Few people are better placed to offer an insight into Liverpool Football Club than former Reds defender Mark Lawrenson. As the Reds prepare for a huge showdown against Manchester City at Anfield, IrishFootballFanTV caught up with Mark to discuss Arne Slot’s side, the impact of Andoni Iraola and what promises to be a fascinating encounter against Pep Guardiola’s champions…
On Andoni Iraola: “I love him. The international break kind of broke things up, but I think he’s great. Even right at the start, people were saying, “No, he’s not doing this, he’s not doing that.’ He’s only been in the job for about three weeks and stuff like that. But I like him. I like the way that he plays. Everyone’s saying, you know, “We’ve not got enough players, not enough of this and enough of that.” But we’re starting to look really, really good. Get the boy back from Italy.
“I think that might be three or four months, because we were saying we haven’t got enough players to play at the back. Have you seen the two guys they’ve signed? Absolute great players already. When I say great, I mean very, very good players already.”
‘ANFIELD MUST BE HOSTILE!’ ???? Phil Thompson on Man City & Liverpool’s HUGE Clash
On Araujo & Jacquet: “Great signings. And it’s one of those things, as I’ve just said before, where the lads in the dressing room will be looking around and going, “You know what? We’ve got a chance.” And I think they have. They really seriously have. We don’t obviously know what’s going to happen to Manchester City, which will make things interesting, as will Sunday’s game. But you’ve just got to get on with that. No, I like the manager. I really seriously do. There’s just something about him that makes you want to play for him. And if you’ve got a team with a manager like that, you’ve got a chance.
On Isak: “Well, I would imagine he’ll get 20-plus goals, to be honest with you. He’s been, as you say, very, very unlucky. But that’s the thing with goalscorers, isn’t it? They can go a long, long time; they can miss chances and all those kinds of things. But when it starts to happen, it happens.
On Man City: “I feel sorry for the players. Absolutely sorry for the players, because they’ve been cheated. If you look at Sunday’s game, everybody comes home. Everybody comes in, the players all come on the bus, don’t they? They come in and everyone waves and all that. It’ll be mobbed. It’ll be unbelievable, honestly, seriously. And it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Manchester City, whether they’re coming in on a bus as well.
“I just hope there aren’t any stupid things, like people throwing stuff at the bus and all that kind of thing. I hope people realise it’s not their fault. It really is not their fault. And as long as we beat them 4-0, I’m not bothered.”
