David James on Star Wars, Liverpool's Current Form, And More

David James is no stranger to football fans, racking up over 572 Premier League appearances, and keeping 169 clean sheets in that time.

David is also an avid gamer, having played PUBG over the years.

We spoke with the former England, Liverpool, Manchester City and Portsmouth goalkeeper on Star Wars games, if Liverpool will finish in the top four, and more.

Are you a Star Wars fan? And if so, have you played any of the franchise’s games over the years?

I am a Star Wars fan and the original movies were more of my thing but in regards to the games, then not so much. I didn’t play them back in the day as I stopped playing console games and focused more on mobile gaming in recent times.

Onto the football, Liverpool take on Real Madrid at Anfield tonight in the first-leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. What’s your prediction for tonight’s game and despite Liverpool’s earlier woes in the league this season, do you still believe they have a good chance of winning the Champions League?

Yes, because they’re still in it. I would have answered the same three weeks ago purely as they’re in the tie. I do feel a lot more confident in that answer now after seeing their last two games. I was at the Merseyside Derby on Monday and Liverpool needed to win and despite Everton not being very good, the quality of Liverpool’s finishing was superb.

Cody Gakpo’s goal changed the player completely. Prior to the goal, whether it was positional or tactical, he didn’t look fully comfortable. Once the goal went in, he looked like a brand new player and he followed that up with a goal against Newcastle United on Saturday. The two goals against Newcastle were superb and they could have had five or six with the chances they created.

Regarding Real Madrid, I don’t think Liverpool are back to their best but there’s been a massive improvement over the past two games. Can they win it? Of course. Do they need to win it? Not necessarily because it’s a two-legged tie and they’ll still have a chance of winning the second leg at the Bernabéu. If their form continues between now and the second leg, they’ll be favourites anyway.

Do you believe it’s likely that Liverpool will finish in the top four this season? Which four sides do you believe will occupy those positions at the end of May?

It’s so difficult to say and I don’t want to sound like a flag in the wind here, but Manchester United are probably the favourites at the moment to win the league with all the stuttering that Arsenal and Manchester City have been showing in recent weeks.

Manchester United just seem to be cruising at the moment, however, as with Arsenal and Manchester City, every team’s run comes to an end, so there’s obviously a chance that Manchester United’s run will come to an end at some point. If that was to happen, then that will put the advantage back with Arsenal and Manchester City, who you’d expect to pick up some good form between now and the end of the season. Essentially, I believe those three teams will be in the top four at the end of the season.

With regards to Newcastle United, Eddie Howe is a magnificent manager and along with Harry Redknapp, he’s the best manager I’ve ever had. If he and that squad can win the Carabao Cup final, then they would have done something that Newcastle, as a club, hasn’t done for 68 years and that’s winning a trophy. I’m not saying they would down tools for the rest of the season if they were to win the trophy, but for the last few weeks, that side has been focused on something that would elevate them to a hero status, which is more important than qualifying for the Champions League at the moment as there’s still a few months of the season to go. Regarding whether Newcastle will get into the top four, then a lot will depend on how the Carabao Cup final goes for them.

Over the last week, there’s been a big improvement from Liverpool in terms of results and performances. Going back to the Merseyside Derby, when Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino came onto the field, you could feel the excitement of the Liverpool fans as they have got two of their stars back. Virgil van Dijk has returned to the side too, so when you get these players back, you’re starting to look at the Liverpool side that went to the extremes last season and if Newcastle continue to slip, then Liverpool are in the best position to take advantage of it.

Fulham and Brighton are still there in the race. Tottenham, who knows what Tottenham are going to do? I don’t want to sound like a cliché pundit, but I saw them beat Manchester City one week and then saw them get smashed by Leicester City the following week. They’ve been the same all season, so the probability suggests that they’ll likely lose consecutive games on more than one occasion between now and the end of the season. In that case, you’re probably going to have to rule them out of the top four.

Liverpool can get in there but it all depends on how Newcastle United get on in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United.

Chelsea, according to the Telegraph**, are said to be prepared to ‘move heaven and earth’ to sign England international Jude Bellingham, despite spending over £600 million on transfers in the past year. Can you genuinely see Jude making the move to Stamford Bridge? Enzo Fernández and Mykhailo Mudryk are two examples of players that have signed eight-and-a-half-year deals reportedly in order for Chelsea to gradually write off the initial cost of the players. Could you see Jude seriously signing a seven, eight or nine-year deal with Chelsea?**

With what I know about how footballers are and with lots of the players on long-term contracts, If I was at Chelsea then I would worry about how stable performances are going to be. In my own experience, I was better on shorter-length contracts because it meant that I was always fighting for new contracts and it kept me hungry. As soon as you have a long-term contract, it’s just human nature, but a lot of your worries about the future are alleviated and you put yourself in a very different position. Regardless of the amount of money you’re on, long-term contracts aren’t particularly good for competitive athletes. If I was Jude Bellingham, I would consider that as a possible negative. 

Chelsea are a fantastic club, but they’re in a position now which is different to what anybody’s familiar with.

Chelsea are great but Liverpool’s one of the biggest and best clubs in the world and if I was advising Jude Bellingham, I couldn’t think of a better club that he could go to now than Liverpool.

Jack Grealish is really beginning to shine at Manchester City and in your opinion, is he beginning to justify his £100 million transfer fee?

Beginning? I thought Jack was excellent last season. There was a lot of talk during the season that he wasn’t getting enough game time but if you look at the appearances for last season, Jack was pretty much the same as everybody else.

The way Pep [Guardiola] rotates his team means that everybody isn’t going to start all the time and even Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne haven’t started every game this season. Jack fits the Pep methodology and they won the Premier League with him in the squad and he was a big part of their success.

This season he’s been playing fantastically and he seems to be enjoying himself a lot more. I was at the Arsenal vs Manchester City game the other week and Jack was heavily involved in a lot of the good stuff that his side produced that evening. Justifying a price tag is subjective and I’m sure there’s people out there claiming he should get more goals.

Manchester City aren’t cruising the league this season, even with Jack playing as well as he is, so there’s more things that the whole team should be doing, but nothing that’s specifically down to Jack. He’s been fantastic this season.

Aston Villa are reportedly open to offers for their World Cup winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in the aim of raising additional funds for the club’s manager Unai Emery in the summer transfer window. Does this news surprise you? Where would you rank Martínez amongst the league’s best goalkeepers? 

The own goal at the weekend against Arsenal wasn’t his fault obviously and in regards to him going up for the corner that eventually led to the fourth goal, his manager Unai Emery made a very valid point regarding the success rate of goalkeepers going up for corners. Numerous, numerous goalkeepers have gone up for a corner and a handful have actually scored. You’re more likely to concede and in this instance they did, so it wasn’t a mistake.

Martínez has been great at times, but there’s a part where you question the number of saves he’s making compared to the goals he’s conceding. Similar situation to when he was playing at the World Cup, he conceded more goals than he made saves in open play, which kind of goes against the whole ‘Golden Glove’ thing.

I’ve kept an eye on him after the World Cup to see if there’s a change in his performance and to see whether he was capable of making a greater number of saves compared to the amount of goals he was conceding and there’s no difference really. 

Unai Emery has a very specific way of looking at the game and I think if he can raise funds then he would change a lot of that team.

At the moment, if you’re going through that Aston Villa side and looking for players who you can get the most money for in the transfer window then Martínez is going to be up there as one of their most valuable players. If Unai Emery sees that as an opportunity to help him recruit and rebuild, then it’s a no-brainer really. One goalkeeper compared to two or three outfield players who can strengthen your side, then he has to do it, especially when it’s not the goalkeeper who’s responsible for them from losing week in, week out.

Do you believe Loris Karius is capable of being the hero for Newcastle United in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final?

The reason why Newcastle United would have recruited him is because he’s capable rather than just being experienced. Therefore, the question then would be where’s his head at? What he experienced in the 2018 Champions League final, on the world stage, has had to have had an effect on him. 

Has he recovered from that? He’s a more than capable goalkeeper and if I was him, then as soon as Nick Pope got sent off and the message was that you’re next in line for the cup final, then I would tell myself that I’m going to get abuse, put myself in that mindset and work on the basis that you’re a capable goalkeeper, who is aware that everybody’s eyes are on you and just go out there and do it whilst everybody’s watching you.

It sounds very simple and I’ve been through that myself in my career where things haven’t been going right and you walk out onto the field and think that people who aren’t even looking at you are looking at you and it has a negative impact. With a decent sports psychologist and good people around you, you’re capable of turning it around. At the end of the day you’ve got to remember you’re playing a game of football and if somebody shoots you’re going to save it. 

He has the potential of being the hero for Newcastle United and sticking with the goalkeepers union, I do believe it could be his day. We have to wait and see if it’s worthy of a movie script, but there is the potential plot of this goalkeeper, who was maligned by the world of football, coming back and winning the trophy for his club.