PSG pip Arsenal to Champions League on penalties, as Liverpool sack Slot

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2:34Totally Football Show. Today, Arsenal lose to PSG and on the XG, and Paris Saint-Germain are European champions once again. We salute the Parisians, winners through a penalty shootout, and ponder their threat to go back-to-back-to-back like some footballing human centipede. Meanwhile, while Arsenal lose from the spot, Liverpool lose Arnie Slott. We talk Anfield's Arnie surplus cast-off and the prospects for a Basque manager there too. And we say goodbye to the freshly concluded club season with some of its standout moments. It's all in this Toby Football Show.

3:28Hello everybody and welcome to the Toby Football Show. Saturday night for us. It's straight after the Champions League final in Budapest. by Paris Saint-Germain who just defeated on penalties Arsenal Football Club. Here in the studio, yes, he has got the minerals. Cheeky viewer. Adrian Clarke's with us, Adrian. Hello, hello. Yeah, tough times. Well, not if you're a PSG fan. No, no, you're right. They're loving it. Yeah, no, I don't blame them. Tom Williams is with us. He's fresh back from Paris. What are they saying in Paris, Tom? Hello, James. I'm not fresh back from Paris, but I can pretend to be.

4:05You've been on the internet, though. Yes. Yes, well, they are hooping and hollering, as you would expect. All right, more on that story as it develops. And joining us from Nottinghamshire, Daniel Story. Hi, Daniel. Hello, James. You've had a haircut, Daniel. A Seattle haircut, yes. A summer. Looks sharp, doesn't it? It does look sharp. Is that a style, a Seattle haircut? I know I thought you meant is the hair I was going to say if you have to ask then probably not but no I don't think so but that is where I'm flying to next Saturday now we know what to ask for I don't know no yes we can ask all we want Tom why Seattle doesn't he looks like a new man sorry no very much so but Daniel I'm sorry why Seattle haircut that is where I'm flying to next Saturday for six and a half weeks on account on account of the World Cup well I'm hoping later on after being a bit cagey a week ago that you're going to tell us more about your plans for the World Cup because they sound quite exciting.

5:10I said if he's going to get a haircut at every single destination.

5:17Excellent. Anyway, tonight's really about what happened at the Pushkas Arena. 120 minutes. These two European giants all came down to one moment. One moment. Gabriel made that long walk to what proved the crucial penalty. It didn't go well for him. Plenty of people, hello to you if you're joining us on YouTube, plenty of people saying, why? I don't understand, says Ulnun. I don't understand having Gabriel as the fifth penalty taker. Surely Maduecki or Zubimendi should be shooting first. Would even get Saliba or Timber to shoot before him. Such a shame as he had a terrific game. Adrian. Yeah, it was my thought.

6:00Obviously, no blame attached. Unbearable pressure for all of those guys involved. They were two really bad misses, weren't they? I mean, Ezra's one wasn't great in terms of sort of he waited and waited for the keeper to commit himself. And he didn't. He was expecting that. And that was a bad miss. And, yeah, look, my thought, my immediate thought when Gabriel walked to the spot was, ooh, why the fifth penalty for Gabriel? Why is he taking it and not your Zubamendi or Maduweku or Timber? I personally would have had them before. But look, he's obviously stuck his hand up. He said he's volunteered it.

6:36So, you know, kudos to him for that. But yeah, it just proved too much for him in that moment. But look, the Arsenal fans will serenade him tomorrow and pick up his spirits, I'm sure, when that parade comes around. The parade, the Premier League champion parade. Right. Right. So many Arsenal fans are on the streets of London today ahead of the game. They will return home. Crestfallen, no doubt. But both teams for me were worthy winners. Arsenal undefeated technically in this Champions League campaign. And they also took a team that had just been spectacular against Bayern Munich. And pretty, I mean, they limited them very well, no, Tom?

7:17It was a very even game. I mean, PSG dominated in terms of possession, in terms of territory, but in an inevitable way because Arsenal took the lead in the sixth minute. And against a team like PSG, who was so dangerous, if you've gone ahead, you're not going to keep attacking them. So Arsenal's reaction to going in front was understandable. And it wasn't like they just dropped back to the edge of the penalty area. They were trying to defend reasonably high up the pitch, managed to hold PSG at bay until the PSG equaliser. And then beyond that, yes, PSG had more of the ball, but they weren't creating loads and loads of chances.

7:59It was a game that felt right on a knife edge and so fitting that it should be decided on penalties. And as ever, someone ends up being the fall guy. And in this instance, it was Gabriel. All right. Daniel, what did you make of it? Were Arsenal actually really uninspiring or was it genius game plan? I mean, the game state was really decisive in terms of scoring early against that team. Tom's absolutely right. That sets you up to try. I think we all would have said if Arsenal are going to win this final, the most likely score is going to be 1-0. And how I imagined that happening was Arsenal kind of doing the bedding in and slowly growing into the game and maybe kind of ending up as the better team late on and then winning it, probably from a set piece.

8:42In fact, what happened is that they scored far earlier than they anticipated from open play and then, yeah, sat on it. I do think that, look, they had one shot, I think, between the 45th and the 120th minute, right? So I do think inevitably when you don't win those finals, if you don't win one of those finals playing like that, people go, well, you played it right. And they probably will think they played it right. I think if you lose another final playing like that, people wonder if there's another gear to find. And that will be the conundrum and the demand, I think, of Mikel Arteta next season to kind of slightly develop that style in exactly the way that Arna Slott was asked to this season and wasn't able to.

9:23So in isolation of this final, I think they played it right and they were really unlucky. And you have to look at what PSG had done to everyone else in the knockout stages. In what way were they unlucky, would you say? They were unlucky because they made one mistake for the penalty. I can completely see why the referee didn't give the penalty on Moduweke because Moduweke kind of hooks his hand. But I think if it had been given on the pitch, it wouldn't have been overturned. So that is unfortunate. It was a 50-50 call and the referee didn't give it. And so I agree with it not being overturned, but I also think it wouldn't have been overturned the other way.

9:56So that's unlucky. And then they lost on penalties because the fifth guy was a centre-back who missed the target. Right. That's not luck. That's somebody's choice. Equally, PSG supporters would say, what about the penalty shout on the, was it a double hand ball from Bakao Saka? Yeah, look, I think in UEFA land, you expect that to be given, don't you? So when it was waved away quickly, I was very relieved, I must admit. I agree with Daniel on the penalties. I think, not going to cry about it. I think it was literally one mistake Arsenal made. Mascara, I thought, Bayern Lais did a really good job on Kovaric-Gellia.

10:33I thought he could be proud of himself, But that little one-two, he got the wrong side. And to then try and make the tackle from behind, I think, was asking for trouble. But it's a minor error with a big, big punishment. And I agree with Daniel on the Madueko. And I think he had his arm hooked. So, therefore, I didn't have any major complaints. Right. So, 50-50. Yeah. And just on what Tom said, I never felt the PSG were going to score in open play. And I think that's the big sort of frustration here. Yeah, we suffered a lot and had to soak up a lot of pressure, but I didn't really feel, apart from that, there was that Barcola run where he hit the outside of the post when Lewis Kelly deflected it.

11:17Raya come off his line once. Like, they didn't... Virginia had a couple of chances as well that he'd be put down. Long shots, yeah. I just felt that Arsenal out of possession were really, really good. But going back to what Daniel kind of finished on, the next phase for Mikel Arteta's Arsenal has to be to have more punch and to be a little bit more capable of controlling matches at that very, very elite level. And let's face it, a Champions League final is the highest level of football that you can get. Absolutely. Particularly against this PSG, backed by European champions. How worthy a winner did you feel that they were?

11:54This wasn't the most spectacular of their performances, certainly compared to what they showed us in the previous round, those remarkable games against Bayern Munich. But Tom, first of all, what are they seeing in Paris then? Well, they are very happy with PSG winning Le Back-to-Back, which the players have been talking about since the beginning of the season. And they are already, would you believe, talking about Le Back-to-Back-to-Back, although I've not seen anyone use that expression. There's no other word for back. Exactly. In France. But Desiree Dewey was interviewed after the game and he said, you know, this means so much to us.

12:33We know that we've made a moment of history here, but we're still hungry and we want the third consecutive title, which is a slightly ominous message to be sending out. I think the feeling in Paris is that PSG did enough to win the game, you know, dominated possession, created more chances without being at their flamboyant best. But I think what we've seen from PSG this season in the Champions League has been an evolution in their style. And we saw that in particular over the two legs of the semi-final against Bayern Munich. First leg was kind of the classic PSG of last season, just all attacking, very high octane, high pressing, creating chances, scoring lots of goals.

13:16But the PSG we saw in the return leg in Munich was almost completely different. And it was a much more measured, much more mature kind of performance without the ball being happy to sit and defend when they needed to. They didn't really have to do any defending tonight, but it felt like quite a controlled display. You didn't really feel that they were ever in any great danger of Arsenal nicking a second goal. The first Arsenal goal brilliantly finished by Kai Havertz, but very fortuitous in that Marquinhos' clearance is blocked by Leandro Trossard. in that sense have it through on goal. So, yeah, I mean, somewhat remarkably, this is the exact same outfield 10 that had started last season's final.

13:57So there's clear continuity in terms of personnel. And given that they're PSG, there's every chance that they'll have exactly the same 10 players, plus maybe some other options next season. They're not a selling club. Yeah, completely. And, you know, they very deliberately chose last summer not to really make any additions. They bought a new goalkeeper in Lucas Chevalier who proved not to be up to the standard. And they bought Ilya Zabani from Bournemouth who has really struggled. And, OK, he came on at the end of the game tonight, but he doesn't quite yet look ready to take over from Mourinho.

14:31Did he not win them the Champions League final, though? Well, I mean, yeah, he was part of it. But over the course of the season, he hasn't played very well. Right. and he hasn't looked like a genuine rival for Marquinhos. So it is exactly the same group of players last season playing largely the same group of football. But I think it's this sense that they had an opportunity to create history that has kept everyone all together and has kept them all on the same page. And the fact that next season they will have the potential to go and do three in a row, which is that bit rarer, you would think that that will be enough to keep the players and the coaches and the coaching staff all on the same page.

15:15Daniel? There's also, you know, there has been in previous years, as Tom will know, this kind of reputation that precedes them of PSG as being this kind of super attacking talent. And they have run through teams at times this season. But they've also got some street smarts and some resilience. You look at last season, they lost the first leg to Liverpool and went through. They trailed in the semi-final and went through. This year, they were 2-0 down against Monaco in the first leg of one of the playoff rounds and went through. They were trailed against Bayern and they battled back. They're a super team in every way now.

15:56It's not a super team in terms of star talent or just attacking talent. They're just really good everywhere. and they basically ground Arsenal down and Arsenal are the team that has ground everybody else down this season. So if you can beat Arsenal playing that way, you can kind of beat everyone playing any way you want. Excellent. Arsenal then for next season. So this final saw them with the lowest average possession of any Champions League final ever, is that right? I think since Opta started counting their beans in a 3 or 4. 25 %? Yeah, I would have liked Arsenal. One shot on target. Yeah, I would have liked Arsenal to have had more of the ball.

16:33I think it would have given them a little bit of a breather. And I think Arsenal were good enough to have kept the ball a little bit better. Yeah, I think the game state did push it that way. There's no doubt about it. But I think Arsenal could have looked after it better. I think that Jokras, when he came on, struggled to really allow Arsenal to get out. That was a problem. I didn't think there was quite enough composure in possession. That said, I was really impressed with Myles Lewis-Gelly. I thought that he was terrific. really strong performance from him and one that I think he marks him as a lock-in for central midfield for the rest of his career.

17:10That is his position. That's what he grew up as. And I think from now on, he's a central midfield option for Michael Arteta. Maybe first choice central midfield option alongside Declan Rice. But yeah, 25 % of the ball isn't quite enough. One shot on target isn't enough, clearly. I just think there'll be one or two little regrets of could Arsenal have pressed them a little bit harder, a little bit higher. Because I always felt there was a little mistake in there. And I agree with Tom that this was a measured, controlled PSG performance. But I felt that Arsenal, if they could have just got up the pitch a little bit higher, they would have caused one or two more problems.

17:46But they weren't able to do it. It was the end of such a long season for them. Yeah. Of course. Daniel? I was going to say on Adrian's point this is not a question you're ever going to be able to get a straight answer about but it would be interesting to talk to someone like Bakaya Saka about what he thinks in a couple of years what he thinks about that Champions League final he completed four passes he only attempted eight this evening and he played 85 minutes so it would just be interesting to whenever the ball came to him he had at least one, normally two men on him or he was just chasing onto it it would be interesting to know what he It's not his skill set.

18:23He needs lots of the ball. He wants to take on a man. It just didn't feel possible for us to see the best of Bakayosaka in that final. And he is their best attacking player. I know they only lost on very, very fine margins, but it feels like they weren't giving themselves the best chance to see the best of the best attacking player, which is kind of a shame for me as a neutral because I wanted to see more of that. Yeah, I agree. I agree on that. Although what I would say to counter it is that Nani Madureke made quite a good impression in the same position. He seemed to get on the ball, but when he had it, he was a little bit more direct.

18:58He certainly made a really strong impression, I thought, Madureke. Look, I think this Champions League final, Arsenal were absolutely worthy finalists. Deserved to be in the final two. Would have been deserving winners. They were ready for it. In a way that Arsenal weren't ready last year, probably. even in those fun seasons, the two seasons before, Arsenal weren't ready to compete at this table. They are now, but they can only compete against a team like PSG playing this way. They haven't quite got enough control, enough quality in forward areas. What do they need? I think they need a slightly more beefed up attack.

19:43I think that that's the clear difference. PSG have got a truly elite world-class forward line and Arsenal don't and and and I think the next part of the evolution because without the ball Arsenal are going to stay good trust me but they can get better they can get better on the ball they can get better in the final third they can play more progressive attacking football and once they do that I would like to think that the next time maybe because Saka's in the Champions League final it'll get an awful lot more in the because, you know, I did feel for him. I was going to ask you, Adrian, the four midfielders and attackers bought last summer were Zubimendi, Madweke, Giocares and, who am I forgetting, Eze.

20:29And obviously none of them started the final. That would have been a really weird thing to think nine months ago when they all signed. Is that a sign of just them having a bedding in year or is it just that it's not quite worked out? Yeah, I think they've all done well in moments. They've all contributed to a brilliant season. Let's not forget that. Premier League champions, two cup finals. They contributed big time. But I didn't have any objection to any of them being left out. So none of them have absolutely nailed down a first team, you know, a starting 11th place. And yeah, does that mean that they're failures?

21:05No. But it doesn't mean that... It also means that they haven't been a roaring, roaring success. And this summer, I think that the challenge for Arsenal, last year was all about depth, right? It was all about Arsenal don't have a squad capable of challenging on two fronts or four fronts. They did this season and they did challenge on three fronts, certainly. So the depth is there, but is the quality of the starting 11 quite good enough, particularly in the attacking department, to take on a team like PSG and go toe-to-toe? The answer is no, not yet. Although they came so very close. Anyway, tomorrow as we record Sunday, the parade to salute their Premier League title.

21:53Paris Saint-Germain, who's just done the double of a league and European Cup double, which is pretty impressive stuff. And a surprisingly rare double. Almost the most surprising stat of the night, courtesy of our friends at Opta only the third time that a club has done back to back league and European Cup wins after Real Madrid in the late 1950s and Ajax in the early 1970s You say that was the most surprising I also was taken aback to learn that this was the first final since 2018 that actually saw both teams score but Tom we were talking a little bit before about the French reaction and you You mentioned the player ratings.

22:37Just to finish off on Paris Saint-Germain, who were they celebrating as their standout performers in this? Well, I mean, reflecting the kind of game that it was, there weren't too many standout performers in the eyes of l 'équipe. The two top-scoring players in the game were Mokinos and João Neves, who both got seven out of ten. A few sixes on either side, William Pacho, Ashraf Hakimi, Fabian Ruiz Kavaric-Skelia for PSG Kai Havertz Declan Rice Saliba and Raya for Arsenal and then a lot of quite middling scores worst performer for PSG was Nuno Mendes with a 4 out of 10 and for Arsenal Christian Mosquera with a 3 out of 10 3 out of 10 that's brutal so yeah that was those were the scores on Le Dours it's very harsh aren't they They are always great.

23:36Well, congratulations to PSG. Anything else you want to say about Les Pelicans, Daniel, before we move on to the other news from Saturday? Just to say that the fact that it was the same team is such a kind of power move because it means that this can be the summer that they actually improve. And they're like, well, we've won two with the same team, so how about we try and make this better? It's incredibly daunting. Having watched them completely outclass Liverpool and grind down Arsenal, it's hard to look beyond this sort of mini Le Dynasty forming. And also you look at what this means for Luis Enrique.

24:13That's three Champions Leagues now, which puts him alongside Bob Paisley, Pep Guardiola, Zinedine Zidane. But in successfully retaining the Champions League, he's now done something that Guardiola's never done, that Jose Mourinho never did, that Alex Ferguson never did. I mean, he, I think, tonight confirms his place as one of the great coaches of his era. And it's not just the trophies. I mean, you could look at what Zidane did at Madrid and think, well, he was remarkably successful. But you can't say that Zidane as a coach has changed the game at all. But Luis Enrique is one of those very rare coaches who is not only very successful in terms of picking up silverware, but in terms of his ideas about the game.

24:58And again, Daniel was saying that to do what they've done this season with the exact same squad, the exact same group of players, playing pretty much the exact same style of football, albeit now with a little bit more control and an ability to weather difficult moments is truly remarkable. And of course, it's PSG. They are a state-owned club. They have massive advantages. So you would expect them to be this good. But it's taken them a long time to get there. And it's taken Luis Enrique to kind of turn them from not just the laughingstock of Europe into European champions, but into two-time European champions who have kind of moved the game forward, really, in terms of the way it's played.

25:36Just briefly, what is the idea? What is the Luis Enrique idea that has had this influence on football? What's interesting is that it goes against a lot of what we've seen in the Premier League, where there's been this real move towards physical dominance and more direct football, solid defensive foundations, set pieces, etc. And even someone like Pep Guardiola has been swept up in that. And Luis Enrique has kind of stayed true to this Barcelona idea that the only way to win is to just control the ball. And I think that his key innovation, and it's required multiple planets to align, you know, the physical fitness of his squad, I guess, playing in Ligue 1, which enables him to rest players and keep things fresh.

26:20And this remarkable ability to interchange positions. And he's kind of proposing something that I don't think we've really seen very much. I mean, something that genuinely felt quite revolutionary. You look at the way that PSG's players swap positions. We didn't really see it tonight because Arsenal defended so well. But the fact that, you know, Ashraf Hakimi crashes into the box from full-back, that the midfielders and the wide players pop up all over the place, this kind of perfect kind of harmony. You saw it in bits tonight. Like with Dwayne Kavaric-Gellia swapping over, and Dembele was practically playing right wing second half.

26:52Like, you do. I think he embraces the chaos in terms of when we have the ball, I don't go anywhere. There's no real structure. is kind of not the opposite of Arteta, but Arteta has been quite a structured head coach. Enrique, he gives the players unbelievable freedom and he's got the right players to play that way. So I think he's probably the best in-work coach in the world, isn't he? At the moment, seeing as Pep's stepped aside. I mean, there's no one better than Enrique, I don't think. Absolutely brilliant. There you go. Back to back European titles for the Paris Saint-Germain manager and his team.

27:30next up let's move on to Saturday's other big news

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29:31This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kay and the very best football writers around. Club season is now over, but there's plenty of podding on the way. Oh my. For a start, last Saturday we brought out the InterTotally Cup semifinals and they were pretty thrilling stuff. Do enjoy those, either as a podcast or in vision on our YouTube channel. Hey, no spoilers. No spoilers. Also, next week we're going to do two special preview pods of the Big World Cup, which is less than a fortnight away.

30:14Less than a fortnight away. I know, I know. Amazing. Anyway, two World Cup preview pods. A lot of teams to talk about. A lot of talking to be done. Tom, you've gone on holiday. You're not going to be part of that. Well, a holiday of sorts, if you can count two days in North Wales as a holiday, which, of course, I do. But, yeah, trying to squeeze in a bit of downtime before the World Cup is upon us, because it is right around the corner. Hand on heart, full disclaimer, I haven't even thought about the World Cup yet. Have you not? No, but I need to as of tomorrow. Do you know who has thought about the World Cup, and a lot?

30:45Daniel Storey. He's got his Seattle haircut. And tell us a little bit more about your plans, Daniel. Yeah, so I'm flying to Seattle and then somehow going west from there to get to the coast, get to the northwestern point of vertiginous USA. And from there, I'm doing a 7 ,200-mile solo drive. Wow. In a kind of massive smile, crooked smile shape. I wanted to go to a game at as many stadiums as I could in the US, and I'm doing them all apart from Miami. because that is just too much to get from a semi there to the final in New York. But yes, I absolutely cannot wait. It's, I think, 34 different motels in 48 nights.

31:29Wow. And as I say, 7 ,200 miles driving. He's not staying at a motel. He'll be in some kind of five-star. Look at a haircut. Look at the money you spent on a haircut, Jim. Daniel, what vehicle will you be in for this? I don't know yet. I mean, the Avis website tells me the most likely vehicle is a Kia. That's all I've got. That's the only information. They do quite a lot of different sizes of Kias. I think from experience in the US, you get there and they basically say, pick which car you want. So it'll be the red Mustang, I'd have thought. Excellent. Look out for him on the roads of America as the World Cup gets underway.

32:06Tom and I, we're going to be heading to Los Angeles and staying literally there for more or less the duration. Very good. You can follow us on our early morning roundups of the previous night's action. Daniel, your stuff will be on Reddit, I think, is that right? And also, of course, on The Eye. Yeah, on The Eye. And, yeah, I'll be doing a kind of Instagram video diary, which is why I've got the boy band haircut. Nice. Yeah. Nice. Now, mentioned Saturday's other big news. beyond the Champions League final, and that was the bombshell that Liverpool dropped around lunchtime when they announced that their team's trajectory would be best addressed through a change of direction.

32:51I found that a little bit confusing, the statement, actually, because direction, trajectory, the same thing. So to change our direction, we're going to change our direction. Essentially, they're saying. Needed some work on that statement, I felt. But the gist of it was that Arnie Slott do one. Thank you very much for the title. Well, we did wonder whether they'd put out a deliberately stodgy statement in reflection of some of the stodgy football that Arnest Lott served up. That might be a little bit meta for a leading football club. He also served up a title, but the consensus is that in year two he ran out of answers.

33:24Is that right? Yeah, definitely. I think if you lose 19, 20 games in a season as Liverpool manager, you're not going to stay. It's as simple as that. They didn't really need to do much of a season review. Just look at the quantity of matches lost. And it's quite unacceptable, I guess. The quality of the football wasn't brilliant. I know the fans were really frustrated. It was stodgy, as Tom said. So, yeah, I didn't find this at all surprising. Probably the only surprise to me was that it took this long. I thought we might have heard this last week. Did this happen now? Daniel, you're nodding. Did it because did Ayola?

34:05Yeah, I mean, it seems very coincidental, not just because Araiola is available and hasn't taken a job yet, but also because his assistant, Tommy Elphick, was really, really close to getting the Bristol City job or very close to taking the Bristol City job and then pulled out and said he didn't want to do it. he would rather stay put. That kind of makes sense as well. Everything we hear is that he's the front runner for the position. I don't know if it will work, but it feels to me like a really positive appointment as an outsider. It's nice to see one of those guys who does something above and beyond with a mid-ranking Premier League club, takes them higher and actually gets the big gig.

34:48It's going to be fascinating to watch. Wow. If he does take over at Anfield, then Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Aston Villa will all be under Basque management. That's quite extraordinary, isn't it? It's unreal. Have they got the players to play Iri Alabaul? I think so. Yeah, I think he's a good fit. I really do. It's direct, fast, exciting football, isn't it? They're based on high tempo, high energy. He demands that they press brilliantly. They're super fit. And they just turn defence into attack in the blink of an eye, Bournemouth. And I think he's done that throughout his career. Not afraid to go long, but I don't think Liverpool fans would be that upset by that either.

35:32I think he's a terrific fit. The only question mark I would have is that, much like players, when you go and play for a massive club, it's can you handle that? Because there's a different pressure, different expectation. And it's the same for managers. and Unai Emery, when he went to PSG, did all right, didn't he? Did fine, I think. Not as well as the current guy. At Arsenal, it went badly. My sense is with Unai Emery, he's better with the slight underdog. Is Iriola going to be better with the slight underdog or not? Liverpool will be hoping that's not the case. Okay. If, indeed, he gets the job.

36:14There were other clubs that were supposed to be his destination prior to this, but Liverpool's cachet, you imagine, would have quite the effect on him. Tom? Yeah, and if it is Erola, it will chime perfectly with what Mo Salah was calling for in that slightly peculiar, outgoing message. and I thought there's something quite remarkable about an outgoing player saying we need to play in a certain way and the guy we've got there at the moment is not up to that. That was pretty remarkable just in and of itself and very unusual. The fact that it was then liked by almost every single member of the Liverpool squad.

36:55I mean in the media occasionally we get carried away with people liking things or not liking things and did his thumb slip and you know is it him or his social media team but that seemed quite stark and I think it speaks to this idea that the de-clopification of Liverpool that seemed to be underway with the appointment of Arna Slott and the slightly more patient style of football and the players talked it up. We're learning new things and we're dominating games in a different way. You get the sense the players were perhaps on board with that at least to begin with, but this season has just been so poor and they look so unrecognisable that there is a feeling within the changing room that they are not suited to playing anything other than very high-octane, high-pressing football.

37:45And that is what Iriola on paper should bring them. All right. 24 points worse off than last season. Daniel? I was going to say that if they do appoint Iriola, my first piece of advice to him, and I'm sure he's thought of it because he's cleverer than me, is to go and knock back on the Bournemouth door for Alex Scott because he is a magnificent midfielder who really can cope at the highest level. And he's one of those players who, as soon as he goes to an elite club, he'll suddenly be in the England squad because he's an excellent player. And Liverpool need more dynamism in that midfield if they're going to play this higher-tempo brand of football.

38:22Excellent. Well, looking forward to seeing that, if indeed it takes place. If not, forget all of that. We'll round off the club of season, in fact. ahead of our workout previews. Next, start with a little look back at some of the choice moments of the campaign that was. See how many we can remember.

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41:13you're listening to the totally football show with james richardson now with you four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy seeing glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show. Alright Adrian, what do you remember the last nine months? I can't remember what I did earlier today. Yeah, like I'm not great like that but I don't know. Should I give you some suggestions? Yeah, kick it off for me. How about the Chelsea centre circle huddle? Oh, that was classic. That was classic. No, that was a classic moment and I still stand by what I said at the time that the referee was being a bit of a knob.

41:49He should have moved, shouldn't he? Let's face it. Yeah. He could easily have moved there and I just think he made it a little bit about him. But it was also very, very weird. It was a great like very modern Premier League silly story. Like this impossibly rich and wealthy football club deciding to do a really pointless, silly thing that their manager then explains in a really silly way by talking about respect for the ball. And the next thing there's a referee surrounded by players in the centre circle. It was brilliant. And you also got a ref cam to document. And the ref cam, yeah. But did we ever see the footage from the ref cam?

42:25I'm not sure. Might have been redacted. There were so many of those extraordinary, could only be 25, 26 season type moments. Like, for example, Igor Tudor mistaking one of his staff for a Liverpool manager. But did he, though? Oh. Because his explanation was that he knew exactly who it was. It's a member of the Tottenham staff. And if you look at the footage, he doesn't look surprised when the book turns around. Have you, Tom? For example, Adrian, have you ever come up to Tom with his back to you in the office and gone, Hi, Jim. We've all been in a similar... We've all done that. We've all done that.

43:09And I think we've all had that moment when, as the person turns, there's a hideous realisation but your brain's so fast that you effectively style it out and he does but he looks like he's styling it out to me. I do for some viral content when we're in Los Angeles, James. Yeah. Particularly with some other baldies on board. Yeah, excellent. Make it a regular thing. Let's do that then. So there was that. There was Spurs mistaking a goal to do for their manager. There was, what else was there? Oh, the Arsenal bottle. Ha, how we laughed. Daniel, you remember loads of stuff, no doubt. I was thinking back earlier today I can almost guarantee that I basically accused the Premier League of getting boring because Liverpool won their first five league games of the season.

43:51I was like, well, that's another title done, isn't it, already? It's already over. So we can all look like fools in August and September. Yeah. Put it that way. Well, and, you know, some of us right through the season. Other details of this campaign. Spurs had as many managers as they had home wins. That's impressive. Brilliant. Do you remember Aston Villa being the last team in England's top seven divisions to actually score a goal? Look where they ended up. God, yeah. Yeah. I'm all about that. Forrest had a record four managers outdoing. How many home wins did you have, Daniel? More than that.

44:26Not enough. I mean, the Forrest chaos moment of the season is obviously the Morgan Gibbs-White non-transfer with Maranacchi. Oh, yeah. Holding Gibbs-White quite firmly in a photo to say he's staying. And was there not a banner involving a, am I misremembering this? The Crystal Palace banner, yes. Yeah. Yeah, the offensive banner. Yeah, indeed. Yeah. There was also, of course, all of that stuff, even before the season began, about Palace and Forest and who was going to be in which cup competition and that. It was the season that saw hair pulling become a major, major issue. Not an issue if you guys were playing here in the studio, but...

45:08What's your point, Nate? What could you be referring to? It is weird, though, how there were so many cluster hair pulls. Was it three copycat behaviour? Three red cards for hair pulling and contentious. Do you think, then, come next summer, a whole host of attacking players will have grown their hair? Every Premier League team will have at least one player with really long hair, and you'll just put him up against the most easily provoked opposition centre-back and just try and goad him. I bet Harlan stops playing with his hair up from now on. Some former pros say that it's a nonsense that it should be a straight yellow, sorry, straight red, because it's easy to do accidentally.

45:51Adrian, what do you think? Is it easy to do that accidentally? Well, I've never poured anyone's hair, Jim. I don't know. In your day, did they not have long hair like that? I don't remember ever being involved in a team that had a hair put incident. no I think there's no excuse for it really but at the same time I think there are other things that maybe are just as serious that get kind of just shunted to the side like what? I don't know I can't think I think the bottom line is is the hair in a natural position? is it respecting the silhouette of the player? because if it's not then you are probably asking for trouble there are some players, your Conte's is old as well the hair is not in an actual position.

46:34Well, increasingly so. Increasingly. Daniel? Your hair's in an actual position. Yeah, I mean, there's, yeah, I'll have mine cut because I don't want it pulled on the flight over. Yeah, I mean, stray arms. Did you have some other Premier League season memories for us? I think the, the, the journey of Mo Salah in the last 13 or 14 months from the guy who drove Liverpool to the title to then, and the player of the season, to then getting, dropped by Slott and basically almost going on strike and saying, I'm going to AFCON and then not coming back. Then making up with everybody. Then still playing badly, so realising he couldn't really be in the team anyway.

47:13And announcing he was leaving. And then, as Tom mentioned earlier, that incredible parting shot, which basically has got Slott sacked as Salah walks out the door. He's had the most main character energy of anyone else this season. One that sticks with me, Van der Ven and Jed Spence blanking Thomas Frank. as they walked off the field way back at the start. Talking about getting your manager to the side, that was the first hammer blow, I think, for Frank. It felt that way anyway for Tottenham outsiders. And I mean, I think when I look back on this season, you know, moments in the title race. Yes.

47:50You know, the Max Downman goal against Everton right before the international break. Arsenal losing at home to Bournemouth. Alex Scott striding through in the sunshine. that City-Arsenal game at the Etihad that felt so pivotal and then City dropping points in that 3-3 draw at Everton and the game at West Ham with the Callum Wilson goal being ruled. On review. One of the most dramatic finales to a game that I can remember. And I think, you know, Daniel and I were in the studio last week and we were talking about what a low-quality season it's been in the Premier League. And I think it was quite a low-quality season.

48:26But in terms of sort of drama and tension and moments, I think it delivered. Low quality in an attacking sense. None of the elite attacking talents in the league were exceptional. I think that much is fair to say. I think the depth of the league has never been stronger. I think it's never been easier to lose a Premier League match than this year. You've got teams that are in the bottom half that are causing upsets. I think the overall standard, the standard of the teams between the relegation zone and Europe has never been this high. The Dalmer moment was special for me, for sure. And, you know, we've got a kid here in year 11 that's become, you know, a household name and a title winner before he's even taken his GCSEs.

49:09That's not your norm, is it? It's not your norm. Actually, other people are picking up on this. For example, Anthony Manning 5001 on our YouTube channel saying, moments of the season, Dalmer, Golvey, Everton, Joyous. Mike Loom won me. It says Sunderland have to be in there. We were talking about Sunderland last week. What an amazing story. And that's something you were just touching on, the performances, the promoted size. Daniel, back to you. I was just going to say, the first 70 minutes of PSG Bayern was, I think, the best 70 minutes of football I can remember ever watching in terms of highlights package in real time.

49:46It was just an astonishing match of football. And I think at the time we were all like, maybe this should be the final, but it was fine. It was good enough anyway that we had it. and yeah, that was by far the best game I watched this season. Excellent. Well, that was the club football season but the football ain't over by any means. Tom, you're departing after your trip to North Wales for America where I will join you. I will be reporting every night in Los Angeles, early morning in the UK with a colourful cast of characters including many of your totally favourites and Duncan Alexander.

50:30And, yeah, join us poolside every day, whether it's morning or night, wherever you are, for our World Cup Roundup. Adrian, thank you for being with us today. Oh, no, it's been a pleasure. It's been great to be with you all season. Thank you. I just want to put it on record that I never ducked a show. I turned up when requested. as I did today. You know, win or lose. I'll happily come here and talk football with you. It's not an issue. Adrian, you're right. And I feel bad for ever going along with the joke, playing along with the suggestions that you might only be a... No, it's fine. Do you know what?

51:10Can I let you into a secret? Oh, yeah. I listened to the last show. You did. And you rapped with next up, next time out, Adrian Clark will be in. Only if I was a winner, of course. Right. I texted. producer Charlie, I said. Put me on, too. No, listen. We're straight up on the changing room wall. No, I was like, was that banter? Or am I only coming in when, if we win the game, he's like, no, no, no, that's banter. So, yeah, I had to double check. You know, the myth has become almost reality. Well, well, there were some big Arsenal defeats which didn't coincide with your appearances. And, you know, one thing leads to another.

51:47I lucked out, yeah, but not today. Not today. Yep, so very close. so very close undefeated though in this Champions League campaign Tom Williams we're seeing plenty of you enjoy North Wales thank you what other option do you have and Daniel best of luck with your trip and particularly with what fate gives you at the Avis desk yeah if nothing else I will salute you as I drive through LA I may well see Tom at the SoFi by the sound of it nice very good many thanks to you for joining us on our YouTube channel or via podcast and I do hope you'll be making us a part of your World Cup experience. Previews coming up from Wednesday.

52:31For now, it's many thanks as well to producers Jake and Charlie and from all of us here, it's goodnight.

52:39You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For other great podcasts just like this one, including the Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic in all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

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