LIVERPOOL'S NEW MANAGER! ARSENAL FALLOUT!

Hello, everybody.Welcome to That's Football.I'm Mark Goldbridge.What a fascinating day in football yesterday.Liverpool sacking slot.Looks like it's going to be Areola.

What next for Liverpool?Or Snow, the fallout from Arsenal, the Champions League final.What next for them?And is it time to talk about Saka?We'll talk about that, maybe.We will.

We will.But let's start off with Liverpool.Look, amazing day yesterday.I didn't actually get reaction to it in the studio because it was out and about.

Thank you, everybody who watched that video.But look, I think Liverpool, a lot of people are now asking why did Liverpool take so long to sack Arnaud Slot?I haven't really got a problem with it.I think some Liverpool fans might.I certainly don't think the stories that Slot was getting sacked two, three, four, five weeks ago from so -called in -the -nose was true.I think it's very obvious that after the game last week, they were going to keep him against Brentford.

And I think what's happened this week at Liverpool, and you've got to praise it, is I think they've looked at the situation and gone, we can either carry on with Slot, where a lot of people are thinking it's a mistake or we can do something ambitious.And I think Liverpool needed to go on the front foot, you know, both on a decision point of view, but also on a style.Slott's football was pragmatic.Iriola's football is the best in the Premier League beyond Pep and Pep's not there anymore.They play the best football.They're on the front foot and it's entertaining.

There's a risk there, but there was a...I think you've got to look at it like this.Is there a risk going for Iriola's style of football at Liverpool?Yes.The risk is, can he do it at a bigger club?Will the players listen to him?

But then the balance of the risk is sticking with Slott and his pragmatic football.And are the players listening to him?No.So Iriola is the right choice.Is it going to be Iriola?Well, I mean, if you look at the odds, there's nobody else.

I mean, I think the second next favourite is Glasner.And it's not going to be him.So I think I think Liverpool have locked in on Iriola.I think it's a very clever thing to do.And I can't go back and delete the tweet I put out a month ago where I said, I think Iriola, I can't remember what I said.It was something like, I think Iriola can be the

most exciting signing of the summer.And unfortunately, Liverpool have gone and made it.But Liverpool are now, well, maybe not all Liverpool fans, but I think I would say to Liverpool fans, you're in a really exciting position.Maybe the same as Chelsea.You've got a really exciting manager.Obviously, there's risk there.

Obviously, your clubs are precarious in the sense that you're coming off the back of bad seasons.It's a very competitive Premier League.But the transfer market should be very exciting for you because both managers need to be backed.Absolutely.And I think at Liverpool, a lot of the signings that were made by slots haven't worked.So Iriola, and I've learned this at Man United, Iriola should not be responsible for making Frimpong, Kyrgios, Wurtz, etc. work.

I think he'll make Kyrgios work because he had him at Bournemouth, but it's not necessarily fair for him to come in and, you know, polish turds effectively.So he will have to be backed.And I think that that's another positive for Liverpool, because if Slott stays, you know that most of next season is about making those signings that he made last summer work.

Whereas I think Areola comes in and has a little bit of freedom to say, they're not necessarily my types of players.

So I expect incomings for Liverpool.It's speculative at the moment.I mean, there are some people that say maybe it won't be Areola.I think it will.

I don't think Liverpool will sack a manager without knowing who their next manager is going to be.And whilst Nagelsmann is a possibility, German World Cup, very close.I can't see Liverpool being in a position where they could have tied that up before the World Cup.And Enrique has just won the Champions League with PSG.So he's not going to have made his mind up.He wants to come to Liverpool.

My point is, Liverpool could take their time and go for Nagelsmann or try and get Enrique.But I don't think that's how Liverpool have acted here.I think they've took into account everything, knowing they can stick with slot, looking at the past,and negatives of that, and then they balanced it up against Iriola and decided that Iriola's the guy to go for.I don't think they've sacked Slot blindly and then gone, let's go and have a look at a different manager.So I'm absolutely convinced it will be Iriola.

And actually, you know what?If I'm being completely honest, as much as I don't like Liverpool as a Man United fan, and I know that's reciprocated, I do like football.That's why I do That's Football.I think Liverpool next season are going to be a very interesting.I can't use the word excited.I just can't do that.

But it's going to be very interesting.It's like when they got Klopp.It's going to be very interesting because I like Iriola and I liked Klopp.Just don't like Liverpool.But I think it's going to be very interesting.And I was saying on the United stand last night, I think we had an opportunity, Man United to go for Iriola as well.

And we chose to go with Carrick, which I understand.And Chelsea chose to go with Alonso as well over Iriola, which I understand.But I think if it works with him, he plays the better football out of both those coaches.

And Liverpool, I think as well, I think it's an intelligent fan base that they're not going to expect Iriola to go in and win the league.I think Liverpool fans know this is a reset.

Whereas with Slotts, you'd just won the league.And the expectation is that you go on and continue doing that.And Liverpool are definitely, after this season, going into a period of rebuild.And I don't think the patience was there for Slott to rebuild.Whereas I think with Iriola, he will get that patience to rebuild.So it'll be interesting how the players react to him.

There's not that many big characters there now, to be fair.Andy Robertson's gone, Salah's gone.Van Dijk, obviously the biggest character if you get him on board.But I think that it's going to be very interesting to see what they do.And that feeds me on to Arsenal, because I think this summer transfer window, we know we've got the World Cup.I mean, I can't believe it's a week on from now.

that we've got our first World Cup watch along.A summer of football on That's Football.Make sure you subscribe.But Arsenal losing last night, big story coming out afterwards.David Ornstein saying that they're going to look to buy five, maybe six players.Arteta saying they need to go and buy players.

They've already got the best squad in the league and they're looking to buy more players.So that's the challenge for everybody else.You've got to get busy.I don't think there's time for Man United, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool to take stock.I don't think there's time to do that because I think Arsenal are going to be the favourites next year by a very long way.Man City new manager, Chelsea new manager, Man United new manager and Liverpool new manager.

It's quite rare for a new manager to win the Premier League.In fact, the last one to do it was Slotts with a team that Klopp had built.

So there's not a team that's been built.Maybe Man City.Maybe Maresca could do a slot.You know, Pep has built a good team there.

Maybe Maresca's got the best chance.But ultimately, Arsenal are the champions and Arsenal are the only top five club who are keeping their manager.And they want to go again.

So I think if you want to get near Arsenal, the question at the moment is who can compete with Arsenal, because it could be a very easy defence of their league next year for Arsenal.

So that's going to be interesting in relation to Liverpool Chelsea as well.Give me your thoughts on that.With regards to Arsenal, look, seen a lot of comments.Fortunately, I don't have to listen to the commentary when I'm doing a watch along.I think apparently there was a lot of bias commentary last night.

Is Paris Saint -Germain against Arsenal, you know, on English TV?Probably going to get a little bit of bias.

I think where they probably missed the boat a little bit is that they presumed that everybody wanted Arsenal to win it.And I wanted Arsenal to win the league.I didn't want them to win the Champions League.I never want the English team to win the Champions League.

I might be in the minority, but I only want Man United to win the Champions League.I don't want Chelsea to win it.

I don't want Man City to win it.it.I don't want Liverpool to win it.And I think there's a lot of people who agree with that.So maybe that was the problem with the biased commentary.I don't know because I didn't listen to it.

Look, as I said last night, I've seen a few Arsenal celebrities saying they were unlucky, this, that, and the other.I don't think you were unlucky.I don't think you were unlucky.

I think that, you know, I've coached this recently in Valour League.I know it's not the same, but if you play that brand of football and you win, happy days.If you play that brand of football and you lose, you can't then walk out and say we're unlucky.

One shot on target and 20 -something percent possession in 120 minutes, that's not unlucky to lose.That's trying not to win.Arsenal came into that game, as many people predicted, with the mentality of shutting PSG out and trying to get a goal.And it worked for a period of time.They defended really, really well and they got the goal.But as an attacking sense, they didn't do enough to win the game.

The only way they were going to win that game was on penalties or if PSG didn't score.Controversial moments.I mean, apparently Mosquera shouldn't have been sent off because to give a second yellow card in them, since circumstances isn't correct.So I'll ignore that one.But the penalty on Madawaki, Look, I've seen them given.I've seen them not given.

But the sack of handball, you know, I don't think there was anything controversial that changed the game there.And realistically, I think Arteta knows himself.They can moan about officials, but it wasn't really that type of game.What Arsenal need to do is find a different way of playing, because I think that PSG were there for the taking and extra time.And Arsenal brought the better attacking subs on, but still couldn't attack.And that's a mentality thing.

So, look, Arsenal need to win a Champions League.I don't think it'll be 22 years until their next one.

I think there's a good chance they'll be back in the final in the next two or three years.So, Arsenal will spend again in the summer.And one thing you can't do about Arsenal is write them off.They finished second last year.in a row and then they won the title.They kept going every summer and backing Arteta.

And I think when it comes to the Champions League, semi -final last year, final this year, win it next year, it wouldn't surprise you because that seems to be...Arsenal don't seem to drop off.It's 2nd, 2nd, 2nd win the league.It's semi -final, final.Next year, you put them in the final, wouldn't you?And maybe they win it.

So all I'd say to Arsenal is if you want to win it, you've got to go and win it.You can't necessarily do what you did in the Premier League, which is just rely on that defence and pragmatism over a 38 -game season.It wouldn't be in the league.In the Champions League, it does come down to games.It does come down to, can you win the game?And when you look at PSG and their run, Liverpool in the quarterfinals, Bayern in the semifinals, Arsenal in the final.

I mean, they had a hard run there, but they dealt with it very, very well.And a lot of people fancied Bayern to beat PSG.And maybe that was the real final this year.Maybe they were the two best teams, certainly attacking wise.But PSG went and won, you know, they went and won those games.And I think Arsenal in the Champions League are going to have to find a different way of playing, because when you get to the final and you've played all those games, Did you try and win the game?

No, you tried and did what you did in the Premier League.And I think that's something that Arteta will look at next season, certainly.