Do they have what it takes?
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00:00Looking at Liverpool and Arnie Schlott's group, obviously we've mentioned the sort of rise,
00:06the progression, the top of the Premier League, game in hand a few points, that gap to second
00:12as well and top of the Champions League, they've been pretty much flawless all season, albeit
00:17Nottingham Forest stealing four points from them. I mean, just sort of look back at the
00:24impact Arnie Schlott's had and maybe, you know, do they have the ingredients for this
00:29full-on title push and maybe even to go further in the Champions League as well? Can you see
00:34them maybe reaching that Champions League final or getting to those real latter stages
00:39of that? And also, were fans expecting this sort of rise to happen so quickly? Obviously,
00:45incredible period under Jurgen Klopp, he comes in and it's absolutely fantastic to see where
00:51Liverpool are right now. They're in an amazing position as we head into this sort of run-in
00:57come the end of the season.
00:58Yeah, they are. I don't think anyone quite expected it. Look, Arnie Schlott coming in,
01:04no-one knew what was going to happen and if you'd have asked a lot of fans, look, you'll
01:09finish third again and you might challenge for a domestic trophy. I think a lot of supporters
01:16would have probably taken that because it was so unknown changing from, you know, many
01:22people regard as the second-best manager in the world and someone of an unknown quantity
01:28coming in. But it's been an incredible season so far. Just in terms of the Champions League,
01:34you mentioned, can they go deep in that? Well, it's funny because Arnie Schlott was speaking
01:37about that at his pre-Lille press conference at Liverpool, top of the table, but it doesn't
01:42necessarily mean they're going to have a favourable draw because, you know, you look
01:45at Manchester City and say PSG, who are battling to finish in the top 24, it's a new format
01:52that has made it more difficult now. So, it might depend on the look of the draw, but
01:58on the flip side, Liverpool have already beaten the Spanish champions Real Madrid, beaten
02:03the German champions Bayer Leverkusen this season, beaten the likes of Man City this
02:10season in the league, Chelsea as well. In terms of the ingredients, you're probably
02:18looking at the squad thinking, yes, I think the injury situation is very healthy, only
02:24Joe Gould-Joss and Joe Gomez out. The one maybe question that some supporters are having
02:31is, are some of these players going to get a little bit burnt out, say the likes of Ryan
02:35Gravenberg, who's started to date every Premier League and Champions League game, which is
02:42a lot of football for someone who's 22. Alexis McAllister's played so much and he does for
02:49Argentina as well, when you add in all that travel and Virgil van Dijk has been, he's
02:5633 now, he became a Canadian, he's recently come back from an injury and has admitted
03:00he's playing with painkillers. That's the only doubt, is the squad a little bit thin?
03:05I think if there was an extra midfielder, I don't think fans would be concerned, but
03:11Arnaud Slot seems happy. There haven't been many real long-term injuries this season,
03:16so that's a positive, he seems to have a grip on that.