Liverpool head coach Arne Slot and his side are facing a mouth-watering run of matches
You don’t bear a grudge. Real Madrid beat us. That’s a few times now, including at Anfield. I think Arne Slot should show the players that game. Show them that 5-2 because that was a low, a real low of the Jurgen Klopp reign.
That night, we got absolutely battered. We were awful and they were good. And I think it would be good to show the players that game back, just to let them know, because you’ve got to be on the ball.
A draw would be okay, but we play at Anfield to win. 60,000 come to Anfield to watch us win. We want to win, we play to win. We want to beat Real Madrid, we want to prove that what this manager is doing is not a fluke.
And these two games, against the reigning champions of Europe and reigning champions of England, is the time to prove that. It’s not a fluke.
Bang, bang, win these two games and everyone will sit up and take notice. We haven’t played brilliantly but we’re getting results, we’re grinding them out, and the manager’s strategy and style of play is working.
We don’t know yet if Trent will be fit to face Real Madrid, but he’ll want to play. Of course he will, everyone wants to play against Real Madrid.
I was lucky to play against them four times in Spain. Scored against them at home when we beat them 2-1, scored against them in the Bernabeu when we beat them 3-2, and I loved it!
It’s Real Madrid. I loved beating them with Real Sociedad, the buzz I got and the buzz Real Sociedad and San Sebastian got for beating the central government’s team, the King’s team.
It meant so much to me but even more to the people of San Sebastian. Worldwide, Real Madrid are the biggest club on the planet. Of course they are. It’s great to play against them, it’s a joy to play against such a massive club.
Trent will want to play against them, regardless of all the transfer talk. And if he is fit to play, he’ll be desperate to beat them too.
Pile the pressure on City
Liverpool were off the boil against Southampton. That’s not necessarily a surprise, being the first game back after the international break.
I thought we did alright, just not defensively. It was Southampton’s Wembley, bottom of the league against top of the league. They had a point to prove to the manager and their fans. And they proved it!
They were good and caused us a lot of problems. But we also caused ourselves a lot of problems, defensively. You look across the back four, the four of them weren’t at their best.
Kelleher was really good, I can’t believe some of the papers giving him only a six out of 10. He made some big saves, he saved the penalty and nearly saved the rebound. Again, he was faultless.
But the back four, and maybe the midfield too a little bit in terms of protecting the back four, were caught out a little bit. They can’t do that against Man City next week or Real Madrid in midweek, they can’t do that.
You can’t give Man City anything. They’ve just been massacred, they’ve got a point to prove next week. A massive point to prove.
The pressure is on them. But it’s also on us. If we can win the game, Man City will have so much work to do and so much ground to make up. We’d have to really suffer a bad blip to let them get back in it.
But don’t write Arsenal off. Or Chelsea, Chelsea are dangerous. They’ve got the players. The manager is doing a really good job. They’re on the ascendancy, they could be dark horses.
Szoboszlai needs to show more
Dominik Szoboszlai needs to do more in the final third. When he first joined, he looked a world-beater. Something has happened, I don’t know, but he was better at St. Mary’s and got his goal.
He’s the captain of Hungary at a young age, he’s not most players. He’s got great ability. Perhaps he has lost a little bit of confidence but there is a player in there, absolutely.
I’m so pleased for Harvey Elliott to see him back in the squad. If Szoboszlai doesn’t improve, he’ll be itching to take his place.
I love watching him play. He’s not a winger, but when he plays in that role in front of Trent and in behind Mo, he changes games. He’s a game-changer and he’s still really young.
He wants to get in the team, he loves Liverpool, his family love Liverpool. His dad is a massive, massive Liverpool fan.
He is only young and one day soon he will want to stake his claim in the team, like Curtis Jones is doing now, and so far he has gone the right way about it. The injury came at a bad time but it’s great to have him back.
