Liverpool’s stance ahead of Merseyside Derby

National World - LocalTV

A look ahead to the home game for the PL leaders.

Transcript

00:00Let's look ahead to the derby from a Liverpool perspective. Firstly, starting with the occasion

00:07that's touched on. Obviously, Arnie Schlott failed to get that win over the line away

00:11at Goodison in very late, dramatic fashion. It put a bit of a stint into them in terms

00:18of their form. They were flying before that game and there was a lot of headlines coming

00:22out of it away from what actually happened on the pitch, full-time, etc., with the manager

00:27and the referees, etc. Do you feel that that first derby was a real bit of a learning curve

00:33of Arnie Schlott learning how important the derby is to fans and the players, and Everton

00:39really gave them a great game that night?

00:42Yeah, I think he must have been aware of how important the game is to fans, but maybe the

00:51intensity did surprise him a little bit. It was a real bare pit that night, Goodison,

00:58the last one of Goodison Park, under the lights. The occasion really was set up for Everton,

01:04to be quite frank. Nothing was more than worth a point on the evening, that late-change Tchaikovsky

01:11goal. Yeah, I think it'd be a learning curve in terms of letting emotions get to him. He

01:19said that the cool heads were needed. Some players, like Conor Bradley, who was experienced

01:24in his first derby, he struggled in the game, if I remember correctly. But it's at Anfield

01:31this time, and Liverpool, in the majority of games this season at Anfield, have been

01:38dominant as they head to win. Even PSG, when he got beat, he had some chances. It was a

01:45back-and-forth game. Nottingham Forest, he lost at home too, but Liverpool were probably

01:52the better team that day, just couldn't create too many chances. So it'll be a different

01:57game, but the challenge around the slot is going to be how can he... He said after the

02:02Carabao Cup final loss to Newcastle that Newcastle were physically better than Liverpool. He

02:11said that they were making Liverpool go long. Newcastle win the ball in the air, and then

02:19they pick it up with second balls, etc. Everton are probably going to do similarly, you would

02:26think. They've got two giant centre-halves, Tchaikovsky and Bramford, who win everything

02:30in the air. They've got a player like Joseph Garnaghey in midfield who gets around the

02:35park. So that's the challenge around the slots. How is he going to combat that? Because

02:41teams who play like that... Man United went long as well at the start of the year, and

02:46Liverpool had to struggle to beat Man United. Nottingham Forest, obviously we know how they

02:52play. So that's the challenge for slots. How does he cope with these teams who have got

03:00a clear way of playing? It might not be the sexiest way of playing, but it's effective,

03:07and you can't moan. To be fair to Klose, he doesn't moan to say this is anti-football.

03:12He accepts that this is the way that these teams play. It is a challenge now to come

03:18up a way for Liverpool. How do they get it? Do they go around Everton? Do they go through

03:23them? That's the way they've got to do it. But you would think that Liverpool are going

03:29to have more of the ball than they did. They had a lot of the ball at Everton, but they

03:33never felt like it. But you think a little bit more control at Anfield, there will be

03:38that. And Liverpool don't give too many chances away, usually at home. So Everton are going

03:46to have to take them, because they will be in a pretty immediate thing for them at Anfield.

03:51Yeah, just looking at the injury situation for Liverpool, quite a few are out injured

03:56at the moment with knocks, etc. What's the sort of latest you can tell us on who might

04:00be returning and where it puts Liverpool ahead of this highly anticipated return,

04:06which is obviously at a Merseyside derby?

04:10Yeah, so we've had three issues, haven't we, during the international break? Brian

04:15Gravenberch and Alisson Becker both came back from their respective nations because of issues.

04:22Gravenberch did play in Haverford, the Netherlands game, in Spain. He went and

04:26reported to duty and then came back. In truth, I don't think too many fans were surprised.

04:31They maybe got a little niggle, given how much football he has played recently. He's

04:36only 22. I think he's played maybe near double the minutes that he did last season. It's

04:43not a surprise he's taken a toll. So hopefully a couple of weeks of rest will do him good.

04:49Alisson Becker suffered a suspected concussion, maybe a head injury. He had to follow the

04:55protocol playing for Brazil. The police came out and said he was fine. On Instagram, he

05:01just had to follow the protocol. So that's good news for Liverpool. Neymar came off in

05:07France's first game against Croatia with a knock and then didn't get off the bench

05:11in the second game. Again, another one who's played a lot of football this season, someone

05:18who has had injury issues in the past. So him not playing the second game is probably

05:24a good thing for Liverpool. Conor Bradley, the Northern Ireland manager, said he's

05:30working hard to get back. It didn't sound like he was on the cusp of making a return.

05:36So he'll be out in Trent Alexander-Arnold. It might be a little bit too soon for him.

05:41And then Joe Gomez very much might be back for the final few games of the season. So

05:48there are some issues to contend with for Arnold Slott. The majority of his squads,

05:53I think everyone who is fit bar Federico Chiesa, went off on international duty. So

06:00they've all been playing games as well. So that's not ideal because they were in some

06:04tense games. The only good thing is there's no game at the weekend and Liverpool's players,

06:08especially the South American ones who are coming back, have extra time to recover.

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