Salah to leave Liverpool & Inside the England camp

24:43I think, I mean obviously there's a lot of top players for the managers to pick from so there's obviously that aspect of it and football's a game of opinion so you can never be 100 % sure on whether you're going to get picked or not but yeah I've had a couple injuries as well. I had one last year that was about three months, so that obviously doesn't help. And then I had one at the start of the season before the September camp. It was a growing, wasn't it? Yeah. So you could call that unlucky maybe, but no, I think obviously it's always competitive for the team selection. So yeah, I'm just sort of focusing on myself and then, you know, happy when I get selected.

25:29John Murray:And when you've heard the pundits rave about your match of the day, how does that make you feel? Yeah, obviously it's not terrible to hear, but at the same time you can't sort of take it in too much and get ahead of yourself. Otherwise then you probably start sort of letting off a bit and not sort of progressing as much as you probably could. so yeah it's obviously nice to hear but try not to sort of pay too much attention to the positive and the negative and just try and sort of keep level-headed And after that injury that you withdrew then from the September squad you weren't called up in October at that point with the World Cup around the corner did you start to worry a little bit or did Thomas Tuchel offer you some sort of level of support like an assurance?

26:25No, I wasn't worried. Obviously, from October till May, June is a long time. There's a lot of football matches, especially for us at Palace being in Europe, so we've got even more matches than usual. So no, I'm not worried. Like I said, just sort of trying to focus on myself, stay level-headed, don't take that as too much of a negative and then equally when you get selected, don't take it as too much of a positive and try and just stay level as much as you can and then you can be as consistent as possible.

27:00John Murray:Where does that being grounded come from? Is that down to your parents or is there somebody who's had an influence on your career? Definitely parents, but I think it's a good thing they kept me grounded from a young age, wouldn't let me be naughty or anything like that, so you learn pretty quick. My mum was a teacher, so me and my brothers definitely got some of the bad days after school. We'd feel the wrath of it, so I think it's a positive. I just want to be as normal as possible and I think that helps me try to be that way You don't strike me as a naughty young man anyway No, no, definitely not When you were a player though I mean obviously you've got great passing ability and your technique and your vision Who was your inspiration from a footballing point of view?

27:54Messi I just, growing up he was the one that I always loved to watch you get excited watching him and yeah he was always my favourite player so I don't think he's a bad player to sort of try and replicate I don't think I will replicate it but yeah I just love to watch him play and I think that's where a lot of the sort of creative side of my game comes from I think

28:24John Murray:So is he in your mind when you're actually playing you're thinking this is what Messi might do No No. Not during the game. I don't really think like that. I think I'm too sort of focused on the game and just trying to do as well as I can and help the team as much as I can. So not during the game, but I think just growing up, watching him so much. Obviously, I tried to replicate that when I was younger growing up. He always wanted to be like Messi. He wanted to be like the best. And then obviously as you grow older, you grow into your own sort of player. But yeah, that's definitely where it started from but you're not afraid to be creative though are you no I think you have to be especially in this sort of era of football you know teams are very tactically well set up and they're difficult to break down so if you don't have their creativity then it's it's pretty easy for them I think to sort of get behind the ball and stop you from creating chances so I think that's where the creativity comes in and if you don't have that then you'll struggle to create a lot of chances Was it frustrating to go to the Euros and not play any football?

29:34I wouldn't say frustrating. I think obviously going there you want to play and you want to be involved. Every footballer wants to play as many matches as you can, especially on such a big stage like that. But at the same time, I'd been in the Premier League six months. I was surprised to go there. so that was sort of more than expected anyway going so I wouldn't say I was frustrated to not play it was just a great experience for me and I'm glad I went there to experience it and get that to help me as a player and a person moving forward

30:18John Murray:And it must whet the appetite now for the World Cup so how are you viewing this opportunity this strange set up where you've got 11 players who are not going to arrive until the weekend this is an opportunity for you to seize it? Yeah, I think it's always an opportunity whenever you get the chance to come here and try and show what you can do to the manager and the staff it doesn't come around too often there's only a few times a year so if you do get the opportunity every session, every game listening, the meetings you've got to try and take it all in and try and use it as much as you can whilst you have it and finally for me, what's been the messaging from Thomas Tuchel as you've gathered here today?

31:05Just similar to what I said try and take the opportunity it's a big chance for obviously a lot more players than usual so just try and affect the camp as much as you can, try and impress him as much as you can whilst you have the opportunity and then see where it gets you. Good luck. Thank you.

31:25Ian Dennis:So there we are, Adam Wharton, talking to you, Ian. We know, Thomas Tuchel told us last week, this is the, as he called it, the last opportunity to compete for a ticket and into that midfield, which is quite established now, isn't it? I mean, he has had a look at him, but Cobby Mayne, who's now involved, we've obviously got James Garner in this squad, who we're going to hear from him in a moment or two.

31:49John Murray:Interesting that Adam Wharton has also said in a separate interview that Thomas Tuchel has told him that Jordan Henderson and Elliot Anderson is the direct competition regarding the number six position. And when I actually finished my interview with him, I said, is Thomas Tuchel giving you any clues as to who's going to be released? and he didn't want to divulge that information. But Elliot Anderson is obviously one of the 11 who's going to either link up Friday evening stroke Saturday morning. And I just wonder if Wharton or Henderson are one of the two players then that comes out as Elliot Anderson comes in, in terms of that jigsaw, if you like, of who's going to help fill that number six position.

32:35Ian Dennis:That is the interesting thing this week with England. Who are the players who are going to be going home on Friday night, Saturday morning, when the other 11 come in.

32:46John Murray:Adam did say it's dependent on injuries, and that's why at this stage that they're going to try and keep their cards close to their chest, because I know for a fact that Thomas Tuchel does know the individuals in his head, but he wouldn't divulge those names to the press last week.

33:01Ian Dennis:No, and I suppose James Garner would be another one of those players. The Everton midfielder started every match in every competition for Everton this season. last week Thomas Tuchel said that Garner has had a fantastic season played in multiple positions he's flat fast got a clean foot and can take set pieces so we had a chance to speak to him having received his first senior call-up but he is no stranger to St George's Park remember having played at every level from under 17 right up to under 21 and now he's in Thomas Tuchel's squad It feels a little bit different. Like you said, I know this place very well, but coming in today, there's a lot of new faces and obviously a whole lot of pressure.

33:47So, yeah, no, it feels a lot different.

33:49Ian Dennis:Did you have an inkling? Did you think it might be coming? I'd hoped it would come, yeah. Like I said, I felt personally I've had a good season and it's probably the best I've played since I've started. So I was very confident and hoping that I would get the call up. And I'm very thankful that I did. And tell us how you found out who was the first person that you called. What was their reaction? Yeah, to be quite honest with you, you know, he messaged me, said that we need a call. And obviously then, obviously, we had the call and it was a very positive one. And I was very happy. and to be honest with you, I didn't tell anybody because I knew the squad was going out the next day.

34:35So on the way to training, I rang my mum and my dad and brother and stuff and let them know, but I just wanted to digest it myself. And so, yeah, I didn't even tell anyone.

34:49Ian Dennis:And how instrumental do you think David Moyes has been in all of this? Yeah, no, I think since he's came in, not only myself, You know, the club has gone. I've been leaps and bounds. So I think that's only testament to him and his staff. And I'm very thankful for all the help that he has gave me since he's came in. So there we are, Everton's James Garner in the England squad. And we also had a chance to speak today to the England under-21 coach, former Evertonian himself, Lee Carsley, who has been successful at two Euro Under-21 tournaments. So he knows a thing or two about picking a successful tournament squad.

35:35Ian Dennis:And I spoke to Lee Carsley about what he looks for in the makeup of those squads. You know, the personalities and the character that you have in the squad is very important. Players that understand maybe what their roles may be. You know, they all play such important roles at their clubs. That might not be the same at an international level. and then add the time of four, five, six weeks away from home, adding that on to it. It's important that you take the right kind of personalities and characters with you and setting a clear objective of it being won and setting the target of you're there to win.

36:12Putting the team before yourselves and the squad before yourself is definitely key to winning anything.

36:17Ian Dennis:Do you agonise over it? A hundred percent, yeah. It's very difficult to pick the last squad that we picked, never mind a tournament squad, because you know, especially when you get to a tournament, that 95 % of the team will never play for the under-21s again. So it's a prestigious honour to represent your country in a major tournament and then to, like I say, touch wood, we've had some really good performances in tournaments and the players deserve a lot of credit for that. I'm going to just ask you as well about, in terms of developing the younger players, and I'm thinking specifically here of Max Downman, who's obviously in the spotlight at the moment, but I know Thomas Tuchel spoke to us about Rio and Gamua as well last week.

37:02Ian Dennis:Give us an idea of the sort of process that goes on when you are discussing, among all of you here at St George's Park, about when is the right time to bring them forward. I think it's like you say, it's all about time. And I think sometimes some talents are that far ahead that they go through the age groups quite quickly. I think it's important that people understand that we've got an under-17 GEROS, an under-19 GEROS, an under-21 GEROS and a senior one. So it's important that we see a real benefit of qualifying for these tournaments and for the players to get a lot of minutes that aren't playing so much at their clubs.

37:36And I think sometimes we can't dictate to the clubs how much players play at the clubs what we can with international level so trying to get the players into the right age groups with the right test knowing that they're going to play a lot of minutes is definitely a skill and we have a lot of conversations about making sure that we're putting the players in the right age groups to get the right challenge and supporting them and we think we've done that at the minute

38:03Ian Dennis:But there will be exceptions I know there have been in the past of players who skip age groups Yeah, it's happened in the past. It's happened many times where you go sometimes from 19 straight to the senior team. We've seen people go from 17 to the senior team. So it's definitely on an individual basis. And I think one of the key things is these players, they play a lot of minutes at their clubs and they're playing week in, week out. I think it's important that we don't fast track people too quickly. Max is an outstanding talent, as is Rio. and we're very lucky that we've got quite a few players like that, of that level that are outstanding talents.

38:43Ian Dennis:So there we are, Lee Carsley, the England under-21 coach. Interesting talking about Max Dowman and whether he might miss out a couple of age groups. He's keeping his cards close to his chest, but it would not be a surprise, would it, at some point, possibly later this year?

38:59John Murray:Well, I mean, I have likened Max Dowman to Wayne Rooney in the past for being this generational talent. You know, I've heard scouts, well, David Pleat in particular, raving about him from three years ago. He first started talking to me about Max Downman. And I remember we talked to Declan Rice about this special talent that Arsenal have got in their midst. And similar to Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney went straight in at international level for a major tournament in Euro 2004. And, you know, when Thomas Tuchel spoke to you last week, Although it was also interesting that he mentioned Rio and Gamora at Liverpool, but he still would not close the door on the possibility of Max Downman, would he?

39:44Ian Dennis:Yes, he said, why would I do that? So that is what's happening with England. But obviously the biggest internationals in this window are the World Cup playoffs. And Wales are preparing for their World Cup playoff semi-final against Bosnia-Herzegovina. And we can hear the latest news from the Wales camp now with Chris Watton. Hello, welcoming you. To Wales HQ, the Football Association of Wales' base in the Vale of Grimorgan, just outside of Cardiff. The team's staying at the hotel, just a short walk from these rather plush offices and training pitches in front of us, where Craig Bellamy is readying his side for what is an absolutely huge week.

40:23Two wins from the World Cup, with the play-off semi-final against Bosnia and Herzegovina first up on Thursday. before, if all goes to plan, the winners of Northern Ireland and Italy in Cardiff next Tuesday. Although the message from the Wales boss is that no one should be looking past a Bosnian side. They've only just missed out on automatic qualification and still have the 40-year-old goal threat of Edin Dzeko to call on. Wales, though, are missing some of their most experienced players, the likes of Ben Davies, Aaron Ramsey, Kiefer Moore, all-out injured. but they do still have plenty of know-how in a squad who reached the last World Cup via the playoffs, including Ethan Ampadu, the Leeds United captain, who has 59 caps at just the age of 25.

41:09And he's been telling me how he hopes to harness that experience in such a crucial week. I think as a team we're going to be trying to obviously calm the nerves and calm the pressure, but knowing that we have to deliver. but like I said it's that excitement and making sure that we understand what the game means and what it's about, not just for us players but as a whole country itself. It's obviously harder whenever you miss players for injury, especially the experience that they bring, but seeing how they've trained in previous camps and knowing how they go about their football, it raises the standard anyway, so we're all fully committed to this.

41:47You've got a lot of experience Of course you know what it feels like To reach major finals You know what it feels like to reach the World Cup That feeling, it must have been That Ukraine game must have been one of the greatest Nights of your career Is that something that you keep inside you As a bit of motivation, you want it again? No definitely, I think it only adds to it Because you know that feeling of winning that game But also like I said Going to a major tournament I think everyone's being honest and we didn't produce levels that we know we could have and we should have. So it's that excitement, motivation of achieving it, but also wanting to go back and show everyone what Wales can do.

42:27The whole nation is excited, is nervous. What's the mood like when you're in camp? What do you do to pass the time? Because it can be a lot of hours in the build-up to a game. Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, when it's time to work, when you're timing the grass, when you're in the meetings, it's full concentration, full focus. as that's the minimum expectation to play for Wales. But then, like I said, we've got a lot of time, but we've got such a good squad. Everyone gets involved with anyone, so people do different things to pass their time, but it's making sure that we're together and we have that bond as well, it's made Wales successful in the past and what hopefully we're going to keep involved with and keep trying to go to major tournaments with.

43:08Because this is a squad that, by and large, has grown up together, hasn't it? and come through a lot of experiences together. You've been here, what, 10 years, I think it was, when you were first sort of brought in for training before you were 2016? Yeah. 10 years sounds like a long time, but it's gone like that. So I think that's another thing that when you're in these moments, you have to grab with both hands because hopefully we can be sat here in another 10 years to say that we've been to the tournament in America and following tournaments after that. so um yeah time really does go quickly so um you have to make the most of it whilst you're there one of the players that has come on this journey with you is harry wilson uh not a bad season he's having is he no he's he's been amazing um so playing up against him twice for for fulham we we know his qualities um i think everyone has known his qualities i think this is it's been nice to see everyone on the wider audience speak about him more because like i said we all know what we can do.

44:09We all know his quality is his magic of a left foot but it's been really nice to be able to see everyone else appreciating him and knowing what he can do and yeah for us we're just very excited to see him and coming into this camp we're very fortunate we've got a player like him. When he's in this kind of form, when you share a dressing room with him, is it nice knowing that he can cause teams damage, he can help us get to where we want to be which is of course the World Cup? No definitely because first and foremost for us to get a good result and achieve you've got to achieve, there's going to be a massive collective, whether that's players, staff, fans, fans getting behind us, we know what the Red Walls like.

44:48We know that they're going to be for us and with us throughout every single moment. And then when you, not just him, but especially as it was talking about him, when you look at a player that who can create a moment of magic from nothing really, it's definitely a confidence booster. Ethan Ampadu there chatting in the changing rooms here at the FAW training base. and soon after I was joined by his Ellen Road teammate Carl Darlow. It was a bit of family history at the World Cup. His grandfather, Ken Leake, a striker at Newcastle among others and having been part of the Wales squad who went to Sweden in 1958.

45:22But the Wales goalkeeper started by summing up the mood of the camp. We know how big a camp this can be and it's kind of all led up to this moment where we know we can do something special and qualify for the World Cup in the summer. The World Cup is in your blood, isn't it? Yeah. Tell us about your grandfather. I know it's a story that you've told before, but there's not many families that have a grandfather and a grandson managed to make it to the biggest football tournament in the world. Yeah, hopefully. Obviously, that's a massive moment in what his career was, and I'm hoping that I can emulate that and do the same and to play a big part in what we've done qualifying so far, I'm just hoping that we can finish the job off.

46:08It's really exciting. I think the next game, obviously being Bosnia Thursday night, we're so fully focused on that. And then what comes after it is hopefully going to be special. It's hard not to look ahead though, isn't it? Especially for the fans who are desperate to get back there. Yeah, we know that every single nation that we've come up against throughout qualifying, even Lichtenstein away, it's still a tough game. So we're not underestimating anyone, it's just a fact that we need to beat Bosnia to give ourselves the best possible chance of getting to the World Cup and that's what we're focused on.

46:49I know the manager is someone that only looks at the next day, preparation is everything. How's he been so far? Because I think he's just been swatting and plotting for about four months since that North Macedonia game. It's been a long wait. Yeah, he's excited as well. I think, like you say, he has a long time between that November camp and the March camp. So, yeah, a lot of planning has obviously gone into how we can beat Bosnia on Thursday. And that's all we're focused on in terms of what we do in these next few days and how we can get past them. Is it intense in camp? Is it nervous? What's it like?

47:24I think, to be fair, every camp's intense. I think we go into every camp with full throttle and making sure that we're ready to go for each and every single game. And that's the way we kind of got used to it. I think having the manager in charge for a fair amount of time now has probably got us used to that. So he installs a confidence in us that we can go out and execute a game plan. And I think that probably showed the most in the last game that we played against North Macedonia. And hopefully we can just replicate that. he's been ready for about three and a half months i think you must be ready because number one for club number one for country this is all going to plan isn't it yeah it's um yeah it's been really good recently i think um i'm on a good run of games where i've got a bit of rhythm going again and uh yeah it's really nice to be to be playing week in week out in the premier league and um and for yeah and for my country so um yeah it's something that i'm just taking step by step and enjoying the moment it must make it sweeter because it hasn't been an easy journey for you in terms of that you've had to fight yeah yeah to wait yeah i've had to fight all my career i think that's the same for probably any professional in any any sport you're always going to have times where you have to show you show your bottle and show what you're about and um that's something that i've always backed myself to do and um even coming here and trying to get the number one shirt and making sure i play is something that i'll always back myself to do and um yeah i'm just proud of of what where i'm at at the minute and i just want that to continue 12 caps your grandfather got 13.

48:59yeah i know yeah so it could be it could be a big night then i need to beat that don't i the family coming down yeah they're all down yeah they're all coming down on on the wednesday so um yeah i'm well aware of that stuff and yeah i want to beat that as well you've got the chance hopefully it comes yeah thursday and then next tuesday i know you're not going to look that far ahead it's all about thursday night which and let's hope it doesn't could go to penalties it's clearly that's something you're aware of is it something that you've been preparing for yeah i think yeah like you say how long has the manager been preparing for this camp we will be well prepared in what we need to do and if it comes down to that and um again confidence in terms of what we do and how we execute if it goes to penalties.

49:45We need to make sure that we're ready and we will be. You're going to be at home, clearly. What difference does that make? I mean, your experience in the Wales camp is limited, but you already know what these nights are like, don't you? Yeah, it's a huge benefit. I think, yeah, at club or country, always playing at home, you seem to have that little bit more confidence and backing from your home fans. I can imagine Thursday night is going to be pretty vibrant and exciting and loud, and hopefully we can give them a performance to enjoy and make it a good night.

50:15Ian Dennis:Carl Darlow, the Wales goalkeeper there with Chris Wathen. And simultaneously on Thursday night, Northern Ireland will be in Bergamo for their challenging World Cup playoff semifinal against Italy with the winners to play away against Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina in the final. Ian, Northern Ireland injury hit without two of the most important players, Connor Bradley and Dan Ballard?

50:43John Murray:Yeah, I did a dinner in the Northeast a few weeks ago and Dan Ballard was the name of the FWA Northeast Footballer of the Year. And one of the last questions that I did on stage was, how excited are you looking forward to this playoff game against Italy? And so I can only imagine how devastated he must be that this hamstring injury is going to keep him out of this crucial, crucial game. And you mentioned the word challenging. And I know that some may be surprised that Italy haven't reached the World Cup finals since 2014. They didn't qualify in 2018 or indeed for that one, of course, in Qatar.

51:20John Murray:But you use the word challenging, John, and it is for Northern Ireland. If you look at the previous seven meetings, they've never won in seven games and they've never actually scored in those seven previous matches. And then to do it without those two key defenders is a real setback for Michael O 'Neill.

51:36Ian Dennis:Yeah, Conor Bradley in particular has been a real star for Northern Ireland under Michael O 'Neill. Sandro Tonali, incidentally, is in the Italy squad having missed the Newcastle-Sunderland match at the weekend. But Federico Chiesa of Liverpool has been ruled out. Interestingly though, Michael O 'Neill talking about how all the pressure is on Italy, which I think is exactly the approach that Michael O 'Neill needs to take with that. So that is about it from this Football Daily. The England match commentaries will be on 5 Live and BBC Sounds. The Wales match is on 5 Live. You can watch Wales on BBC One in Wales.

52:16Ian Dennis:You can watch Northern Ireland on BBC One in Northern Ireland. And you can find them both on the iPlayer or on the BBC Sport website and app on your devices. and on the radio on BBC Sounds we'll have further build up to it all throughout the week. But your next Football Daily will be the latest 72 +, with Aaron Paul and Joby McEnough.

53:06BBC Women's Football Weekly The latest news, insights and analysis from across the women's game Lucy Bruns, welcome back What one lioness do you think would make the best rugby player? Me? Listen with the BBC Sounds app Hi, this is Alex Kantrowitz I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast a longtime reporter and an on-air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going.

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