Charles Hague-Jones and Will Rooney discuss the latest news from Liverpool and Everton.
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00:00 Well, let's start with Liverpool and look at the aims for the new campaign.
00:05 Obviously Arnie Slott will be coming in to replace Jürgen Klopp.
00:08 It's been spoke about, obviously not fully confirmed by the club yet.
00:11 But looking at this new sort of era, you know, coming off the back of such an historic one with Jürgen Klopp,
00:17 what are their aims for the new campaign?
00:20 How can you see that sort of going?
00:22 It's a difficult one, really, because on the back of this campaign, you'd be looking at Liverpool
00:27 back in the Champions League. Now they'll be looking to challenge again if Jürgen Klopp was in charge.
00:32 But is it going to be a season of transition?
00:35 Well, I don't think Liverpool maybe can afford that, because this was supposed to be the transitional season
00:41 where they overhauled the midfield and brought in new players.
00:47 And they had to get their ideas across and said all along that the Champions League would be the main aim.
00:52 And probably Liverpool have overachieved, have been in the title race for so long.
00:56 But the Buffs fans, they'll be wanting to get back towards challenging for the title, ultimately,
01:03 and for major honours. I mean, third place in the Carabao Cup is a decent enough season.
01:07 But Liverpool, you know, they've seen Liverpool challenging for the Premier League,
01:11 going toe-to-toe with Man City, and they're seeing Arsenal do it now.
01:15 And they'll be thinking, well, can we get back into that position again?
01:19 But it's going to take Arnie Slott a little bit of time to get his methods across.
01:23 Of course it is. It happens with every manager. He's going to want to tweak a couple of things the way he wants to play.
01:30 Of course he will. That's just natural. So how long is that going to take?
01:35 And, you know, will Liverpool have a difficult start to the season?
01:38 Going to be making up ground maybe? And can they afford to do that?
01:43 Ultimately, I mean, look, Michael Edwards, you know, the CEO of football for FSG and incumbent sports director,
01:49 Richard Hughes, and FSG themselves will be laying down Arnie Slott's aims before, you know, the start of the season
01:57 or when he's coming in saying, right, year one, year two, year three, or even year one.
02:01 And then after that, you expect him to challenge for everything, like Jürgen Klopp has,
02:07 because Liverpool can't really afford to slump back into, you know, a team that maybe the top four is the aim every season.
02:17 And that's about it. They might challenge for the domestic piece of silverware.
02:20 They need to keep, need to stay at the top level, really, because that's what has built, that's what Jürgen Klopp's built.
02:27 And Liverpool won't be wanting to go back to, you know, the daddy era of Hodgson,
02:33 Brendan Rodgers, you know, they're at the top of the European ladder now and they won't want to lose the position.
02:41 Well, looking at their star man, Mohamed Salah, obviously by his numbers, it's not been quite the incredible season.
02:48 We've seen him post some unbelievable numbers under Jürgen Klopp.
02:53 Obviously, the end of Klopp's reign, there's questions whether it might be the end of Salah's as well in a Liverpool shirt.
02:58 What's the latest you can tell us? Obviously, a bit of a falling out at West Ham as well, maybe on the touchline.
03:04 But does that sort of maybe, you know, symbolise that it could be the end of his time here?
03:10 Or, you know, how are the fans feeling as well? Do they really want the Egyptian to stay?
03:15 Yeah, it's been a difficult one because the statesman at West Ham, I mean, obviously he'd be dropped to the bench in the Mersa Sardar before.
03:24 He was pretty anonymous, gave the ball away, that ultimately led to Everton's second goal.
03:29 Didn't do a lot in the game, put a couple over the bar.
03:32 He's been in poor form since he's returned from the African Cup and Asians and injury, really.
03:36 And then he obviously aggravated his hamstring again when he came off the bench, probably sooner than expected away at Brentford.
03:45 That's obviously contributed to it.
03:46 And maybe it's just, you know, feeling the effects of pretty much being available for every game that Liverpool have had in the seven years he's been in the club.
03:56 But, you know, back to that West Ham incident, you were looking at it, you know, it didn't look great on the sides of the pitch.
04:02 And then obviously what happened in the mix zone after it, where he said there'll be fire for speaking.
04:07 When Jürgen Klopp tried to put the fire out, Salah's stoking the flames, really.
04:12 But now, you know, what's coming out of Liverpool is that Liverpool don't want to sell him this summer.
04:20 Even though he's got a year left on his contract and there was Salah's interest last summer,
04:25 everyone probably expected Mo Salah to have interest from Salah again.
04:31 But is that Liverpool saying, well, no, we want to keep him because they don't want to drive a price down?
04:37 If you say, well, he's not part of our plans, then clubs are going to say, well, you want to get rid of him.
04:42 So we're going to try and try and lowball you. And it's interesting because Michael Edwards, who's back at the club now as well,
04:49 he was a key figure in bringing Mo Salah to Liverpool from Roma.
04:53 I think he actually had to persuade Jürgen Klopp to go with Salah, maybe ahead of a couple of other wingers.
04:59 And that's big. He's clearly got an admirer in Michael Edwards. Liverpool will be looking at the situation, of course they will.
05:05 And they'll be looking at why his form has dipped lately.
05:09 Why is it not even performances, but goals also dries up as well.
05:15 Liverpool will be looking at all the data, etc., what they've got available to them.
05:20 But I think maybe we have been too quick to judge him because he has been so good for seven years.
05:27 Maybe we were too quick to say, well, he's having a poor patch.
05:30 He's 32, he's finished, he's in impeccable shape, isn't he?
05:34 And players we know play for a lot longer than he used to.
05:38 So maybe we've just got a little bit ahead of ourselves by saying that maybe he is on a downward curve and it's just a dip in form.
05:47 Well, looking at Everton, in terms of we must talk about how they've managed to survive in the Premier League this season.
05:55 It's quite, you know, compared to the last few seasons, it's a lot better, really, you know, to not having to go into those last few games and really worry about what the teams are doing.
06:07 We've touched on the fact that that was sort of Sean Dyche's aim and overall, he's done quite a decent job to achieve that, really.
06:14 When you look at the things he's been dealt with this season in terms of deductions, etc.
06:18 In terms of the new campaign, where do they sort of, how do they sort of go about changing their aims from being a club that wants to avoid relegation to a club that really wants to, you know,
06:31 re-establish themselves as one of the better sides in the Premier League?
06:33 Because they did it for so many years.
06:35 And what's the first sort of step towards doing that?
06:39 If I'm being brutally honest, I think it might be survival again, just because of,
06:45 Sean Dyche said this, you know, staying up last season was a step.
06:48 This will be another step.
06:49 And Everton still got plenty of steps to make because of what's gone on with the club, you know, look at the financial situation.
06:55 Again, they posted heavy losses in the recent accounts.
06:59 Are they going to have another point deduction next season?
07:01 We don't know.
07:02 And are Everton going to have to sell some of their assets in the summer, like Jemma Bramford,
07:07 Aldo and Arna to help balance the books, which is obviously be a blow.
07:13 I think, as I say, the aim for Everton will be to get to the new stadium when it opens for '25, '26 as a Premier League club.
07:21 That's paramount.
07:21 So staying in the Premier League, look, I know some fans won't want to hear it, but you've got to look at the last three years, you know.
07:29 First, the last two years, just stayed up, penultimate day, then the final day.
07:34 And now three clear.
07:35 Great job that Sean Dyche has done and the points that he's accrued.
07:39 We don't know what's going to happen in the summer, as I say.
07:41 Are assets going to have to go?
07:45 Are they going to be able to get the players in that they want to replace them?
07:48 I think Sean Dyche described it as like juggling sands, almost.
07:53 But that's what it's going to be for him and Kevin Falwell in the summer, because it's not easy.
08:00 It's not going to be easy.
08:02 But what they will need to do is build a little bit of momentum in these final three games.
08:07 I don't think they'll be dead rubbers whatsoever.
08:08 I think Sean Dyche will want to build the impetus into next season.
08:13 He'll show potential players we are building something here and you can be a part of it.
08:18 But if I'm being pragmatic, I mean, a mid-table finish next season, I think a lot of fans would take it right now.
08:27 And looking at the transfer situation ahead of the summer, obviously, you said that it's going to be difficult in terms of players that need to stay,
08:35 for them to make progress in this division.
08:39 The likes of Jarrod Brantway, I'm sure clubs might be in for him in the summer after his fantastic season.
08:45 But players who need to stay and players who they might look to get in or positions they might need to fill in the summer?
08:52 Yes, I mean, as you say, Jarrod Brantway is the prized asset.
08:55 I'm sure he'll be covered by a lot of clubs.
08:57 If he goes, he's going to have to go and get another centre-back, to be honest, to play alongside James Tarkowski.
09:03 It's difficult to replace Brantway just because of his attributes.
09:06 But you've got Michael Keane, the club hasn't played all season and his career has been on the slide.
09:12 He started the season ahead of Brantway and didn't really take his chance.
09:16 Ben Godfrey, the doubt, can he play in a back four rather than a back three when you're playing three centre-backs?
09:25 I think wide players are going to need it, definitely.
09:30 At the minute, they'll only have Dwight McNeil on the books as an out-and-out wide player.
09:36 Jack Harrison, Sloane Deal at Leeds United has come to a conclusion.
09:40 Sean Dyche wasn't too emphatic whether Evan would be able to do anything to bring him in permanently or not.
09:46 Abdel Dume has been injured and he hasn't played a lot anyway.
09:49 I don't think he's a Sean Dyche type of player.
09:52 Ashley Young is the other one who is out of contract, is going to be 39 in July.
09:57 Even if he does stay, he'll still be very much an auxiliary player.
10:02 Wide players are going to need at least two, maybe three, because I think Dwight McNeil has played too much this season.
10:08 For as good as he's been, he has a dip when he just looks absolutely exhausted.
10:13 I think he needs to be managed better.
10:17 And then on the midfield situation, I think Evan might need some midfielders in.
10:23 Andre Gomez is out of contract, Adrissa Garnaghey is out of contract, Alzahar Unaner again.
10:28 The situation with him is up in the air.
10:30 Is he going to be one of the players who might potentially be sold if Evan need to?
10:35 And maybe a little bit of cover at left back as well, because Vitaly Mikhailenko has been excellent this season.
10:40 Unfortunately, he missed the last few games with an ankle injury, but there's no real out-and-out cover for him.
10:45 Ashley Young has done a job there, but I think Evan needs another left back.
10:49 Maybe someone a little bit more attacking as well.
10:52 Mikhailenko is excellent defensively, but there are some games where you need that little bit more from the full-back going forwards.
11:00 And Mikhailenko just isn't improving that.
11:03 He just doesn't give you that, really.
11:05 So it could be quite a busy summer for Sean Dyche, but it will be difficult.
11:10 And I think they're going to have to be creative in how they get deals done again.
11:15 Just quickly on the fact you said there that these last few games, Dyche is going to want to maybe show players who could come in that there is something building here.
11:24 Obviously, the new stadium as well soon.
11:26 How important are these few games to show players that there can be a good future at Everton?
11:33 Yes, I think so.
11:33 I think he knows that the knocks are there about the season and he'll be wanting to finish on a high.
11:41 Not only that, but the prize money as well, because I think it's maybe 2.7, 2.8 million per place.
11:48 And given Everton's financial situation, that's not something that he can afford to pass up, to be honest with you.
11:56 So, yes, they build momentum.
11:58 Getting it going into next season is crucial.