Inside Liverpool

0:02Hi, good evening. Welcome along to Inside Liverpool. The champions look like they've set up another dominant season after their summer recruitment, but five defeats in six Premier League games mean they're eighth in the table and eight points off the leaders' arsenal. Well, Jamie Carragher, Emile Heskey and my guest David James are here to look at what is going wrong. I'm here at Anfield alongside the Athletics Liverpool reporter James Pearce, where alongside performances and results, we'll be looking at the dynamic between Alexander Isak and Hugo Eketike.

0:40They invested heavily in the summer, so are they prepared to go again in January? I'll discuss that and look at some of the stats behind the signings. But let's start with part of our in-depth interview with Jamie Carragher. Now, he's backed Liverpool's decision to spend close to£450 million in the summer, a British record, but he thinks they need to spend again in January. I felt they did need to bring that number of players in because, you know, I can go through the team of last season or the squad, so Simakas, the manager didn't have confidence in them, so you needed to buy a left-back. Kwanzaa moved on, they had to replace Trent.

1:21Harvey Elliott moved on again the manager didn't have much confidence in so he went and brought another number 10 if you like Invertz Nunes the manager never had confidence in so he's gone and brought in you know Izak and obviously we've got the tragic situation of Diogo Jota so then another attacking player comes in so they were replacing players the manager didn't have confidence in and we speak about this huge amount of money that they spent do they need to spend again in January and if so, where do they need to look in January in terms of more incoming? Yeah, Liverpool need to spend in January.

1:56They need to buy a centre-back. They should have bought a centre-back in the summer. They didn't and then the one centre-back they did buy, Leone, a young Italian player, looked fantastic. Unfortunately, he got an ACL injury so we won't see him until next season. So, yeah, I mean, Liverpool are probably one injury away at centre-back from, I mean, really derailing the season so they have to go to the market in January. Well let's bring in David James a man with 277 appearances for Liverpool over seven seasons nice to see you David right £446 million spent in the summer did they get it badly wrong?

2:35Not at all I think what you really have to understand is the success of Arna Slott last season I don't think was expected by Liverpool they didn't bring him in to win the Premier League in his first go. I think listening to Jamie there, the way that Liverpool do their recruitment, I think these players who they've brought in would have been on the radar even before Arna Slott. So I think there was a strategy by the club, a plan by the club to build a formidable squad to be able to challenge for the Premier League. I suppose the irony is, having won the Premier League in the first season, the expectation by those outside of the club would be that they should be winning the Premier League every season, especially when they brought in the calibre of players that they have.

3:20And especially since they won their first seven games, they brought in Alexander Isak on deadline day. Everyone was saying, not that they were going to win it, that they were just going to win it early and by how much. So what's gone wrong? Yeah, I think I was part of that bandwagon. Although, I mean, the caveat to that was the conversations I was having were before Isak was signed and I just felt there may have been enough already. But as I said, the strategy for Liverpool would be over a number of seasons, not just one or two. And bringing Isak in the way that it was brought in, and I'm not talking about the off-field stuff, but the lack of training time to get him up to match speed at the beginning, I think was obviously impactful.

4:03But I don't think they've got it wrong. I just think that because of what happened last season, it's more a case of comparisons don't look particularly great at the moment. We're going to go much deeper into that and I'm going to push you a lot more in just a bit. All right, but let's go to Anfield now. We can speak to two men who follow the club week in, week out every season. The Athletics, James Pearce and our very own Vinny O 'Connor. Gentlemen, very good evening. Vinny, let me start with you. Now, early results were good. Performances, perhaps not so. Results now not good. But have performances actually changed?

4:38Well, I thought we'd seen Liverpool turn a corner, actually. OK, the performance wasn't probably their best against Aston Villa, but they got the win and then they followed it up with that stunning performance against Real Madrid. Unfortunately, then came the defeat to Manchester City and it was a pretty convincing defeat in the end. And certainly Manchester City, I have to say, looked the better team on the day. Going back to the start of the season, I think there's been a lack of consistency in Liverpool's performance. I think we saw problems right from the off in that opening day against Bournemouth.

5:05They were 2-0 up, were pegged back to 2-0, eventually dramatically won the game by four goals to two. But then the Newcastle game after that, again, 2-0 up. This time it was 10 men that came back at them and got it back to 2-0. And of course, dramatically winning that game. Once again, this time Rio Ngomoa with that stunning winner for Liverpool on the night. But again, we saw perhaps a better performance in some ways against Arsenal, certainly more solid at times. And a stunning free kick from Dominic Shabozlai that took all three points. Not the best performance away at Burnley, but able to get over the line with that late Mo Salah penalty, of course.

5:40Again, a two-goal lead slip then in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid before taking all three points there. They beat Everton 2-1. Then came the EFL Cup win over Southampton before that first defeat of the season against Crystal Palace. We know the problems that they faced since then. I think there is mitigation. Injuries haven't helped them at times. It hasn't helped some of the players settling in. Obviously, you can highlight Alexander Isak. You can highlight Jeremy Frimpong as well at right back. And on top of that, of course, someone like Connor Bradley hasn't been at full fitness for much of the season.

6:11Same goes really for someone like Alexis McAllister. And when you've got problems like that, you don't get consistency of selection. And I think when you don't have that consistency in selection, it makes it very difficult to get consistency in performance as well. Sure. James, Jamie Carragher made the point that they had to invest heavily because Slott didn't actually trust some of his title winning squad. Is Jamie right? Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. I think if you look at last season, it was very much a core group of 13 or 14 players that helped Liverpool win the Premier League. And Slott said himself towards the back end of last season, if he had any regrets, it probably was not being able to rotate more because he felt that that contributed to Liverpool fatigue setting in and performances tailing off.

6:57He particularly talked about a number of times that week in March when Liverpool go out of the Champions League to PSG. And then they lose the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle. And it went pretty flat. And I think so this time around, he felt like he needed more players that he knew he could count on. He was always going to rotate more with one eye on lasting the pace right through to May. And, you know, that's effectively borne out in Liverpool embarking. And what was the biggest spending spree in their history? All right then, James. So what is the main difference between this season and last season?

7:32I mean the biggest difference for me is how easy they've been to get at in terms of I mean you only have to look at you know the the number of goals conceded I think it's 17 after 11 league games it was only six at the same stage a year ago and you know that it doesn't get you know any more glaring than that I think out of possession that they have been too easy to play through there's been a vulnerability that wasn't there last season where where we often talked about things like control and discipline and organisation and Liverpool's ability to control games. They've just lost that. And I think there are a number of reasons for that.

8:08You know, of course, with big changes comes inevitably a period of transition. You know, of course, you know, there was, you know, the tragedy that everyone connected with the club endured in the summer, which, you know, that's inevitably going to have a lasting impact on this season. And some players, as Vinny touched on that, players who were so influential last season haven't been at the same level. Some seem to have lost a bit of confidence. Others, it's been a fitness issue. Someone like McAllister missing a chunk of pre-season. The same with Conor Bradley. Mo Salah, I think we can see with Salah the challenge of suddenly trying to form new relationships where for so long in his Liverpool career, he kind of knew that he always had Trent Alexander-Arnold behind him.

8:51James, Vinny, for the moment, thank you very much. We'll be back to you a little bit later in the show. But now we're going to bring in our transfer expert, Mark McAdam. Mark, Jamie Carragher said they're going to spend in January. Will they? They've certainly got the opportunity to spend. No football club in the Premier League spends£446.5 million in the summer with a plan to go and spend another£100 million in January. So they got it wrong? They didn't get it wrong. I think if you look at the contracts they dished out to the players, four, five, six years. not three, four, five months it's a long-term plan it's a long-term project and I think that's the key thing they are trying to build a team that can compete for many, many years to come and of course in this modern area of social media and noise and speculation and everyone wants to have their say they'll look at the start of the season they'll say actually this isn't a great start Liverpool have got it wrong the players haven't hit the ground running if I was to say to you between January 1st and the end of last season and the start of this season and now Liverpool's win percentage, is it better now or between January 1st and the end of the season?

10:01Money has been, I've read, that maybe£100 million they're going to spend. Now, Semenyo's got a release clause of£65 million. Gai, they agreed a deal of£35 million. Now, if my maths is right, is that the£100 million? Let's be honest. Liverpool are one of those sides that use data to recruit players. That's the way they've always operated. And they've always operated with, if the player is right for our football club, the market value is correct, and we believe he can improve the team, will we go and sign that player? Absolutely. They're in the market for players. They want to recruit, they want to strengthen, they want to improve.

10:35We know that they got so close to signing Mark Gay, like you rightly say, on deadline day, it didn't happen. Are they still in the market for a defensive-minded player? Absolutely. Will that be executed in January? We don't know. talking about Mark Gaye, his situation is very different because he's going into the last six months of his contract. He can sign a pre-contract agreement with a team outside of the Premier League in January, or he could decide, I'm going to wait until the summer where I will be able to garner much more finance, a better signing on fee, higher wages, and I'll probably have the pick of some of the best sides in Europe.

11:08Anton Semenyo, another player that has been linked with Liverpool. We know that they like him. We know that Manchester City and Spurs are also big admirers of the Bournemouth man who as we now know has a release clause it'll be one to watch is that an area they're looking at out wide absolutely um I'm thinking it and I know people at home are probably thinking it they broke the record in the summer by spending gazillions how can they go again well quite simply Liverpool have run very very well you look at the summer of 2024 where their their spend was virtually nothing and of course you have to remember that whilst this figure of $446.5 million is their outlay over the course of this summer, a Premier League record.

11:48You also have to remember that the net spend was actually lower than Arsenal's. That's because they sold so well. You look at some of those players that they sold, some of them that had come through the academy, some of them that had been at the club for some period of time, so they didn't actually owe a lot of money on those particular players. So the profits they were able to generate from those sales was actually really high. You look at that,$218.4 million, divide that by the summer of 24 and the summer of 25 they've actually got a net spend of about 109 million pounds which for a Premier League side is actually quite low particularly one like Liverpool that's going to keep the bank manager happy but I'm going to go back to you and I'm going to press you they still spent 446 million pounds in the summer and you're telling me they're going to go again did they get it wrong absolutely not if you walk into that Liverpool boardroom and you spoke to the movers and shakers the people that run the club the people that make the big money decisions they will say we are totally calm and relaxed with what we did.

12:44We believe in our recruitment, we believe in these players, we believe in Arna Slott and we believe in what we're doing. We've won two Premier League titles in the last 30 odd years. We are a team that has not historically won Premier League titles. We are looking to be one of those sides that continue to press and probe and win and operate at the sharp end of the table and we are building a team that we believe can compete for many years to come. If you look at the ages of the players they signed in the summer, 21, 22, 24, 23, 18, 25. These are young players that haven't even hit their prime.

13:22They are building a project. You look at the Arsenal project, for example, Mikel Arteta going in in 2019. They are five or six years down the line of their project. This is essentially year one plus a little bit of Liverpool. New sporting director, new manager, Michael Edwards back at the football club. This is just the start and the players they've signed are all on the start of what they're hoping to be a really successful journey. But to answer your question, the people that make decisions, are they relaxed? Absolutely. Do they believe in everything they did? Totally. Do they believe it will become good?

13:53100%. I've got to bring David James in. David, are you buying that? I mean, Liverpool will love that, but hang on. They spent fortunes in the summer and they're going to go again this time. Surely they got it wrong. I agree with Mark there. I think the strategy, as I said at the beginning, is a long-term strategy. The money that's actually been spent, which is quite common in football nowadays, it's not all up front. This will be spread over the course of a few years, whatever, so it's not an actual$450 million outlay. But I think when you also add the fact that they'll get the bonus for winning the Premier League, all of these bonuses which they wouldn't have envisaged they would have got from Arnestlott in his first season.

14:37It's actually a better position for them to be able to, as you said, Mark, possibly go out in the January transfer window and spend another£100 million. So not ideal because of the comparison to last season, but ideal in the bigger picture, I'm sure. You two ganging up on me. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we are going to discuss, did they need Isak as well as Eka-TK? We're going to get into that debate inside Liverpool next.

15:10Hi there, former England cricket captains Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain here to tell you that we're taking the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast down under for the ashes. As England look to win in Australia for the first time in 15 years, we'll be out there to analyse the action and discuss all the big talking points. We'll also have daily episodes during each Test match to keep you right up to date with what's going on. That's the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.

15:47Hello again, we're inside Liverpool tonight. Now, when the British transfer record was smashed on deadline day, nobody thought we'd be here more than three months later, still waiting for Alexander Isak's first Premier League goal for Liverpool. so now there are real questions. Why isn't he performing? Why sign the suite when Ugo Eketike had already signed? And can two number nines play together? Well, Jamie Carragher and the former Liverpool striker Emil Hesky have very different views. Who does play with two strikers? You look at Manchester City with Erland Harland. They had another striker, Alvarez, who was a World Cup winner.

16:25What is one of the best strikers in the world? It didn't work. They had to sell him to Atletico Madrid in the end. And now they've got Mahmouche. He's on the bench. I'd argue that case because, again, when you're a footballer, your main role is to figure out your teammates as well and figure out how to play with each other. I remember I played with Michael, I played with Wayne, I played with Robbie, I played with Alan Shearer. So I played with several different types of forwards. It's difficult the way the game is now with so many bodies in midfield to have players who play right up the top end of the pitch.

16:56Now, just talk about Ekertike, he could play to the left. I thought that might be an option. I hadn't seen him play for the left, but that many people were saying I thought well, okay, maybe the manager will use that option. He hasn't really and he's been fantastic through the middle. That's his position You can't just think because you've spent this much that you're gonna go automatically. You've got to show You've got to show it. The lad showed it already. So for me You've got to try and dislodge him. I think he's done fantastic But if they want to play up front together, I think they could buy I think they could perform a partnership I'm just really interested to see how Liverpool manage that situation between the two of them going forward I don't think it's a problem in the next few weeks But over the next 18 months, who actually becomes Liverpool's first choice striker And does the other one accept being a backup to the other one or play when they're injured Do you see him as maybe playing wide just to accommodate Isak?

17:51He would have wanted that to be feeling hard done by Especially after coming there doing really well and then being, oh, you're going to play out here, you're going to play there. But he's a young lad who probably just want to enjoy playing. But really and truly, he should be the number nine and then others have to try and dislodge him. I think it's probably a little bit easier if you sign a striker for half the money of Isak to leave him on the bench or he's not as big a name. We know that. But yeah, listen, Liverpool, they get a lot applauded for how they go about things in the transfer market and rightly so.

18:28The record's fantastic. So it'll be interesting how they navigate this one. It will be interesting. Two very contrasting opinions there, David. Right. Have Liverpool got two players who can play together or have they bought a very expensive sub? I think they can play together. I think that the... What the guys hadn't touched on there, although he did come in one of the... Just a cameo role in one of the bits of footage is Cody Gapko, because Cody Gapko last season was essentially a sort of in-and-out player. He's had a lot of game time this season. He's had the most shots for Liverpool this season as well.

19:07And when Arna's favouring Cody to start, and I know the Ezek issue was about fitness, then it kind of compromises the potential to put the two on at the beginning together. But if you play them together, are you Mike Bassett? Is it 4-4-2? No, no, no. See, the one thing I used to love about Liverpool, and obviously this is pre-Arna, was the fact that you would have three attacking players who could rotate. And if you're a defender, and I'm surprised Jamie didn't pick up on it there, but if you're a defender having to mark different players at any given moment in the game, then it's causing a lot of confusion.

19:40And I think with Izak and Eketika in particular, there is that opportunity to have that fluidity. With Mo Salah as well, there's a little bit less, of course, because he's more dominant on the right. But yeah, I think there is a potential there with good coaching, good understanding of what the players are expecting to do with the coach's thoughts. Then Liverpool will be very difficult to play against with three or four fit attacking players. Okay, fit. That's the word I want to pick up on. Fit tennis always helps. Yeah, now you touched on this a bit earlier. Isak, of course, didn't have a proper pre-season.

20:17Should Liverpool fans be worried of how slow his start has been? No, and again, it's so difficult at the moment because we are in this instant reaction sort of lifestyle, which is fine. And football fans are entitled to have their opinion and feelings as they see fit. But with a long term strategy, there is a part where the club would say, OK, well, let's make sure we get it. He has to be fit, fully fit at some point. And when that happens, we will be getting a better version of the EZAC than possibly Newcastle had. and if you've got a better version of that alongside a better version of Ekotike then again, Liverpool will be in a position where they are challenging and beating pretty much everyone.

20:58Alright, let's go back to Anfield then. Let's go back to Vinny O 'Connor and James Pearce who are there. Well, Vinny, you probably just heard David James there. He's pretty clear that Isak and Ekotike can play together but has Arna Slott got a problem somewhere down the line? I think Mike and myself and James have just been talking about it as well. Jamie Carragher said not so long ago that Arnazlat almost has to be like a Real Madrid head coach in the way he's got to piece things together, particularly with that forward line. And David James touched on it there as well. The fact that Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo already here, Eka Tike and Alexander Isak have come in.

21:35There's Florian Virts to put into that picture as well, don't forget, as well. And it's how you get them all working together and build those relationships that will see Liverpool effective in the final third of the field. I think if there's a frustration among the two number nines, if you like, that Liverpool have got at the moment, it'll be from Alexander Isak, purely because of the fact that he's not been able to get himself out on the pitch. He had that, as we mentioned, the pre-season before he was drip-fed into the Liverpool starting line-up. And then, of course, he picked up the injury against Eintracht Frankfurt.

22:05As for Hugo Eketike, it's an interesting one as well. I think he feels that he's made for Liverpool, really. And you get the impression from that, the way he is about the place, the impression he's made. Don't forget, it's a nice little stat about him as well that he was laughing about. The fact that his first six goals in a Liverpool shirt came on different days of the week. The one he's missing at the moment is a Thursday, which he could probably do in the new year as well. So the impression that I get from him as well when we talk about the competition for places is something that doesn't faze him either.

22:33Don't forget, this is someone who joined a PSG team that already had Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe there as well. So, James, that obviously doesn't worry him. I think he's made a similar favourable impression on yourself when you met him as well, hasn't he? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Without a shadow of a doubt, he's been the pick of all the summer signings so far. When players come to Liverpool, and especially as a step up coming from Eintracht Frankfurt in the way he did, you think, well, how are they going to handle the pressure, the scrutiny and expectation that comes with playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world?

23:04But he's taken it all in his stride. And the fans have certainly taken him to their hearts as well. And you can see how he kind of buzzes off that relationship that's there already. I think it's helped him as well that obviously, you know, he's got that bond with Ibrahima Canate from the French national team. And I know Canate kind of helped him find a house and he's moved into Luis Diaz's old house, just up the coast a little bit from here. And yeah, I think the big thing when I watch him play Eke Tike is he's got that swagger that he just feels like, yeah, I belong here. and so far he's shown everything you could possibly wish to see from him.

23:39He looks the absolute complete package. We touched on it earlier as well and we should highlight Florian Verts in that forward line because it hasn't happened for him so far. But I don't think he's been helped. I don't think the rest of the forward line have been helped by the injuries that we spoke about earlier. McAllister has not been at full throttle for much of this season. I think that's impacted that midfield three. We've seen Dominic Shabozlai shunted out to right back at times as well. I feel that if Florian Virts is going to work in a midfield three, then you need that energy from Dominic Shabozlai in there as well.

24:08And building those relationships that you touched on earlier has been so important. And that's possibly where Liverpool have struggled at times. Yeah, that's definitely been one of those kind of ongoing issues that Arna Slott is wrestling with. You know, you mentioned there in the middle of the park, especially, but you could focus on the wide areas as well. You know, Milos Kerk has left back as a really difficult opening few months to his Liverpool career. a young player, you know, a bit of a baptism of fire, but I'm sure he'll come back strong. On the other flank, a lot of chopping and changing it right back.

24:36It's only really been in the last few weeks that Connor Bradley, who missed a chunk of pre-season, has got up to speed. So there's just been that kind of instability that hasn't helped people like Florian Virts in terms of, you know, really carving out a niche for themselves so far. And, you know, the big thing now is Liverpool desperately need Isak to push on because, you know, he's not, you look at his age, 26 years of age, Premier League proven. He just hasn't been able to get out there and do himself justice so far. But get Isak fit and firing and Liverpool will be a different proposition.