History for Newcastle as they Burn bright at Wembley – Football Weekly

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Barry's here too.

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Newcastle United win the Carabao Carpa major domestic trophy for the first time since 1955.

Dan Burns, enormous header, powered into the bottom corner.

What a moment and what a week for him.

Joe Linton was immense.

Alexander Isaac, ruthless.

In fact, everyone in black and white played well.

And what an achievement for Eddie Howe, who hasn't really bought success, but coached it his first major trophy too, and thoroughly deserved.

And for those fans who've seen disappointment after disappointment, the noise at Wembley and in Covent Garden was something else.

Astonishingly, as yet, no flares have been inserted.

Liverpool didn't turn up.

They looked tired.

Maybe they were, but they couldn't cope.

It simply looked like Newcastle just wanted it more, Clive.

After the welfare check on Baz, we will.

Brackett, unlike virtually anyone else, mention the elephant in the room.

Is it right not to talk about the ownership because it's a bit of a mood killer, or is that just how sports washing works?

Also, today in the Premier League, in the race for fifth place, Brighton, Holdman City, Arsenal beat Chelsea, and Forest steam past Surrey, Ipswich.

They look down, as did Leicester, who set a record for home defeats in a row without scoring.

Sounds fun.

We'll do all the Premier League, work out if there's a sensible reason for Jordan Henderson's selection in Thomas Tuchel's first England squad, which all means we won't have time to discuss the results of the Cambridgeshire Derby.

All that, plus your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Newcastle fans, Sam Dalling.

Welcome.

Hi, Max.

How are you?

Yes, good.

Two octaves deeper than usual.

That's exactly what we wanted.

I'm well.

I'm presuming not as well as you.

Barry Glendenning, I'm sorry for your loss.

Yeah, happy St.

Patrick's Day, everyone.

And Dan Bardell, the objective man in the room, welcome.

Hello.

Good to see you all.

AJ says, no pressure, Max.

But tomorrow's pod will be one for the ages.

I will no doubt save it and listen to it on rainy days.

Make it a good one.

Hashtag NUFC.

Cheshire B says, can you confirm the rumour I heard that Newcastle hadn't won a trophy for a while before yesterday?

Yeah, it is true.

And their first, as I said, since 1955, domestic one, first trophy since the Fairs Cup in 1969, nine consecutive defeats at Wembley.

Sam, you were there.

How was it?

Oh, Max, I'd been knowing that question was coming and trying trying to work out how to put it in word, particularly without sounding clichéd.

Please sound cliched.

You're allowed to sound cliched.

They are clichés for a reason.

And it was special.

And

it seemed in the weeks building up to it, from the moment Barry announced on this pod that Alexander Isaac was an injured doubt and would be ruled out of the final, which was a blow.

And the blows kept on coming.

And I didn't, even yesterday morning, I just thought, no hope, I'm going to enjoy the day.

And then I went and met a group of friends.

And for me, that's what football was all about.

Actually, my dad wasn't a Newcastle fan, it skipped the generation from he wasn't from there, so it was my grandparents got me into it.

So I never quite had that shared experience with my dad.

But what I had is friends I've been going to the match with for about 20 years now.

And as soon as I started, I met them, I realized that it didn't, it sort of didn't really matter.

This was, we were going to enjoy the day, at least until the result.

And then

the game started.

And

the surprising thing was like it was pretty comfortable i've watched newcastle play and been in absolute agony i've seen him win games not of that magnitude and been in agony but i think there was it's about half an hour in and joe linton chases back and i think it was kwanza he tackled it just wins a throw right and sometimes i get a bit annoyed with Givarez and the way he gets the crowd revved up for sort of, I've talked about winning throws at Crystal Palace, but him and Joe Linton were doing it yesterday.

And they were like, do you remember the Mighty Ducks films, the Bash brothers?

It was like those two in the middle.

And it just felt like it was going to be our day.

And Liverpool must have felt like we did two years ago because Newcastle United in that Caribbean Cup final against Manchester United just didn't turn up.

The fans didn't turn up and the players didn't turn up.

And Newcastle obviously got out of bed and said, we're going to win this.

And obviously it was a little bit.

uncomfortable than I would have liked those last eight, 10, 12 minutes.

But the whole thing, I looked around, I had a conversation that wasn't sat with one friend, and I met him at half-time.

And the conversation just involved nodding because we couldn't really find the words.

And I think the words we wanted to say were something like what I've just said, this is quite comfortable, we could win this, but neither of us actually wanted to say it.

Yeah, neither of us wanted to say that Mo Sal has been quiet, hasn't he?

Because you just don't say that at football, right?

You've been there long enough.

And

there were a few tears at half-time from people, and there were a lot of tears at the end.

And I know

in the context of life and it is just football and my life changed quite a lot in the last year or so so there are other things in my life but I realized how much I did care and how much the football club means to me and I know it sounds a little bit

silly and we can talk about other bits with the ownership as well because I'm happy to talk about that but in that moment if it makes me a bad person that didn't matter I wasn't thinking about that

in that moment not when joe linson's running towards us like lifting their trophy up that is all i'm thinking and it was weird like actually celebrating winning a trophy is a weird experience we'd hoped but no one had planned for it yeah and actually you just stand around quite awkwardly watching a group of men 100 yards away

who's that lifting the trophy and then you stand around for ages and and you keep doing it but you're also mesmerized by it it was wonderful and it's the moment you know as someone who supports a team who've never won a trophy right or one playoff final finals so maybe it is the same it probably is the same you know and have won trophies playing shit football but like elite domestic trophies

is it the final whistle is it the trophy lift is it kind of sat quietly in a pub somewhere or loudly in a pub somewhere afterwards where's the moment where you think this is just sort of sort of euphoria the trophy lift actually not so much the goals I've not celebrated a goal in the way hugs and kisses with the people I know but also people I don't know but feel like I know and it's completely appropriate in that moment to be losing oneself.

Those moments, I've not celebrated a Newcastle goal that hard ever.

Probably since Check Teote equalized with his left-footed volley and a four-all draw against Arsenal.

And I was with the same guy.

There was four, four of us had season tickets and two of them left that game at half time because Rob Lee was doing a P and Pies talking and they thought, oh, we're going to go to the pub for that.

And two of us stayed.

And I was with him yesterday.

And it's

beautiful.

And then, yeah sat back in king's cross just exhausted the tube home was really quiet because everyone was absolutely knackered but sitting drinking something smoky and peaty in a little glass with a very good friend that was just lovely no words were needed yeah just some more nodding um perhaps that's what post-match that's what post-match analysis should be um you talked about the goals dan burn Barry, I mean, and we'll get to whether you're okay in a minute.

I just thought we should do some actual, you know, the football that happened.

Barney summed up so brilliantly when he wrote, you know, as half-time loomed, Kieran Trippier took a corner from the right.

Somehow, the Liverpool defence failed to register the vast, ambling figure inside the penalty area with its distinctive, undulating way of moving, like a friendly CGI diplodocus in a Disney movie.

But what a header.

Just like, I mean, it was so telegraphed because everything Dan Byrne does is telegraphed because he's a telegraph pole.

But you saw it and the angle was so perfect.

It was just an amazing, the neck pulsing, everything was amazing.

Yeah, it was an incredible header, and Liverpool had been warned.

I mean, they'd been warned by Brighton the previous day, who Adam Webster, Brighton scored a similar goal with Adam Webster in the Dan Byrne role.

So that was the warning

where

he had...

So he was basically distancing himself from Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahim McConate at corners.

Kieran Tripier was picking him out with

remarkable precision.

McAllister was tasked with marking him.

Dan Burns about three feet taller than him.

The power of the header and the direction, I mean, Keeving Keller wasn't at fault for letting the ball in, and you don't see goals scored with headers from that distance very often, as Arna Slott pointed out after the game.

But as I say, it wasn't a one-off incident,

it was coming, and Liverpool,

their almost determination

not to mark Dan Byrne at these corners was remarkable.

But what a week it's been for Dan Burns.

He gets an England call-up, and then he scores this goal in

Newcastle's first trophy win in 5,000 years.

Yeah, he says, I don't want to go to sleep because I feel like I'm dreaming and it's all going to be a lie.

I knew Alexis McAllister wasn't looking at the ball, and I'd be able to get a jump on him.

I don't get many, so I saved it for a big occasion.

I mean, it's a wonderful story, Dan, that he is a local lad.

He was rejected by Newcastle at 11, went into non-league.

He was collecting trolleys at Asda, resurrected at Brighton, and is still kind of seen as a joke figure because he's just a different shape to most footballers.

Yeah, I was really pleased for him.

I thought it was quite a nice moment that it was kind of Trippier that got the assist for him as well, because Trippier has been a big part of what Newcastle have had to do.

He's probably had a difficult season in and out of the team, but I thought it was quite nice that they were both involved in that first goal.

And I think Dan Byrne kind of just symbolizes Eddie Howe's team really.

I mean people obviously will talk about the ownership and we're going to do it as well.

They have spent money all beaten up for the last three or four windows but Dan Byrne came in in that first window and they bought him simply to just to try and stay in the Premier League.

So to see that development arc years on and they get to a final and Dan Byrne scores the first goal in that final.

It's a real magic moment for me.

I think I'm a bit of a weird football fan in that like I'm actually really, really pleased for Newcastle fans.

My team hasn't won a trophy since 1996, and that feels like a long time.

So, to see those Newcastle fans celebrating at the end and see the players and the fans all as one,

it's a really, really special group that Eddie Howe has harvested.

And I'm really pleased, and I think they deserve it.

Dan Byrne probably should have been called up to the England squad maybe over the last few years, a little bit earlier, when you think about some of the players that have actually played for England in that time.

But he's just scored in a cup for him.

He'll probably get his first cap next week.

I mean, as you've just said, he won't want to wake up, and it's just a brilliant moment.

I think he deserved it.

I think Newcastle really, really deserved it yesterday as well.

It's been touched upon, but Mal says, may I repeat my question from two weeks ago?

Just how reliable is Barry's source on Isak missing the cup final?

Yeah, he appeared to be there, Alexander Isak, and he scored a brilliant goal.

It's a great finish.

And look, there were so many great performances,

and we'll get to those.

I mean, there are a lot of questions you can imagine, Barry, for you.

Um, uh, welfare check on Barry says, Callum, Moonlight Hanger, where on a scale of annoying Brixton Academy gig goers to England winning a major tournament, does that Newcastle trophy rank on the Glendenning Nightmare Scale?

And Rude Ape says, Are there any part of Barry that's happy for Newcastle fans?

No, absolutely not.

Uh, like Sam, I too shed tears at the end, but for entirely different reasons.

Um, I'm not actually as fed up as I thought I would be, but no, I'm certainly not pleased for Newcastle fans.

I would imagine no Sunderland fan is, and

there's no reason why we should be.

Not at all.

I did like Peter a Sunderland fan saying, viewing figures for Country File in the Weirside region

through the roof.

I mean, as I said at the start, it's St.

Patrick's Day today, but I reckon

consumption of Newcastle Brown Ale will give Guinness a run for their money around the world today.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, so many great performances.

I I want to touch on Eddie Howard

because he has done a remarkable job.

You know, PSR means that Newcastle haven't just sort of bought wildly.

And they've had a bit of an odd season where they were playing badly, but getting results and then playing quite well and not getting results.

But when they're, I mean, they were just so up, like, he just got it right.

And also in the semi-final, right?

They were so good against Arsenal as well.

One of the brilliant things, I think why it hurt so much last time the defeat was because there were a lot of us that said, actually, enjoy this year because it will never be as good as going from where we were to where we are whatever happens in the future it will never be as good and people really wanted that group of players to win something and actually

because no one really expected two years down the line if that project goes as they'd wanted to do i.e chucking a load of money at it people like dan burn jacob murphy even fabian shea there's a lot of players that you don't expect to wouldn't really have thought would still be playing in two years time and um but anyhow

the way

there's a rafa benitez element to him right and the castle's problem has been they haven't worked out how to win games they're expected to win at times but in a one-off match where he has to think about well what exactly am i going to do against this opposition did completely different things against arsenal as against liverpool and maybe if sven botman had been fit uh we would have seen that back five but it was just perfect and everyone had to be we knew everyone had to be at eight out of 10.

And we needed the big players to step up because we have got four or five real quality players, but also every other team has that.

Liverpool have that.

And you think about it.

This is Newcastle going in.

Like Hall's out, Botman's out, Anthony Gordon's out.

So it's equivalent of Liverpool going in without Robertson, Van Dijk, and Yotter.

Yeah, if you look who they've got people like Cody Gakpo to bring in, Harvey Elliott, who they brought off the bench.

So it's remarkable that the sum of the parts has been fantastic.

Here in Trippier, as Dan said,

people who wrote him off, he's not had a good year.

He made a big mistake in the quarter-final last season against Chelsea.

They basically knocked us out of the cup.

He was in outstanding in both of these games.

He was absolutely magnificent yesterday.

He didn't put a foot wrong.

He was exactly what we needed, that leadership.

As someone's already said, Dan Burney is a very Eddie Howell style player.

And I don't know why it works, but it just works.

And Gimarez, I give him some stick.

He is definitely an extrovert, right?

He likes the attention, but he also really loves the football club.

And this week, because actually winning at West Ham was big, if we'd have gone into this game without winning on Monday night, I think it changed the narrative and the mood a little bit because there was some confidence.

And he stepped up and got that only goal.

And he just loves the club.

You know, his son was born in Newcastle.

There was a lovely, I think Louise Taylor wrote, there was a lovely interview with him where he was like, well, yeah, I mean, Rob Lee was the last person to score for Newcastle at Wembley back in 2000, semi-final.

And Bruno Guimarez, He's like oh yeah.

And Rober Lee walked in and I kissed his foot because he was the last man to score for Newcastle at Wembley and I wanted the luck.

And Louise wrote, no one had the heart to tell him Rober Lee scored a header.

Meanwhile, Dan, Liverpool didn't really show up.

It's been a really bad week for them.

Arnold Stock getting a bit of criticism for not making changes in that Southampton game last Sunday.

Not making it, I think he made three changes or something.

But like, he could have played the reserves and probably still beaten Southampton.

Then they go to Extra Drama against PSG.

Afterwards, he said, look, he wasn't upset with the performance against PSG, but he was the result.

Today, he was upset with both.

What did you make of them?

I mean, he could have played the under-10s against Southampton, by the way, and probably still

picked up a result.

But

they just didn't show up for everything that we're going to, and that we have waxed livericle about Newcastle kind of playing above themselves.

Liverpool just played completely beneath themselves.

There wasn't really a standout performer in the Liverpool side.

They never really got a foothold in the game, despite the fact that they were comfortably ahead in possession in that first half.

They didn't do anything with it when Newcastle had the ball, although again, there wasn't loads of chances.

You just felt like something might happen.

But for Liverpool, just nothing.

I don't know whether it's a hangover, a follow-on from getting knocked out the Champions League.

Obviously, that's going to be a mental blow.

I guess they're in a difficult situation, Liverpool, because they kind of know they've won the league.

It was the Champions League they've been knocked out.

The Carabao Cup final kind of ended up in a weird way of not kind of being their season and that they didn't seize that day at all and you can see that they've not really spent much time behind this season or struggling in games because when it came to the manager having to make decisions and having to make substitutions I felt he was so so scattergun in the subs that he made and that isn't the way to try and win a cup final and win a football match.

I know obviously they scored at the end but just throwing attacker after attacker on and going away from the fundamentals and the structure that's made you so good all season.

I just don't think that was the way to try and get back in the game.

And ultimately, they've lost.

And there will be questions asked of Slot now because it's the kind of first time they've faced any difficulty this season.

It won't affect them in the league at all, but in a way, it's a disappointing season.

I'm sure they won't care in May when they lift the trophy, but this last week ultimately has been very, very disappointing for Liverpool.

Yes.

I mean, imagine if they did fall away in the league spectacular.

That would be quite sad,

wouldn't it?

Yeah, I think you're right.

Just like that second goal, nice as it was, like it seemed so easy for Livermento to just be in space to get that ball in.

Like, no one was really, and they slotted they weren't tired because it's not a pressing game against Newcastle, but they did look leggy.

And this Mosalistat bass is interesting.

He has one goal and one assist in the finals he's

played in, and that is nine finals for Liverpool and Egypt.

And that goal was that penalty against Spurs, which, let's face it, shouldn't have been given.

And we should go back and retake that and do all of that football again.

But that's quite a that's not a great record.

I mean, it's not, it doesn't define you as a player.

I don't know, does it?

I don't know.

Are we putting him in the the big game bottler bracket alongside Harry Kane and Erling Harland?

Yeah, he didn't have a good game yesterday.

Not many

no Liverpool player did.

Diogo Jott has been poor for quite some time.

Louis Diaz didn't offer much.

The midfield were dominated.

Newcastle didn't let Liverpool play the game they wanted to.

We didn't let them play it out from the back, forced them to kick the ball long and then won won all those balls and second balls.

I think it would be unfair to point the big finger or blame at Mo Sala when so many other Liverpool players failed to deliver.

Yeah, Jim says there were numerous shots of Anton Deck standing the wrong way round.

Does this invalidate Newcastle's victory?

Very good question.

Look,

we had loads of questions, obviously, about the ownership.

Paul says, is sport washing now okay as it's finally delivered the Geordie's a trophy?

And I think it's interesting, and I might be wrong about this, because I didn't obviously watch all of Sky's coverage, all of Five Lives, all of Talk Sports, but I didn't notice anyone talk about the ownership in any meaningful sense.

And if they did, then I apologize.

And I wonder if that's you just don't want to

piss on the atmosphere.

If you've got the energy and the broadcaster and they all sounded great and they did it great, and you suddenly talk about this thing, which is pretty depressing, it does sort of take the, you know, it pops the balloon.

Jacob Whitehead in the athletics saying, so glad for the city of Newcastle, but the sight of Yassir al-Ramayan at the trophy lift is still wince-inducing.

Saudi Arabia are inseparable from Newcastle's new reality.

It's possible to both acknowledge that fact and celebrate the team's success.

Saudi Arabia carried out 338 executions in 2024.

It's their highest number in decades.

In March 2022, they executed 81 people in a single day.

In February this year, a Saudi PhD student at Leeds University, who'd been sentenced to 34 years in prison for posting tweets in support of women's rights, was freed after four years.

So she'd been in prison for four years for sending tweets she was unable to see either of her two children once during that time and it feels like that's the point it feels rude sam to come to you and say now talk on behalf of all of this on this massive global issue you happen to be the newcastle fan in the room so i feel bad asking you but then it feels trite to feel bad asking you when we're all sitting comfortably in nice safe western worlds where you can say what you want yeah and it's okay to ask me i hadn't seen jacob's tweet actually jacob is very good at what he does and he explores those issues and he put it perfectly it was very uncomfortable i don't like owners particularly being involved in celebrations anyway i don't feel it's their place but they would noticeably i i'd say over involved down on the pitch afterwards holding the trophy

and it was uncomfortable i didn't like it there's there's nothing i can say.

I completely understand why

other people would

comment in that way on Newcastle.

I would do it if it was another club.

There's nothing I can say to make it better.

I can say that some Newcastle fans, there will be Newcastle fans who don't think about it and think it's completely irrelevant.

That's their truth.

I do think about it.

I've written about it.

Me and my friends talk about it.

And I'm trying to be careful with my words because I don't want anything to say to be like, oh, but, but football's football.

It's okay.

It's not.

Yeah, of course.

So without using the word but, what do I say?

It is possible to hold two conflicting views and

have two conflicting emotions about things at the same time.

And I would put myself very much in that bracket.

Everything you've read out is abhorrent and shouldn't be happening.

As I said already, if it makes me a bad person.

In Wembley yesterday, I didn't think about those issues.

I wasn't thinking about issues.

If that reflects on me badly, I suspect the 30,000 people around me weren't either.

Many of them will think about those issues outside the ground.

Plenty of them won't, but there isn't really anything more I can say than that other than it's completely valid.

I hear it.

I agree with all of it.

And I'll stop there before I say the word, but, because there isn't a justification for it.

No, no.

And I really appreciate your honesty on that as well.

And I'm very conscious, Baz, that, you know,

what has been seen is, I think, some Newcastle fans saying, look, if this wasn't Newcastle, if it was someone else.

And that I don't think is true.

I think it is true that probably because Man City have won so many things, you sort of stop having this conversation sometimes about Man City.

And I'm also conscious that it's not my, I don't have to think about it.

I can be, you know, it's not my club, so I don't have to think about it.

And if it was my club, I would have those, and we've talked about it a million times.

But it is still worth having that conversation when no one else is having it.

Yeah, and to an extent, we've more or less stopped talking about Newcastle's ownership and, you know, for quite, it's been quite some time, I think, since we mentioned it.

I don't think nation states should be allowed to own any football club,

whether it's PSG or Man City or Newcastle.

I completely get that Newcastle fans have no say in who owns their club.

What I find a bit depressing is the way so many of them just don't care

and are happy to row in behind this regime

because

it it benefits their club and helps them has helped them win a trophy but uh most newcastle fans don't care what i think and that's fine um

and sports watching works and that's the sad truth of it yeah um i i just wondered if you wanted sam to just have one more thought about the moment and what it means or what the future means, which is kind of linked to the ownership, I guess.

Like, do you do you sort of see this now as Newcastle joining the big five, six, seven, however many it is now, and going on a trophy-laden run?

Or do you reckon it'll be another 70 years and we'll be sat on a Zoom call with our cryogenically frozen heads saying, ah, you know, Joel Linton played well again.

I can't believe it.

He's 92.

I can't think that far ahead.

I don't know what it means.

I know what it means right now, and it feels like it means absolutely everything.

I just smile thinking about it.

As you can imagine, my WhatsApp is blowing up.

People this morning and just chatting are just happy uh it means that

i think i first went when august 1997 in my was my first game and

we were trying to work this out yesterday i reckon i probably done close to 500 in that time and it makes all that feel worth it it makes

being relegated twice at Villa Park and Dan's a better man than me because I would not like to see Aston Villa win a trophy because of those memories.

I'm very much in the Barry Glen Denning School of Fort.

By the way,

the trains were diverted, but the Newcastle trains, there was replacement bus services and they had to go through Sunderland at half 12

in the morning.

My friends were absolutely, if we were lost, they were expecting flour.

Like on Mac, like on Derby days, they send these really like yellow, they're very yellow and obvious buses.

They send dummy buses in to take the flour and eggs before actual people are on them.

I'm sure that didn't happen in Sunderland.

But yeah, it

makes running out of phone battery at Wigan station when you're 4-0 down at half-time

all worthwhile.

I've seen us win.

I've seen us win a trophy.

I was down at Plymouth when we won the championship.

That was a lovely moment.

But it just means that me and my friends have something that we can hold on to and talk about.

And it's another memory.

And

notwithstanding all of the other stuff that we've talked about, which is far more important than football, right?

It is something that will make me happy.

And if if we it's tried but if we don't win another one it's not fine but i have one one i've got my ticket i've been there so i'm happy man all right that'll do for part one um we will rattle through the premier league in parts two and three

Hi pod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Lots of Premier League games to get through in quite a short amount of time.

Let's start the Etihad, Mancidi 2, Brighton 2.

I thought it was a great game, this, Dan.

And I wonder how Brighton didn't win it in the end.

They had two amazing chances to win this game.

Yeah, well, I watched 90 minutes of that game on Saturday afternoon, and it was a brilliant game.

But just with City now, whereas before

you sit there and you think they're not playing great, the other team's doing well, but they'll find a way to win somehow.

At the moment, I sat there and watched the game.

I thought, I think Brighton might find a way to win here.

Danny Welbeck will inevitably come on and score the winner.

And none of those things happened.

But it was Brighton that carried the greater threat.

And City just looks so disjointed.

And I think they're...

This is a weird thing to say, I think, but their football looks quite basic and quite dated.

Getting the ball out to the winger and getting the winger to run at the fullback seems to be the only thing that they have.

And Doku must have had 36 goes at the fullback.

And no real joy ever came from Savinia the same on the other side.

And I just thought they just look a shadow of their former selves.

I mean, we all know that because they're not doing as well this season.

They put in some decent players in January.

I think Marmouche looks a really good player.

He kind of drifts in and out of games, but when he's that moment where he's in the game, he's really, really lively and he always makes stuff happen and

scored a great goal.

But I just never really felt like Manchester City was safe in that game or that they were going to win it.

And they definitely need a new goalkeeper in the summer.

I don't think either goalkeeper has filled me with confidence all season.

It was Ortega this weekend.

It's been Ed Edison, others.

Ortega just watching that free kick go in was quite, quite strange.

I think there's going to be a lot of surgery for Manchester City in the summer, especially with a new sporting director coming in.

Yeah, I think Mahmouche has quite a nice honor matopaic quality for commentators, isn't it?

Marmouche.

Or like sort of Danny Dyer going, Marmouche, like when he scored.

It was a great goal.

But yeah,

Balaba obviously just smacked it over Baz.

It's got a score, but Minter's, his miss is weird.

I've got to see what he's done there.

Well, he was trying to slide the ball into the net and just went over it rather than connect with it.

I think, was there a suggestion it might have been ruled out for offside?

I'm not sure.

I don't think it was offside.

And yeah, the Balaba,

you know, you have to score that.

And City really got lucky in this game.

They did have a late chance to win it with a...

I think it was Kevin De Bruyne, a free kick that came off Gundigan's back.

That whistled narrowly wide.

But, yeah, Brighton will feel they should definitely have won that game.

And it could prove very costly.

Yeah, Hannah's penalty means he's reached 100 Premier League goal contributions, i.e.

goals and assists combined.

Not a stat, I like, in his 94th game.

Previous record holder was Alan Shearer, who did it 100 times.

And poor Kusanov, Sam.

Like he looked so sad.

You know, like it's hard to know what face to do when you've scored known goal, but that was just a really sad face.

It was, yeah, every time.

He's done it a couple of times, hasn't he?

It's been a bit of a mixed start, I think.

Maybe he will find some happiness soon.

I hope he does.

It was a brilliant result for other teams.

chasing Champions League spots.

I can say that.

That battle

for the top four, the old it's a it's not a trophy anymore.

For me, the top four place is no longer a trophy.

I have a tangible

it's the exciting thing going on.

And yeah, it was a perfect weekend for Newcastle in terms of other results.

Yeah, I can see every time I go to you, I'll just come back to you.

But we did win the League Cup yesterday.

I thought that moment where Doc, who got booked for diving, when Van Hacker basically would have broken both his legs if he hadn't got out of the way, was a bit harsh, Dan.

I don't know if you agree.

Yeah,

I think it was harsh.

He's trying to to hurdle him.

It's not a dive.

He's trying to hurdle him and he's hit the deck afterwards, but the referees given him a yellow card.

Like I said earlier, that is all Manchester City seems to have.

And you just mentioned Haaland's goals and assists combined.

He scored a penalty in that game.

He's done very little else.

It's not necessarily his fault because there's not much service into him.

Nowadays,

De Bruyne doesn't seem to come on unless there's five minutes left.

And Grealish has sat on the bench for 90 minutes.

But in his first season, those two were his avenue to goal was at Erlinghaal.

And he doesn't seem to have that relationship that he had with those two with anyone else in his Manchester City squad.

And that, for me, is why he looks so isolated in games at times.

Would you have Grealish back?

I think if we don't sign Rashford, I actually think that's what Villa will try and do.

But I think they'll try and sign Rashford.

Interesting.

That didn't answer your question, but I probably would have him back, yeah.

No, that's okay.

That's okay.

Portman Rhodes, I've switched to Forrest four.

Forrest now have a seven-point cushion over sixth.

So Champions League football looking more and more secure each week.

They were brilliant again, Barry, in this game.

Yeah,

rattled three goals in in quick succession, taking advantage of some very generous switch town defending.

They were astonishingly bad in defence for, I think, all three of those goals.

The third one, amazing, isn't it?

The long ball.

The long ball over the top where Alanga just wanders through is amazing defending.

It's just a Milenkovich sort of hoofs it down the middle.

Luke Wolfenden misses his header, and uh, Elanga gets goal sided.

Jacob Greaves, who had a shocker for Ipswich.

I think he got hooked at half-time

and

slotted past Alex Palmer.

And I'm just,

you know, you can only beat what's in front of you, but Nottingham Forest made very short work of them in that.

What was it, about 10 minutes they scored the three goals, and that was it game over, more or less.

Ipswich did

six minutes, right?

Yeah, yeah, you know, know, I didn't give Ipswich, Southampton, or Leicester, any hope of surviving before this weekend, but I certainly wouldn't give them any hope now.

No, I mean, we keep suggesting Ipswich and Miles better than Leicester, but they haven't won this year.

So, at some point, we have to say they're also

not very good.

Well, they just cannot defend.

Like, they, you know, their defending is shocking.

Morgan Gibbs White played well, played slightly deeper, Sam.

I wonder if Nuno was sort of trolling Thomas Tuchel to say.

And now he has had a late call-up into into the squad yeah which is great he is now in the England squad so we can say see him alongside Jordan Henderson very soon in an England show that I mean the three of them Gibbs White is turned into one of the better footballers in the Premier League he's lovely to watch everything seems to go through him and with that pace either side him Hudson Adoy and Alanga and I've said on the podcast I think you know look out for Sweden they've got some serious footballers absolutely that Alanga I think it's his first goal that is the kind of goal that is the reason they put cameras behind the goal because the angle they show, the reverse angle, where the ball just curls around,

comes back in, clips the inside of the post.

And like, we say it, you say it, we say it.

Brilliant for Forrest.

They aren't falling away.

And it will be,

sorry to throw back to Newcastle, but...

Nuno, this will be a bigger achievement than Newcastle getting there, right?

Forrest finishing in the top four.

It will be absolutely fantastic for them.

And I think it will happen.

And we've kept saying, oh, no, but maybe they'll fall away.

Maybe this will be their time.

And they're just a very good team.

Everyone knows their roles.

They've got some wonderful players.

And Gibbs White is the talisman.

So I'm glad he's in it, the England squad now, because I think he will go to the World Cup.

That defeat and Wolves' victory means, you know, relegation feels all but done, Dan, doesn't it?

And, you know, Wolves went to Southampton.

Strand Larsen scored a couple.

And actually, like...

Pereira has done a really good job there since he got when they were five points in the relegation zone like five points from safety when he got the job he's actually done phenomenally well maybe just because other teams have been so terrible but we have to give him some credit yeah i'm glad you've come to me on wolves to give to give them credit i'm really happy about that um yeah he's he's got he's galvanized them hasn't he it was a it was turned into a pretty somber place under under gary o'neill he's he's firmed them up that they were way too leaky defensively under gary gary o'neill i think what pereira has done is he's gone in and he's kind of got them back to basics at the back they were always very astute in defence and under nuno as well he's kind of taken them back to back to that.

When they have won games, let's face it, they only beat Southampton by one goal, which is that even an achievement nowadays?

I don't know.

But he's kind of got the basics of the defence right first.

And Wolves have still got enough in attack that they will score goal.

So they're going to stay up comfortably.

I've been really disappointed in all three of the newly promoted sides.

Southampton, again, just absolutely abhorrent to watch, aren't they?

Another really, really poor game.

They're the only team, I think, that can bring on a seven-foot striker, pump the ball up long to him, that he doesn't win the header, and they end up conceding to it.

That is just pure Southampton vibes for the entirety of the season.

And the sacking of Russell Martin just looks the most pointless sacking of the season because they were going to go down with him, but at least he might have got them back up.

They're now going down with a manager who's quite frankly been hopeless.

They've lost their last nine at home.

Leicester have lost their last seven at home without scoring a goal.

When you see the stat come up as a graphic, I don't mind that too.

It's so bleak just having nil, nil, nil, nil that many times.

Johnny says, you said you weren't interested in the league anymore, but what about the Moyes Cup?

Everton, West Ham, and Man United all fighting for 13th.

So yeah, Mages United won 3-0

at the King Power.

It was like Sam Lester just sort of gave all the Man United players who were slightly out of form just a chance.

Hoyland, Garnacho, you know, here you are, guys.

Just have a little run.

You know,

get back on your feet.

And I was pleased for for erasmus hoyland actually i went to their game thursday night against society dad and i i heard a lot matches united fans and written and press stuff saying how good manchester united were uh on thursday night and i thought they were absolutely rubbish i thought it was the game looked a bit like it was the equivalent to the leicer game right it was a team who were 15th in their league and socied offered absolutely nothing and hoyland in that game there was a chance he had on thursday

where it just sat up for him and he tried to shoot and the ball just sort of trickled a couple of yards.

And you're looking at him thinking, Oh, you poor lad, like, I do feel really, really sorry for you.

So, to see him get a goal, he seems very likable.

When there's the talent in that, right?

Garnacho scored as well, didn't he, yesterday?

Um, and I know

without Fernandez, you wouldn't want to think where they were.

But yeah, I think you know, Leicester or Savampton away right now.

If you need a result, if you need something to get you going, those are the ones you would hand select.

Um,

and

yes, maybe it's green shoots for Manchester United.

I don't know.

I mean, their season's a write-off, but if they can get Hoyland and Garnacho on a little bit of a run until the end of the season, then maybe there can be a little bit of hope going into next year for them.

Yeah, their season's not a write-off because they've got the Europa League.

And I presume as a Nucleus fan, you wouldn't write off

the Europa League getting that in your cabinet.

Maybe you would these days.

They will win it.

They will win it.

I think they'll beat Tottenham in the final.

Tottenham probably won't get past Frankfurt, but you can just see Man United sweeping Spurs aside in a bleak Europa League final.

Yes, Dan.

Coach make a point about Hoyland.

You know, sometimes when you wa watch a footballer and they're so good, like Santi Carzola, and you think, I don't know, don't know what foot he is.

Recently, I've been watching Hoyland and thinking the same, but in a bad way.

I'm not sure if he's left-footed or right-footed, but that finish was a good finish, wasn't it,

on Sunday night?

I think Rude Van Nistroy must have worked with him quite closely in his time at Manchester United on his finishing, on his movement.

And we've not seen any of that all season.

And then he comes up against Rude Van Nisteroy at Leicester away and probably shows some of that movement and finishing that Rood worked with him on so he must be he must be pretty frustrated Rude van Nistroy that he saved it for him yeah United's fourth win over Leicester this season Van Nisteroy was in charge of two of them he's won three uh in 18 as as Leicester manager uh look Aiden heaven you look good for Man United he got injured he he looked bad he did walk away uh in a protective boot so that's good to know but he looked a really nice prospect isn't he his first Premier League start played a little bit of football before, but his first start in the Premier League.

I think Manchester United will be, you know, as you say, they're still in the Europa League.

They're not going to finish well in the league, in the Premier League.

But I can definitely see signs of improvement under Amarim, and I think he'll be a very good manager for them.

Yeah, I don't disagree with you.

At the Emirates Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0.

What did you think of this one, Barry?

I thought Arsenal were thoroughly worthy winners.

Probably should have won by more than one goal.

It's quite quite a narcissist match there was i thought thomas party was lucky maybe not to get a red card wesley fafana stamped on declan rice's backside he could have gone for that i think it's funny on those isn't it barry when when when you sort of hear the official you know not enough force or you know a gentle a gentle stamp on the buttocks how how hard do you have to wipe your feet on declan rice's buttocks party's was glancing contact that was what it was defined as what what's glancing contact We have all these funny little wordings of things now since VIR audio was introduced.

I thought Party was very lucky, I have to say.

And for Fanna, to be fair.

Yeah, the goal came from, I think it was an Odegar corner to the near post.

Robert Sanchez didn't cover himself in glory.

Good header for Marino, maybe a little bit lucky, but Chelsea were poor, very poor.

Yeah, Arsenal's first goal from a corner since their win over Spurs on the 15th of January.

So three months they've had to wait for

Nicholas Jova to sort of come back out of hiding or where he's been gathering dust somewhere in a cupboard and he can celebrate that set piece.

Cole Palmer missing, and that is obviously a big, you know, Chelsea are totally different without him and Nicholas Jackson, of course.

I think they might slip out, Sam.

I mean, every time we sort of have this, oh, they're probably good enough, you know, because we know they've got the history and they've got lots of good players.

But, you know, they finished the season, Liverpool, Newcastle, Man United, Forest.

That's not an easy end.

It's not.

And you've probably come to the wrong person if you want an objective answer to whether Chelsea might slip out of the top four or five.

We still can't work them out.

Can we?

They're still an enigma.

They still need a goalkeeper.

They still need a centre forward.

There's just something not clicking.

And it's amazing.

I can't read off some of the names on the bench yesterday, but I saw their substitutes bench.

And at the start of the season, we're talking about them having a squad of 55, like Thomas Tuchel's World Cup shortlist.

And then they didn't seem to have an awful lot of options on on the bench.

Do I maybe feel a little bit sorry for Enzo Mareska?

I don't know, but he's

it's just a bit dull, and Leicester fans said that, right?

I remember I went to a championship game at the end of last year, and

yeah, some were annoyed about him, even when they were flying.

Yeah, they were absolutely flying, and they played Norwich, and Norwich squirreled first.

And it felt like, and people were talking about before the game, that actually Leicester fans were on the verge of turning on them, and they turned around and turning on Mareska, and they turned around and won that game.

So, yeah, and he's saying some weird things.

I'm struggling struggling to think of an example, but in the press, he's a bit, didn't he criticise the crowd?

And maybe that was just a headline.

He was probably asked a direct question and he said something like, well, they could be louder.

I don't know.

But

it's just weird, isn't it?

It's a weird club still.

It is.

That'll do for part two, part three.

Begin at Fulham and they went over to Tottenham.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So Fulham two Spurs 0.

It's a bit of a nothing game, Dan, I think, but a massive win for Fulham.

Like they're three points off fifth.

You know, so lots of talk about Forrest getting the Champions League.

Fulham in the Champions League, but equally, perhaps not equally,

but, well, I don't know.

Would be an amazing achievement for Marco Silver.

Yeah, Marco Silver is a brilliant manager.

I think if Everton fans maybe had their time, we're going to look at where they were under him.

I think he maybe wouldn't have come under as much criticism because they really fell away after he left and he did at least try and ingrain himself in Everton and do the right things.

He's gone to Fulham.

They've never once been in relegation trouble since they came up.

They've comfortably finished mid-table every season and now they're starting to take that next step and push in towards European football of some sorts.

I don't think they will get Champions League football, but at home, you pretty much fancy them against anyone that goes to Craven Cottage.

Craven Cottage is a really difficult, difficult place to go.

I mean, nowadays it's not a huge shock for Fulham to beat Tottenham.

Tottenham have gone from being the fifth best team in the league last season to the fifth best team in London, which isn't a great place for them to be and probably shows the massive fall-off that they've had.

But Fulham are a better team than Tottenham, so for them to win that game 2-0 was no surprise at all.

And credit to them, I think they might get top eight, top nine could be enough for Europe.

I think Fulham have got a massive chance of European football, which is huge.

Yeah, more goals by substitutes than any other team.

Muniz and Cessignon, who looked like he absolutely loved that while not celebrating against his former club.

Match of the Day 2 broke down quite how bad Spurs were defensively.

They'd made seven changes, Barry.

Wayne Rooney thought that was too many.

I don't know what you think.

I mean, a bit like Man United, it is all about the Europa League, isn't it, for them?

It is, yeah.

And

Wayne Rooney and Troy Deaney were incredibly critical of Tottenham's

well, Ange Postakoglu's selection, because Spurs don't have another game for, whatever, 17 days or something, and the effort put in by the players he did pick, sloppy passing, an unwillingness to run, an unwillingness to help each other out, and it was a pretty clinical takedown by Troy and Wayne, and seemed entirely fair to me.

I would imagine Ange Postakoglu was not at all happy with that performance,

but he has to take plenty of the criticism, I think.

I'd be interested to know what you made of it.

Do you care whether they try against Fulham when the league is irrelevant?

I mean, you want them to try, obviously.

But it is all about the European League.

I suppose the thing is, I, as an Ange like disciple, am starting to think, you know, like

this isn't great.

Like, it it isn't great they're not very good at pressing like it seems really easy to play out when they try and press they're not very good at playing out so if they're your plans that's not great but i really desperately like he has been successful everywhere right with with worse players with less money um you know like he has he has beaten the odds before and i i sort of will him to do it again and they have you know as we've said before shown glimpses of being incredibly good but they are they are mere glimpses I think if they did win the Europa League it would be astonishing because the other thing is like you know four matters you can't just lose all your league games and then just win a cup game like you just yeah well that's the thing you can't just switch it on for a no it's a Europa league game next let's let's play well that's not how it works and I think Eintracht are fourth in the Bundesliga right like like Tottenham shouldn't be favourites for that that game I don't think the only other thought I had is why I get so annoyed by cuts to celebrities why don't I get annoyed when they cut to Hugh Grant why am I like oh I'm really pleased, there's Hugh Grant.

Why is that?

Why do I not get annoyed?

Whereas if I see Noel Gallagher or Anon Deck or McIntyre, it really infuriates me.

You get a better class of cut at Craven Cottage because the last time it was Richard Osmond, his brother Mac from Swede and

Richard Osmond's wife.

Anyway,

perhaps not that important.

The other games that Brentford's win at Bournemouth,

Sam, is like a really massive result.

It's a huge dent for Bournemouth.

It keeps Brentford just in touching distance for the race for the big five.

Yeah, and I like Brentford.

I want to like Brentford.

I want to like Thomas Frank.

I have a personal vendetta against him because he really annoyed me at the back end of one season.

I think they

lead stayed up.

And as journalists, it was the last game of the season.

The story was Leeds staying up.

We just wanted to go home, right?

But you have to hang around.

And you get written press last.

You have to hang around for the managers to come in, just in in case.

You get a line.

All we wanted Thomas Frank to say was, yeah, yeah, good season.

We'll come back next year.

And about an hour and a half after the game, he wandered in holding a slice of pizza and went, oh, you guys are still here.

Oh, that's right.

Thomas, so

we are not on your hourly rate.

Like, please.

But that aside, I really like him.

And we should give some kudos to Keith Andrews as well, because

he might not have a mural like Hoover.

And

is it Austin McPhee who Chris Hammond?

Yeah,

like Keith Andrews is not as trendy as them, but they score from a set piece, they score from a corner.

They scored four goals from throw-ins directly this season.

No other team has scored more than one.

So we think about them as this sort of ticky-tacker, very pretty team that came up from the championship and keep evolving, but they can mix it up and play it both ways.

And Bournemouth have beaten some very good teams at home.

So to go there and win is a brilliant result for Brentford.

It's five wins in a row away from home for Brentford and this this is a sort of derby of nice isn't it because I think everyone sort of likes Brentford everyone likes Bournemouth

and Bournemouth have only taken one point from the last 12 available to them now

without playing particularly badly in any of those four games but Brentford deserved this one.

I watched this one in its entirety and they definitely deserved it.

Yeah, their best run away from home since 2010 in League One.

To Goodison Park, Everton won, West Ham won.

The England squad has been announced by Thomas Dew.

That is harsh on there, but look, look, we all understand, right?

There's a lot to get through today.

Dan, let's talk about the England squad.

And I think we begin with Jordan Henderson.

He's a serial winner, said Tugel.

He's captain of Ajax.

What he brings to every team is leadership, character, energy, and personality.

He makes sure everyone lives by the standards.

He embodies everything we try to build.

We want to build a team our fans are proud of.

He's 35 in June, 36 when the World Cup rolls around.

What do you think?

Wasn't wasn't for me.

I think Jordan Henderson should have been banished from England duty when he made that move to Saudi Arabia, where actually him and Stephen Gerrard were not serial winners at all.

I don't think they won many football matches at all

whilst he was there.

Ajax,

pretty much the same.

Not sure how they're doing this season, but last season was pretty miserable.

I think if you look into the stats of how many games Jordan Henderson's played for Ajax recently, he hasn't played loads of games.

It may as well just announce him as a coach.

To be honest, it feels like he's there to try and set standards and

do the right things.

But it sounds more like a coaching role than a playing role because Jordan Henderson shouldn't be anywhere near the England team with the quality that England have to choose from.

I just can't understand it at all.

He kind of bracketed Henderson and Dan Byrne

the same as well, which I found a bit strange because one's never played for England, one's played for England

a number of times, but one's playing at a really high level and one isn't.

So I thought that was a strange comparison.

Yeah, I'm just not a huge Jordan Henderson fan since he made that move to Saudi Arabia, and I don't think he should be in the squad.

It's my feeling.

Yeah, I mean, Conor Gallagher, who had that brilliant

game for Athleti the other day, Adam Wharton, who obviously I'm completely in love with.

Lewis Cook, overlooked again.

Lewis Cook as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Seems odd.

It does seem odd.

Carl Walker as well.

I don't know what you think, Barry.

It seems like a slightly

odd choice.

Yeah, maybe.

I thought Thomas Tuchel spoke very well at

the announcement or at the press conference following the announcement.

But I do find the inclusion of Henderson baffling.

You know, obviously, just because you're in the squad doesn't mean you're going to play.

And lots of players with decent

who you think should probably have been in the mix have been left out you can't pick everyone but um you know I'd say Dan might be a bit perplexed by the omission of Jacob Ramsey Cinnamon Ares maybe a bit too young Morgan Gibbs White was initially overlooked Gallagher Wharton Ben White Danny Welbeck Jed Spence all

wouldn't have been a huge surprise if any of them had been included.

But

yeah,

I don't think it matters as much as people are making out.

But the Henderson one is obviously a weird inclusion.

He has, to be fair, he has played 38 times for Ajax this season and they are five points clear at the top of the Ere Divisi.

Well,

he hasn't been a starter, I think, for the last eight or ten games.

And he didn't endear himself to Ajax fans.

during the last transfer window because he was I think he was trying to engineer a move to Marseille although he he claims he wasn't Monaco I think but Monaco yeah was a Monaco sorry yeah okay that was the stat that was the stat I saw I think he started 20% of the games in the last two months or so or something something for Ikex he was bizarre well international break look we'll do a lot more England on on Thursday

you know like we shouldn't there are some good players in the squad of course and you some nice stories we talked about dan burn Lewis Skelly is a a nice story as well you know Rashford back is I think is nice Morgan Rogers as well super talented player as well so uh yeah some nice stories we'll do a bit of them on a thursday um barry did you have time to watch rangers beat celtic amidst all of this i had time to watch the first half and uh rangers were 2-0 up and then i didn't watch the second half but uh celtic came back scored two and uh then rangers won at late doors i did notice uh just

checking this morning jack butland was credited with the assist for uh their winner so i'm going to guess it was hoofed it long and somebody scored.

No, I like the idea that he took it in a very tight space in the box and just he just happened to be there and just laid up a little pass.

But yeah, it was some week for Barry Ferguson.

So saw Fenner Bache and then beat Celtic at Celtic.

So well done, Baza.

Yeah, I watched that penalty shootout and they're in the side of the draw that Man United are in.

So it could end up being, I think, a semi-final between Rangers and Manchester United if they get through their respective quarterfinals.

Jim says, who had a worse weekend, Liverpool or Delhi Alley?

He was sent off 10 minutes into his debut for, is it Como

that he's playing for for a tackle on Ruben Loftus Cheek, his first game in two years?

He shared his WhatsApp chat with Ruben Loftus Cheek after the game, where he says, Mad Ting,

picture looks bad, though.

I just tried to clip your heel and then redacted.

Crying, laughing emoji, monkey hiding eyes over

hands over eyes emoji.

When the ref went to VAR, I didn't even know it was for me.

Crying emoji, crying with laughter emoji, to which Ruben loft is cheek, lots redacted, so we can't see that.

Then says, bro, I had no clue.

I stayed down because I was blowing.

And then redacted, don't piss me off, crying with laughter three times.

But, you know, lovely to see.

I don't think Ces Fabregas wasn't crying, laughing.

He was very annoyed with Tele Alley after the game.

He wasn't happy at all.

Two years, not necessarily how I planned it, but we keep moving, is how we captioned it.

And producer Joel's saying his 422 unread WhatsApps are making me anxious.

I haven't got blue ticks.

Like, I've sent the message, but Delhi, it's got two ticks, but they've not gone blue.

So Deli Ali's not on a blue tick.

He's changed it, hasn't he?

That's for sure.

Anyway, that'll do for today.

Thanks, everybody.

And thank you, Dan.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sam.

Drink it in.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you.

We have an EFL pod tomorrow.

You can send us questions over on Instagram if you like, or via Football Weekly at theguardian.com.

Please do.

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

This is The Guardian.