Newcastle take a big step towards silverware – Football Weekly podcast

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Speaker 2 Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Newcastle take a big step towards the Carabao Cup final and possibly their first trophy since 1955.
No, Intertoto Cup fans of 2006 does not count.

Speaker 2 With a 2-0 win at the Emirates, it felt like a game in three parts arsenal building up steam missing chances newcastle scoring and for a time winning the key battles everywhere anthony gordon with the vital second and then the last 20 minutes of newcastle going 5-5-0 and arsenal just not being able to break them down a great chance for the do arsenal need a striker conversation while mikhal arteta blames the ball back to monday night and another win for notting forest do we need to take them as seriously as we took chelsea a few weeks ago in the title race either way kudos to nuno they are flying west ham are making incredible balls up of sacking julen Nopotegui as Graham Potter seems just to be trolling teams by not taking any jobs.

Speaker 2 We'll do some Serie A and Milan's great comeback in the Super Copper against Inter. All that plus your questions.
And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 2 On the panel today, Nikki Bandini, welcome.

Speaker 5 Morning.

Speaker 2 Hello, Sam Dalling.

Speaker 6 Hello, Max.

Speaker 2 And good morning to Jonathan Faduba.

Speaker 1 Good morning, Max.

Speaker 2 Let's start then at the Emirates, Arsenal Mill, Newcastle 2.

Speaker 2 Newcastle had never beaten Arsenal in a League Cup game or even scored. Their first win there in 15 years.
Was the Emirates there 15 years ago? Maybe it was.

Speaker 2 First win for any side at the Emirates since April in all competitions. And Sam, you were there in the away end.
Not in the refined air of the press box. It must have been fun.

Speaker 6 So, Max, are you suggesting a Newcastle United away end is not a refined place to be on a

Speaker 6 Sunday night?

Speaker 2 Well, look, I was just comparing it to you. You've caught me straight away, and it's a good point you make.
And I've already upset, you know, I upset Newcastle bands regularly. So I take it back.

Speaker 2 You're in the refined air of the away end at the Emirates.

Speaker 6 Oh, and it was lovely, too. It was one of those, basically the perfect night from Jacob Murphy riding around on the ground as a draft excluder, that Martinelli hitting the post.

Speaker 6 You know, you get those little signs in a football game where you think, oh, this might just be our night. That Havert chance, Newcastle scoring with

Speaker 6 pretty much our only chances, that Isak getting off the bus even earlier in Arsenal fans saying, oh, yeah, welcome home. You're going to be our new player.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 Scores, does his pointing the gun or the arrow, whatever it is, celebration a little bit later. It was just perfect.
And that last 25 minutes, the 5-5-0.

Speaker 6 It was a proper 5-5-0 as well. It wasn't a 5-5-0 with a striker who drops back into midfield.
He went, no, I'm going to take all, I'm going to bring, because Newcastle had played four at the back.

Speaker 6 He's gone, right, 25 minutes ago. I'm going to bring on a third centre-back, another left-footed.

Speaker 6 So I don't know how many times teams have played three at the back all left footers he's taken off the striker brought on another midfield and properly gone five five zero and you can put players in as many inverted positions as you like but try and get through an eddie how five five zero not going to happen arsenal it was just beautiful and it was it was celebrated as if nicasa were always already in a final which i think is a a little bit uh premature but it was a fine night the only thing that took the edge off it slightly was four pounds 85 for a soft drink at the emirates And I don't say that lightly because I promised my better half that I would come off soft drinks after Christmas.

Speaker 6 And so I'm confessing live to having had one. But £4.85 is not acceptable.

Speaker 2 No. And

Speaker 2 was it like a syrup one?

Speaker 6 No, no, no, no. No, it was at least a point.
Yeah. With eye as well.
And with the ice content, you're like, wow, how much of this is really real?

Speaker 6 So I felt cheated before the game, after the game, I didn't.

Speaker 2 Meanwhile, Nikki, how are you feeling?

Speaker 5 Do you know, I was, when I was on, I think the last time I was on, actually, Max, you uh had a a reader

Speaker 5 email in saying oh why don't you ever get nikki to come on and talk about the english games not just the italian ones and i was saying yeah you know i'm up for doing that as well and i think the reason that that it might be is because every time you get me on after arsenal play it's always a loss so if i came on every week then arsenal would be somewhere at the bottom of the table i think it's part of this trap you set for me but no i don't know it was um it was obviously a frustrating uh evening to watch from the perspective of someone who does support arsenal um But it also felt, it felt grimly inevitable, I think.

Speaker 5 There was something about that early Martinelli chance where he went through and I thought straight away, I thought he's not going to score this.

Speaker 5 And actually, he got closer than I thought he was going to off the post. But the fact that he did that, it just felt like that spoke to everything about

Speaker 5 where Arsenal's heads are at the moment, I think, a little bit. It just feels like there's this

Speaker 5 Murphy's Law vibe about the place where it's just like everything that that can go wrong is going to go wrong at the moment. And that's not to diminish the fact that a lot of that is

Speaker 5 not accidental, right?

Speaker 5 I think that there's issues with the way the team's sitting up, there's issues with the way the team are playing, there's certainly issues about the squad construction because I think that it's impossible to get away from the thought last night that, do you know what, this team really needs a proper centre-forward.

Speaker 5 When you go and watch Alexander Isaac being a brilliant centre-forward, and you think, well, maybe Arsenal could have done with one of those.

Speaker 5 But there's also some element where you look at Kai Havertz having a header come off his shoulder and you think, but these players are better than this.

Speaker 5 And they're just not at the moment because at the moment,

Speaker 5 nothing is going right.

Speaker 2 From a neutral point of view, Jonathan, I mean, I thought Newcastle were

Speaker 2 like, executed a Waymatch Cup game so brilliantly. And so many of their players were brilliant.
But Joe Linton was sort of ludicrous. He was sort of just omnipresent, wasn't he?

Speaker 2 Whatever was happening, he was there.

Speaker 1 i'm going to be fully transparent on this podcast to you max i didn't actually watch the game live i was at bury town against felix though in the isbian north wow so okay extremely cold but the so so what i'm trying to say about that is i saw the score and i thought well newcastle must have dominated it must have been sort of you know a master class performance and then i came back home and watched the game and actually thought arsenal played really well i thought they started the game you know on fire created loads of chances obviously like nikki just mentioned the martinelli chance off the post where he didn't really get that sense he was going to bury it I mean he showed immense pace and that is one of his key attributes isn't it is speed but just the finishing wasn't there then they had that the set piece you know the standard sort of you know that's their main ability and Dubravka sort of flapped at one and it was scrambling around he thought that that that probably on another day might have gone in

Speaker 1 the Havertz chance I couldn't believe that I mean it nearly went in in fact the fact that it still bounced off his shoulder and still nearly went in Arsene weren't as sort of bad as I thought considering when you looked at the lineup with you know the likes of Sakura, Noanieri, who maybe we'll speak about in a bit, who I think is exceptional.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 you know, Newcastle kind of pounced, took their chance, Isak, who is just an unbelievable striker, and there's not many of him around really.

Speaker 1 So, you know, looking for a striker is not that easy to find in Isak because he's so good. But yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1 You know, the thing about Newcastle that really impresses me is

Speaker 1 they've kind of just out of no, I know they had that early period in London, anyhow, where they were, they were a sort of solid team and they did well and obviously got in the Champions League and there was that all that momentum post takeover then they had that sort of little little dip but this season they've just sort of emerged again as as this really solid team i think the thing with with newcastle at the moment is now that they've got a lot you know they had a lot of injuries didn't they as well but once they've had more players coming back and obviously the issue with tonali they've started to just look really

Speaker 1 good in all areas you know liveramento you know they've got trippier to come off the bench in that sense they've got actually quite a good squad and the importance to their fans you could see obviously sam you're you're amongst it but um the fans were going crazy and i I think it was a really important win for them.

Speaker 1 But I genuinely think, and I'm going to say this now, I don't think this tie is over.

Speaker 1 And I'm going to go as far as to say that I think this is going to be the defining game of Arteta's reign at Arsenal, the second league.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 1 The reason I say that is because I think that there are certain games where, like, Arsenal have been teetering on the brink of being a top team for the last few years, right?

Speaker 1 They haven't quite got the job done. You know, they went really close to the title last season, you know, just narrowly missed out on the final day.

Speaker 1 Led the title race the season before that and kind of, some say bottled it, some say was just unlucky.

Speaker 1 This season's not really panning out the way maybe it should, but they're not out of it yet because obviously what happened to Liverpool at the weekend and the fact that

Speaker 1 they're still in touching distance, but they're going to need to go on a run.

Speaker 1 So I think that the second leg is going to be because top teams, if you look back at say Mourinho, when he won the Carabao Cup against Liverpool, you know, when he was at Chelsea's, his first trophy, when you look at, say, Man City, when they started to win things and started to really become that top team, there's always a game where a big team announces themselves.

Speaker 1 And I think the second egg is going to be that because I think they can go to Newcastle and go through with the 2-0 deficit.

Speaker 1 I think they can actually win that game, but it's going to need a monumental effort because obviously it's away at Newcastle. And I also feel that Newcastle, it's not a job done for them.

Speaker 1 And I think the fans, if they were to sort of concede one early goal or something like that, I think it could get nervy for them as well.

Speaker 1 So I don't think this ties over, but I genuinely think this is going to be Arteta's biggest test.

Speaker 1 And I think if Arsenal come through it it and then were to go and win the cup I think this could launch Arsenal's like a genuinely give them the belief that they're genuinely top side Sam do you think Newcastle are

Speaker 2 is it just that you know they don't have that I mean they've got some injuries but none of their real key players I would say are out and is it just this is their level or just everyone is just oh you could feel Isaac is playing with such confidence that was that moment where he ran down the right and beat a man Gordon is seeming in the right place all the time Jacob Murphy who I think was getting stick a few weeks ago, is now basically playing as well as those two.

Speaker 2 And the midfielder found that balance. I know Gimarash wasn't there yesterday.
Is it just that they're just having a moment?

Speaker 1 I think this is the level.

Speaker 6 They've got back to the level they were at two years ago when they didn't have any European football, when they were in the finished fifth.

Speaker 6 And the surprise was, I think, at the start of the season, as Nick Hassel fans, we were thinking, well, actually, without Europe and with teams like Villa having more games in the Champions League, actually, we could be in quite a good position come Christmas.

Speaker 6 And it was strange how it took Howe a while basically to work out what his best team was. He kept tinkering around with it.
He couldn't work out how to use Tenale.

Speaker 6 And Nikki and I have spoken about Tenale before.

Speaker 6 And since he's played him as, and I know this conversation has been had slightly before, but since he put him in at six, I haven't seen a better player in Newcastle shirt.

Speaker 6 for a long, long time.

Speaker 6 Guimara's, it was big last night because it was the first game they've won that Bruno hasn't played in since he arrived.

Speaker 6 And that's two and a half years ago amazing stat yeah and he's he's been this sort of talismanic figure he's almost the the poster boy of the revival post takeover he's a very he's a very very good player I don't think he's as good as he thinks he is in his head and he's slightly annoying in that he might I remember being at Crystal Palace earlier in the season he'll win a throw in in front of the away end and go absolutely nuts and get the away end going.

Speaker 6 He's like, you're a Brazilian international mate. You've won a throw at Crystal Palace.
Is it really? Maybe he's an extrovert who just draws his energy from others, but what Tonali does is so simple.

Speaker 6 Nothing is flashy at all. He just makes football look really easy.
And Howe has gone from trying to fit in, trying to fit in his 11 best players to actually playing people in their right positions.

Speaker 6 And Murphy's brought that balance. Like he's been one of those.
People didn't expect him to still be at Newcastle, but he's actually Newcastle's best right-winger at the moment.

Speaker 6 So I think while the team is on a bit of a hot streak, that probably is the level they were hoping to be at.

Speaker 6 And they've gotten to Old Trafford to Spurs and Arsenal and won in about the space of 10 days and i know those teams are all struggling in their own way but that is huge for newcastle i think last night was eddie how's biggest result as a newcastle manager uh they were quite brave and it surprised me how arsenal played because quite a lot have was dropping really deep and burn and bottom were actually following him almost all the way to the arsenal penalty box and they were trying to get these long balls over to rice was running and their wingers and i just thought newcastle have got lungs haul and liveramento they could what they can do really well is run and run and run.

Speaker 6 And the one time, that Martinelli chance came when they tried to expose the centre-backs for pace and they didn't keep doing that, which was odd.

Speaker 6 I can't remember what your original question was, but I think it's funny.

Speaker 2 It was a great answer about something. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Speaker 5 Coming on to Natalie first, because of course I have to, because

Speaker 5 I do think it's been a bit forgotten.

Speaker 5 quite what a good player he is and it's fun seeing him be this good again because this is very much was the engine of me lan going to a champions League semi-final a couple of years ago.

Speaker 5 And of course, he had

Speaker 5 the long ban, and that has an impact, and you don't know exactly how's going to come back from that. But the talent has always been there.

Speaker 5 And I think when we talk about is this something that's just a bit of a good runner if it's real, well, you've got, in my opinion, an absolutely top, top-level option in the central midfield there.

Speaker 5 We all, I think, are agreed that Alexander Isaac is one of the best in the Premier League up front.

Speaker 5 I think Anthony Gordon, there aren't many teams who turn their nose up at a player like that coming off the the left.

Speaker 5 And I think Theo Walcott did a really nice job on the sky coverage of highlighting his anticipation of

Speaker 5 the opportunity for that second goal of making the run early and seeing the opportunity, just that there could be an opportunity coming when Murphy had the ball at the start of the move on the right.

Speaker 5 And that willingness to put yourself in positions and take those chances. So there is very clearly, I think, when you look at that team with a...

Speaker 5 with distance, there's a lot of very, very high-level talent in it. So it shouldn't be treated as as if this is something completely

Speaker 5 out of nowhere.

Speaker 5 I think there are players like Murphy, as Sam was just saying, who perhaps are a bit more of a surprise, who even Newcastle fans, I get the impression of being quite divided on for a long time, who perhaps maybe this is just a gold moment, or maybe it's about having a team that's suited, as Sam was just saying,

Speaker 5 to what he's doing right now and putting players in positions to succeed, which in the end is good management, isn't it?

Speaker 2 I enjoyed the Arsenal fans and players' fury at five minutes injury time. I thought there should have been a bit more, but you just, you know, given the Arsenal,

Speaker 2 given how much Arsenal time waste, I was thinking the irony just swirling around the Emirates was absolutely huge, wasn't it?

Speaker 5 I definitely saw Tanani encouraging teammates to stay down at one point.

Speaker 2 Yeah, stay down. I saw him yelling, stay down.
It was brilliant.

Speaker 6 That's very much an Eddie Howe

Speaker 6 trademark as well. I think it was the football in God's giving back because didn't we play something like 13 minutes down at Tottenham when there was only 10 added on at the weekend?

Speaker 6 So I like, I was very surprised to see only five. I'm relieved because it had been a tough watch.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Now, Mikel Arteta

Speaker 2 said after the game, we also kicked a lot of balls over the bar. And it's tricky that these balls fly a lot.
So there's details that we can do better. It's very different to the Premier League ball.

Speaker 2 And you have to adapt to that because it flies differently. When you touch it, the grip is very different as well.
So you adapt to that.

Speaker 2 Before we came on air, Jonathan, you were just checking that I hadn't made up these.

Speaker 2 It's not the first time someone's blamed the ball because I remember somebody blamed a ball. It might have even been a Carabao Cup game.

Speaker 2 And I was on Talksport that day and we did one of the best phonemes I've ever done is, you know, they're complaining about football. What did you use as a ball?

Speaker 2 And just people ring up going, we used to wrap a lump of coal in paper, newspaper, and put seller tape around it. You know, years of playing with a tennis ball on concrete.
It's a football.

Speaker 2 It's an amazing thing for a manager to say, Jonathan, even if he might be totally right. I don't know.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I had to double check because I almost don't know what to say about it.

Speaker 1 As excuses go,

Speaker 1 that is up there.

Speaker 1 Even from the point of view of, even if the ball was in some way, shape or form, I don't know the word to describe, like not fit for purpose, which I think that, you know, it didn't look that in play.

Speaker 1 But even if it was, I think when you've lost 2-0 at home, saying that is

Speaker 1 just inviting criticism on top of yourself, really.

Speaker 1 I don't know what planet.

Speaker 1 someone would look at that, like even an Arsenal fan and say, yeah, it was, well, maybe, I don't know, Arsenal fans, maybe they might, maybe they might go along with it and say, yeah, it was the ball's fault, but I can't even imagine Arsenal fans would sort of

Speaker 1 accept that as an excuse. So I find that one really unbelievable, to be honest.
But as making excuses go, it's definitely up there.

Speaker 1 I mean, I was hoping to maybe just shift the conversation away from this poor nonsense and talk about Alexandria sack because I love him.

Speaker 2 Please, please.

Speaker 2 If possible.

Speaker 1 Because he didn't have any trouble controlling that ball and he did extremely well doing so.

Speaker 1 I mean, yeah, I mean, he's actually an interesting one because he's a player who I followed for a long time, obviously having worked in Swedish football.

Speaker 1 And it's interesting because he might not ever have ended up at Newcastle because he actually had a hotel booked at Real Madrid when he was 17 to sign for them.

Speaker 1 But eventually the booking was messed up and the transfer never went through. And obviously he went to Brusha Dortmund at that point.
He's played in five different countries now.

Speaker 1 This is his fifth different country he's played in, obviously, since he was 17 and broke through at AIK in Stockholm. And,

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 it's a bit of a tenuous link to the ball nonsense, but you know, just even watching him in the game.

Speaker 2 He practiced with different footballs, doesn't he? Different countries.

Speaker 1 Maybe he had a different

Speaker 1 maybe every time he controlled it, the ball, they threw a different ball and then we all missed it.

Speaker 1 But one thing that really struck me in the game was just, and I know obviously Nikki was talking there about a striker.

Speaker 1 And, you know, when you contrast it with Havertz's performance, who, you know, sometimes I do think that Havertz and Jesus get a little bit of maybe undue criticism because people almost act like they don't exist.

Speaker 1 Like there's always this talk like Arsenal.

Speaker 1 I think a pundit yesterday on Sky, one of the sky sort of, you know, the broadcast reviewing the papers, literally said Arsenal don't have a striker, which

Speaker 1 I keep worrying about Jesus's well-being because people are just acting like he does not exist, like literally does not exist,

Speaker 1 even when he scored six goals in five. So I worry about Havertz and him, but they do have a striker, but

Speaker 1 it's like the way he controlled the ball and holds the ball up.

Speaker 1 He can do pretty much everything in terms of the manipulation of the ball, even in tight spaces. Little things like that just mark him out.
And I'm sure, sam obviously like you said you know you know

Speaker 1 newcastle fans are loving it at the moment but it's not just his finishing um it's also his ability to sort of hold he can he can basically run in behind he can hold the ball up uh he really is

Speaker 1 someone said to me yesterday is he is he better than harland and um i think his all-round game is probably better than harland to be honest uh you might have a debate about the finishing prowess but i i

Speaker 1 think his all-round game is better but probably better than harlands at this at this point i think he's an unbelievable player and um the amount of money you'd have to pay to sign him in this sort of PSR age, I don't know how someone's going to be able to, you know, Arsenal, for example, have been strongly linked with him.

Speaker 1 Don't know how they'd be able to front up the cash

Speaker 1 to get him really in this day and age. So, no, I just really like him, and I think he deserves a huge amount of praise because he was like the difference maker, really, in that game, wasn't it?

Speaker 1 And, you know, like Nikki said, if this actor had been playing for Arsenal, the scoreline might have been completely different, really, if you look at it like that.

Speaker 2 I loved, I know we've touched on it, I loved the 5-5-0. And all I was thinking was, if Spurs are too up tonight, Andrew's not going to

Speaker 2 Ange is not going to 5-5-0.

Speaker 2 I did tweet, look, I'm not objective, but you know, Spurs-Newcastle final would be amazing for the sheer desperation of everyone there to win or just not lose or just all of those things.

Speaker 2 And lots of people messaged, you know, an NUFC Koopman saying, El Desperatico.

Speaker 2 Bjorn, another Newcastle fan saying, look, it's only 7,000 plus days since Spurs won a trophy, more than 25,000 days since Newcastle won it. Based on that, I'd say Spurs would be clear favorites.

Speaker 2 And Webb said the trophy might refuse refuse to be lifted out of sheer embarrassment.

Speaker 2 Slightly. Of course, you know, Tottenham are playing Liverpool.
So

Speaker 2 I think it's very much likely that Liverpool will get through. But, you know, we don't know yet.
And it's only going to be halftime after whatever happens. I don't know what lead Spurs would need.

Speaker 2 You say Newcastle got a two-goal lead, and none of us think that game is done. I don't know what lead Tottenham have to have.
going to Anfield for that game to be done.

Speaker 2 It doesn't even bear thinking about.

Speaker 5 I might think that Newcastle Arsenal's done.

Speaker 2 Jonathan doesn't.

Speaker 2 I think it might be. Yeah, but you do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pickley,

Speaker 2 what was the score in the Berry Felix Stoe game, Jonathan? Sorry we didn't cover that in detail.

Speaker 1 Well, it was a top of the table at East Suffolk clash, and Berry Town 1-2-0.

Speaker 1 They're top of the league now. Felix Stoe had been flying.
I think they scored like 90 goals this season in 25 games.

Speaker 2 Ah, so Berry St. Edmund.
This is Berry St. Edmunds.
I thought you were. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Not Berry FC, no, they're not up north. No, this is.

Speaker 2 Did you by any chance stop at Roller Berry, which was where I learnt to roller skate, of course?

Speaker 1 Did you I did not stop at rollerberry, no, it was too cold. I'm afraid, too cold.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, fair enough.

Speaker 5 How much was a soft drink? We need to compare to Sam's 485.

Speaker 2 Well, at Rollerberry, I'd say you get a can of Coke for 20p

Speaker 1 an Australia. I think a beer was £4.90, Sam.
So I think unfortunately, you could have

Speaker 1 5p extra, you could have had yourself a beer at a very sound.

Speaker 6 I'd have been equally assuming.

Speaker 2 All right, that'll do for part one. Part two will begin with Notting Forest Win at Wolves.

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Speaker 2 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So on Monday night, Nottingham Forest went to Molyneux and won 3-0.
They are third, level on points with Arsenal, 40 points.

Speaker 2 They won their last six, including wins against Manchester United, Villa, and Spurs, and away to Brentford.

Speaker 2 I guess you can call Villa and away to Brentford as difficult games.

Speaker 2 Keep expecting them to fall away, Sam. Will they? What do you think?

Speaker 2 You know, is this their level, like we were talking about in Newcastle, or is this just a moment?

Speaker 6 Quite a long moment? It's hard to call it a moment. It's a very long moment.
I mean, I don't know what the definition of moment, but we're stretching it definitely now.

Speaker 6 I remember watching Newcastle win there, and I thought, oh, a bit earlier in the season, I thought, well, actually, maybe they're not great. Maybe this could be the end of them.

Speaker 6 But I was also at Old Trafford when they beat Manchester United. And Nuno has just found a way.

Speaker 6 It's brilliant management because he's gone, right? This is going to be how we're going to beat teams. We're going to stick to it.

Speaker 6 We've got an effective formula because actually, Wolves were a bit unlucky to find themselves killed down at half-time in that game.

Speaker 6 The ease at which Nottingham Forest scored those goals on the break, I mean, they were brilliant.

Speaker 6 And I know Forest Defense is one of the best in the league. And I've heard someone argue, well, actually, if you compare them to Liverpool and Arsenal, Forest do a lot more defending.

Speaker 6 So actually, their record is even better. But Wolves had their chances in that first half.
But they're so clinical on the break. Chris Wood did nothing until he scored.

Speaker 6 And that's exactly what you want a striker to do.

Speaker 6 I love that the trio that play in behind him, Gibbs White, the old former club thing as well. That was always going to happen.
Elanga and Hudson Adoy. I mean, they're just brilliant buys.

Speaker 6 And they've got Liverpool, haven't they, on Tuesday at home, which is

Speaker 6 a title decider, potentially, as people are playing it up. Are they in the titles? But can they finish in the top five?

Speaker 6 Yeah, absolutely, on the basis of it and it's nice to see neano happy again because he was a really grumpy man at spurs he wasn't there long and when he's grumpy you can tell he's not very good at hiding his grumpiness but he's got a softness to him now and i i remember noting at old trafford that so when they score him and his entire coaching staff sort of run together and and they hug and there was a real like togetherness when they lost the ball or when something went against them it felt like rather than moaning about it they all just scuttle back into the position they needed to be and it just feels like there's something quite special.

Speaker 6 Whether it lasts long-term beyond the season, I don't know, but it must be fun to be a Forest fan.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Will they start calling that game on Tuesday as Red Tuesday? That's what it'll become.
Red Tuesday.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I like producer Joel saying Chris Woodgoal was exactly how all goals are scored on Pro Evo 6.

Speaker 2 You know, just someone kind of touched on that sort of weird finish that went really slowly and everyone's sort of standing around like

Speaker 2 a computer graphic going, I can't get that ball, even though I should be able to.

Speaker 2 And actually, Sam, Elliot Anderson, like, has been a brilliant signing, right? And you sort of imagine if Newcastle still had him. Like, what a player he is.

Speaker 6 Yeah, he's a lovely little footballer.

Speaker 6 I've talked about it before. It's one of those PSR deals that went through.

Speaker 6 They've essentially paid 15 million quid for him as well. The £35 million is the headline price.
But the following day, Newcastle gave them 20 million quid for a goalkeeper.

Speaker 6 He might actually get a game now because, weirdly, it was Dubravka's last game last night. He's being sold to Saudi again.
It's another PSR deal. But Anderson, how really didn't want to lose him?

Speaker 6 I'm not sure how many games he'd get this year in and amongst the

Speaker 6 main midfield free, but he was just starting to flourish physically. He developed.

Speaker 6 He'd actually started off a little bit further forward, and Nuno uses him a little bit further back in the center of midfield. They always had high hopes for him.

Speaker 6 I don't think there was much doubt, certainly in Howell's mind, that he would have quite a long Premier League career. And it is actually quite nice to see him doing well.

Speaker 5 I just want to comment on Chris Wood before we like completely go away from, because we were talking about strikers in the last section with Isaac and whether it would be nice for us to have one.

Speaker 5 It's weird because Chris Wood doesn't,

Speaker 5 I think, in anyone's minds, pop straight into that conversation about top strikers. But in terms of just a Premier League striker who scores and scores and scores,

Speaker 5 he's on 81 goals now. I was just checking here.
There's only

Speaker 5 I think it's 31 who's ever got over 100 in the Premier League. And you think there's a decent chance.
He's 33, so maybe it's getting tight.

Speaker 5 It's a decent chance he's going to join that group in his career.

Speaker 5 There's not many strikers at all who've scored as many goals consistently as Chris Wood does in the Premier League.

Speaker 2 Do you think it's because he just doesn't? I mean, to me, he has got the real air of a League One target man. Yeah,

Speaker 2 I know he's better than that, but he's just got that

Speaker 2 physically how he looks and just his sort of boring hair. And, you know, just general, like, like, like, that's totally unfair.
Because, like, clearly he's an elite player.

Speaker 2 But he just I think I suspect defenders still under underestimate him because of that.

Speaker 2 You know, they don't go you don't look at the team list and go, oh, is this like the Sam Alladice, Sam Aladici conversation?

Speaker 5 If his name was Chris Wadici, would he be treated differently? Yeah.

Speaker 6 West Ham would have bought him for about 50 million quid.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and his career would have, it would have gone off a cliff, wouldn't it? But no, like he's doing brilliantly, and credit to him. How refreshed are you, Jonathan, by Nottingham Forest's

Speaker 2 rise?

Speaker 1 Extremely refreshed. I would say I was thinking this whilst watching the game, like you've got the sort of manufactured big six thing.

Speaker 1 But if you actually look historically, are forest in the big six like that was something I was thinking they won the European Cup it sounds ridiculous, but obviously with their yeah with their European cup history I mean they are they are traditionally like going back into the Champions League for example They've been there before and won it and won it twice So it's not you know like they are they are a huge club when you think about it, you know it's not like a sort of a one-off champions league and they're sort of plucky plucky sort of minnow who are gonna make the champions league for the first time ever like they're a giant club in terms of history.

Speaker 1 I really like the style of play. I think the recruitment has been really good, to be fair to them.

Speaker 1 They had that period of time where they didn't really like the whole, you know, like buying basically the entire cast of Royal Rumble

Speaker 1 in one window. I think they bought like 50 players basically

Speaker 1 in

Speaker 1 one like sit in that addressing room.

Speaker 2 Yeah, the Berserker was a terrible signing. Yeah, the Berserker in.

Speaker 1 Just, if you go back and look at their transfer history over the last, you know, in the early part of the video.

Speaker 2 Why isn't Barry Horowitz getting a game? That's what I want to know.

Speaker 1 Anyway.

Speaker 1 You know, now they've sorted it out basically and started to sign intelligently you know the centre backs i think i read that marilla's about to get a new contract as well um that you know they like you said anderson is a really top you know young talent i remember when he was alone at bristol rose he was he was really good and you could see he was going to make it and potentially so no done really well obviously hudson adoy a player i really love you know he was really unlucky with that achilles uh he you know he deserves to be on that big stage there's a lot of players that are kind of when you look at that you think that you sort of look at forest and you think well they're having a sort of extraordinary season and it's unsustainable but then you actually look like player for player and you're like no the each player in each position more or less is actually good enough to challenge for a champions league team you know a language as well you know you know when he was at united he was

Speaker 1 i think strangely got rid of i think it was the wrong decision to be honest to get rid of him you know he he can compete in a champions league squad you know a squad that's going for that sort of top five so yeah i think forest are doing doing exceptionally well and uh yeah as as sam mentioned it's nice to see nuno smiling because he does have that sort of softness like in interviews he's just quite sort of

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's quite gentle. And

Speaker 1 you're sort of expecting, you know, I think I'm happy to see him smiling anyway compared to what happened, he had to go through at Spurs, basically.

Speaker 6 I'd forgotten about Alanga. And what I want to know is, when are we going to start talking about Sweden as the new Belgium? Surely they've got to be favourites for the 2026 World Cup, right?

Speaker 6 Because we've talked about Isaac. They've got Jokarez and they've got Kulasiewski, who's pretty much the best player in the Premier League at the moment.

Speaker 6 So we did, we did 10 years ago, we talked about Belgium and how good they were meant to be in their golden generation. Surely we need to start majoring on Sweden.

Speaker 2 Okay, yeah, well, let's begin it now.

Speaker 2 Wolves news, some grade A bullshit from Matthias Kunha in his quotes from Spectacle Gate, which I really enjoyed.

Speaker 2 It was never my intention to come into contact with the Ipswich employee, and I certainly never meant to elbow him. Kunya said.
I simply wanted to push him away from my teammate, Ryan Aitnouri.

Speaker 2 Then all of a sudden, I remember he turned round and had his hands on my shirt. And I shouted, stop, but he kept hold of my shirt.
He is much bigger than me. You're an elite athlete.

Speaker 2 This is like a lumbering Ipswich kit man or something. And I was surrounded by a large number of people, mainly Ipswich town personnel.
So I remember feeling quite threatened at the time.

Speaker 2 So in an effort to get him to let go of my shirt, in the heat of the moment, I regrettably reached out and grabbed his glasses.

Speaker 2 I know it was wrong to do this, and I take full responsibility for my actions. The Commission said they found Kunya's version of events to be implausible,

Speaker 2 arguing that there was no sign of provocation from the Ipswich staff member in available video footage. They also concluded the player's apology was sincere.

Speaker 2 So a three-meter ban was reduced to two, a fine of $120,000 cut to £80,000. But he is going to buy the aforementioned large man a new pair of glasses.
I guess unless the glasses are £40,000.

Speaker 2 And I don't wear, I mean, you will wear, tell me. Like, I have three perspectives.

Speaker 5 It's creeping in that direction, but it's not quite at £40,000 yet.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 2 Anyway, what lovely quotes they are, aren't they? I really enjoyed them.

Speaker 2 Jake says, has there ever been a process done more consistently poorly than West Ham trying to sack an old manager and appoint a new one?

Speaker 2 Latest from the papers, you know, Lopotegu is in limbo after West Ham's move to replace their manager stalled over Graham Potter's demand for a two and a half year contract.

Speaker 2 The club's preference is for Potter to take over until the end of the season, only for uncertainty to flare because the former Brighton and Chelsea manager's request for a longer deal.

Speaker 2 Well, of course.

Speaker 2 And that's left Lopotegui, who is said to be on borrowed timer Monday night, in the awkward position of remaining in his post, even though he knows and everybody knows that West Ham have decided to sack him.

Speaker 2 Sam, thoughts?

Speaker 6 It's very strange, isn't it? Because they had a team meal that they cancelled last night, didn't they? He took training. It must be very strange.
Like, I wouldn't want to go to work in that.

Speaker 6 You're turning up and going, all right, guys, I'm sort of in charge here, but probably not by tomorrow. But let's all pretend that I'm still in charge.

Speaker 6 It's a mess. I mean, that is not a way to conduct business in even in football, in the wacky ways that football works.
That is not the way to treat a human being or an employee.

Speaker 6 And they need to sort it out. I mean, it's been quite clear for a long time that, well, pretty much since the start of the season, that maybe he wasn't a very good fit.

Speaker 6 People have called it a cheap appointment because there was no compensation. I'm sure he's on a decent wage, but they didn't have to buy him out of another club.

Speaker 6 They just need to move on and move on quite quickly.

Speaker 6 But they, it's kind of like when they're bringing down the guillotine, but there's a little bit of the neck still attached to the body and they just need someone to come in.

Speaker 6 And this is quite graphic, isn't it?

Speaker 2 Yeah, it was bleaker than that. I thought you were going to say, you know, there was just like a problem with the mechanism and it hadn't gone.
And I was going with that.

Speaker 2 I didn't think you'd get right down to the real brass tacks of the guillotine. But I suppose everyone understands the analogy makes sense.

Speaker 2 I'm with you there. Also, Jonathan, it's worth mentioning this guy, Tim Steinton.
And you're, you know, you're a director of football type.

Speaker 2 This guy, their technical director, who he's Lobotech was the second manager who's banned him from the training ground, which as Lars would say is suboptimal to have this guy who's clearly part of dealing with West Ham players that every manager at West Ham have say, I don't want him anywhere near us.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think there is

Speaker 1 in any club, there's always like sort of politics, right?

Speaker 1 And I think, I think there is rumblings behind the scenes at West Ham related to kind of like roles and responsibilities behind the scenes in the club.

Speaker 1 I think it's I think it's on record, but it might it definitely was rumored and heavily rumored that there was a, you know disagreements between david moiers obviously and stiton uh in terms of transfers who's in charge of recruitment i think the you know um there is a tension there it seems to be and that's lingering in the background which makes everything a little bit kind of cloaking daggers there i feel that yeah even with you know you look at the likes of full crew like the signing of him and i think there is that sort of i wouldn't be surprised to see him that eventually west ham end up with a maybe a sort of a a german manager maybe or something like that but maybe right not right now i think there was a rumor that something came out saying that potter was offered a six-month contract which to almost prove himself.

Speaker 2 Which is mad.

Speaker 2 Why would Potter want that?

Speaker 1 Which just seems bizarre to me.

Speaker 1 I feel really, you know, really sorry for Lipper. I know it's like the clichéd thing.
He's a human being, but

Speaker 1 bear in mind he's just lost his father as well.

Speaker 1 And he's going through sort of probably not the easiest of time just in his personal life.

Speaker 1 I know that managers are expected to just sort of put up with that because they get healthy compensation if they get sacked or if their neck gets chopped off in graphic form as Sam just described.

Speaker 1 But he's not done an amazing job, but West Ham won't go down. it's it's just a just sort of I know they want some entertainment you know Moyes was

Speaker 1 it goes back to the whole Moyes thing isn't it and just the way that they what do they want I mean they've won a European trophy and it's hard to criticize because obviously I mean I think I watched West Ham Liverpool and switched off halftime it was that bad like they were they were just horrendous so I can't I'm not gonna sort of have a coat at West Ham fans in that sense in terms of you know the expectations there in terms of style it's difficult to sort of comment without knowing his day-to-day role and exactly who's responsible for what but it just it just does seem that there's like layers there isn't there West Ham even if you go to the top and the people running the club different strands of influence and different people wanting different things and I don't think that is healthy it doesn't seem that everyone's pulling in the same direction at West Ham and even if someone like Potter did go in there it wouldn't surprise me if then someone else behind the scenes maybe isn't happy with his philosophy and his way of doing things you know he will need a lot of time so it's a yeah it's a bit of a strange club in a bit of flux at the moment i think it's a really good point to make about people's personal lives which we don't often consider enough but also just lopotake i mean what a series of not being treated very well he's gone through, really.

Speaker 5 And obviously, in the summer, Milan basically had done a deal to make him the next manager. And then the fans were unhappy enough about it that they turned around and went, actually, yeah, maybe not.

Speaker 5 It's not a good way to,

Speaker 5 I suppose, it's just not a good runnies on of dealing with clubs who are handling their business well, I would say.

Speaker 2 Yeah. All right, that'll do for part two.
Part three. Set the stage, Nicky, as we'll do a bit of Italy.

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Speaker 2 Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. We have the super copper, Nikki, in Riyadh.

Speaker 2 Does anyone care in Italy that the Saudis have taken that?

Speaker 5 Oh, yeah, David, everyone's. It's strange in Italian football.
Without question, fans not happy about it.

Speaker 5 Fan base of the two teams not happy about it in the final, actually four teams because it's semi-finals as well the last two years since it went there.

Speaker 5 But there is, I think, an odd difference sometimes between the way these things are responded to. It was the same with the Super League story when that unfolded in Italy,

Speaker 5 where there is something in the mindset of the Italian football fan that is very much, this is rubbish. I'm sure

Speaker 5 we'll make some noise about it. But generally, there's

Speaker 5 a degree of

Speaker 5 I don't want to use the word apathy, but this sort of feeling that, well, but these elites are going to do what they want to anyway, and we can't do much about it.

Speaker 5 So there's a bit more of a shrug of the shoulders than there is, I think, than there would be in England in an equivalent situation.

Speaker 5 There's a bit more of a, yeah, and that's that's modern football and it's and it is what it is.

Speaker 5 No, no one's happy that it's it's gone there, but in terms of the the final itself, I think it was it was really odd because almost part of that, Matt, because I was watching the first half and it felt like the whole first half of that final was suffering from that same apathy almost.

Speaker 5 The first half of that final, it was nearly half-time, and I was like, when is this game going to start?

Speaker 2 Just to clarify, it's the it's the Milan Derby, right? Just for people who don't know, right?

Speaker 5 Sorry, yes, like yeah, we skipped that step. It was the Milan Derby in the final.
Milan, um, well, there's so much that goes into this because Milan have actually just changed the manager again.

Speaker 5 We ended the last segment talking about Lopotegi who never became their manager, but the man who did become their manager this time was Paolo von Seca.

Speaker 5 He, again, a bit like Lopotegi, I would say very poorly treated in that he ended up announcing his own sacking from the window of his car after

Speaker 5 having to do a press conference after the draw with Roma.

Speaker 5 They let him do a press conference, didn't announce he'd been sacked, let him leave the stadium, and then he leaves the stadium and on his way out the stadium winds down his window for a Sky Reporter and says, oh yeah, I've been sacked.

Speaker 5 No one from the club has said anything at this point. Chaotic situation at Milan, but they've hired Sergio Conceal to be their manager.
He comes in.

Speaker 5 His first game is the Super Coppa semi-final against Juventus team, which his son plays for, didn't play in the match. They win that game from 1-0 down in the 70th minute.

Speaker 5 Then this Super Coppa final, Milan...

Speaker 5 really didn't affect to me like they were at the races in the first half but the second half was one of the most entertaining games of football i've watched in a while absolutely full throttle Milan and Inter go 2-0 up at the start of the second half through Teremi, and you think, okay, we've seen this story before.

Speaker 5 Inter have won the last three of these. They're going to win easily.

Speaker 5 But Milan

Speaker 5 just came to life. Teo Hernandez scored a great free kick.
Christian Pulisic equalised. And then you think, okay, it's going to penalties, but both teams have had chances.

Speaker 5 And the third minute of injury time, Leiao sets up Tamiya Abraham for the winner. And

Speaker 5 even though it is in Riyadh, even though it is missing a lot of the feeling and the atmosphere that it really should have being back in Italy where it should be,

Speaker 5 it felt really significant. It felt like this game that can be an afterthought

Speaker 5 really meant something. And I think the reason for that is

Speaker 5 when you look at the recent history of Meal and Intern and the forever history of them, because they are neighbours, they are rivals, they've been there in the same city.

Speaker 5 And it's a bit of a particular rivalry because it doesn't necessarily have the nastiness of the Rome derby.

Speaker 5 I would say it's much more of this, they talk about Gujini, the cousins that you hate, but they're still your cousins kind of thing in Milan. It's a bit different.

Speaker 5 But Milan's recent history, I think, is so defined by what Inter have done because Stefano Pioli...

Speaker 2 But they had the Champions League semi-final, of course, right? Amongst others, right? Exactly.

Speaker 5 So Stefano Pioli won the league there, and yet last season gets fired after finishing second because really, I think he lost a Champions League semi-final to Inter in a way that was considered unacceptable.

Speaker 5 Milan were considered too meek by their fans. And then last season, Inter win the league, beating Milan in the derby.
And not only that, the two teams have been equal on 19 league titles.

Speaker 5 That was the one that got Inter the 20th title, got them the gold star, second gold star on their badge. So for Milan, so much has been defined by these neighbours who just keep beating them.

Speaker 5 Since 2011, Milan had never even won consecutive derbies against Inter, hadn't even been able to beat them twice in a row.

Speaker 5 The fact that this final comes along and they're 2-0 down and it's the same story again. And God, it's so awful being worse than Interho, which is always better than us.

Speaker 5 Suddenly, out of nowhere, you have this incredible comeback.

Speaker 5 And Conseil Sal, who's just shown up with a fever, probably shouldn't even have been on the flight to Riyadh, frankly, because by all accounts, his temperature was running really high.

Speaker 5 And of course, is that that smart to be around your whole squad when you're obviously sick?

Speaker 5 But has come in, has led them on come from behind victories against Juventus and Inter, and is there in the locker room smoking a cigar, doing the dance he did when he won the league at Porto.

Speaker 5 Suddenly, the whole atmosphere around that club, it feels like, has changed overnight. And

Speaker 5 it's kind of too early to know if it's real or if this is just a moment that will dissipate and be forgotten.

Speaker 5 But it really feels like this transformative moment that I didn't see coming even at the beginning of the second half in this game.

Speaker 2 It felt like it came out of nowhere. Stupid question.
Is this what, the Charity Shield? Is this the Carabao Cup?

Speaker 2 What is the Super Copa?

Speaker 5 So, Super Copa

Speaker 5 had been historically the same thing as as the Charity Shield. It was the winner of the league against the winner of the Cup.

Speaker 5 I would say that as long as I've been alive and paying attention to Italian football, it has had more weight than the Charity Shield. It's always been treated a bit more seriously.

Speaker 5 But it used to be a one-off game. And then last year, because everyone needs more money,

Speaker 5 they started hosting, and Rihad started hosting, having a semi-final as well as a final because,

Speaker 5 yeah, absolutely cynical, make money reasons.

Speaker 5 And in many ways, ways probably has devalued it. But as frustrating as it is watching the sports washers get what they want sometimes, this was a great final.

Speaker 5 It was a really entertaining game in the end and one that you could see meant a lot to Milan to get the result we did.

Speaker 2 Just on Milan, Marcus Rushford reportedly a lone target for them. I mean they would need to pay a lot of his £365,000 a week.
Could they do that? And

Speaker 2 does that seem like a good idea?

Speaker 5 I mean, there's a lot of, there's a, there's like a steady stream now of of Premier League players going to Syria yeah I think there's almost like this proven principle now that I think a lot of English players are looking across there and going well we've seen so-and-so's revive their career there so-and-so's done really well there and I think that is a genuine factor in it I think there's a copycat effect um on Rashford specifically there definitely have been conversations representatives over in Milan having those conversations um

Speaker 5 I still struggle to see it personally.

Speaker 5 I think, again, one of the stories of the Super COPE was Rafael Liao, who has really gone off the boil the last bit under Paolo Fonseca, wasn't doing well at all.

Speaker 5 Conseil Sao seems to have brought him back to life. He was great in his camping off the bench, and Conce Sal saying he's going to be the best in the world.
He plays on the left of attack.

Speaker 5 So if he plays there, where is Marcus Rashford with his huge wages fitting into the side? That's a question that I don't see an easy answer to.

Speaker 5 But look, the conversations are happening. They definitely cannot afford that much wage.
So it would be a question of where where the compromise is and how he fits.

Speaker 5 So, definitely wouldn't rule it out, but I struggle to see how it works on a footballing level for them.

Speaker 2 How is Claudia Ranieri getting on at Roma?

Speaker 5 Well, he won the derby. Again, it's all about derbies this week in Italy.
He beat Lazio in the derby on Sunday. The thing is, they're still...

Speaker 5 I should have put the league table in front of me. I think they're still 10th.

Speaker 5 They're still very much stuck in the middle and not going anywhere particularly fast, but they were 15 points behind Lazio at kickoff, which is the biggest they've ever been behind them heading into a Serie A Derby.

Speaker 5 And they won really emphatically, and there's just been this gradual turn of results. They started off, Ranieri, of course, comes in for anyone who doesn't know the context.

Speaker 5 Roma had been through two managers already this season.

Speaker 5 That was a catastrophe with Daniele De Rossi, where they'd given him a contract extension, then fired him barely as soon as the season had begun. Ivan Djurich came in and did not do well at all.

Speaker 5 Ranieri came in. First two games were against Napoli and Atalanta.
They lost them. But since then, it's four wins, a draw, and a loss.
So the results have been much, much better.

Speaker 5 And winning the Derby, same as the Milan one, has a huge impact. I think,

Speaker 5 I don't know,

Speaker 5 it's really hard not to feel happy for Claudio all the time because he does all these wonderful things. It was the same last season when he rescued Cagliari.

Speaker 5 Roma is his club. They're the one he grew up supporting.

Speaker 5 And listening to him talk about the emotions feel even more right now because you know they're the last ones. You know, this is the end.
It's hard not to feel a star for him.

Speaker 5 It's hard not to want good things for him.

Speaker 5 And the story of this one was really in that classic Rome Derby way all about Rome because Lorenzo Pellegrini, who scored the first goal, who is the club captain, has barely started

Speaker 5 the last bit under Ranieri.

Speaker 5 Even though Ranieri speaks the highest of him because he was saying, look, the fans have been on his back.

Speaker 5 And there's a whole long story you probably don't want me to get into here about why the fans have been on Pellegrini's back.

Speaker 5 And there was real talk about him leaving the club, even though again Rome-born kid who came through the academy who is their club captain but him scoring the opening goal reconciling with the fans in some way Ranieri back there winning it it was a very it was a very um moment in time derby that i think uh was one of those that'll be remembered for a long time by all my supporters at least and i noticed that mats hummels was playing for roman i think i've seen him play the season but i've completely forgotten but well to make it less less just the soft story on this actually that one thing ranieri has done put mats hummels in the team.

Speaker 5 Mats Hummels has joined in the summer and has not played at all, really, under the previous two managers.

Speaker 2 Oh, right.

Speaker 5 Put Debala and Paredes back in the team. He said after this last game, yeah, it's not that complicated, really.
I've got three World Cup winners, I think I'll put them in the team and they'll do well.

Speaker 5 And guess what? Ranieri might know a thing about football as well as just being everyone's favourite football uncle.

Speaker 2 Napoli is still top. Scott McTominay scoring again in their 3-0 win over Fiorentina.
How's he getting along? He is getting along. How's Billy Gilmore?

Speaker 5 Yeah,

Speaker 5 not playing every game like McTominay is, but in general, both of them doing well and Napoli very much in the title race. I think it's going to be a fascinating title race.

Speaker 2 Inter

Speaker 5 are the best team, but I think this game against Milan again reminded us that they just don't quite have that invulnerability they've had at their best. Atalanta are absolutely in the race.

Speaker 5 And Napoli are doing that Antonio-Conte thing of just being very difficult to beat, not always looking that good, but winning games. And McTominay's goals have been really, really important.

Speaker 5 Genuinely, McTominay has been a huge part of that story of them and their push for the title.

Speaker 2 Anything else we should be keeping our eyes on, Nikki?

Speaker 5 There's lots. I don't know if I feel like I've spoken too much already, probably, but yeah, this week is about the Superkop and

Speaker 5 the Rome Derby. I think there's going to be an interesting transfer window.
We've already heard about Rashford.

Speaker 5 I think there will be some activity from those top clubs as they look at how to go on and win this. But

Speaker 5 I think we have at least right now a three-horse race with Napoli, Inter and

Speaker 5 Atalanta in the title race. And probably Lazier are a little bit falling back now and Milan are too far behind.

Speaker 5 But the story of Milan and Roma and whether they can make up some ground now with managers who seem to have got things back in order is it's all shaping up nicely for the second half of the season.

Speaker 1 I watched Napoli's most recent win. McTominay obviously was on the score sheet in that game and I just

Speaker 1 think he's a misprofile striker really.

Speaker 1 The way he took his guy,

Speaker 1 he's just clinical in that area. And Napoli looking good.
And it's funny talking about Nuno looking happy again. I felt like Conte is looking happy again.

Speaker 1 Max, I don't know if you want to explain to me something.

Speaker 1 I don't know. You're in Australia.

Speaker 1 Is there something about Spurs that

Speaker 2 makes you have to ask me?

Speaker 2 Of course there is.

Speaker 2 You know, that's part of it, isn't it? You know, that's just the way it is.

Speaker 2 And I'm sure tomorrow's pod we'll have more of a, you know, why did Ange say this or do this after an inevitable defeat to Liverpool?

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, Conte just looks like he's got his swagger back back, and you know, he looked really, you know, on the sideline. I was watching it and thinking, yeah, he looks like he's got that kind of,

Speaker 1 you know, he's got his mojo back.

Speaker 2 And yeah, no, do you know that whole thing about, you know, everyone says, but you know, football is cyclical, but it isn't.

Speaker 2 If you, you know, if your big team would win things at Tottenham and your actual team at Cambridge, who yesterday gave, you know, we are so bad.

Speaker 2 And we, it's the first manager, I think, ever to get two votes of confidence in a season. Like a really long, we really believe in him.

Speaker 2 And then the CEO did like a local radio interview for like 15 minutes. And like it's a brilliantly run club.
So like I kind of believe them. But it's

Speaker 2 also weird because I woke up up, as I think I said, yesterday, Monday at quarter past one in the morning because I needed a wee. And I watched the last 20 minutes of us lose to Bristol Rovers.

Speaker 2 And God, it was bleak. It was so bleak.

Speaker 2 And I couldn't get back to sleep. Anyway, it's my own fault.

Speaker 2 Well, look, that'll do for today.

Speaker 2 Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Sam.

Speaker 6 You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 Pleasure. Thanks, Nikki.
Thanks.

Speaker 1 Thanks, Jonathan. Thanks to you, Max.

Speaker 2 People Weekly is produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

Speaker 1 We'll be back tomorrow.

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.