Allez Les Rouges: The player Liverpool cannot afford to rest and the single-mindedness of Klopp

Peter Hooton is back with his Allez Les Rouges podcast, a little later than usual, but with good reason, as he has been busy promoting his excellent new book, The Boot Room Boys: The Unseen Story of Anfield's Conquering Heroes. And joined by Liverpool season-ticket holders Joe Blott, and Ian Byrne, of Fans Supporting Foodbanks, they kick off another enjoyable show by talking about the book’s launch event, where the last member of the fabled Boot Room, Roy Evans, had the packed-out crowd hanging on his every word. Times have changed, and not just at Liverpool, but the lads can see similarities in the single-mindedness of Jurgen Klopp and the great man who created the Boot Room. While there have been comparisons between Virgil van Dijk and Alan Hansen, Peter reckons the Dutchman could be for Klopp what Ron Yeats was for Bill Shankly. Liverpool are hoping the centre-back is fit for the second part of the double-header with Chelsea later today, but while Peter and Co believe the performance in the Carabao Cup defeat underlined why the Reds now have serious strength in depth, they feel there is one player - and not van Dijk - who simply needs to play every game. Xherdan Shaqiri’s display in midweek is hailed but the panel argue the Swiss winger is still more effective coming off the bench. Eden Hazard produced a devastating cameo coming on for Chelsea at Anfield on Wednesday night but Peter, Joe and Ian believe we will see the best of Liverpool’s front three this afternoon and that a match against his former club could be the one that sees Mohamed Salah’s season truly come alive. The podcast rounds off by highlighting the important work that is being done in the city by Fans Supporting Foodbanks, and a little bit about the group's special guest at last weekend’s win over Southampton, Jeremy Corbyn. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices