Jim Boardman and Jay Reid are back, and for the first time in ages there are reasons to be positive. Arne Slot has gone, leaving with genuine gratitude from The Kop for No.20, but now begins the era of Andoni Iraola, whose style and attitude seem far better suited to Anfield. As Jay and Jim discuss, there’s plenty for the club to do this summer, but at least we’re all looking forward to the football again.
The game itself left Liverpool needing a win in the last game of the season if they are to get Champions League football, and given how Slot’s side have played all season it’s easier to hope for others to slip up than for Liverpool to do it for themselves. The Villa defeat wasn’t just a setback, it was another embarrassment in a season full of them, the kind where you can’t even cling to the usual excuses. Injuries, bad luck, fixture congestion, all the familiar buzzwords feel hollow now. As the hosts put it, there are ways to lose a football match that you can almost stomach, but this wasn’t one of them.
What followed, of course, was Mo Salah saying the quiet part out loud. The “heavy metal football” line might have been clumsy, but the sentiment wasn’t, and the reaction from those inside the dressing room told its own story. For all the pundits queuing up to call him selfish, Mo’s the one sticking his head above the parapet while he’s halfway out the door. Jay and Jim see it for what it is: a senior player voicing what supporters, and it seems plenty of teammates, have been feeling for months. Standards have slipped, clarity has vanished, and the club looks like it’s drifting. When the only people speaking honestly are the ones leaving,
Will Mo’s words have the effect most fans would like? For an announcement that says Arne Slot has quietly left and thanking him for that title and all his efforts since? It would make Sunday at least a day to celebrate all that Mo and Andy Robertson have done for the club as they are given a final farewell, with mosaics in the stand and plenty of singing, celebrations of happier times.
Also this week, as usual, a moment to remember that whenever it gets gloomy at Anfield there’s always something to laugh about from the old neighbours
