Glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur. And what next for Ange Postecoglou? Football Weekly Extra

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly Europa League glory for Tottenham Hot Spur.

Ange said he wasn't boasting, just stating facts about always winning in his second season, and he still can.

Spurs' first trophy in 17 years, their first European one in 41.

Are you not entertained?

So he said after the Carabao Cup win over Manchester United this season, well, not really.

It was so categorically and unequivocally anti-Ange ball, a terrible game.

Sit in, get the ball in the box, score the decisive goal, and then just soak up the pressure.

Conte and Jose would be proud.

Champions League football then for Spurs and a huge moment for Posta Coglu, who didn't mic drop.

We wait to see if he's there next season.

Then again, it was against Manchester United, who didn't really look like scoring until Vicario dropped one and Van der Venn tested his hamstring like never before.

And then Vicario pushed the Luke Shaw header wide late on.

Also, today, we'll look ahead to the Premier League weekend and the playoff finals.

Answer your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly

on the panel today.

Barry Glendeni, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Representing Spurs, as well as me, Lars Sivitson.

Hello.

Hello, Max.

Congratulations.

And commiserations, John Bruin.

Hello.

So, yeah, there we are.

Spurs one.

What a glum hello that was.

Spurs won, Manchester United, Nil.

Brennan Johnson's...

Did he touch it goal in the 41st minute, settling the Europa League, their first trophy since 2008, first European one since 1984.

Mo Salah tweeting, he did say he'd win in his second season.

Congratulations.

Andy saying, should Ange have also said he wins things in his third season rather than just the second one?

And John says, can Barry update us on how many more games we have to sit through until the next good one?

A bad game settled by a terrible goal.

Before we get to the panel, I didn't dare ask Mark Langdon for a voice note before full time because I didn't want to jinx it.

But I did after full time.

And here is a croaky-voiced Mark Langdon just after the final whistle.

Hi, Max.

It's one o'clock here in Bilbao, losing my voice.

Incredible night to be inside the stadium to see Spurs lift the Europa League.

We know it was a bad game.

I don't care it was a bad game.

When Johnson scored, the noise was astonishing and we sung the Johnson again song for a good 10 minutes at half-time and I've just never heard a noise like it inside the stadium.

It was just fantastic.

What does it mean?

I think

when I was speaking with my dad about whether we should come out here, we knew it was expensive, it was going to be a pain, we had to go to Malaga first, then into Bilbao and paid a fortune to get home as well on Thursday.

But

he said to me, I don't know if I'm going to get to see us win another European trophy, so we've got to do it.

So to be inside the stadium with him was fantastic, really emotional moment to see Tony lift the trophy.

And yeah, I don't care about the Champions League.

I do care about the Super Cup though.

We're going to win the Super Cup.

Thank you, Mark.

I appreciate that.

And before we talk about the match itself, as we said, Barry, with Palace and Newcastle, it is about exactly what Mark said, you know, him and his dad and his dad saying, this might be the last time I get to see that.

You know, me and my dad 10,000 10,000 miles apart, but chatting to him afterwards was great and the agony of the second half.

And we had that moment, sort of, for the third time this season, a team that don't win things winning something.

Yes, and

in fine style, it has to be said.

I think Arnes Postacoglu is very entitled now to give, you know, a big flick the V's at quite a lot of journalists who I'd say have been taking the piss out of him for a while now.

Probably me, I would include myself in that, I guess.

He has far more strident critics than me because I quite like him.

But he did say he wins things in his second season and he has won something in his second season.

It wasn't pretty, but it's a massive victory for Spurs.

whose fans I think can now legitimately argue that despite being likely to finish one place above the relegation zone, have had a more successful season than Arsenal

because they've both qualified for next season's Champions League, but Spurs have won a European Cup, and that's nothing to be sniffed at, particularly for a team who famously doesn't win things.

I think it's a massively damning indictment for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and what the Irish journalist Deion Fanning famously labelled his Polit Bureau of Bullshit, which is

led by Dave Brailsford, who

has just been stealing a living in various forms for years.

He's an absolute spoofer.

There's him, Barrada, Wilcox, Vivelle,

all these high-performance, best-in-class bozos who are

slowly being exposed for what...

I always knew they would be exposed for absolute charlatans.

But this is about Spurs, I suppose.

It was not a particularly impressive victory, but it was a very, very important one.

I reckon they should keep Ange on.

I think he's shown enough that he is not as married to his Angeball as he once was.

He has won them a trophy, but will Daniel Levy

trust him to bring in, spend the money that will need to be spent for them not to embarrass themselves in the Champions League next season?

I don't know.

Yeah.

It's interesting.

He isn't

as married to Angeball.

I mean, he couldn't be less married to it in this game.

Like the second half was sort of extraordinary, wasn't it?

Spurs just didn't want the ball, didn't care, sat there.

And, you know, imagine, of course, they had a couple of chances.

But it's sort of fascinating that Ange didn't do it.

And I think Jack Pitbrook afterwards asked him, you know, in a kind of roundabout way, you know, this wasn't Angeball.

And he said, look, in cup competitions, it's different.

I've always been different.

And I don't know if that's a bit of revisionism from Ange, but it's so different to what he always says is plan B is just do plan A better.

Yeah, I was frankly hoping we were going to revel in the glory of winning a trophy a little bit before we

do.

Feel free to materialize.

But it is slightly, I mean, that part of it,

but that part of it makes me think, can we just not be a bit different in the league next season?

Is that an option?

Like, it was a quote after the game.

He says he feels knockout football is different.

The quote is, when you're in that situation, it comes down to good organization, having a real game plan and moments, and you can minimize moments by having a strong foundation.

I was just thinking, mate, you can have a game plan in the league as well.

Like, there's no rule against it.

Like, it's entirely possible.

But, like, before we get on to that,

it's very easy to wet blanket this because you can say it's just a Europa League.

You can say they haven't played anyone good, yada, yada, yada.

But I do think it matters quite a lot in other ways.

I think it matters.

First of all, I love the voice note from Mark Langdon.

I think that that is the biggest reason it matters because it's an incredible day out for a lot of fans who've seen some been through a lot of negativity in the last sort of two decades.

Everyone who sort of paid for the very overpriced flights and the very overpriced accommodation and all this sort of stuff and getting to Bilbao, I'm really, really happy for all of them.

And everyone who's endured everything you've had to endure being a Spurs fan recently to have that day day out is wonderful.

And I also do think psychologically for the teams, it matters an awful lot because

this sort of thing of getting a reputation for being chokers, if you want, for being a team that always fails

when it really matters.

That stuff kind of creeps into the walls.

And it's hard not to have that for play.

It must be hard not to have.

I mean, I wouldn't know.

I've never been in a final, but it must be hard not to have that at the back of your mind when you're playing these games.

So actually getting that off your back, I think, is hugely significant.

But it doesn't mean there aren't still questions about what's gone on this season and whether you want it to keep going on the next season.

I think that's an entirely

that's a slightly different thing.

Yeah, I mean, actually, you're so right about reveling.

We did it with Palace, and

I'm happy to revel.

I didn't cry, really cry until Hyungmin's son picked up the trophy from Sheffrid.

And because I hadn't seen a lot of son, and his smile is just so infectious, and I was so worried that we'd see another sad sun like we see Harry Kane looking sad all the time.

I thought that was just a wonderful moment and there was a moment a bit like after the Palace Cup final when they cut to the fans all in tears.

One of the TNT sport of cameras was like just focused on the fans for the final whistle.

And it had this old guy with like his Spurshaw over his jumper, you know, because which is the right way to do it because it might get even a bit chilly in a European night.

And then he was hugged by, I think, his son.

And then it just panned across.

And for a small moment, you just saw like the top of a bald man's head, like an old bald man, just sort of sobbing uncontrollably into his scarf.

And then the just camera kept on going.

And it is sort of amazing what it's amazing, John.

What I mean, I know you're United, but like to see these three teams that have won these trophies and to see the Tottenham fans and what it meant to them last night is just it's sort of magical.

Yes, and this is the season where we've talked about, you know, lack of Jeopardy, oh, it's boring,

and yet we've seen those three days of emotion for the Newcastle fans, for Palace fans, and for Tottenham fans.

And listen,

as Lars said, when you hear Mark's little excerpt there, I mean, it's absolutely beautiful, isn't it?

And we've all,

if

as fans and as a Manchester fan, I've had those moments, you know, shared with your best friends and your family or whatever.

They're wonderful moments.

And

the stories of travelling to Bilbao via Plymouth

or, you know, Plymouth and a ferry.

Yeah, Portsmouth, John.

Portsmouth.

Well, but you might have gone via Plymouth, judging by some of the stories you've heard.

I mean, one of my

last weekend, and one of my friends, a United fan, unfortunately, flew from Berlin to Bilbao,

didn't have a hotel for Wednesday night.

He's probably returning home to divorce proceedings after two weeks

just on the lamb.

But yeah,

those are great times if you get out there and it's a you're there as a fan.

If you're not, if you it's very different if you're a journalist, and so you are, and that's the thing, as journalists, we forget those moments, we forget that football fandom.

The thing that people when we're sat in a stadium and we're you know typing away and we're criticising managers or asking questions of managers, we forget that the people in front of us have paid for this experience, have paid money for experience, have paid for it with their own spare time, they pay for their own emotions, they pay with the fact that the misses might be not that happy that they've just spent two grand on a trip to Bilbao.

It's all there, it's all there.

And if your team wins the game, it's even better.

And you know, I've seen United fans say, Yeah, great trip, really enjoyed it.

You know, pity by the football.

Um,

that's those big finals are great events if you get to attend them, especially if you win.

Uh, and you know, listen, I'm not, I don't hold any particular feelings for or against Spurs.

I've always quite enjoyed them.

I remember, funny enough, you know, you think back of memories.

And one of my first memories watching a football game live was the 84 European Cup final.

At half-time, they showed highlights of Spurs winning the UEFA Cup that night.

So I grew up thinking, well, Spurs winning European trophies, you know?

Yeah, it's been a long time.

It's been a long time since then.

I had an amazing, speaking of people there, I had an amazing, you know, know we go on instagram the football weekly handle says any questions and i just got a question i think it's like 3 30 a.m spanish time going i've got a question from the pod from burt why are there no calves in bil bow just

know is that a light is the light on is it not on oh it's full damn it i mean and actually Barry, it is worth saying, like defensively, I don't know if Ange looked at the midfield he had available of like Basuma, Saar, and Bentencourt, and he was missing Kulasevski and he's missing Madison.

Just said, look, we're going to have to play this way.

Because defensively, not just those three, but defensively, Spurs were pretty faultless in this game, I thought.

Yeah, there were.

There were a couple of wobbles from Vicario, but otherwise, they were excellent.

Maybe it was to Angel's advantage that his hand was forced by the injuries.

So we kind of knew what his midfield was going to be before the game started.

That's the midfield he went with

because he didn't have many other options or any other options.

And they played pretty well.

I mean,

you could say, like, we're going to talk about how badly Manchester United played.

Spurs played pretty badly as well.

They just happened to win the match

with a really scruffy, skanky goal.

I was going to say this master defensive plan, it didn't have to be that masterful, did it?

I mean, it it was

one side of the defence, it was

obviously, I mean, you know, and tactics being what they are, and like let's, you know, we know for one night only he became Chris Wilder or whatever, you know, so he but he obviously thought they're going to give the ball to Diallo quite a bit because Diallo has done quite some good things for United.

And so every time Diallo turned, there was four Spurs defenders in his way, and it worked.

And then there was no other person to carry the ball, so all good until they bring on Garnacho.

Then at that point, you're defending deep, and then it's, you know,

they defended wonderfully.

Romero had a great game, you know, master of all the skies, all that type of thing.

Risharlison, Rosharlison played like, you know, when you watch a rugby international and it's like the back row forward whose job it is to sort of scoop the ball out and annoy the opposition and

make them give away fouls and penalties.

And that's what Risharlison does.

That's what he does best.

That's why he was always good in the Mersey Derby.

Because he Because that is his fixture.

The one where you're just needling and niggling and just getting at them.

That's the best game he's ever played for Spurs.

It may well be his last game for Spurs.

But he wound Man United up.

And

that's how it's done.

And in a final, Andisk is right.

It's not the same as playing a two-legged game.

It's not the same as playing a league match.

Just get it done.

However, you've got to get it done.

And they did it.

Fair enough.

And this is something, I mean, it's not a complete bolt from the blue because they played a little bit like this in the second leg against Funkfoot in particular, and in the second leg against Bodeglimp.

They were really well prepared.

They stopped, you know,

blocked off the right spaces and were aware of the danger men and all this sort of stuff.

And I think Ernst deserves credit for starting Rochelle, actually.

I think

there was a strong...

largely sentimental, but a strong case for starting Son in this game, even though he's been out injured and he hasn't looked that effective after he's come back.

But I think acknowledging that, particularly in a final, the sort of the energy and the annoyance factor of Richarlessen is significant and makes him very useful.

Like, Richarlesson hasn't...

You would say on balance, Richarlesson hasn't really worked out as a signing

for the transfer fee that was paid for him and what you're expecting

a Brazilian international center-forward to do for you.

But he is useful.

He does certain useful things for the team.

And I think the commitment he always shows and the physicality he brings is in this game in particular was was very very useful and it was it was a good decision by Ange to start him yeah and worth mentioning Solanke who was I mean tireless in this guy I just think anyone run that much do you think Barry the you know because so much was made of Ange saying I went into my second season and they get knocked out of the FA Carabao Cup and the FA Cup and people are like

probably not mate do you think it do you think it took the pressure off the players I mean it's clearly They did, he has done it.

So it's like, it now looks amazing.

And there was every chance they wouldn't do it, you know, if Van der Wen doesn't do that clearance or whatever.

But I wonder, do you think in some way that gave the players belief or it just took all the pressure off them to go out and play just marginally better than Manchester United?

Maybe.

I think there was an awful lot of pressure on both sets of players, everyone involved in that game last night.

Spurs handled it a little bit better,

but the consequences of losing that match were always going to be massive.

And now Manchester United have to deal with those consequences.

But I suppose if you have a manager who keeps repeating this mantra, I always win something in my second season.

And gradually it becomes apparent, well, we're not going to win this.

And we're not going to win this.

And we're certainly not going to win the title.

So eventually there's only one thing left.

Well, maybe it must be this.

Let's go and win this.

Maybe.

I don't know.

It's worth saying we have a massive Australian audience, and his impact on Australian football just cannot be understated.

Mate of mine, Nick Stoll, saying, And Postakoglu is not just the first Australian coach to win a European trophy, the first coach not from Europe or Argentina to win a European trophy ever.

In the world's most popular sport, we've never seen a journey as incredible as his.

A kid from Melbourne, mate, he says, I mean, I don't know if it's the most incredible journey, Lars, but it's kind of up there for a guy that moved from Greece when he was five, his parents had nothing, to end up playing for Pushkas,

go into coaching, to have success everywhere.

He has been Australia, Japan, Scotland, and now this.

And we talk about like the importance of Crystal Palace's win for like football, English football.

I don't know if it's an overstatement, just for world football.

Like it feels quite inspirational that this guy can win this trophy.

Yeah, no, no, I get that.

And I actually think

I almost think the most incredible part of that journey is the most recent, recent part, the fact that he was he won the Japanese league with Yokohama in 2019, which is not that long ago, really.

And getting from the Japanese league to being in charge of one of the wealthier Premier League teams and winning a trophy with them is that that's kind of the most improbable jump there, I think, the way modern football has gone.

I mean, Spurs took a gamble on him in that regard, and the way that Celtic took a gamble on him.

And I do think that could be a positive in the sense of clubs maybe thinking outside the box a little bit with some of their managerial appointments.

It doesn't have to be the same guys from the same merry-go-round and the same sort of thing that it always is.

You can hire a guy who has a slightly different CV to the candidates you usually look for.

I guess the counter-argument to that is Tottenham's league form this season, but we'll get to that, I guess.

We should say, great moment for Jung-Min-sun.

Tenth season at Spurs, 454 games, 173 goals.

His first trophy.

He'd lost three finals with Spurs.

There's a nice picture when he lost the Asian Cup to Australia of Ange comforting him, and now that they're together winning this.

Brennan Johnson, who remember had to delete his social media early in the season to score the winner if he did get a touch, score 18 goals this season.

The question then is, John, does he stay?

There was always this question, wasn't there?

Why wouldn't he stay?

He's entitled to stay.

He's achieved something that no other Tottenham manager apart from Juan Day Ramos has achieved in this century.

Juan De Ramos didn't last that long after it, actually.

I think he's really there.

We go.

Before this game, it felt like it was one of those because

essentially the press have this bloodlust for managers, you know, this bloodlust of getting people sacked.

In the papers today, you'll read a lot about how Amarim should go.

I don't hold that view myself, but what you've got is this idea that Ange had to hold on to he had to win this game,

or but he would be sacked anyway.

sound that now feels ridiculous that you would sack him after that it would be the ultimate daniel levy maneuver

and i tell you what would happen is after 10 games the next manager comes in now lars you name me uh a hip and happering spanish manager that it could be that comes in say uh irola

would be top of the list i think ireola would be top of the list though i i don't think that's going to happen because iriola seems to be reasonably happy at both at the point we were going to make standards yeah yeah so yeah okay we are

I forget.

We are in a hypothetical world here, of course.

Yeah, we are.

Iriola goes in, and Iriola has the runner-form that he had at Bournemouth occasion, which is the team doesn't win very often and plays well.

They either play at the top or they play the bottom.

They can be inconsistent.

Get rid of Iriola.

Leave her.

You pest up.

And we're back to the Tottenham Stadium, being Tottenham Stadium again.

Everyone's whinging.

Everyone's already forgotten that glorious night in Bilbao because he got rid of Ange.

Ange the king.

Ange the sainted guy that will never be forgotten.

In fact, if Ange had anything about him, he'd just resign and say, Right, that's it for me.

I will be that godhead.

Do you know?

Fancy putting him, get a statue of me there.

Me and Billy Nick, we're the guys.

But no, that's not,

they should keep him and see how he goes.

Maybe Ange has learned a few lessons as well.

That's the way we play, mate.

That's gone out the window now.

We know that he can do things differently.

So give him a go.

He's worth a go.

I completely agree with you, John.

But if I could play a devil's advocate,

would keeping him not be a similar error to United keeping Ten Hag last season?

I don't think so, because Tottenham aren't Man United.

Tottenham don't win things.

Like, Man United keep winning things.

And so, like, it is, it's, I think it's totally different.

I think if you win something with Tottenham, you should be afforded as much as you like, because it's every two decades now.

It's not like, you know, someone else turns up.

That's what I think.

Ten Hague, having won that trophy, was entitled to have another go.

There's nothing wrong with saying, all right, you have achieved that success.

Let's, you know,

if there's no one else, you know, which is actually what happened.

I mean, the story ends up is that United, Ten Hag was on holiday and two blokes from United knocked on the door and said, right, about extending that contract.

He didn't know.

Because, I mean, that's how Man United have run.

And this is the thing.

Daniel Levy will have an idea of whether he wants to keep Ange.

And I would expect, and I hope actually, otherwise football has gone even madder than I thought.

That they give him a go.

If it doesn't work out, see you later, Ange.

We had a great night in Bilbao, didn't we?

That was fantastic.

Thank you very much, mate.

Speaking of statues, I think it was Jay Harris on the athletics saying, I've consumed a lot of Tottenham content today saying they should get a statue of Manda Ben.

Don't know how you could do it in that pose.

I don't know how you set that because he's in mid-air, they hang it from the ceiling, but God, it was some clearance.

I was always told that to do statues

sculpting, legs are the hardest bit.

So you don't want legs flying around.

It's sort of that's the yeah, yeah, it's a tricky one, isn't it?

It'll make the Ronaldo one look make the Ronaldo one look good, won't it?

You know, when you see men on horses, that's difficult.

You know, that's always they ever get their legs right, do they?

Maybe the next time Van der Wen is injured, you can just kind of bring him into the studio where the artist is working and just kind of suspend him from the ceiling in a series of

wires, yeah, and just have him floating there.

And then the guy could just chip away.

But that was incredible.

And I also thought there was a there was a great Kevin Dunzo clearance late on as well from the box, one of those times, because I thought, I was very certain this wasn't going to end well for Tottenham.

And they went very deep a little early in the game, I thought.

When they brought on Danzo, I think it was

78th minute or something.

And then you're thinking...

It's 12 minutes, at least 15, possibly closer to 20 minutes of just being camped out in your own box now with big Harry Maguire to come up and play striker.

I was like, this is, I think I know what's going to happen here.

Like, I felt very strongly that we're going to have a Harry Maguire equalizer and extra time in penalties.

But

there were some absolutely heroic clearances at the back there.

And going back to the Angel question, I think you need to have a conversation with him about like, what have we learned from this season in terms of what we're doing in the league?

Because yes, he's achieved some things no Spurs manager has achieved in a long time.

But the other thing he's achieved that no Spurs manager has achieved achieved in a long time is finishing 17th.

If you're in charge of the team that has the fifth or sixth highest wage bill in the Premier League and you finish 17th, it's in your second season, so you've had one year to get your methods across.

And then the second season, things should be working.

But instead, you finish 17th, you've got one win in the last 11 in the league.

Even if you have been prioritizing the Europa League, it's not even remotely acceptable.

And you need to have a good debrief and a good chat.

And they're like, why did this happen?

Have we learned anything?

Are we going to play this differently if we try this again?

I still don't, and this is me being a bit wet blankety.

But in the Europa League, Spurs have beaten Karabag, Fernsvaros, Azed, Hoffenheim, Elsborg, Azed again, Frankfurt, Budaglimpton, now United.

There's no teams in there that a team with Spurs' budget shouldn't beat, I guess, except for maybe Man United, who have also been terrible.

So I don't know if you're trying to make a sort of sober, rational analysis of where Spurs are at after this year.

I think the case for keeping Ange is a lot weaker, but clearly it's the morning after the night before, and we're all feeling a little emotional about things.

Yeah, well, I'm here for the vibes.

I'd like him to stay for sure.

Anyway, there was another team playing last night, and we'll do Manchester United.

Well, playing is a verb, I guess.

Or what is that?

A present participle?

I don't, don't, don't put, don't tell me what it is in the comments.

We'll talk about Manchester United in part two.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly.

Must be 18 years or older to purchase, play, or claim.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Tom says, Is it okay to feel sorry for Manchester United?

John, is that the biggest disappointment in a disappointing season?

And on your birthday as well, happy birthday.

I've had happy birthdays.

I won the Champions League one night on a birthday.

So, listen, swings and roundabouts.

You're a Manchester United fan.

I had the good times.

The bad times are getting longer and longer.

Hey, that's just as time passes on, I suppose.

Yeah, it's disappointing because I suppose you a bit like last season, your eggs are all in one basket and you hope that they can produce the performance.

I think the most depressing thing is the performance itself, in that it was so

listen.

I did a United game against Fulham, and I wrote in this, everyone knows how Manchester United play, and they have not varied their time,

the way they play since then.

And

Ange Postakoglu, a manager known for not having a tactical plan, had a tactical plan and knew how to play against Manchester United.

I thought the team selection was a little bit odd.

I mean,

presumably Garnacho was brought on

against

chasing tired legs.

didn't work up front with Mason Mount, who I think worked hard but didn't really get enough of it, enough of the ball.

Bruno didn't see enough of the ball.

The problem was the ball always ended up with, who actually thought had quite a good game on the ball, was like Lenny Yorrow.

It's a problem when your centre halves are having to cut through the opposition with searing passes because no one else is moving in midfield.

Tottenham did a number on them.

The goalkeeper, yet again, let them down with the goal.

So they gave themselves very little margin for error by playing that game.

And the thing is with Amarim is there's been all these vibes of him thinking, hey, did I choose the wrong club?

And this idea that Big Sir Jim has chosen the wrong manager because remember back when he s he didn't actually want to be the manager till the end of the season.

And we had that interim period where he then beat Manchester City.

Do you remember the night that Noel Gallagher did the co-commentary?

Well, he did the co-commentary with the first half and they absolutely smashed them.

And everyone thought, wow, Man United have pulled it off here.

But a couple of big wins.

He had his mojo then, but I think the size of the task has rather swamped him.

That's not to say he can't pull it back, but he is going to have to think about doing things a little bit differently if he's going to stay in a job for much longer.

As I said, there will be a lot of reports out there about how he's going to have to go and all this type of thing.

I wouldn't support that.

I think he's worth pushing on with because if you're a Manchester United fan, you're now used to the team being rubbish.

It's okay, we can deal with this for the moment if we see signs of progress.

Unfortunately, those signs of progress were not in Bilbao.

But give the guy a chance.

Let's see what they can pull in a transfer window.

I mean, the players that are linked with who are they?

Coonha, and he can be brilliant one day and he can disappear another day.

Seems absolutely ideal for Manchester United.

Liam DeLap,

not dissimilar, can be brilliant, can sort of disappear.

This is a problem that because of Manchester United status these days, they're fishing in shallow waters, aren't they?

And we're going to have to see what happens.

But hugely disappointing,

but after a season that they've had, can you say that Manchester United

deserve a summer in silverware and celebrating and an open-top bus tour around Manchester?

No, of course not.

Even if they've won it.

I suppose, bro, the criticism that I've seen laid at Amarim's door a lot is that he didn't really change anything in that game.

Every substitution is like for like until really late on.

And it did just end up with, you know, get it in the box, get it to Harry.

Yeah, it did seem baffling that he didn't make any changes at halftime because things weren't working.

Rasmus Hoyland

is just...

doesn't look good enough to be a Manchester United player.

He's not alone there, but he has been noticeably poor this season.

They have a goalkeeping issue.

And the worry is now that they've got loads of players on quite long contracts and big wages who they'll struggle to get rid of.

The players they can get rid of and make a big profit on are Garnacho and Cobby Menu, who are two of their better players.

I wonder if Bruno Fernandez might be getting sick of life at Old Trafford.

He didn't play well last night and he was, yeah, he was playing very deep and that wasn't working and Amarim didn't do anything to change it.

And when he eventually did bring Garnacho on, that caused Tottenham problems.

But why did he wait so long?

Was he not fit?

Or

was it just poor in-game management?

I don't know.

But nobody from...

connected with Manchester United in any way covered themselves in glory last night.

Yeah, Garnacho said, I played every round to help the team reach the final.

Today I only got 20 minutes.

I don't know.

I will try and enjoy the summer and then see what happens.

See ya.

Bye.

Yeah, see if he stays about.

I would also wonder, will the likes of Kuna and

Lime Delafield

want to go to Manchester United now because they're not in Europe next season?

And actually, that's an important point, Lars, because players must look at the number of players that have gone to Manchester United and think,

hang on, this doesn't seem seem like,

you know, it's now not the destination it was, and it's certainly not a good stepping stone in your career getting better.

In fact, leaving Manchester United seems to be the best thing that any player can do.

No, but I mean, that is also why they're linked with Kunya and Liam DeLap, right?

Kunya, who, as entertaining as he is, he's kind of the talisman of a...

kind of okay-ish Wolves team and Liam DeLap just got relegated with Ipswich.

Like they're not going after the sort of biggest names in European football like they once were, A, because they can't afford them and B, because they probably wouldn't go there.

I don't think if you're playing for Wolves or Ipswich, you look at, you get an offer from United, you go, ah, but they're not in Europe next year.

Like that's, I don't think that's going to be an issue.

But I think it's more a case of,

do you trust...

the Politburo of bullshit to get these decisions right at this point is the thing that would worry me as a fan.

And I think it's kind of fascinated.

Do you know who's been doing well under the sort of Enios umbrella this season?

Nice.

Nice, who qualified for the Champions League.

They finished fourth in the Liga.

Nice, who famously are so bad, according to Sir Jim Radcliffe, that he can't be asked to watch them.

I mean, he's been very public about this.

He says the level of football that Nice play are not at a level that gets him excited.

Now, by complete coincidence, I was watching highlights from the Ligun weekend before this game, and Nice beat Brest 6-0 and scored some very nice goals.

And I saw the highlights from that game, and then I watched this final.

I went, I do wonder if he's looking for quality of football, Sir Jim Radcliffe.

Maybe he needs to sack off United and not watch that, because that doesn't seem very, very good either.

I'm very suspicious of these guys and their capacity to turn this ship around.

They seem very confident in themselves, but it's kind of hard to see where that confidence stems from.

And

on Kunya, since we're talking about it, the former

Will Unwind, our great friend Will Unwind, got some great quotes from Ian Birchnell, the former assistant manager of Wolves, who said about Kunya:

He's a player who plays on instincts.

He doesn't like to spend hours looking through opposition and tactical bits.

He likes to feel the game and play on instincts, which obviously, when a lot of coaches are working on deep tactical work, he doesn't always slot into that.

Sounds ideal.

Sounds absolutely.

So he seems to.

I mean, really, this is like every single issue that you have with Bruno Fernandez being slightly too chaotic.

It's like that, but even more of it.

It's like, really?

Is this what we're doing?

Get him in there.

Get him in there.

I just, I don't know.

So I don't know.

I'm not feeling super optimistic about this project going forward, to be honest.

Yeah, finally on United, John.

Do you have hope?

I mean, you know, people say, look, a season without Europe is, you know, you've got time on the training ground, etc.

I mean, Amrim has talked about how

he's been unable to work with the team as he would like.

And one day, hey, listen, the 3-4-3 formation can work.

We saw that at Wembley just the other day.

I saw it at Selhurst just on Tuesday night.

It can work.

It can look glorious.

Perhaps Bruno Fernandez can become Ebertchi Eze.

We shall see.

One image I will take from Bill Bowell is the face on Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

He didn't look happy.

Now, I've seen that face before, and I think that was at the it was well, I know, it was at the America's Cup.

Team GB got smashed by the Kiwis,

and him and

Macclesfield born Sir Ben Ainslie fell out.

And

the face on Jim then was quite similar.

So we shall see.

Because ultimately

Dion's Politburo,

we all know who makes the big decisions.

It's just this group of blokes following him around, you know, shining his shoes for him, really, isn't it?

And

so let's see what Big Jim thought of that because he can't have been impressed.

But he can't be impressed by his own decision making.

It's just whether he will admit that that's the problem.

Yeah.

Mark Chapman on the radio described him when he looked at the lineup.

You know, Daniel Levy's, you know, gleaming there.

You know, he said Jim Ratcliffe looked uncomfortable, which I thought was beautifully understated.

Anyways, that'll do for part two.

Part three, we'll look ahead to the last Premier League weekend of the season of the playoffs, too.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question: play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly, must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So, look, the Champions League places are

really finely poised, actually.

Liverpool Arsenal are in there.

Man City have 68 points from 37.

Newcastle, 66 from 37, as do Chelsea, as do Aston Villa.

Forrest, 65 from 37.

But Forrest played Chelsea, Barry.

So it is entirely in their hands.

Villa goes to Manchester United, who, as we've established, if you listen to the previous part, it's weird if you've jumped just to this bit, but you know, we're not that optimistic about what Manchester United will turn up in this game.

Newcastle home to Everton looks very doable, and Man City go to Fulham.

How do you see it, Barry?

Well, the big game, I suppose, is Forrest, Chelsea.

Forrest have to win.

I think they could win.

And if they do win, they need Newcastle or Villa not to win so

that's not out of the question

so I'd give Forrest a decent chance

and then you've Villa a win is enough for them if Newcastle or Chelsea drop points

I can see Chelsea dropping points I don't think Newcastle will drop points against Everton I would be surprised City need a point from their game against Fulham unless Villa beat Manchester United by 17 goals would you rule that out?

I wouldn't.

Yeah, I think that's kind of it.

It's finally pointed.

I cannot see City.

I can see City dropping points against Fulham, actually.

Maybe.

I think Newcastle are nailed on to beat Everton, and I think Villa are nailed on to beat Man United.

Forrest, Chelsea.

That could go either way, couldn't it?

Yeah, so the thing is, John, if Newcastle and Villa win, which we expect, expect, if Chelsea Ota Forest win, if City lose,

they're not in the Champions League.

And

like Fulham, like you said, they did beat Liverpool.

Like, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that that happens.

That would be the biggest story.

And remember, sorry, just at City, Fulham completely outplayed them.

They absolutely roasted them, but didn't get the win.

Fulham are like

the most inconsistent team, I think, in the Premier League, because I've seen them destroy Liverpool, actually.

Remember the Munis absolutely smashing through Van Dijk to win that game.

And then I saw them a couple of weeks.

In fact, the day when I was there, part of the execs,

you know, with my scallops and champagne.

I vaguely remember them playing very badly against Everton.

I think.

I think, yeah, they did.

Fulham are the X factor in this.

I think one of the things is Chelsea at Forest.

Now, Chelsea at Newcastle the other week did not like it.

They don't like it, Upham.

Enzo Mareska, I'm not sure if he's got it in a team or that team, that group of players in that really odd way that they're constructed.

Because the city ground is, I will say this, probably the most bare pit atmosphere in the Premier League.

I think it'll be amazing.

You've also got Big Vange waiting for you.

If something goes awry, you know, he'll be making sure that his presence is noticed.

Chelsea

needs to worry about this.

Forrest have nothing to lose.

They're going to to go for it.

Are we going to see Nuno do a reverse Ange and just that's the way we play, mate, and just go for it?

We don't know.

But

that is going to be such a fun fixture for those of us that would consider ourselves neutral to watch.

But Chelsea could get a bit of a chasing there.

We'll have to see how the rest of it all falls down.

Up comes Newcastle, I would expect to win, as everyone says.

Yeah, City need to worry.

City dropping out of the Champions League would be an absolutely seismic shock, wouldn't it?

That would be one of the biggest shocks, actually, if we took it in this era where being in the top five and money, Champions League money matters.

That would be an enormous shock such that I can't really see it happening.

But watch out, Chelsea.

Yeah, I also just think, I completely agree with you.

I actually think that just tactically, that's not a good matchup for Chelsea because while they have gotten a little bit more, marginally more direct in the last couple of months, they're still a very ponderous passing team.

You know, Mareska really believes in this sort of slow build-up type of thing, all these sort of sideways passes.

I think Nottingham Forest will love that in terms of playing against them because forests are great when they can just sit back and invite you on and then hit you on the counter.

It's the games where they've had to try to dominate the game themselves when forests have fallen down.

That's what they're not able to do.

But

watching sort of Enzo Mareska play endless sideways passes, and the forests are happy to do that.

Just sit back and wait for them them to hit them on the counter with Hudson and Doy or something.

I think that's a really

massive banana skin for

Chelsea.

I'm kind of surprised to see, looking at the betting odds for the top five finishes, the bookmakers reckon City and Newcastle are safe, but they reckon Chelsea are slightly favored ahead of Aston Villa.

No, no, sure.

I agree with that.

I think Chelsea are much more likely to screw up against Forrest than Villa are to drop points against United.

And also, lastly, on that, United, of course, they might have other things going on.

They have somewhere to be after this on Sunday because next Wednesday,

next Wednesday, the 28th, they're playing a friendly in Kuala Lumpur.

After this wonderful trip to Bilbao and this last day game against Villa, which I'm sure they'll lose, they all have to get on a flight to Kuala Lumpur.

There better be some amazing in-flight entertainment on that flight because I think the vibes are going to be bad.

I think, overall, the mood is not going to be amazing.

I'm not sure exactly what film can be deployed to cure this, but just a terrible time.

This is an obscure reference, but there's a Nick Cave film made in 1989 or so when the band have all got clean of drugs and they go on a tour of the States and they're all bored out of their mind, driving across the US

with no with nothing to occupy themselves.

And I think that's going to be the vibe uh the road to here knows when it's called and I think that's where Manchester United are headed which is the man United player who brings out the guitar and says come on let's all sing come by our mad can you imagine battle for eighth which uh the battle that Baz can't stop thinking about um so Brighton go to Spurs who have their trophy parade on Friday so you know let's hope let's hope a few Spurs players go full Jack Grealish on that parade absolutely shit face and then turn out on Sunday Brighton three points clear of Brentford so they just need a point at Spurs Brentford go to Wolves eighth.

Now, unlikely to get you a European spot, but it still might.

We don't know yet.

Leicester going for Russell Martin, apparently.

Southampton accelerating plans to appoint Will Still as their head coach.

He was getting linked to a lot of championship jobs about a year ago

after doing a great job at Reim.

Joined

Lawrence last summer, only 32 years old.

Producer Joel saying making it the first time a Premier League manager is younger than him, which is quite confronting.

Yeah, deal with it, mate.

To the playoffs, then.

How are you feeling, Barry?

I'm feeling very confident.

Wow.

I think Sunderland are going to beat Sheffield United.

I'm going, thank God.

I have my ticket.

I managed to get off the hook for work.

So thank you to various people for helping me out there.

I just look at the two likely lineups, and I think Sunderland have a lot more quality.

And I think if they can get a good performance out of Joe Bellingham, Enzo Lafay,

Mende Isidore, I think they'll get the better of Sheffield United.

It's going to be an interesting game because Regis LeBrie, the Sunderland manager, is very much the anti-Chris Wilder.

There could not be more

different.

And I just think he has something about him.

So I do think Sunderland will win this, and then we can worry about what happens next season afterwards.

And if they don't win, I won't mind.

At Willison Stagdew last Friday, there was quite a lot of lads from Sunderland there, obviously.

And I was asking them, like, how are you feeling about the playoffs?

And the feeling seems to be very much, if we win, great, take the money, see how we get on.

And if we don't,

they won't be that fussed.

I suspect they'll probably be fussed like me at three o'clock on on Saturday but uh

it it won't be the end of the world if if they don't go up

I'm just worried your confidence has jinxed it that's what I would say but anyway I wish you the best wish you the best of luck John you're going to Charlton Layton Orient the League One playoff final yeah London Derby

should be an interest and I've been to the League One playoff twice before and Swindon Millwall back in 2010

an absolute grind of a game and I went to it it a couple of years ago, Barnesley Sheffield Wednesday.

An absolute grind of a game.

I worry for the entertainment level that I'm going to see.

But on the sideline, Nathan Jones,

whose performances in the playoff semi were superb on the sideline.

Richie Wellens doesn't mess about either in that respect.

So some good fun.

Difficult to know what to expect from this one.

I will be siding with producer Joel and hopefully that he has a good day because Charlton, um,

that was it felt like a time and not long ago, they were an established Premier League club.

It was such a you know, and the valley is a great place to visit in the dream team years.

I can remember, I can remember vividly when Harchester are losing a half-time to Charlton, and I can't remember who's the manager going.

I told you, Clive Mendonka, danger man, Johnny Robinson, danger man.

I just don't know why that's the only, the only words from

that I can remember.

The thing is that I suppose both these clubs have been through troubled times, haven't they?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leighton and Orient.

And

my memory of Leighton Orient's last playoff final, which was this one, was I think this was the game that Steve Evans did his famous celebration.

Remember the Steve Evans large man charging down the sidelines?

They're sort of like

showing off his former form.

Oh no, I do remember, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Showing off his form.

Yeah.

It would be amazing for Leighton Orient to get into the channel.

It would, it would.

So, good luck to them.

Good luck to Wimbledon and Walsall, who are in the League Two final.

We're going to do a Premier League pod on Monday and then an EFL pod on Tuesday to round up all of that.

Rumours that Stevie G could be about to rejoin Rangers, fueled largely by speculation.

He's been seen near the banks of Loch Loman and by a man known to be his barber in Glasgow posting a picture from inside the training ground.

So that could be interesting.

The talk about Stevie G is that if he does come back to Rangers, Jordan Henderson will be his number two.

That is interesting.

Those two have, they were very close, weren't they?

You know,

Stevie and the close confidants when they were together, and you know, the baton was passed on from Stevie to Jordan.

And you could see that, couldn't you?

Henderson, Henderson would be an interesting manager.

And I say that mostly because of that IAX press conference he gave.

You probably saw it earlier this season.

Yeah, yeah.

Where he was very defensive.

I mean, he's made for a Premier League.

Yeah, yeah.

come on well he wasn't so much defensive as outrightly confrontational yes yeah

well in the classic way of repeating back exactly what the person has said to them yeah louder and angrier yeah that's uh i think it wouldn't be a bad move though i think if you think about celtic have been quite good at getting you know quite often in goal but like a few older players who've played a lot of Premier League football and it's been good for them.

I wonder if, you know, Rangers do, would he?

I'm presuming he'd play as well, right?

Be number two and, you know.

He's still young young enough.

Yeah, I think so.

Still in the England squad, for goodness sake.

I forgot about that.

I don't know if he's in the next one.

Yeah, Mark says, you know, the other day, Eberretchieze's simple celebration and the need for new celebrations.

Considering his very recent chess victory, he could do a thoughtful chin stroke followed by a chess move, calling out the chess notation.

Then, when Elise next scores, he can do likewise with a chess move response for Bayern, and back and forth it goes.

It could be the most public, drawn-out game of chess ever, he says.

Almost very boring until five seasons from now when they might near the end of the game.

Thanks for everything, says Mark.

And I had a message from Cy on Instagram, which is a lovely message just saying, hey, Max, Barry, and everyone else on the Football Weekly podcast.

Not sure what I'm trying to achieve with this message other than just wanting to say thank you.

Last year I lost my dad suddenly and the last year has been shit.

One of the worst bits was traveling for work.

Every week, I had an hour's drive to my office and all I could ever think about was my dad.

I'd have to wipe away tears after I parked up.

It got to the point where I just thought this is how life is now.

If I wanted it to stop, I had to just not drive.

A week or two ago, as I was getting to the office, I realized I hadn't thought about my dad's death the entire drive.

I was too focused on Football Weekly.

It was the one where Barry shared his opinion on going to the theater.

And I was crying this time with laughter.

Every drive since has been a breeze.

This was huge for me.

It felt so nice not to be a wreck before going into work.

Thanks so much for this distraction.

Since then, driving hasn't been a problem.

I love this pod, not just for helping me navigate my grief, but I find myself sometimes more excited to hear the opinions of the team than the game itself.

All my love, side, thank you Psy.

We send you our love.

I'm glad my hatred of the theatre

was able to help someone overcome a difficult time in their life.

Your cultural heresy actually has worth, doesn't it?

I wonder what, you know, you're obviously doing

a half marathon next year.

Maybe we should take you to a play as well.

We could cover everything off.

No.

Okay, there we go.

Anyway, look, we can send him to...

Get him do improv on the

love to see Barry doing it.

I mean, I would be terrible.

I'd love to see Barry.

Theatrical improv.

Barry's a stand-up.

Barry's got it in his locker.

He could be on Who's Run Is It?

Anyway, Ryan Starles, Greg Proups, Josie Long, and Barry Glendenning with Richard Ranch at the piano.

I'd watch it.

Anyway, come on, you Spurs.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lars.

Thank you, Max.

Thank you, John.

Thanks for having me.

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Spurs fan Phil Maynard.

We'll be back on Monday.

This is the Guardian.