Liverpool have one hand on title, plus drama at Old Trafford: Football Weekly Extra

This is The Guardian.

Today, we'll attempt a feat once thought impossible, overcoming high-interest credit card debt.

It requires merely one thing, a SoFi personal loan.

With it, you could save big on interest charges by consolidating into one low-fixed-rate monthly payment.

Defy high-interest debt with a SoFi personal loan.

Visit sofi.com/slash stunt to learn more.

Loans originated by SoFi Bank NA, member FDIC.

Terms and conditions apply.

NMLS 696891.

HiPod fans of America.

Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Now, if you're a regular listener to this show, you'll have heard us talk before about the Remarkable Paper Pro.

We already know that Remarkable's the leader in the paper tablet category, digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

But there's something new and exciting.

The Remarkable Paper Pro Move.

Remarkable, a brand name and an adjective, man.

Yeah, it's their most portable paper tablet yet.

It holds all your notes, to-dos, and documents, but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin, so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket.

Perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office.

Like maybe a football journalist, Barry.

Although not like you.

A proper football journalist,

exactly.

Too much technology draws us in and shuts the world out.

This paper tablet doesn't.

It'll never beat or buzz to try and grab your attention, so you can devote your focus to what or who is in front of you.

It has a display that looks, feels, and even sounds like paper.

Think and work like a writer, not a texter.

And the battery performance is amazing.

No worries about running out of power before the end of extra time.

The remarkable Paper Pro Move can keep going for up to two weeks.

And if you do need to recharge, you can go from naught to 90% in less than 45 minutes, Barry.

Fantastic.

Why not give it a go for nothing?

You can try Remarkable Paper Pro Move for 100 days for free.

If it's not what you're looking for, get your money back.

Visit remarkable.com to learn more and get your paper tablet today.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Liverpool's blip continues with a completely comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle United at Anfield.

Dominic Sabolzli brilliant again as they reduced another quite good team into looking pretty toothless.

Their dominance, an Arsenal's faltering slash injured strike force, really isn't doing the podcast makers of the world any favours.

The gunners probably deserved to win at third place Forest, but Matt Sells and co-held them out on the odd occasion.

They got through.

Most fun was at Old Trafford, giving away terrible goals, a completely unnecessary red card.

This Manchester United victory had all the hallmarks of a Manchester United defeat.

A win puts them level with Spurs, who lost at home to Manchester City.

City were great for 45 minutes and then not great for the next 45, but Spurs couldn't get the equaliser they perhaps deserved.

And another point for Everton, this time at Brentford.

Also, today, the Magic of the Cup will preview the fifth round.

The Lioness's excellent win over Spain.

Your questions?

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Hello, Jonathan Faduba.

Hello, Max.

And welcome, Sam Dalling.

Hi, Max.

Let's start Anfield then.

Mark says, I love the podcast.

I'm reaching out because I'm not sure Barry is getting the credit he deserves for predicting Liverpool to win the title.

At the pre-season prediction podcast, I clearly remember listening whilst hiking on the Colorado Trail.

Full disclosure: when Barry predicted Liverpool to win the title, I laughed out loud.

And I think I must have made a strange noise as a hiker near me gave me a very strange look.

I apologize to Barry for doubting you, and we'll look for the disgruntled fellow hiker to explain the power power of Barry.

Keep up, love the work, keep it up, I'll keep hiking and listening in from Mark in Colorado.

Yes Barry, it's done and it's done isn't it?

It's done.

That's been done for ages.

It's been done since before Christmas.

Yeah, I did predict Liverpool to win the title.

I do get slightly irate when I read that absolutely nobody anywhere predicted Liverpool would win the title because I did.

And I predicted, as I recall, that they would win it quite easily.

However, we have to caveat it with the fact that I also predicted Nottingham Forest would go down so that's ruined all my good work if I hadn't done that you would be well within your rights hikers all over Colorado would be able to hail me as a prophet but they can't because I'm an arsehole because I predicted forests would go down I thought oh if they lose if they got beaten last night by Arsenal, there'd still be a chance that they could, you know, maybe go down.

But I've accepted that's not going to happen.

Yeah, this was a fairly routine, straightforward win for Liverpool against Newcastle, who were without Alexander Isaac.

I have heard mutterings that he might not be available for the Carabao Cup final, that they are just scurrilous rumours, and he would be a huge loss because I think he would have probably scored the chance Callum Wilson missed when he was played in behind Ibrahima Canate last night while it was still 1-0.

Liverpool didn't really have to get out of second gear to win this game, did they?

Newcastle's record is atrocious at Anfield.

They haven't won there, I think, in nearly 30 years.

And Louis Diaz was great.

Alexis McAllister was great.

Dominic Sabozlai, I thought, was the standout player on the pitch.

And as he said himself in his post-match interview, you know, he's great going forward, but he's not afraid to roll his sleeves up and do the donkey work as well.

Mo Sala was fairly imperious again despite not scoring.

A couple of wonderful passes off the outside of his left boot.

And

yeah, the goals Newcastle conceded were fairly avoidable, but they did concede them and they never really looked much like scoring.

And Liverpool missed quite a few decent chances as well.

So yeah, a straightforward a win as you're going to get.

The sharp intake of breath, Sam, when Baz said Alexander Isaac might be out for the Carabao Cup final, final, even though you were on mute, I heard it.

Yeah, I mean, I'm hoping Baz is just making up scurrilous rumors there because the trip to Anfield, Anfield is actually one of my closer Premier League grounds, and it took me two and a half hours in the traffic.

So I was in a bad mood when I was trying to find a parking spot.

And then when that team sheet dropped, I just thought I could just turn around straight away and go home because we know what's going to happen.

We don't quite know how it's going to happen, but it is going to happen.

And it did happen.

And that's fine.

That's okay.

But I did to take one positive out of it, Newcastle found a little bit of space, they didn't have the quality.

And Baz has said,

had it been Alexander Isak, Newcastle may have had a goal or two.

So I think looking ahead to that Carabao Cup final, there are a few things that while Newcastle will have to have a 10 out of 10 day,

there is a chance of them scoring.

They'll have to outscore Liverpool, right?

They're not going to keep a clean sheet against them.

I'd be very surprised.

But last night was just a case of a very, very good team beating a decent team who can be inconsistent and can be brilliant um quite comfortably and i just wonder like has a title ever been won with a team just cruising along at a seven out of ten all season and does that potentially hinder them a little bit later on if they get further in the champions league that that kind of theory if if you don't get tested like stress tested enough in the season if you don't actually have to play at nine out of ten what happens when you do.

I can only think of it as...

This Farmers League territory, you know, they're playing PSG.

You know, this is literally the team who have this problem every year.

But now this Premier League is so bad.

That's what's going to happen to Liverpool.

I wonder, Jonathan, do you think this Liverpool squad is this much better than every other squad in the Premier League?

Clearly, they've been quite fortunate with injuries.

Slot has come in and done a wonderful job.

But like, Barry aside, no one...

Literally no one of note, I should say, thought that they would win the league.

Barry did think they would win the league.

I carried them as separate things.

But

is their squad that much better?

I don't think it is, but they have had the fortune.

And to be honest, to be fair to Arnas Lott as well, he's really sort of gelled the team and found solutions for every game, really, which I think is a really strong compliment towards him.

Where maybe Jürgen Klopp had his set style and he had certain ways of doing things.

I think Arna Slott has come in with a much more varied approach.

And that has helped.

But I think you can't ignore the fact that just being able to, I think this season and maybe for the rest of time, if football is going to remain as such, the team that can keep their players fittest for longest is going to have a huge advantage just because of the schedule.

Everybody is talking about it, you know, from Spain to the Premier League, everywhere, the fixture schedule is now becoming like the dominant force in determining potentially titles.

And in this case, I think it's definitely had a huge impact.

You look at...

You know, obviously I know we're going to come onto Arsenal shortly, but they've got four of their main forwards out, which if you did, took did the same with Liverpool, took out Salah, took out Gagpo, took out Diaz, took out

all of Jota, whoever,

they're going to be affected as well.

So, I think that it's a bit of both.

It's a bit of an anomaly year in terms of how bad some of the teams have been, but it's also at the same time, I think, the fact that Liverpool have just been able to keep players fit.

But that's also a testament to squad management.

I think Arnest Lott, one thing I think he has done really well this season is he's rotated players very well.

You know, for example, Trent alexander arno was a mainstay constantly but he's rotated him you know he's given him just it's sometimes it's only like 20 minutes it'll just take him off up to 70 minutes and bring on connor bradley or he'll start him and you know rotate and it's just those little accumulation of minutes i think that that have sort of seen them be a bit fresher so i think you have to give credit to that as well it's part luck it's partly squad management but they they do have a really strong squad and i think that was overlooked last season you know how good their squad actually is in terms of the players they signed the likes of gravin birch people like that have all been available.

Van Dijk's been pretty much fit for majority of the season.

All their key players have been available.

But if you look at the sort of underlying metrics, obviously they're top of the expected goals.

They're second in the league for sort of expected goals against Arsenal top of that particular table.

So, yeah, I think

it's a mixture, but 13 points clear at the end.

For the title to be wrapped up by the end, sort of basically mid-febble, as Barry said, Christmas.

is

just a bit weird and I think it is a bit farmers league-ish, isn't it, really?

So is it Liverpool or is it the rest of the teams?

Opens the interpretation slightly.

We're talking about it's a bit farmers-leaguish, but the difference between this and

say France is

we don't know if this will happen again next season.

Like, if you ask me to predict what's going to happen next season, move down, I might just say nothing

and dine out on this prediction for the rest of my life.

But,

yeah, so

I'm not sure Liverpool will be as good again next season, but that's talk for another time, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, maybe.

I mean, it's worth pointing out that in COVID, they did walk the Premier League.

I'm pretty sure.

Like, we got sent a few.

We were sort of saying, when did this last happen?

And lots of people sent me the league table during COVID.

And Liverpool were absolutely just miles ahead.

Salah was so good again, Sam.

It just sort of feels unthinkable that he won't be there.

next season.

I know you finish and you go, oh yeah, but he's out of contract.

How has that been allowed to happen?

I know it's a financial thing.

I think sometimes, even as an away supporter or a supporter of the other team, you have to appreciate when you're watching footballers like that.

And he wasn't even at his best last night.

He didn't need to be, right?

There was a whole game felt like it was a little bit Tyson Furies-esque.

You know, when he was fighting and he sort of just drops his hands down and goes, go on, hit me.

Someone, please just hit me because I want to actually do something.

And they didn't need to.

But I forget,

I only saw Messi at his best once.

I think I saw him score a hat trick against spurs in the champions league and it was like wow and but the privilege of watching someone like salah playing at this level that is why we go to football and if you don't see him week in week out you you forget how physical he is it's a bit like you know like year seven or eight rugby when there's always one kid who's so much bigger than everyone else and they just sort of run along doing what they want with people holding on to them it was like that with salah and lewis hall last night he just holds him off and just holds him there and does what he wants with the ball and holds Horloth.

And there was a point that Jacob Murphy ended up getting booked, but he had three or four attempts at tugging him down.

He just couldn't bring him down.

It is unstoppable when he's like that.

Yeah.

It was James Swarbrick, whose voice broke when we were all 11, and he would just walk the entire rugby team, our team and their team, over the line to the point where the team just had to stop him being allowed to score points.

That's that was

David Donovan, was it?

Yeah, a big lad from Sligo, who's just was like Jonah Lomu.

It used to be me for a bit.

And then, but every time

you go from school, well, because

at school it was fine, but then you'd go to college and all those big kids came together.

And it wasn't really fair because you had other big kids to play against.

So it never really.

Yeah, but you don't strike me as the big rugby playing.

No, I'm not.

Really?

But in house rugby, I was fine.

But when you move up to levels, I have the hype, not the fearlessness about my own personal safety, sadly.

No, I understand that.

So can can I just ask Sam?

Alexander Isaac might be fine, but if it came to the crunch and

there was questions over his fitness, do you think will Eddie Howe go do a Harry Kane on it and throw him in despite him not being fit or play Callum Wilson instead?

Although there's every chance Callum Wilson won't be fit in three weeks' time.

Well, precisely, are you ruling out William Asula starting the cup final, Miloris Carrier-style move?

Howe said last night, I don't know, because they're all liars, aren't they?

Football managers, basically, they say what they want to, but he did say it was just a niggle and he's too big a player to protect.

I just can't, it's my birthday, Barry.

I cannot contemplate a situation where Alexander Isak doesn't play in the Carabao Cup final.

It's not fair to make me do that.

So hang on.

It's your birthday today or it's your birthday on the Carabao Cup final.

It's my birthday today.

Oh, happy birthday.

And many happy returns.

What a birthday present to be on this podcast.

Mark says, I love the fact that Eddie Howe is using a four-color BIC pen and paper, hoping this gets the airtime it deserves on the pod.

Was it one of those red, green, blue, black, you know, pushy-downy pens?

Wow, I've not seen one of them.

But a long time.

He must have had that since the 90s.

Eddie Howe.

Good on him.

Well, look, they extended their lead because Arsenal didn't win at Forest.

It was a goalless draw.

Not a modern-day classic, Jonathan, I would say.

But if one side...

deserved to win it would be Arsenal, which I guess then leads us down the same path.

I'm terrified of having these same conversations for the next three months or whatever, but you know, the lack of firepower.

Sam has made a really good point.

If you're missing your four best attacking players, that is an issue that, however boring, is a real thing.

I think that was my point, wasn't it?

Was that your point?

Yeah, sorry.

Yeah, good point.

Good point.

Make it again.

Make the same point you've already made.

Telegraph through Sam.

Sam's mind, my voice.

Yeah, of course, you know, after the game, Nikolai Teto was sort of bemoaning the lack of firepower, lack of spark, you know, no.

I do feel a bit sorry for Arsenal in the sense of like the timing of the injuries and the way it's panned out has really been unkind to them, hasn't it?

I mean, it's literally just been almost like a sniper rifle, sort of Saka,

Jesus, Martinelli, and then Habits.

So

it's a tricky one, but you know, Nottingham Forest has been a tough place to go for all teams really in the Premier League.

This season, they're a very compact unit and they'll try and hit you on the counter-attack.

And that's more or or less what they tried to do most times.

Hudson Adoy had some moments, 50-50 penalty shout with Kelly Fury, but not given.

But yeah, I think with Arsenal in this game and in recent weeks, the thing I found a bit strange is the player, Mikel Marino, as a striker.

And I know they're sort of very, very short on options, but he really did sort of drift into midfield in this game.

He said in the interview, didn't he?

He's not played this since he was eight years old.

And it really kind of showed, I think, in recent games.

I know he got the Leicester.

I wonder if sort of the Leicester sort of double salvo has just

ended up with him going up there when he's not really the right fit.

It's amazing what Leicester can do, isn't it?

You know, like Rude Rennisdoroy beat Leicester twice and he got the Leicester job.

You know, Mourinho scored twice against Leicester and now he's going to play centre four.

He's the next Ian Wright.

Like, you know, you do something against Leicester, people don't realise just they're not very good, I guess.

I just feel like it's a little bit harsh on Raheem Sterling.

I mean, surely he's not that bad that a player who's never played up front in his life is sort of thrust in there when Sterling is right there in front of you so it

feels a little bit harsh on Sterling but I know he's he's he's struggled hasn't he in recent recent times but yeah it's it's it's it's it is I do feel for us in the sense of the injuries just the timing of it but

it's the opposite of Liverpool in that sense and you know the keeping of key players fit at key times but you can also then could argue it comes back to squad management.

You look at Saka, how many games he's played over the period of number of years, and

there was an air of inevitability.

I know it sounds sad to say that, but when you're just playing so many games that the sacker has played, at some point you are probably risking

a fairly longer term injury, which he's picked up this season, unfortunately, for them.

And

the whole striker thing, I think everyone's done that to death, haven't they?

So that's a bit boring, but we won't go there.

But even just not having the sort of maybe the creative outlets when Martinelli's not there.

So yeah, it's a tough one.

I think Forest is a difficult

place to go and they're doing really well.

I don't know if they'll still link the Champions League.

I think

they've still got a lot to do, in my opinion, to sort of nav that spot.

There's still a long way to go.

If you look at the table from sort of third to down to Aston Villa, it's still quite tight.

But for Arsenal, yeah, very disappointing and kind of going out with

a bit of a meek end to their title challenge.

Yeah, I mean, you make a good point.

Forrester on 48 points in third, Villa on 42 points in 10th.

And we do, Barry, have to get excited about the race for fifth place.

place.

You know, that's our job now.

It's pretty much all we have to get excited about.

I mean, I thought this game was pretty low on quality.

If I was the VAR official for this game, it would still be being played because I've looked at that California challenge/slash non-challenge on Callum Hudson Adoy so many times, I still can't decide if it was a penalty or not.

I'm going to say it probably wasn't, if that's, you know, but yeah, the crowded

the city ground to be sitting there having been there all night

still waiting for me to arrive at my conclusion deliver my verdict and arsenal were kind of well they palafiore

hit the post with that good crack you know cracked a good curled effort off the post otherwise

Chris Wood missed a couple of chances and I think Arsenal were largely relying on corners and and half-hearted penalty appeals to to find a goal somewhere And that's not a great place to be.

And we all know that why that's where they are.

But

these are the

games you have to dig out a goal and try not to concede.

So they achieved one half, but not the other.

And it's cost them another two points.

Yeah, the biggest turnaround in Premier League history was Manchester United's 1996 comeback against Newcastle.

I don't know if anyone remembers that.

That was

12 points in January.

That was.

That was 30 years ago.

I don't know if I would love it if Arsenal.

Imagine if Arsenal did it.

I don't know how I'd feel about that.

I have no further thoughts on this game.

Why don't we do Manchester United 3 Ipswich 2?

Because this, Sam, was a really exciting...

Why was it exciting?

It's hard to tell what it was.

It was...

Like I said in the intro, it just felt like a Manchester United defeat, but that they happened to have won.

I think it is exciting.

I think it was exciting, unless you're an Ipswich fan.

It's come to something, isn't it?

When, A, as an Ipswich fan, you'd have been travelling up thinking, this is a game that we can get something, and we're going to Old Trafford, but actually, this could be where we save our season.

And I think they've got to walk away massively disappointed because it feels like an opportunity, particularly with Wolves losing on where are we, Tuesday night, like Ipswich level at half-time playing against 10 men.

They'd have fancied themselves, and they didn't really lay a glove on Manchester United in that second half.

But it was what has become a typical Manchester United game.

They just do

everything within their power to lose a game of football and just by a little bit of luck.

And by Harry Maguire, I would love to know how many winning or winning headers or point-saving headers he's had over his years there.

But it feels more luck than judgment, doesn't it?

It's just not a pretty situation.

But that's just where they are now, isn't it?

It's like, is it news that Manchester United aren't very good?

It probably isn't.

It's all the same points, isn't it?

IEA plays free at the back.

The forwards can't score goals.

Bruno Fernandes has probably wasted the best years of his career there, and it will never not be funny to someone who is a child of the 90s.

Yeah.

I mean, maybe, I mean, Patrick Dorgu hasn't been there very long, Barry.

And so maybe...

the staff at the canteen didn't realize he was a player and therefore he didn't get a lunch and therefore he was just too hungry to to engage in the game He was hangry, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it was not a good night at the office for him.

Yeah, I thought he was sort of the one good thing about their performance against Everton on Saturday.

And he had a shocker here.

Look, the first goal, the mix-up between him and Inanna

to allow Jaden Philogene to score and walk the ball into the net.

I don't really know whose fault that was, bit of both.

In the culpability stakes, they both blamed each other.

I think even before Philogene had walked the ball into the net, they were all gesticulating at each other off to one side.

And then the tackle on Amari Hutchinson, totally unnecessary, down near the halfway line, dangerous, can't have any complaints about that.

And

United weren't good here.

They needed three set pieces to score the three goals.

They took advantage of some extremely charitable lip switch defending and

the only thing you could say is at least they dug in and fought and showed some spirit that's something because they don't always do that yeah i'm aware jonathan that that you know english is not his first language but it was the the sentence that bruno fernandez said afterwards when he said you could feel in moments it's not working but for some reason the manager wants us to do that like he obviously didn't say it with that intonation but it's very funny when you read it like that um

and yes, I mean, like we've already touched on, it isn't news now, but it is still, it is sort of, I think, repetitively fascinating that they are so turgid.

I have the complete opposite view of this game, to be honest.

I'm a lot more positive.

I think United did well.

And I think, besides the quest for narrative, I know that we sort of always look it for a storyline, but I thought it was a really entertaining game.

a generally good game.

Ipswich sort of offered a lot.

The fans were, you know, the fans of both sides were really positive.

You know, the last few minutes, the United fans were sort of olaying every pass, and it was a kind of like, it was a real carnival atmosphere, which I think the commentators mentioned that it was a bit of a strange thing.

Like, you know, Dallo was beating his chest and things like that.

The fan, the fans in the stadium were beating their chest.

And it's like, it's just a 3-2 win against Ipswich.

Like, relax.

But, but it had that sort of like real sort of cup game feel about it, I thought.

And even on the side of how United are doing and with all the negativity I watched this game on delay so I was completely away from social media and watched it back and felt really positive and then went on social media and started to just see so much negativity and it made me think is that maybe a modern thing where we sort of start to get our opinions because social media is saying this and that because I thought United showed a lot of resilience to sort of be with 10 men for most of the game and win.

I thought from the period of the Doorgu mistake, obviously, and the slash Inana mistake, until the red card, I thought United actually played arguably their best football in the last few months.

I know it's not great football, but they had an element of control that you could see some patterns of play.

You could see the team starting to sort of maybe understand what they were doing a little bit more.

But it's just that there's a very low technical quality.

I mean, small things like, for example, there was one corner early on in the game and it kind of came out and Dallo tries to sort of loop it back into the box.

And even if you have the most base level of sort of power league football, just looping a ball over into the area should be fairly straightforward.

And he just slices it out of play.

And it's kind of like

they're trying hard, but there are certain positions where there's just a huge lack of quality.

But no, I felt quite positive about United in this game.

And I think if you look at it,

it always feels like a crisis.

And yes, the team isn't very good.

Yes, it needs major surgery.

But United have won seven of their last 11 games now,

if you include the the Arsenal FA Cup win as a as a win so that's you know seven wins out of 11 isn't actually that bad so I do think this was the first game that I've seen signs of what Amorim is trying to do and it was more a case of

can kind of see what he's doing but they just really lack quality which can potentially be addressed in the summer if they can afford to you know pay the wi-fi bill and everything like that on time um with all the all the debts they're in and all the problems financial problems but no i i felt reasonably positive about this game.

I mean, I agree with Sam and Barry in the sense that, you know, United, the only threat was from set pieces.

And if you look at it from the Ipswich point of view, I thought it was an opportunity missed for them.

You know, United with 10 men, it's not that they're not a good team, or it's not that they played amazing or anything like that.

But I just think that if you look at the Everton game coming back, and then obviously this game, there's just signs of like a togetherness amongst the squad coming, which I just saw little signs from United that they're

they're they're gonna be safe this season well you've said it in you've done it in such a you ought to be safe yeah you've done it in such a convincing way that it's made me rethink i don't know about you barry i mean you're you and i are as weak-willed as each other so i you know i

has that changed your view it is a low bar but um my point is i just you know i know it's a low bar it's not i'm not saying that it was amazing or anything like that but it was just signs of resilience signs of character and little signs of like the players slightly improving we've all been derren browned here he's opened up by by saying, I think...

Is Jonathan gaslighting us?

Are we being gaslit?

He's basically said, I feel like Manchester United did well.

And then he listed a load of things they did badly.

And then he rounded it up by saying, actually, it's really positive.

I think they did well.

And we're all falling for it.

It's like that episode where Darren Brown has those

betting slips that he goes and puts down on the counter and says, this is the winning ticket.

And it's not the winning ticket, but the person pays out.

So let's not be the person going out on the winter.

Not really positive, but more positive than I've been for quite a while.

That's all I'm saying.

saying.

That's all I'm saying.

Not really positive, but just slightly more.

Yeah, it wasn't that shit.

No, you're right.

All right, that'll do for part one.

Part two will begin at the Tonamot Spurs Stadium.

Hi, Pod fans of America.

Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Now, if you're a regular listener to this show, you'll have heard us talk before about the Remarkable Paper Pro.

We already know that Remarkable is the leader in the paper tablet category, digital notebooks that give you you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

But there's something new and exciting.

The Remarkable Paper Pro Move.

Remarkable, a brand name and an adjective, man.

Yeah, it's their most portable paper tablet yet.

It holds all your notes, to-dos, and documents, but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin, so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket.

Perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office.

Like maybe a football journalist, Barry.

Although not like you.

A proper football journalist, mate.

Exactly.

Too much technology draws us in and shuts the world out.

This paper tablet doesn't.

It'll never beat or buzz to try and grab your attention, so you can devote your focus to what or who is in front of you.

It has a display that looks, feels, and even sounds like paper.

Think and work like a writer, not a texter.

And the battery performance is amazing.

No worries about running out of power before the end of extra time.

The Remarkable Paper Pro Move can keep going for up to two weeks.

And if you do need to recharge, you can go from naught to 90% in less than 45 minutes, Barry.

Fantastic.

Why not give it a go for nothing?

You can try Remarkable Paper Pro Move for 100 days for free.

If it's not what you're looking for, get your money back.

Visit remarkable.com to learn more and get your paper tablet today.

Think enterprise software is too costly, too complex, and takes too long to get up and running?

Think again.

Workday Go makes simplifying your small or mid-sized business simple.

HR and finance together on one powerful AI platform right at your fingertips.

Workday Go gets you live fast and fits the needs of your business.

Find out what Workday Go can do for you.

Go with Workday Go.

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So, Tottenham Nill, Manchester City won Manchester City back into the top four.

Spurs down in 13th level of points with Manchester United behind Crystal Palace, Brentford, etc.

etc.

etc.

Game of two halves this Baz.

I thought very much so.

And

Manchester City should have been out of sight at half-time.

Harlan scored his goal, lovely threaded pass by Doku between Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson.

And he had a tap in.

And then Doku had a decent effort saved.

Savino missed a sitter after collecting with

another Doku cross.

Docu was very good in that first half.

Yeah, City on another day could have been three or four nil up at halftime, but they weren't.

They were only one nil up.

And Tottenham got right back in the game in the second half.

I was a bit perplexed by Angel's selection.

I thought Young Min's son who hasn't been played well he had a confidence boosting outing against Ipswich at the weekend but he was on the bench.

Jed Spence didn't play start this game which you know he's been outstanding since he came in and Dejin Kulisiewski didn't come in but all those players came on with about half an hour to go and

on another day Spurs could have easily got back into this game, rescued a point or even won it.

Probably a little bit unlucky unlucky to lose.

I wouldn't criticise Post Coglu unduly for this.

I wouldn't say this is his fault.

It was just City one.

And, you know, but Spurs, I thought, played quite well, particularly in the second half.

Yeah, I mean, I guess he's probably saving those players for AZ Outmar

on a week today, isn't it?

Because they don't have a game at the weekend.

And in the same way, Sam, that, you know, Newcastle season is the...

well actually

you know you could get top four right so but you know the carabao cup is sort of everything to newcastle moment the europa league is everything to tottenham and like it and i sort of think you know they the he just is trying to keep all his players fit tick them over keep them fit i mean they've had such bad luck with injuries haven't they good to see wilson odeberg back by the way last night he looks bright and he's barely played has he since september but yeah their season rests on az ackmar and it would be funny if after everything that had happened because Andrew obviously always wins a trophy in his second season if he won the Europa League and then Tottenham qualified for the Champions League next year anyway the issue with that is and I know as a Newcastle fan saying this you know those in glass houses but it involves Tottenham winning a trophy and I

that involves them getting to a final and turning up and I just can't see that but yeah his season has to be well it starts with the Troy Parrott Derby doesn't it next week um it's a long way to wrestle isn't it I could imagine you managers often rest rest players for games at the weekend to do it for six or seven days in advance, but I think that's just how scarred they've been.

And it just shows they're not going to go down.

Do they really, does it matter if they finish 12th or 15th?

Probably not compared to winning a trophy, to winning a European title.

So that is where clearly where his priorities lie and understandable.

Yeah, I mean, I suspect, and now Jonathan's just announced that Manchester United are back.

It will be a Tottenham-Manchester United Europa League final, and there's just no way Tottenham are winning that.

Like, it just doesn't matter.

There isn't just nothing they can do.

They just don't, they shouldn't even go.

Like, it's just, they could be the better team for the whole game, but just something will stop them doing it.

There was, Jonathan, some injury time excitement in this game, wasn't there?

Where Haaland scored, the ball was bouncing around.

It looked like it hit everyone.

Archie Gray's arm.

It hit Kevin Danso's arm.

It hit Haaland's arm.

Anyone else's arm?

It just happened to be about.

VAR took about three weeks.

And it was quite complicated.

I don't know about the comms that you have, but I had the international comms who didn't realise that Jared Gillett had given a free kick.

So they were all going, this goal's going to be given.

It's going to be given.

It's going to be given.

And we're all thinking, well, this doesn't matter anyway.

And then it wasn't.

And then 20 seconds later, Pap Saar has this amazing chance to equalize.

Yeah, Haaland was really, seemed really quite miffed about the goal being disallowed as well.

He tried to style it, but you could tell he was fuming

about it.

And then the SAR chance was a huge chance, and obviously, I think City got slightly fortunate there because

after all their good work in the first half,

probably

they risked doing what the City have done a lot this season, which is concede late goals and give away games where they sort of look fairly comfortable.

So from that point of view, I think Pep Guardiola afterwards was quite satisfied.

I think Spurs fans are obviously disappointed.

I think

there was a comment from Pep after the match, wasn't there, where he said sort of like

the old city will never, this season will never be the old city.

The old city's gone, basically, but we'll be back.

And, you know, basically saying that this team is nothing like the previous teams I've had.

But there are sort of little green shoots of a new city, isn't there?

Marmouche, Savinho, Doku were all very lively, especially in the first half, really good.

And, you know, the fact that sort of Fodham was left out, De Bruyne was left out,

I don't think they're arresting them for anything in particular, maybe Plymouth, but

they kind of were given a rest, and

they were such key players last season.

Sort of shows that City, especially the Ford area as well, is maybe evolving into a new thing.

Greedish, obviously, left out as usual these days.

So you can see the forward line is kind of evolving.

From the Spurs point of view, I think that, yeah,

we've talked about how they're going to probably focus on Europe now.

But

I couldn't really...

Was it Humble?

I'm not.

I don't know.

No, I don't think so.

I think it's really unlucky.

No, I thought so.

I thought really unlucky.

I'm not sure why every Spurs player wanted to kick Phil Fonen when he came on.

It took absolute battering.

And I was really pleased, Barry, for Kuzmanov, who I thought defended really well in this game, having had such a sort of tough start to his Man City career.

I mean, I thought he played well.

I mean, he was thrown to the lines against Real Madrid, and obviously he had...

dropped a massive ball look in his first game, but I think he's been okay, apart from that.

And

I certainly wouldn't judge him on the Real Madrid performance

because he didn't have much help and he was playing out of position.

But I think he'd be fine.

I wouldn't have any doubts about him.

Yeah, Pep went full.

Thanks to Joe, who pointed this out, saying Pep in full, so-so-good mode.

I asked what he said to Jed Spence at full time.

He said, Why do you run too much?

You should be more calm.

A doggie is quite similar.

The pace of this team is difficult too.

They are unbelievable, unbearable.

And every time they have the ball and run, they're unstoppable.

Spence, Porrow, Adogi, Kulasevsky's son.

It's an incredibly physical team with a clear idea.

They play really good.

They play without Romero and Vandervent, who are the best central defenders in the league.

I mean, I've described 13th of the Premier League with,

I'm not sure how many defeats.

They are not unstoppable.

I think it is fair to say about this Tottenham team.

Thomas Tuchel was in the stands.

He looks exhausted, doesn't he?

Do you want to talk talk about Justin Cochrane, Sam, who has come into Thomas Tuchel's coaching staff.

Oh, he has.

Well, yeah, only briefly, only because I saw the name and thought, oh, I recognise that.

And we moved, my parents moved to Somerset when I was a young lad.

And as a two-year-old, you don't really have a choice as to where you live.

And so we watched a lot of Yeovil Town in their glory years coming up through the league.

So I thought, I know that name, Justin Cochrane.

And the beauty of the internet is you can do a little bit of googling.

And I found a game, a local derby at the Memorial Stadium, Bristol Rovers versus Yeovil town Ricky Lambert in his Bristol Rovers days where the Yeoville midfield in a one-all draw was bossed by Anthony Barry and Justin Cochrane and I just thought who in that ground on that day could have thought one day these two league one central midfielders are going to be assistant managers of the the England team and actually looking through the lineup it would have been a very

thoughtful dressing room because you had Paul Warren in there who's just been sacked as derby manager he's a very good talker he loves talking about solar plexus blows and using quite colorful language.

Nathan Jones, as well, well, Premier League manager, briefly again.

Yeah, I'm talking.

And Kevin Betsy, also, former Cambridge United assistant manager.

Yes.

So, what a dressing room that is.

A dressing room full of thinkers.

Yeah, Matt says, I was going to use a question to do the joke about whether we now have to refer to Dr.

Tottenham as Dr.

Tottenham Hot Spur, but David Squires beat me to it.

Yeah, this is the news that Spurs do not want to be known as Tottenham anymore in what they're calling remastered brand identity.

The Athletic wrote the story, which revealed that the club sent an email to TV rights holders around the world asking them to be known as either their full name, Tottenham Hotspur, or nickname, Spurs, in an email entitled Tottenham Hotspur Naming Update.

Tottenham Hotspur have provided clarification regarding the club's name.

They've requested that the club are primarily known as Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs being the preferred short version.

The club have requested they are not referred to as Tottenham.

I mean,

I'm not an expert in brand awareness, Barry.

Feels like.

I'm glad you're not, Max, because I'd think less of you as a person if you were.

Well, you know, like,

Cambridge and I did a long time.

I think Lads at Tottenham Hotspur doesn't have the same

sort of rhythm and

synergy as Lads at Tottenham.

Asking, telling people what you would like to be called is never a good idea, certainly in the schoolyard or whatever.

The landlord of my local pub has recently let it be known he wants to be referred to as 7-ball Martin because he seven-balled one of the better pool players in the establishment

a couple of weeks ago.

Needless to say, he has not been called 7-ball Martin.

He is, however, being called a lot of other far more derogatory names.

So,

look, good luck with them.

I believe

Anthony Robinson, he's called Jedi.

And

I inquired as to the origins of this nickname.

And apparently, he just asked people to start calling him Jedi.

Which, yeah, I don't know, seems a bit odd.

You get one opportunity in your life to do that, don't you?

The rebrand is the first day of university when you meet people at Freshers Week.

That is when you have to choose.

Do you stick with what you were known by at school or do you move on?

Or do you walk in wearing a berry?

I mean, Cambridge United had like, it took about a year to have a new crest.

And, you know, they were talking about, look, as we come into 2025 and we're trying to make partnerships with, you know, all sorts of like, I don't know,

tech firms in and around Cambridge, et cetera, we can't have this badge.

And I was very much like, I just don't know if a different badge is going to make somebody invest, you know, in this club.

But like, there are big, there are better brains than mine when it comes to these kind of things.

Maybe it's a good idea.

I don't know.

Maybe it's a,

I don't know.

But

if you get in touch with the pod and you call them Tottenham, it's okay with us.

Ben says, Everton drew and it felt like a win.

Then Everton drew and it felt like a loss.

It's tonight's draw against Brentford what it really feels like to draw a game of football.

My heart rate barely got above tepid.

What did you make of this one,

Jonathan?

Fairly tepid.

Everton have had an emotional holocaust, haven't they, last few weeks with the Liverpool game, you know, the last Merseyside of Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park, and then the United game was sort of very topsy-turvy in the way it panned out.

So, yeah, and there's nothing wrong with a little bit of

warm water for a game or two.

Brentford, obviously, off the back of spanking Leicester

and all the kind of plaudits that's come in the way of Brian Buenwork currently for the amazing season he's had.

You know, going there and getting a point isn't

that's not so bad.

You know, they're safe.

Moyes has pretty much his job done for him, I think.

So it's not too bad to be tepid every now and then, is it?

No, no, absolutely not.

I mean, I enjoyed Wiss's header.

He was in the air for about an hour, Sam.

Williams says, can we talk about Wiss's macho man Randy Savage-esque elbow drop on Pickford as he headed in that first goal?

Imagine how exciting every match would be if goalscorers performed WWE-like finishes on the keeper while scoring.

Yeah, I hadn't seen that, but I did.

It was WWE, I thought of, with both the Umbuemo and the Visa.

It was like, I keep bringing it back to school days, but when you have the crash mats out in PE and you can just go, right, I'm just going to let myself fall.

And that's what he did.

He properly committed to it I've not seen WWE in football since Steve Harper dropped the people's elbow as part of the celebration for Newcastle's four-all draw against Arsenal years and years ago but yeah it was a it was a good head I didn't think it was that tepid I know I saw a little a few highlights but I mean beto who I love and always did love despite his wayward ways he should have had a hat trick in that game Yeah, it was quite a Diceian, it was a Diceian performance from Betto, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was.

It was a throwback.

And we like a bit of old school.

I particularly enjoyed Mark Flecken getting really pumped about.

I think it was the first save he made when actually Beto just hit it straight at his chest.

Like there was nothing other than standing there and physically existing, there was nothing Mark Flecken had done, but he was so pumped for it.

So his heart rate definitely got up a little bit.

Yeah, actually, the Whistle, you say the crash mats, also, you know, little sponge football in the bedroom doing headers and diving on the mattress.

That's what Whisse was doing.

Like, it was there forever.

I'm worth saying, Baz, I thought Ethan Pinnock looked very laboured last night.

Any intel on this?

No, I don't.

I think he's not long back from injury, so he might be a bit ring rusty.

He hasn't played much recently, as far as I can know.

Ethan and I aren't actually good friends.

I wouldn't be surprised if he has a restraining order out against me, if I'm honest.

But yeah, he did slip, didn't he, for one of the...

beto chances, the first one.

But yeah, I just think this is a game.

If it doesn't sound too ridiculous, I think both teams will see this as two points dropped.

They both probably feel they should have won and neither of them did.

So draws probably fair enough, as our correspondent said at the start of this bit.

Nice of Jaco Bryan.

Nice of him.

Nice of him to score.

Nice for him to score.

Aside from Leon last summer.

Got man of the match.

Scored with...

Some people are calling it diving.

I guess it was a diving header.

You know, some people were comparing it to Van Percy's header in the World Cup against me.

Come come on let's not get carried away like he was sort of i'd say it was more falling tree than diving yeah yeah but it was very well placed um yeah that is true and now that he's been uh repurposed as a right back everton have a ready-made irish replacement for the great seamus coleman oh yeah um west ham leicester tonight good luck to both teams i would say i mean fully expect west ham to to win that uh with that one uh rude Renestroy says he's plans to stay, even if Leicester are relegated.

I know what contract I signed, and it wasn't a contract for five months.

It was two more seasons after this.

They could be in League Two by then, I guess, if form continues.

Alex said, Rebarney's article on the lack of a real sense of excellence in the Premier League and maybe in world football at large.

I wonder if a major factor is a simple dip in world-class talent in the age group currently in their prime, 27 to 30.

Will anyone younger than Harry Kane, currently 31, but older than Mbappe, currently currently 26, ever win the ballon d'Or?

Other than Rodri, of course.

He says, capitalist streamlining has definitely made singular, quicksilver talents like Messi and Ronaldo Reira.

But there are lots of candidates coming along.

Could it just be that we have to wait until the primes of Louis Diaz and Bruno Gimmeresch give way to those of Saka Harland and Isaac, Vinicius Spelling and Wertz, Mussiale Yamal, etc.

Are we in a sort of phase of just the best players aren't at their peak?

Jonathan, what do you think?

I think it's a really good question and a very interesting debate, in my opinion.

I think players are trending younger now.

I think players are getting an opportunity.

You know, look at Ethan Raneri, for example.

You know, I talked earlier in the podcast about Saka and the just accumulation of minutes.

He's played so many games.

Obviously, I don't have the numbers to hand, but you know, there was something Don Raz wasn't there about Deli Ali at one point, but and how many minutes he played compared to, say, the average 30-year-old pro, you know, early in Deli Ali's career and he's he sort of tailed off Sterling is another one that we just mentioned there you know Sterling

I think it ties into my feeling about Raheem Sterling in a way because I think that he gets a little bit over overlooked for just how for how long he's been around you know he's he's basically emerged at Liverpool when he was 17 and was amazing and he was like the Nguyeneri of that time and the fact that he's having this dip now and that's what I was sort of saying about the whole Mourinhu up front thing he's a bit overlooked overlooked now, but

his decline has come, hasn't it, in his sort of late 20s.

And I think that is where we're trending in football.

I think players just are better younger, and then I think they're tailing off earlier.

And with the amount of minutes people are playing, injuries accumulating as well.

I mean, no one really seems to care that almost every game you watch these days is like at least a couple of injuries.

But the effect on the body for players at such a high intensity, I think that will take its toll and players will

probably decline slightly earlier than they used to.

So I think it's a trend that might continue.

That's interesting.

So it's intriguing.

But there's also, you know, these sort of players that sort of carry on into, you know, like late 30, you know, like, and I don't know if it's an outlier.

I don't have the stats in front of me of how many are 33, 34, 38 who are still doing it.

And maybe it's because, you know, I don't know how many games Modric played as a 17-year-old, for example.

And maybe they're outliers.

But I think it's it's interesting to it's interesting.

And I guess people's bodies are different as well, aren't they?

So I don't know is the answer, but I don't know if anyone else has any salient points.

I think there's something in it, though.

The point is a good point, very good point.

Needs more research, I suppose.

Maybe we'd have to go away and calculate the minutes.

But I think it's a very good point.

And I do think players are trending younger.

Barry, do you want to go away and calculate the minutes?

No.

No, I don't.

But yeah, I do remember

the likes of Gordon Strack and Gary Speed were playing, they were still playing top-flight football at 40, weren't they?

They, you know, that's exceptionally rare.

And Moderich is the amount of miles he has on the clock just incredible.

So, just some people are, I suppose, physically more resilient than others and look after themselves better and whatnot.

Yeah, all right, well, that'll do for part two.

Part three, we'll look at the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Do a bit of the Lioness's victory over Spain as well.

HiPod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Now, if you're a regular listener to this show, you'll have heard us talk before about the Remarkable Paper Pro.

We already know that Remarkable is the leader in the paper tablet category.

Digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

But there's something new and exciting.

The remarkable Paper Pro Move.

Remarkable, a brand name and an adjective, Max.

Yeah, it's their most portable paper tablet yet.

It holds holds all your notes, to-dos, and documents, but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin, so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket.

Perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office, like maybe a football journalist, Barry.

Although not like you.

A proper football journalist, mate.

Exactly.

Too much technology draws us in and shuts the world out.

This paper tablet doesn't.

It'll never beat or buzz to try and grab your attention, so you can devote your focus to what or who is in front of you.

It has a display that looks, feels and even sounds like paper.

Think and work like a writer, not a texter.

And the battery performance is amazing.

No worries about running out of power before the end of extra time.

The remarkable paper pro move can keep going for up to two weeks and if you do need to recharge you can go from naught to 90% in less than 45 minutes, Barry.

Fantastic.

Why not give it a go for nothing?

You can try Remarkable Paper Pro Move for 100 days for free.

If it's not what you're looking for, get your money back.

Visit remarkable.com to learn more and get your paper tablet today.

Think enterprise software is too costly, too complex, and takes too long to get up and running?

Think again.

Workday Go makes simplifying your small or mid-sized business simple.

HR and finance together on one powerful AI platform right at your fingertips.

Workday Go gets you live fast and fits the needs of your business.

Find out what Workday Go can do for you.

Go with Workday Go.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly as the Africa fifth round is this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

It's good.

It's not sort of going Thursday to Tuesday anymore.

Possible upsets.

Cardiff go to Villa, Millwall go to Palace,

Plymouth going to Man City,

and then some all-Premier League games.

Newcastle, Brighton, Man United, Fulham, Forest, Ipswich, and Preston v.

Burnley means that there will be Bournemouth Wolves as well.

Preston Burnley means there will be someone from the championship in the quarterfinals.

Where's your...

It will be Burnley who wants to, because they just don't concede goal points.

So unless Preston win a penalty shootout, Burley will probably save all five penalties or however many they need three.

You're probably right.

Do we give Plymouth a sniff, Sam?

No, I don't think so.

Not really.

Pep needs this, doesn't he?

Manchester City need this.

I mean, we've used the word tepid already on the podcast.

This FA Cup Troy.

I'm just looking at those fixtures.

And I want something to jump out at me.

Yeah, there really isn't.

Particularly after the last round, I think we were spoiled last round.

I mean, maybe Crystal Palace, Millwall, if it was the other way, Romanesse.

I think Palace have got to,

or should be really targeting this, actually.

They're on an upward curve under Glasgow after a difficult start.

It's a competition they could do well in.

But you just look at those ties, and it's classic.

Manchester City at home to a lower-tier side.

They've had Salford, now they've got Plymouth, Man United.

Man United Fulham could be quite good fun.

Wasn't there a cup game a couple of years ago, Manchester United versus fulham where it all got a little bit silly wasn't marco silver fuming after in the aftermath of that i think that was a an fa cup tie um yeah there's not a lot there uh i i'm glad it's spread over four days so we can watch all of them though but what's the standout tie you see i would argue there's no real standout tie but it is a good if with uh all due respect to both sets of fans if we could get rid of the two manu manchester clubs then that someone interesting will win the FA Cup, someone who you would never normally associate with winning a trophy or winning, you know, such a prestigious trophy.

What does your heart say, Jonathan, for the FA Cup for you know, the all-conquering now, Manchester United, since the end of part one?

Just solely an idol in general?

Well, I mean, the draw itself, but you know, Fulham at home.

This is a, it's, it's funny, isn't it, that, you know, we judge football season so early, and yet, out of this sort of morass of rubbish,

amrim could get two trophies here

no i think that's i think that's a bit that's a bit extreme with the with the squad available i mean i was merely praising 25 good minutes i mean maybe i went up overboard that no you can roll back now i think i think i think the point i was trying to make got a bit missed there in a desperate bid to salvage squad plus your credibility it's been that long

but um

not i think i think fulham have a really good chance you know fulham are a good side depends how they approach the game.

I still find it strange how a lot of teams tend to rest players for these matches when it's like, you know, you see the effect of a team like Newcastle just going for it and the simple effect and the galvanizing effect that can have.

But no, I've spent the last few minutes googling career minutes, by the way.

So

Modric, 60,000 career minutes he's had and he's 39.

Raheem Sterling, 42,000 career minutes at the age of 30.

So

Dele Alley, 28,000 total career minutes and he's not played for at least two, three seasons, has he regularly?

So that just shows you the accumulation for such a young person.

I mean if that was mileage on a card, it wouldn't be anywhere near the scrappy.

Yeah.

Well, that's just interesting.

I thought that.

Well, I mean, what's interesting for me is

my maths has become so bad since I last did any maths.

that I just can't look how many games, you know, like just, I don't know if that means, you know, it's like when the government say we're investing 3 billion in, I don't know, drones.

I'm like, I don't know if that's a lot or not.

Like, it's just a big number.

It's like you just said some big numbers and

I can't count.

You know, I need someone to put them into some context for me, but I would be tired after a 60,000-minute football match.

I could say that.

I could barely do 60 minutes.

Lionesses beat Spain last night.

A big win for them.

First win of the year, actually, under Serena Viegman.

Tom Gary, women's football writer, said that was a real team performance from England.

Their best display since they won away in France last June.

Their best results is the World Cup.

Spain spurned a lot of good chances, so the lionesses won't get carried away.

This still feels like a big turning point.

And I think Tom sort of sums it up, doesn't it?

Look, it's a great result because Spain are brilliant.

Spain did have a lot of chances and a lot of the ball.

And I thought Hannah Hampton was great in goal for him.

Yeah, she was great.

Lauren James was very good.

Alesier Russo was impressive.

Niamh Charles, Grace Clinton were both good for England.

And after the game,

Serena Wiegman, you know, she was talking about the unity, the fight, the togetherness, the teamwork.

It's all good, I suppose, going into a major competition.

The Nations League obviously isn't a major competition, but it's good warm-up, a good prep.

On another day, England could have lost this game if Spain had taken their chances.

I suppose,

I wouldn't say Spain played badly, but you have to caveat their performance with the fact that they've had a sort of draining week.

The Ruby Alex trial is just finished, and

while he was found guilty, I don't think the Spanish players got the result they wanted because he wasn't found guilty of coercion.

And that whole horrible business dragged on for an awful long time, 550 days, I think it was.

But

yeah, good win for England.

And they,

I'm not going to claim to to follow their progress closely but Jonathan Liu wrote a very good piece from Wembley where the lights went out in fact during the second half for for a spell that's worth reading he said you know they they haven't

been playing particularly well recently plan a doesn't work and they're still trying to come up with a decent plan b so this is certainly a step in the right direction yeah lights going out is very much whoe and then oh actually this is my problem now.

This is your instant reaction when you go, oh actually I need the lights to be on for my entertainment to continue.

As with all things women's football, the Guardian Women's Football Weekly has you covered.

Download it and listen to it.

A couple of emails.

Alex says on our discussion about AFCON yesterday and continental tournaments mattering.

He says, when I was growing up in Singapore in the late 90s and throughout the 2000s, my Iranian dad was never more excited than when the Asian Cup was on.

World Cup appearances were sporadic.

Before 2006, we'd only made two appearances, but had a golden heritage in the AFC with back-to-back-to-back trophies when my dad was a teenager and a budding twenty-something in sixty-eight, seventy-two and seventy six.

Even though we've yet to see them match those glory years, the Asian Cup was an opportunity to watch our national team actually compete against the best teams in the continent.

Instead of hoping for a shock one-all draw with Portugal in twenty eighteen or having our hearts broken by Messi with a late winner in 2014, we could urge our boys on and actually fight for a championship.

It brings back lots of great memories of my dad yelling borrow, bora, borrow, borrow, which means go, go, go, and berim, berim, berim, let's go, let's go, let's go in Farsi at the TV.

So I fully empathise with what Naden was saying about AFCON and completely agree that just because it doesn't matter to some people doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

The Asian Cup mattered to me as I learnt about football and fell in love with the game.

It matters to my dad that he saw Iran lift the trophy not once, but three times as a young lad and still invokes memory of pride and glory of being Iranian before a dark curtain fell over the country in 1979.

Ironically, Jamie Carragher came dangerously close to making a good point.

There is an almighty suspicion among Liverpool supporters, and I'm sure among our Egyptian counterparts, that Mo Salah's achievements aren't given the same weight by some ballon d'Or voters because they don't view his continental achievements in the same light as his peers from Europe or South America.

But because Carragher seemed to argue that this was justification for Salah not being in the running, rather than challenge it, he managed to succeed in only ramming his foot so far down his throat that I suspect it was last seen somewhere past his midriff.

All the best, Alex in Massachusetts.

Thank you, Alex.

Great email.

And Biona says on being left-handed.

I'm currently listening to the latest edition of the podcast.

I just have to interject that the UK must indeed be one of the most left-handed friendly countries.

This was after Barney's long discussion about how hard it is to be left-handed.

You insist on installing the steering wheel on the wrong side of cars, forcing us right-handers to make gear shifts with our weaker hand for lefties.

This must be a significant advantage in traffic.

Fortunately, most of the rest of the world insists on maintaining the right-hander supremacy we all know and love.

And fortunately, I can say that I live there in most of the rest of the world, that is.

Thank you for the listening enjoyment over the years.

I even begrudgingly enjoy the show after Spurs defeats.

But unless I could enjoy them, I'd never enjoy it.

I guess best wishes.

Bjorna.

And finally, Doug Liffish writes, I'm still waiting for what happened to Ozzy Osborne Towers.

Was Barry's experience a match for the Herberts from Motley Crew who describe an encounter with Ozzy in the dirt?

I'm not sure what that entirely means, but apparently you went to Ozzy Osborne's house or he yelled at you or some such.

No, I went to his house.

His wife, Sharon, made me tea and biscuits.

His daughter showed me her video for

the version of Papa Don't Preach she made, which was, I'm going to say, dreadful, but I didn't say that to her

because she was sitting there watching me, waiting for my reaction.

And then I had an audience with the great man for an interview I wrote for a magazine in Ireland.

So that was all.

And I'm pretty sure the

incident with the lads from Motley Crew was when they got...

Somebody ended up snorting a line of ants in the cocaine snorting style.

So I certainly didn't do that with Aussie.

I've never snorted a line of ants.

Yes.

Live ants?

It seems tricky.

Yes, live live ants.

Because, you know, ants march along in a line.

So

somebody, either a member of Motley Crew or Ozzy Osborne or one of someone from Black Sabbath,

knelt down and hoovered up a line of ants.

They weren't bullet ants.

That would be quite the mistake.

Anyway, we've all been there, I guess.

And that'll do for today.

Hi, Avon.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, Sam.

You're welcome.

Thanks, Max.

Thanks, Jonathan.

Thank you, Max.

Thanks, Barry.

Thank you.

Football Weekly is produced by Sidus Gray and Tommy Stewart.

Our executive producer is Phil Maynard.

This is The Guardian.