left backs in Europe at the moment but you know he turned up again when he had to and Liverpool are in a unbelievably amazing position at the moment in the league and

James, talking of penalties, you've been watching Salah's penalties with Jan Molby, the great Jan Molby. I have, yeah. Went round Jan's house and had a brew with him and watched all of...

Salah's penalties back. So I thought, yeah, who better? Because when you look at the numbers and Salah's now scored 44 of his 52 penalties in all competitions for Liverpool, that's excluding shootouts. He's converted nearly 85% of them. And when you go back through the history books,

The only player who's taken 20 or more pens and tucked them away at a better rate than Salah is Moby. He got 42 out of 45, 93% conversion rate. And he was one of my heroes as a kid growing up. He was absolute coolness personified, wasn't he, from the spot. So, yeah, it was interesting watching them back with him and just him kind of picking out

the technique that has served Salah so well. And he certainly feels as if he's evolved as a penalty taker over the years. I think when you watch back some of those early ones, he had a tendency to just absolutely lash it

And, and sometimes that, that power meant you lost a bit of control, but, but yeah, with, you know, Jan talked about how everything now is just so much smoother with the routine that he's got, the way he composes and himself and psychs himself up facing the ball. And then he's got this very kind of set run up, hasn't he? Where he skips a few steps to his right and then comes at it from an angle. And then, you know, I think the other thing that jumped out for Jan is the, the,

He basically doesn't make eye contact with the goalkeeper, Salah. He has a clear picture in his head what he's going to do. And I think in the modern era, we've been so used to increasingly, I think, takers stepping up and looking at the goalie and waiting for the keeper to move and commit.

And then it's a late shout, whilst with Salah, he almost isn't bothered about what the keeper's going to do because he backs himself that if he hits it right, that he'll tuck it away. And he's on a great run at the minute. He scored 10 in a row penalties-wise in the Premier League. Of course, the only one that he missed this season was against Real Madrid. And even that game, Liverpool won 2-0. So yeah, another record for him around the corner. Steven Gerrard holds...

the club record for most scored penalties 47 that is so he's only only three adrift now of Gerrard Si did you do a chapter on penalties in your book called Chasing Salah which is available I didn't actually but I did interview Jan Malby for a chapter in another book yeah

I was just going to say, I think it's worth offering a bit of context about Jan Malby here. You know, for some of our listeners who might be less familiar with him, you know, a Danish footballer who arrived, I think, sort of in the mid-80s at Liverpool, didn't he? Early to mid-80s. And a very sort of unique footballer, would you say? You know, sort of not the quickest by his own admission. And...

and not the fittest by his own admission but one of the greatest passers of a ball you could ever ever see wasn't it James and a very cool calm figure who comes from quite a rural area in Denmark who is who's become you know a Liverpool he's a scouter isn't he basically yeah he sounds like he's from Liverpool he acts like he's from Liverpool and he stayed here ever since and

You know, remembered as one of the club's great, great midfielders. I mean, James, you'll remember that game that we played a press game, didn't we, many years ago against some of the Liverpool legends. I remember the second, we were actually beating them, weren't we? Much to their embarrassment. Yeah. I'm sure James won't mind me embarrassing them.

him here but James scored a hat-trick against the Liverpool legends Was he supposed to be at that game? Was he supposed to be at that game? Or did he crash that? The match ball's on the shelf up here but you know I've just got to quickly tell this from that game so afterwards

Do you remember they put on some food, didn't they, in the canteen at Melwood? And I saw Kenny Dogleish sat down and someone had given me the ball and I thought, I'm going to have to ask him to sign it. And so I gave him the ball and he had a marker pen and

So I, you know, and he, and he said, yeah, no problem. No problem. So he writes on it and I just assumed it was like, congratulations, you know, blah, blah, blah. It was only when I got home, I realized he'd written congratulations on winning the raffle. Best wishes, Kenny Doglish. I, I have very clear memories of this game because I think we were four one up at halftime. And the point that it was leading to was second half.

They repositioned Jan Malby into his natural role in midfield and he was just spraying it everywhere, wasn't he? We just couldn't get near him. I think they had some favourable refereeing decisions to sway the game back in their...

in their favour. They ended up winning 5-4. And my memory of that game was when we were having that food after the game, Roy Evans played and as he left, I just said, well played, Roy. And he checked back and he says, well played. I'm 60-f***ing-9. LAUGHTER

But however old he was at the time, he was probably a bit younger, but everybody just started laughing, you know. But Jan Malby, great, great, great Liverpool player. So what did he actually say, James, about his own technique? Did he practice penalties? So he said he was very different. He said that he would always basically not make his mind up to the absolute last second and he would just be looking at the goalie, where's the goalie's weight going?

And he said that he had like an insurance policy where if the goalie didn't move or he wasn't 100% sure, he would just go bottom left as he was facing.

And he called that, you know, he said, for us right footers, we call that going home in terms of penalties. And he said, that's why when you look at the graphics that are in the article about where Salah tends to put them, I think 20% of his pens have gone right into the bottom right hand corner as Salah faces the goalie. Because obviously as a left footer, you know, he favours the other side.

And he said, you know, the reason why, because I think of the eight Salah's missed, five have been saved. The other three have all gone wide the same side. And he was basically talking about how the reason that is, is when as a left footer, when you're going for the other side, which obviously Salah did for his first one against Hampton on Saturday, he said, it's more difficult because you're opening your body up.

And there's a danger of overcompensating. And that's why, you know, he thinks that, you know, the three times he has missed the target, they've gone wide. But yeah, very, very... And I thought it was interesting as well, Jan talking about just how the whole attitude to penalties has changed because he said he probably gave up, he reckons, 15 penalties plus in his career when someone else, he'd say to someone, do you fancy it? You know, you can have it if you want. He said, you know,

look how many penalties John Barnes took for Liverpool. I was probably on the pitch for most of them, but it was like, go on, Barnsley, you have it. Like he said, you know, it's things that you just don't get these days. And he said, you know, and also, you know, it's so different now, the psychology around it, where every taker steps up, knowing that goalie is armed with all kinds of information from the coaching staff, where he said, he said, you know, I can guarantee you that when I took penalties, those goalies had absolutely no idea where I'd stuck the previous ones.

And I had no idea whether they tended to hold their ground or dive early. It just wasn't part of it back then. And of course, now you have to deal with the two, three, four minute delays with VAR checks. But he said, you know, back then it was penalty was given. He might have 10 seconds of mode into the ref, get out the area, take it and get on with the game. I think James and Jan together really underline there. Why is actually a lot more difficult than maybe people think. And one thing that jumps out at me is, you know, I think that

you know certainly Salah hasn't been as generous with you know sharing the responsibility of being a penalty taker which is absolutely fine because he scores so often but Liverpool have been quite lucky I think over the last five to ten years well twenty years really have Steven Gerrard taken penalties he was very good at them

Then James Milner takes over from Gerrard. Milner was an excellent penalty taker, wasn't he? And then obviously Milner sort of became more of a substitute and this allows Salah to take that responsibility off him. I know from writing the book that Sadio Mane was really keen. You wrote the book? Yes, I did, yeah. The book's Salah! Sadio Mane was very keen to take on this responsibility, you know, wanted to be the penalty taker. And it's quite frustrating that Salah got to take it on, but...

who can argue his records being outstanding, hasn't it? And you can tell, you know, he puts himself in a calm place, doesn't he? He never looks nervous or worried, Salah, doesn't he, when he's taking a penalty? He always looks very calm. Well, I think...

We've summed up Warcon in that section because we spoke for Southampton for about Southampton for 17 seconds. And then we spoke about a game that James and Cy played in Melwood for 14 minutes.

There's more to say about it, Tony. I scored a goal in that game as well. That's one of my little things. Well, I think that's a separate show. I think that should be a walk on special, you know, games we played in. Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from Evglus.

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James, what are the details? Well, in terms of length of contract, it hasn't been specified. Liverpool just saying multi-year. I mean, these deals tend to be four to five years. And certainly the current Nike one was a five-year one that expires this summer. Similarly, pretty tight-lipped in terms of the actual absolute make-up.

of the deal in terms of the finances. But we know it's a lift on the current setup, which, you know, Nike pay Liverpool a flat fee of 30 million per season plus. They get 20% royalties on all net sales of club merchandise, which... Wasn't that supposed to transform the whole...

world of merchandise and make Liverpool piles of money that were going to be so high that dwarfed the Kop. Well, it has made Liverpool piles of money. It just took a while to really kick in because, of course...

What Liverpool didn't foresee was the global pandemic, which obviously when you've got a deal heavily linked to people going out and spending their cash in shops, that had an impact at the start. But certainly in the last few years, that night deal has yielded in excess of £60 million a year upwards. Is this a more traditional deal? No, I don't believe so. Again, the makeup exactly of what's guaranteed and what's royalties hasn't.

hasn't come out yet all I've been told is it is still incentivized in nature which means that it will be dependent on you know on pitch performance and global sales but but yeah I think obviously it kind of brings Liverpool and and Adidas back together they obviously 85 to 96 in 2006 to 2012 you know I think fans will have a lot of fond memories of

of those previous kits. I mean, the other detail about it which jumped out at me, which I think people will find strange, and I was scratching my head a little bit as well, is the fact that the contract doesn't begin until August 1st, which means that Liverpool will start their pre-season schedule in the current night kit. And bearing in mind they go on a tour of the Far East in mid-July, that's a little bit of a head-scratcher. I think it's explained by the fact that

If you remember rightly, the Nike deal, when it kicked in in 2020, because these deals usually start in June, but that was delayed because the season was extended. It became a bit messy with the global pandemic in terms of will Liverpool complete the season in the title winning season in the new balance kit before making the switch to Nike. In the end, an agreement was reached for them to do that. So I think that explains why Nike's deal goes on a bit longer than we probably would have expected.

Yes, I mean, you know, we can talk about the business of it, so we're blue in the face. Blue? Blue on this show? We're in a blue T-shirt today, Tony. I mean, yeah, you know, I'm not one of those weirdos who can't wear, you know, those strange people, you know. But anyway, it's not just business. There's a cultural significance here, isn't there? Yes, yes. Well, Liverpool's connection...

With Adidas or... I call it Adidas. I don't know why. Is it Adidas or Adidas? What are we saying here? I'm going Adidas.

Adidas. Okay. Well, I'm going to say... Well, in that case, we've got to say Nike, haven't we? Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Tomato, tomato. You know. I'm saying what's comfortable, what I'm comfortable with. Go on. Adidas. There you go. Adidas. I've always said Adidas. Yeah. That's what we used to say. Yeah. I mean, obviously Liverpool first signed up with Adidas in what year was it? 1985. 85. Right. Okay. So...

Certainly for a huge generation of Liverpool fans, including myself, that was the first football kit I can remember. That was the first football kit I bought. It was a silver...

adidas kits with all the dashes around it i think the 89 90 season kits but there's there's a connection that goes between liverpool as a place and adidas which runs beyond that before that and yeah it goes back to the early well to the mid 70s when what the world knows as casual culture and we know as sculls scally culture and

started developing when we invented it. So this basically involved a lot of Liverpool supporters and football supporters on my side wearing Adidas gear for the match, essentially. And it was Adidas original gear as well, not the equipment that you see in a lot of the kits that

the way they're manufactured now, is Adidas Originals, which is very interesting. I'm really keen to see what Adidas do with the new kit because I've noticed with Bayern Munich, for example, recently they've had a few Originals branded kits rather than the equipment. And there seems to be some suggestions online that Liverpool's green away kit, if it's going to be green, is going to go along those lines. But there's a strange dynamic at play because, I mean, we've touched on it before in the podcast, but

Liverpool match-going fans tend not to wear

official gear certainly kits and shirts that's not to say that people locally don't buy kits because i know plenty of parents who buy the the full kit whichever the manufacturer is for their children yeah but kits are for kids yeah exactly it's certainly locally that that is the view the kits are for kids not for adults you don't go to the match wearing a kit well certainly not a full kit but but i'm just trying to imagine is that frowned upon

Yeah, I'm trying to imagine James or Tony running down Breck Road wearing a full Liverpool kit and his shin pads on. But yeah, it's just one of those things. And I know there's a sort of debate about why that is. I think it's...

what it boils down to is it's like suddenly at liverpool in the in the shorter early to mid 80s oh we've got replica kits everybody buy one you've got to get one it's like you know what liverpool people are like it's just more like now we're going to just do our own thing basically well it also came along when the replica kits became a real thing it came along at a time when people were stopped were stopping wearing colors of any sort in part because of

And in part because of the style that, as I say, this developing scally style that we, and the only thing we'd wear is a little badge, a little metal badge, which is probably tiny, you know, sort of what, you know, less than a centimeter big. And that's all you'd wear. And, and,

People who wore kits, you looked at them as if, you know, like the kids at school who was challenged, let's say. You'd go, ah, you know, he's wearing a kit. You do see people wearing a shirt at Anfield, don't you? A lot of people do. But I'd say certainly around cup finals, you know, it's more common to see people wearing T-shirts, Liverpool-related unofficial T-shirts. So, I mean, the bottom line is I think Adidas could...

could deliver a very nice kit, but I'm not sure whether adults are going to buy it. Certainly match-going adults. But that's not to say that those adults will not buy it for their children. Now, I'm also very interested in what Adidas do because the last time when they were the kit manufacturer, they had one or two decent kits, but the home kits weren't very good, I thought. You know, they weren't very imaginative. I think if they're going to do something, it has to be, you know, Liverpool-specific kits.

So I'm hoping, you know, for an improvement, really. I've got to be honest, I thought the night kits were pretty crap, really, that they've done for Liverpool. They're pretty rubbish. I thought New Balance came up with some of the best kits that they've had. Maybe that's to some extent by association because of the success around the period. But New Balance, for me, delivered some really nice kits of all the manufacturers they've had in the last sort of 20, 30 years. I'd say they're some of the best ones.

We moved flat fairly recently and I found a Warrior kit, still not bad, that, you know, that sent to me. And then, you know, actually that doesn't look too bad. Which one was that then, Sony? Which Warrior kit? It was the first one these years, you know, with the little collar, small collar. Do you remember the we come not to play slogan? Oh, yeah. It's actually...

What does that even mean? Someone got paid a lot of money for that. Imagine, I mean, you've got to be fair play. Whoever managed to convince, I've got an idea. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, mate. We'll go with that.

Anyway. Sorry, I'm just laughing at that. We come not to play. Well, remember, you can get in touch with us, especially if you've got really good catchphrases like, we come not to play. You know, we come not to podcast. You can get in touch.

with us here on the show by emailing walkonattheathletic.com. Your questions, feedback, and of course voice notes, send them to walkonattheathletic.com. We really would love to hear from you.

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Well, James, serious business now. We're here not to play. PSG, Anfield. The atmosphere will be electric. Hopefully PSG won't because they were a bit last week.

Yeah, yeah, I think it certainly will be a very different game to the first one. I think it was interesting listening to Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson, who both stopped to speak to the media after Saturday's game.

you know, inevitably talking about the Anfield factor, but also talking about what they need to do differently and talking about decision making and composure and being more front footed. You know, that was something that Robertson said two or three times about, you know, not

you know not being pushed back in the way they were by PSG in that in that first leg and and I think just being a bit more bit braver I think which I think probably will come as well with the atmosphere around them and you know the you know it will be absolutely spine tingling I've got no doubt about that and we know as good as PSG are and Robertson said he thinks they're the best team Liverpool have faced this season which I don't think anyone would would argue with that but

It will be different from them. I don't think they will have experienced anything quite like what's going to hit them at Anfield on Tuesday night. And yeah, I can't wait for it. You know, it's, it's, you know, what a week this is. You know, when you, you suddenly, you know, you sit there watching, watching Arsenal struggle yesterday, the gap at 15 points, Arsenal are closer to 10th place Fulham today.

in terms of points than they are to Liverpool and then you embark on a week where you've got a mouthwatering European night under the lights at Anfield and then a Wembley Cup final at the end of it. It doesn't get much better than that. How confident are you, Si? Cautiously optimistic. I mean, I'm always confident ahead of a Liverpool home game. I just always fancy Liverpool to win at home, but I do think the tie is far from over.

Liverpool certainly can't afford to let PSG dominate them as they did last week because I just think if they do, the crowd will get nervous. I think they're probably going to have to do something that they haven't really done under slotting.

This is not being critical of the way he's managed it because it's worked perfectly for Liverpool. But I do think the shackles will have to come off a little bit early to get the team going, to get the team moving forward. If they let PSG dominate the ball as they did last week, I'd be more nervous, strangely, at Anfield than I would be away from home because I just know...

I know how the crowd reacts to that sort of flow. So I think it's going to be a really tough game, but I would always fancy Liverpool at home. I just don't know whether PSG, away from home at Anfield, whether they have...

They have really got it in them to go and do it again. I think if they perform as they did last week, Liverpool could be in trouble. But I just think Liverpool will be a bit more assertive, a bit more ambitious, better in attack. That's going to be the real interesting decision, I think, that the forwards who plays up front because...

I think that the two centre-halves for PSG are very good players, but you can get at them. They have it their own way a lot. Robocop? Yes. Sorry, they're not Robocop. I mean, Marquinhos is a lovely footballer. I think he's a great footballer. But I think if you try and rough him up, you can. Which is making me just think, do you unleash Darwin again? Well, our favourite big dope. Who showed his full talent.

range of doping and Stidney against Southampton. It was a thing of beauty. You know, Kutago himself sent off. Goal penalty, scored a goal. Saturday was one of them days watching on where you thought if you had your Darwin Nunes bingo card out, you'd have been shouting full house, wouldn't you, by about 15 minutes into the second half because it had everything. He did some wacky

crazy erratic things in that first half when you know he wasn't the only one who fell a long way short and then that wild swipe at Walker Peters where initially I thought he might walk for it but I think I think what saved him was he actually missed him which because because I think if he catches him full-blooded and Walker Peters

stays down, writhing around. I think that's a different scenario. But I think he almost just caught him very slightly on the follow-through and Walker Peters got straight back up and I think that was why it was only a yellow. The funny thing is, I thought he went for the ball, but the ball was in Paris and he was in Anfield. He was so far away from it. Fair play to Slott because I did feel like it was obvious he was going to have to make

changes at halftime because it was so flat and the lack of energy but you know I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was thinking you know I wonder if he's going to take Darwin off because you know you think you know he was probably you know one foul away from getting himself sent off and

The entire online fan base said as one, get him off. But credit to slot because the gamble paid off. And fair play to Nunes. I thought he did turn it around second half. It was a tidy finish from Diaz's cutback. First time Nunes has scored at Anfield since Villa came to town back in November. It's

He didn't have time to think when he doesn't have time to think. Exactly. It was just on impulse, wasn't it? And it was decent. And then, all right, I think the penalty, the first penalty is soft.

But again, I think he's intelligent the way he gets his body between small bone and the ball. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, I'm going with it. I'm going with it. Sorry, sorry. You've got to stop that. You're a club down on that. Here's the question then. Do you run with him against PSG? I think you do. Or do you wait? Do you wait to send him on?

Oh, okay. As the cavalry, do you go with the confidence that somebody like Jota will sniff out a chance? Personally, I don't know what you think. I would start him for the simple reason being that I think if Liverpool adapt the same approach they did in the first leg, which...

was to quite often go long and then bank on trying to, if they didn't win the first one, win the second ball. And then because PSG pressed so high, there's space in behind. I just think Nunes is much better equipped

to challenge for those balls and to put himself about, which is exactly what happened with Harvey Elliott's goal with the part he played in the build-up to that. And I just think Jota was way off it in the first leg. That's not really his game, is it? I think he got, he kind of got bullied out of it to a large extent on the night. So, yeah, I personally, I'd go with Nunes from the start. Yeah, I think I would. I mean, you know, you use the analogy, you know, sort of, you know, is he the cavalry to bring on to save you? Yeah.

He mightn't find you if he's the cavalry. He's that sort. Get him on at the beginning. Let's see what he does. And then if you do need someone else, then try something different. But it looked to me as if PSG's central defenders would be more nervous with...

It's all Peter Irwin. Then they would be with any other sort of striker there. They were nervous, Tony. They were nervous last week as soon as he came on and they were backing off. And that's ultimately what led to the goal. You know, and I just think...

Maybe I'm calling it absolutely wrong and maybe Slott will think oppositely, but I just think it's one of those occasions where you've got to get into them pretty early and make it uncomfortable for them and let them know that you can't have it their own way like they did last week. Obviously, listening back to Slott's interview after the game, I don't think he was deceived by the result in Paris. I think he knew that Liverpool had been done over a little bit and got very lucky and he even said himself, you know, the

Maybe the victory wasn't a fair one. So I just think this is a game maybe where you've got to have a bit more of a go at them and make it as uncomfortable for them as possible. And maybe Nunes is a part of that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think physicality and a throwback to the Klopp era would suit us perfectly.

I mean, James, yeah. So aside from that, do you think we'll see much of a different side? Yeah, I think he'll freshen it up to a degree. I think I thought Robertson was excellent second half on Saturday. And I do think, you know, although in general, he certainly had some tough periods this season. I think there's real promising signs of him picking up.

key period so I think you know in Simakas was was was up there with the most disappointing performance first half so I don't even think that's a really a decision for slot I think Robertson comes back in at left back you know obviously the rest of the back four isn't going to change you'd you'd imagine I mean I'd say almost guaranteed that McAllister will come back into the midfield you know it's Curtis Jones the one who makes way and then as we said top end of the pitch

We're waiting to see whether Gagpo is potentially ready, but you'd have thought probably even if Gagpo is past fit, Bench is probably the best he can hope for, having missed a few games. So it's just probably that conundrum of do you go Nunes or Jota? And I think as good as PSG have been, when you look at their results in Europe this season...

You know, they have been a little bit vulnerable on their travels. You know, they lost 2-0 at Arsenal. They lost at Bayern. And I know that was earlier on in the campaign. And they're certainly in a, you know, in a different vein of form now. But yeah, it's a game when you just want to see Liverpool go out and grab it by the scruff of the neck and impose themselves on it. Because I think my only concern is, you know, and again, how many times have you seen it when...

you know, no matter how many times you tell yourselves as a team and as a staff, you know, be bold and all the rest of it in the back of your head, you're thinking, well, we're already, we're already winning from Paris. But I think if that seeps in, then that is a very, very dangerous kind of thing to think because we, we know that if you start to back off, that the PSG will hurt you. Yeah. There's a, there's a couple of things at play there, isn't it, James? And the,

This slot team has been very much about getting a lead and holding on to it and maintaining it, you know, after 60 minutes or whatever. As you said there, I think he'll be very, very mindful of that. The one they look at, aren't they? The one they look at half time, essentially. So a bit of an old cliche, but it is true. So you don't need to go looking for something necessarily. I think the other thing is, which I just find this incredible thing,

And I hope it's right because we had a bit of a discussion on our Athletic Slack channel last week. But Liverpool have never surrendered a lead in Europe, which has been taken away from home, you know, in the first leg.

So it would be a historical moment in Liverpool's history if this was to be overturned. You know what I mean? Liverpool is not a club that tends to let go of results, you know, which they have. So maybe Slot might think, you know what, we don't need to go hell for leather at these. Let's see what they've got to offer. I mean, I wonder last week whether the game plan was to let themselves, you know, punch themselves out a little bit, which they did in the second half, PSG. They weren't quite as threatening as...

My only concern, my big concern is just those wide areas, you know, I still can't say the lad's name, but the Georgian winger is an outstanding footballer and Dembele seems to have the bit between his teeth again and really threatening. And he's got a bit of a score to settle with Liverpool. People forget, you know, that he had a chance when he was playing for Barcelona to make a 4-0 in the first leg in the new camp. I'm sure people remember this.

in the final minute. Yeah, because we talked about that in the podcast. Did we talk about that moment? Oh, sorry, I apologise for repeating myself, but he did, didn't he? He did. I remember vividly seeing, I think it was Busquets beating the floor as he missed because he knew, you know, that was the chance to put the game out of sight. So anyway, I'm repeating myself now, so don't want to bore people too much more. Well, it's, this week is the 16th anniversary of when Liverpool beat Raytheon

Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield in the second leg. The famous, so this is Anfield, so what headline in the Spanish press. And after being 1-0 up from the away tie. So let's hope for a bit of history repeating itself there. And that's all from Walk On, your Liverpool podcast brought to you by The Athletic. Thanks to James and Simon for joining me and you too for listening. We'll be back later in the week.

with a trip to Wembley to look forward to. It's going to be a fantastic few days.