Super Spurs sink City and Amorim era begins at United – Football Weekly

This is The Guardian.

Hey, I'm Paige DeSorbo, and I'm always thinking about underwear.

I'm Hannah Bruner, and I'm also thinking about underwear, but I prefer full coverage.

I like to call them my granny panties.

Actually, I never think about underwear.

That's the magic of Tommy John.

Same, they're so light and so comfy, and if it's not comfortable, I'm not wearing it.

And the bras, soft, supportive, and actually breathable.

Yes, Lord knows the girls need to breathe.

Also, I need my PJs to breathe and be buttery, soft, and stretchy enough for my dramatic tossing and turning at night.

That's why I live in my Tommy John pajamas.

Plus, they're so cute because they fit perfectly.

Put yourself on to Tommy John.

Upgrade your drawer with Tommy John.

Save 25% for a limited time at TommyJohn.com/slash comfort.

See site for details.

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, 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.

Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Manchester City, L L L L L.

Not something we've seen for a while, not something anyone under 19 years old has ever seen.

And this was a hammering.

4-0 at home to Spurs, who were missing their first-choice centre-backs.

James Madison and Dajan Kulasevsky were brilliant.

City is still second, but how big a crisis is this?

Liverpool are nine clear after a 3-2 win at Southampton.

They were pushed and needed Mo Sala to be brilliant.

Martin Odegaard reminded us all why we kept saying Arsenal aren't as good without Martin Odegaard.

Vikai Osaka reminded us why we keep on saying he's just a joyous talent.

Steve Cooper's sacked by Leicester.

How will we cope without his incessant moaning about perfectly decent refereeing performances?

Ruben Amarim and the 1802nd manager bounce.

Ipswich probably should have won.

Andrea Nana was excellent.

And then there's Matthias Kuna's absolute brilliance.

Jiao Pedro's perfect pass.

Villa's High Line and Everton 0 Brentford 0.

All that plus your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Lucy Ward.

Hello.

Hi, Max.

And welcome, Dan Bardell.

Hello, Max.

And hello, Seb Hutchinson.

Hello, Max.

Let's start the Eti hat then.

Tombo says, putting the charges to one side, might city get relegated the old-fashioned way.

Tim says, how long can Man City continue to be so, so good?

And Messi Dunn says, given Pep won the league without a striker, do you think he's bored and wants to see if he can win the league without a functional midfield?

Five losses on the spin.

Their worst defeat at the Etihad

ever.

Their worst at home since 2003.

Longest losing streak of Pep's career.

He'd never lost by four goals at home as a manager.

First defeat at the Etihad in 53 games.

You were there, Seb.

Massive blip, total crisis.

It'll be fine.

What is this?

The last time I was on, I said that metaphorically, I was scratching my eyes watching this Manchester City side.

This time,

I had to metaphorically windscreen wipe them over and over again because we saw Brighton run through Cities midfield, and this time it was Spurs' turn.

And I think Eve Basuma picked up the fastest yellow card in Premier League history, yet was standout in midfield along with Pape Saar after that.

I mean, he picked up his performance.

It didn't change anything.

We spent a lot of time saying they have to walk the tightrope when they pick up a yellow card, but that wasn't wasn't the case this time.

There was the I found it rather awkward watching Roderick

walk out with the Ballon d'Or, knowing full well he wasn't even on the shortlist for Premier League Player of the Year last year.

And I felt he should have won it in the last two seasons, mind.

And we can see the problems the city have without him, but it was still standout.

I think one stat that stood out to me was Gavardiol racked up the most chances created by a defender since they started making note of these things about 20 years ago.

And the most chances created by City player under Pep in the Premier League, which is extraordinary, yet they didn't score.

So you could look at Harlan's misses in the game, which would stand out as well.

And also,

Tottenham have had a template to beat City even when they've been at their height, except when they know that Arsenal are going to win the league.

Otherwise, they've gone there and they've put in incredible displays or they've hosted them and beaten them.

And I think it felt like City were playing into Tottenham's hands.

We know that they've had issues this season sometimes when the game is almost they've played against sides who they should beat and they've had to come onto teams and teams have picked them off but this time around I think City's I think Spurs' game plan was

fantastic and

there are worries here for Manchester City and I can't believe I'm saying it.

Yeah.

It is.

I mean the Roderick thing is and we even got a message saying please don't mention Roderick but the stats are ridiculous Lucy that they've lost 2.6% of games he's played in and 36% of games that he hasn't which is a ridiculous statistic but but that midfield did look

you did think oh that actually feels like a mismatch in Tottenham's favour yeah

I think that you know if a team like Manchester City lose five in a row not just because of Roderie there's there's there's more going on and I think we've now reached the point uh yesterday Saturday sorry where

it's mentally affecting the players confidence-wise because before they might have lost a couple and they come and they they win 20 in a row but it's it's obviously players out of form,

injuries, tactics.

I think that the centre midfield is aging.

I think that they've planned brilliantly, City, for years, over a decade, but I think they've been a little bit complacent in the last sort of 18 months to two years so that they end up in a crisis where they, you know, they, yes, Haaland scores a lot of goals, but if he's not scoring or you're not getting him in the right positions, who's going to score?

Who's going to be that?

And that's that they just look vulnerable now.

They don't compete in in duels as well it's just amazing how you can have a team like that and the the mental side of the game then comes into it because they did look really flimsy at times I do think that tactically I think that when they're trying to press high up the pitch I think the structure that the tacticos call it rest defense so that when they've got the ball but they're ready to just in case they lose it to to pounce that structure doesn't look the same and that's probably because of the lack of legs in midfield and I think it when the likes of I think the miss Diaz, I think he's a massive miss.

Nobody really talks about that.

De Bruyner is

when he comes on the pitch, makes a difference.

But again, you know, he's not probably not the same player because we all get old, etc.

But I think from having said all that, I think that Spurs were absolutely brilliant.

I don't think it was because of Man City.

I think Spurs were excellent.

I think the fact Davis played centre-back just helped the back line because they made better decisions where their line was because of him.

I do think, though, I mean, I did think before the game, Dan, there's no Vanderven,

which I think is more important than Romero, but no Romero either.

So you're looking at Ben Davis and Dragasin and thinking, oh, no, City have lost four in a row.

I was convinced.

I was absolutely convinced that Spurs would get walloped.

And, you know, Aiden says, what is the opposite of a flat track bully?

And is that what Spurs are now?

You know, like, it does feel, and Barry sort of said it on Thursday, it's vintage Spurs to lose to Ipswich and then put in a performance like this.

Yeah, I was exactly the same as you.

I saw no world in which Tottenham won that game.

I was very guilty on focusing on the players that Spurs had missing pre-game.

But actually, Lucy just touched on it there.

The players Manchester City had missing, there's just a complete lack of steel without Diaz, Kovacic, and Roderie.

And Lucy's right to point out just that the energy, the team selection that Pep picked that midfield, it completely played into Spurs' hands.

What are Spurs good at?

high tempo football energetic football and the makeup of that midfield just completely played into Tottenham's hands and there's a huge huge difference from Rico Lewis playing in defence and stepping into midfield than there is Rico Lewis starting in midfield and that make up of the midfield was completely where I think all Manchester City's problems came from and then Stones comes off at halftime for Ake for whatever reason as well and I'm not saying John Stones is the answer and that he's that that steely player in that Manchester City side but when they're at their best best in that treble winning year it was him stepping in alongside rodery when he's gone as well in the second half you're just looking quite flimsy which is not something i've ever really associated manchester city with and was brave like he dropped brandon johnson who's their top scorer he moved kulazewski up a bit who has been so good and like the way he just dinked it past i'm not sure who it was in midfield to sort of begin the move for i think the third goal was was joyous brought Madison in and Madison was because City were great for the first 10 11 minutes you're like City you're gonna hammer them and then Madison just scores two goals almost out of nothing but he is a player that we want to see on the pitch right because his his grace and his movement and his touch are so nice and there were fears that this season I don't know if it's I don't think it's too far to say that this season was sort of getting away from him until this weekend yeah he spoke about it after the game you know he doesn't know football you know they might see other players in the team playing well but they want to play themselves they want to be

in this particular instance, the main man.

And I think he revels in that, James Madison.

He wants to be that player because he is almost to some extent.

If the midfielder's functioning behind him, he is the player then to impact games.

If he's having to almost make up for deficiencies behind him as well, that's an issue.

I think the England snub has affected him as well because he is a player who believes he can be in the England mix in an area where England have such talent.

And when he's on this high, he just produces some of the ability that is up there with the best in the league.

I think his finish for the second goal was superb.

His run for the first was fantastic.

And

as you say, this is what people want to see from James Madison because it was his 28th birthday.

And as he also said, that means he's getting old, which I disagree with.

That's prime, isn't it?

That's what I thought, 28.

But anyway.

What I do to be 28.

Oh, God.

I'm just feeling my skin, and it just, you know,

stays in place.

That's something else.

Yeah, so basically,

I think he, and when you have a player like that doing that, when they have the runners that Spurs have, they have players that cover so much ground that keep up that energy that City were lacking.

Kulasevsky was standout for that.

I mean, he was

the last season, he was the player.

In fact, the last two seasons, he's been the player that's run the most for Spurs.

That was, again, the case in point because he enables you to be a side who can, maybe against City, soak up that pressure and break.

And what I was particularly impressed with the Spurs was that they were smart in the game.

Even though when they were 3-0 up, they thought, well, we know City are going to have this period when they come onto us, even in this form.

And we know we'll make the substitutions, we'll bring on the pace, and we'll finish them off at the end.

And that's how it played out.

And I actually wasn't surprised to see Verna get away from Walker at the end of the game because I think mentally and physically they were done at that point, City.

I was thinking on Kyle Walker.

It's a bit tricky that this season he started a podcast called You'll Never Beat Kyle Walker.

And he's getting beaten a lot at the moment.

It's just like the wrong.

Now, maybe he's changed the name of it.

Change the test.

If I've done 93 minutes, yeah.

You would have never beat.

Five up for 93 minutes.

Yeah.

Timo Bernard literally just basically just put him on some blocks and fired a gun.

And then he was like, okay, you are going to beat me on this one.

I did like Dominic Solanke's tribute to Alan Partridge.

Three of the Spurs goals.

He followed in and booted it into the net.

And another one.

I was very sad that he didn't for Poros because he'd set it up.

Just back to city, because it was a a great win for Spurs.

I think it's a really important win for Ange as well.

And I think it will take a lot of the pressure on him.

This Lucy feels different to me.

Like to get whacked 4-0 at home.

And it's not a Carabao Cup game.

You know, it's a Premier League game.

And I don't know where it puts him in the title.

They are still second.

They could still win the league, but it felt bigger, this.

It felt like people going, well, hold on a second.

This isn't...

We know Bournemouth are good and Bryant are good and going away is hard and Champions League, etc.

But this felt different, I thought.

Yeah, I mean,

I

love Posta Coglu and I say it every time I'm on, even when they lose and I just think that eventually it obviously

there's a big difference between Spurs at their best and Spurs at the worst and what he's doing is shortening that.

And that is what he will do to the higher part.

So it'll be sort of seven, eights out of ten rather than launching from four out of ten to nine out of ten.

And I think that that is, he hasn't really got,

you know, the players that, all the players that he wants i think that will come over the next couple of the two or three transfer windows you know he kulasewski is is was brilliant at the weekend but he initially think oh well he's not going to fit in because possikoglu likes his wingers to to to go wide and cross the ball into the box but he finds a way to work with these players and i do think that the players look like the you know at first it was like oh 2-0 well city might come back 3-0 or could this or let's just play it and let's manage the game.

And then at the end, it was like, we've done this.

And I think that will really, really galvanise the Spurs squad.

Even though City have been struggling, I think

this could be a point that Spurs fans, you know, Max, you'll look back and go, that game against City

was the platform to what we've done since.

Does anyone think that if Haaland

scores one of those early chances that City win that game 4-0?

I mean, possibly.

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure this time, actually.

I'm really not sure this time, because they scored first against Brighton, and Brighton still railroaded them in the second half.

I think

they cannot operate the way they like to play with this midfield as it is now, because we've watched them for several seasons now have Rodri there as a screen, and have Carl Walker's there, and Diaz is there to cover, and that individual talent.

And we know that Guardiola, we've obviously never seen him work with inverted commas, inferior talent, relative.

He's so good at working with elite talent.

And if you're not at that level, you start to wonder what's the idea here, which is why, you know,

I agree with Max.

I think it is concerning for them.

It was the first time they hadn't scored this season in the Premier League and the first time they lost at home for a couple of years.

So I don't often say this.

I usually say they'll go on a run, but I'm not sure.

And it could be good timing with this case pending that this is, if you are going to drop off, maybe it's this season that you do it anyway.

But we'll see.

We'll see.

On Haaland, Johnny Lou writing, look, since his sparkling start to the season, he scored two in his last seven from next year of 7.8.

In short, he's basically finishing about as well as you would with his chances at the moment.

And I think that's an interesting point you make then, because my hunch, and I think everyone's hunch with City is if they've scored first, yeah, it would be different.

And that's why when I asked Lucy, I feel this is different for City.

I know she answered for Tottenham, and I was happy with that answer, Lucy.

Don't worry, because I wanted to hear it.

Sorry.

No, yeah, no, don't stress.

You were paying no attention.

The person who's sitting where you're sitting currently often doesn't pay any attention to me, so that's fine.

You're playing the role.

It's exactly what we wanted.

But that's why I feel this is different for City, Dan.

I could be completely wrong, but it feels different.

No, look, I've been saying the same as everyone.

They'll still win the league.

They'll still turn it around.

But the manner in which they lost that game on Saturday is completely alarming.

I've never seen a Pep side...

go under like that.

I haven't seen Manchester City go under like that for a long, long time.

The only game I can think of is I think I remember them losing 4-0 to Everton, potentially, in Pep's first season.

And Luckman scored in that game.

I don't even know if that was Pep, but that's the last time I remember watching Manchester City and thinking, what are they?

What are they doing here?

And it just feels like a lot of players have dropped off at the same time.

Suddenly, you do look at them and think, a few aging players in that squad.

Potentially, they still will turn it round, but they'd lost a few games in a row last season, but it never felt like this.

Riding it out until January, which is, I keep seeing City fans say, might be too damaging for City.

You know, riding it out to get a

centre midfielder, they're talking about Adam Walton from Crystal Palace.

But

the damage might have already been done by January transfer window.

It'd probably be okay if it wasn't for Liverpool as well, because it feels like a lot of teams have toiled this season.

It's been a really, really bizarre season.

But the way Liverpool are playing and the way they keep getting results, that's made it an even bigger problem for me because they're getting further and further away now.

yeah also bad news for stuart pierce who uh was the last city manager to be there for five consecutive feats and i think six and seven and there was a run at the end of this season that season so and i love stupid so much but it keeps getting brought up every time they lose another one you mentioned liverpool they did win at southampton um dan they didn't have it their own way actually i thought it was a really good game i was really impressed with southampton really impressed with tyler dibling especially um but most salaries in just ridiculous form and that finish i know axon mccarthy goes for a wander but it's such a it's weird when you see a goal that you don't often see and you think, is that random or is that brilliant?

And I just think it's Mo Salah, it's brilliant.

Yeah, look, Salah is absolutely incredible.

He scored a goal the other week.

I can't remember who it was against now.

Off the top of my head, I think it was Brighton, actually.

It's just,

to him, that's normal.

But actually, it's not normal.

And he's just made the ridiculous look so easy over the last few years.

And I think that's what he did again at the weekend.

I think Southampton, in in a lot of ways, are the masters of their own downfall.

I think they'll unpick things from every goal and think they could have done certain things better there.

But it's just that instinctive nature of Salah.

Not many players can think to do that in that split second.

He's almost had a glance and seen where the goalkeeper is and just instinctively prodded it towards goal.

And every week I run out of superlatives for him because I've been saying for a few weeks now that I think in the Premier League era, he is Liverpool's best ever player.

And I know people will come at me and say Stephen Gerrard, but honestly, the productivity of Salad, the numbers he gets every season, the eye test, the way you watch him, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves because he is actually quite unorthodox in a lot of ways.

When he carries the ball, he's not as easy on the eye as people.

He's scuttling.

Yeah,

he's a bit Aaron Lennon.

Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, like Hazard was just so beautiful to watch, easy on the eye when he carries the ball.

And Salah's not quite like that.

He's a bit hurly-burly,

if that's even a phrase.

But I honestly think he will go down as Liverpool's best ever Premier League player because what he's won, the goals he's scored, his goal record is absolutely off the charts.

Yeah, I ought to be as hurly burly as him.

Actually, there is the question, Luis, about him and actually if we get in Liverpool's best ever team, which is quite a good team.

Yeah, it is.

I mean, the thing is, is because he's so consistently good, people ignore him.

You know, nobody talks about him in the Ballon d'Or conversation or anything.

And I think that's because he's got such a high level and he just keeps to it.

It's like becomes normal.

And I think the thing that he's added in recent years is his physicality.

So you saw when he took his shirt off yesterday.

He's in the prime physical condition.

So people talk about, oh, I don't know whether we should offer him a three-year contract.

He could still go to Saudi Arabia after three years.

You know, he's only sort of 32.

And I think that that physicality allows, because he's not tall, he's not a big, big fella.

So they can ping the ball into Salah and he will hold off a defender whichever defender it is and make sure the ball sticks he either then lays it off or he you know and I think that ability

and his durability is very impressive so he's hardly ever touch woods for Liverpool fans injured but that sort of physicality I think has taken him to to to the to the next level I meanstairs to lose Cheb they are fallible we saw like you know Southampton at the bottom and almost got a point here.

How should teams try and get at Liverpool?

I mean, mean, obviously, Liverpool supporters will hate me for saying this, but I feel there's a little bit of the when Manchester United were on their runs about them in that you can get them, you can get at them, you can score goals, but there was almost a calmness about Liverpool towards the end of the game.

Even when they were two one down at that point, I just

still felt that they could get back into it.

It does make their games very watchable, actually, in a different way to when City were winning games, where they would just almost shut the game out, and you'd think, well, we know the result after one minute.

I actually always remember last season when I think

City scored really early against Luton at the Etihad and Paul Merson said, I must have been like three minutes on the clock and Paul Merrson just went, game over.

I just thought, and I couldn't disagree with him.

I couldn't disagree with him.

But with Liverpool, I feel that anything can happen in the game, but they've just got enough at the moment.

Certainly in an attacking area.

I thought, yeah, defensive vulnerabilities this time round.

And a note on Southampton, I think, if I was to give them one idea, it would maybe be

leave Tyler Dibling up the field, bring everyone back to defend and just whip the ball into the channel and just let him run.

And I think things will happen for them then and they might be a bit more secure defensively.

And do you think Russell Martin or just

I don't agree with that?

I think he probably gets irritated every time Dibley takes more than two touches.

But

yeah, a wonderful young player.

It is frustrating though, isn't it?

Southampton, just I mean, I understand where Russell Martin's coming from, but I almost think now he's just digging his heels in that much

just because he's sick of people sort of saying, but there is a there, you can have your own style, but on the pitch, it's as if he doesn't allow them to make decisions themselves.

And as if if they don't do what he's asked them to do, then they'll know they'll get an absolute rollick in.

But they've got to manage the game.

And there was one point

I watched a little bit and I listened to it a little bit on the radio.

And it basically said, oh, they've cleared the ball quickly.

And the fans cheered.

I could hear the fans cheering.

It's like, that's the sort of that's the sort of thing the South Fighter need.

You know, like if you're under pressure, right,

you end up losing, you know, the lose possession, they can see a goal, and all of a sudden,

the state of the game changes.

So you're coming back from 1-0 down.

Now, that doesn't need to happen by taking, you know, but if you

put the ball in an area where Liverpool can't hurt you, and

they still need to make those decisions on the pitch.

Football is not an exact science, however much we want to make it an exact science.

So therefore you can prepare the team.

This is how I want you to play.

But in some situations, just boot the ball out of that dangerous area.

I think Flynn Downs almost summed up Southampton's performance because if you're asking teams to play in that way, you need players who are so comfortable doing that.

And that's what the absolute elite teams do.

Flynn Downs, you felt he was often in positions like, I don't want to do this.

This is not me as a player, but I'm being asked to go against, as Lucy was saying, almost go against my, what's within me as a player.

And at that point, the clearance that led to the Sobersly goal.

It's insane, that clearance.

It's a good thing.

I don't think he would do it

in a normal circumstance.

I think he would have knocked it behind.

He would put it out for a throw-in, but his head is thinking, hang on, hang on, hang on, a minimum penalty area.

Oh, I need to play some cultured ball through the middle.

What am I doing?

It can only explain that.

It has to, surely.

It has to.

Yeah, I agree with you.

It's actually filtered down to Sunday League, where now I have to say it's not a crime to clear it.

And if you're going to clear it, really give it some.

You know, like, the worst is just like half-assed diagonal ball in the centre mid.

What are you doing?

Like, that Flynn Downs clear, it was just an insane moment.

And, like,

I'm worried that there'll be some hipsters going, these are now for, we're now for dinosaurs.

But no, just watch that Flynn Downs kit.

That is a head in the tumble-dryer, blind.

Like, it's just a mad kick of a football.

Anyway, Liverpool City next weekend will be good.

Won't it?

I live got Real Madrid in the week.

Did like Michael saying, saying thoughts on Southampton playing a six foot eight striker and not getting it launched.

Top trolling that from Russell Martin.

Anyway, that'll do for part one.

We'll begin part two at the Emirates.

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 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.

Hey, I'm Paige DeSorbo, and I'm always thinking about underwear.

I'm Hannah Bruner, and I'm also thinking about underwear, but I prefer full coverage.

I like to call them my granny panties.

Actually, I never think about underwear.

That's the magic of Tommy John.

Same, they're so light and so comfy, and if it's not comfortable, I'm not wearing it.

And the bras, soft, supportive, and actually breathable.

Yes, Lord knows the girls need to breathe.

Also, I need my PJs to breathe and be buttery soft and stretchy enough for my dramatic tossing and turning at night.

That's why I live in my Tommy John pajamas.

Plus, they're so cute because they fit perfectly.

Put yourself on to Tommy John.

Upgrade your drawer with Tommy John.

Save 25% for a limited time at tommyjohn.com slash comfort.

See site for details.

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Arsenal's first win in five then, beating Nottingham Forrest 3-0.

I mean, this was all Lucy about Martin Erdegaard and his link up with Bakayo Saka, which is just a joy, isn't it?

Yeah, I mean, just the way that Erdoga plays the game.

And, you know, a lot was said about him missing.

And it's not just that sort of link-up, it's everything that sort of works around him.

Not just when they've got the ball, Arsenal, but when they haven't got the ball, he is so important.

And Forrest, obviously, they like to frustrate teams away from home.

They've done really, really well this season.

Everybody's talking about the centre-backs, but I think what the centre-backs like to do is sort of defending the space around them.

And what they don't like is defending

greater amounts of space.

So as soon as you get a team like Arsenal that, you know, that you've got runners beyond, you've got good movement, and you've got the clever passing of Verdegaard, I think that's when you sort of can catch the centre-backs of Forrest out.

But he's certainly, and you can, I think it was a really important game for Arsenal to sort of, you know, sort of a defining game in terms of getting a really good three points against Forrest because Forest have caused problems for so many teams this season if they want to you know challenge back up at the top because they we need to see their identity again.

And I think that was again where we saw Arsenal's identity again.

And Dan, I mean, Saka had so much to do for that first goal, but it is that tiny little pass from Erdoga that I think so few players play that sort of epitomise what they've been missing.

Like, just, it's, he barely touches it, but it's just so clever.

Yeah, Erdoga is a class act.

I think over the last few years, he's probably not got the credit he deserves because he's playing at a time when Kevin De Bruyne has been in the Premier League.

But I think when Kevin De Bruyne is not there, there'll be a full appreciation of how good Erdoga is.

He just knows what's going on on the football pitch, he's aware of everything around him.

And that link up with Saka is so, so important.

And I've just raved about Salah, but I could say quite a lot of the things that I said about Salah about Saka because he's the talisman for a team that's consistently near the top.

He gets shots off, he creates things, he makes things happen, he can run in behind, he can take people on.

Saka, you know, as a young English player, seeing him be the talisman for a big club like Arsenal who are up towards the upper echelons of the Premier League every season.

Now, I think that that's an absolute joy.

And I've just mentioned

Erdoga's awareness of what's going on around him, but Simon Hooper, the referee for Party's goal,

he's referring the game with wing mirrors there, isn't he?

To have that awareness to move out of the way, I think Simon Hooper needs to take some credit for that Arsenal win for that second goal.

Does he get some fantasy points?

He'd be quite cheap, you think, in fantasy points.

Yeah, he probably would be.

I've got him as a midfielder, Simon Hooper.

Look, from like an old stager like Saka, Zaka, Seb, to Ethan Wanyeri, who looks so fearless, doesn't he?

It's a child just looking like he's playing in the park.

It's one of my favourite things in football to see a highly rated young player make a breakthrough.

This is, obviously, we're talking about a player who made his Premier League debut at 15, youngest ever to do it.

But this feels like the season where Arsenal almost need him, actually.

And there were a lot of calls for why he didn't play more with Erdegaard out, but I understand why, because Arteta recognises you can't just throw a young player in and expect them to dictate the team in the way that Erdegaard does.

But we spoke about dibbling just before.

I think these things are so eye-catching, especially for supporters of clubs, because

this is their connection really to the club in a weird way.

They're seeing somebody come through the system and actually be impactful and important for the team.

And you could feel that when he scored.

In the stadium, it's almost, because sometimes those games really do Peter out badly.

I think there was a point where Forrest had almost said, we're not going to get anything out of this game.

And Arsenal were thinking, well, let's start resting players and let's start taking Tony the Energy back for the next one, looking ahead.

And

that's when supporters, I think, say, bring on that young player that we want to see.

Bring them on.

I don't want to see one of the old players that need minutes.

I want to see a young player come on.

It's hard with young players because you don't want to say that they're going to be fantastic players, knowing full well that the chances are always quite low.

But he definitely has something about him.

You can see that.

A left foot helps, and being a player in the final third helps.

And he will get the time this season, I think that's sure, because Arsenal are lacking actually in that area, in that difference-making area.

I mean, Said Salah is the player who can win games for you out of nothing.

I don't think Arsenal have enough of those players to make the difference, but they're going to need it now if they're going to catch Liverpool.

Yeah, I think it's good management from Arteta as well.

People have asked questions over the last few weeks about maybe certain players that have left lots of Smith Row when they've been struggling for numbers and had players miss it.

But actually, taking Smith Row out of that squad and selling him to Fulham and making the money that they'll need for PSR and whatnot, that helps.

But also, you've then left a gap in the squad to let him flourish, give him minutes.

And yeah, you're right, he shouldn't come in and be playing every game.

But because Smith Rowe is not there now,

the kind of gap into getting into that team isn't there anymore.

And he'll get chances and he'll get minutes.

And it's wonderful to see him score because he's been around for a couple of years now, hasn't he?

But that, you're right, Seb, that really did feel like his breakthrough moment in an Arsenal shirt.

Steve Cooper sacked then as Leicester manager after they lost 2-1 at home to Chelsea.

You were at the game, Lucy.

We'll get to what happened on the pitch first.

A sacking before a podcast record is quite surprising.

Don't really know how to deal with these things.

He's been at Leicester for five months.

They're 16th on 10 points, one above the relegation zone, which is probably where you'd expect them to be, Lucy.

I don't know if you sort of felt at full-time, well, this is it for him.

It hasn't been an easy fit, but it still feels a bit of a surprise, perhaps.

Yeah, I mean, a number of things.

He started off at a deficit being a

ex-forest manager.

I think that didn't help whatsoever.

The fact that Leicester had invested and had a leap of faith with Mareska the season before,

you know, invested in him in terms of transfers, and then he left.

That was a massive problem for Leicester.

I'm not really sure why they went down the route of Steve Cooper.

He wouldn't have been the obvious choice for a lot of Leicester fans for the reasons I've just said about,

you know, being a forest manager.

And I'm sure there were ones about, and I don't think he was first choice either.

I think that perhaps that probably Potter.

It's always Potter, isn't it?

I think he may have been first choice, but didn't take it.

Whether he takes it now is another thing.

And then there's a few things

on Saturday that I thought that's interesting when Jamie Vardi was substituted and he basically hardly touched the ball, not really really his fault.

And he came off and he was carrying on about basically, I would suspect he was saying something like,

Why are we, you know, why am I on the pitch if you're not even going to feed?

You know, the service to him was terrible.

The way that they set up was defensive.

The fans were getting frustrated.

And then there was a point in the first half.

Chelsea were 1-0 up, and it looked like Chelsea could score 2-3-4.

They were sitting back, showing far too much respect for Leicester.

And then somebody went on a run, and I think it might have been Skip after Harry Winks went off went on a run up the pitch and the crowd went yeah this is what we want and then for the next sort of 10 minutes this thought hang on a minute we can press Chelsea that you know that because Chelsea had sort of been lulled into well we're going to win this easily and then it's like then the fans were like why did we not do this from the start why are we not pressing and I think it just

it they just didn't seem happy regardless of whether he's got he'd got the 10 points or not and he'd got you know seven points of the last five there's just something there where it was never really going to work and I think Vardi coming off and doing that, when you've got a senior player doing that, I think that you've got a problem.

So it's not really a surprise for me that he's lost his job.

Yeah.

That's such a poor choice in the first place.

His last job in a Leicester as Leicester manager was to, I thought, be really unfair on Andrew Madley actually after the game and say, oh, we've had a lot of bad luck with this referee this year.

It's our third or fourth game with him.

It's not been the best of times.

It continued today.

The last thing that PGMOL needed was that performance.

He's got some big decisions massively wrong.

In general, a couple of advantages he blew up.

i don't know if he lost concentration or composure but it's not what the referees needed in the first game on live tv after the international break so he's sort of trying to be like oh i'm actually doing them a favor by saying you know be patronizing and actually seb

the biggest decision of the game was wilvin indeed not getting a straight red card actually samari could have been sent off as well like it's it's so irresponsible for and i know he's been sacked now so perhaps you know it sort of feels a bit harsh but still like it's he's not that's not he's a repeat offender as baz has brought up a lot of times on the pod i thought it was so out of order I always remember when I was younger, my father saying to me that if a manager's blaming the referee, then the manager's got bigger issues than the referee.

And as soon as I heard Steve Cooper say that, I thought, well, one, I thought fine incoming for a start, but secondly, because I just couldn't see the grounds for that.

If you're madly looking at that, you're saying, well, what are you actually talking about overall?

He had a good game, Andy Vadley.

Yeah, he had a good game.

I thought

one of their penalty shouts, I thought, yeah, it wasn't a penalty because the foot from Fafana was in place and the player just falls over it essentially.

And then for the Ndidi challenge, one of the worst kind of challenges for me,

I think Balaba had a, it was very similar to Balaba in the Bournemouth game, where you just catch a player's back of their foot almost in the challenge.

And there was a movement a few seasons ago, certainly in La Liga, for that to be an instant red card anytime you made contact with an Achilles or the back of someone's foot, because that can cause huge issues, and you're never going to win the ball.

You're never going to win the ball from that position.

So they were fortunate there.

I mean, Steve Cooper will always be the man that helped England under 17s to World Cup glory, and I'll never forget that.

But it did feel like this moment was coming.

And Lucy's covered than Leicester being unsettled before the season started.

And I do feel it's good that it feels quite universal that a lot of people are coming out to say that he was wrong to blame the referee because

we know the referees have been under so much scrutiny, and it feels even more now than ever.

And being pinned down off the field, and everything else

to have this moment where people come out and say, No, no, I think you're wrong here, actually.

I think you're wrong here.

You should look at your own side and not look at the referee.

Why are you so enamoured by the England under 17?

Were you playing, Seb?

No, I was working on a documentary at the time looking at you know what the FA was doing and players coming through.

And that year in 2017,

all the age groups were

doing very well.

And that just capped it all off.

It was a nice moment there.

I mean, I'm, you know, I'm quite, I like watching youth football and seeing the next generation coming through.

So, and a lot of players from that particular team have done very well indeed.

Chelsea Dan, outside shot for the title?

Seems silly to him to say it out loud, but look, they're doing incredibly well.

Mareska for me is probably

difficult to say with Slough, actually, as I've changed my mind as I'm about to talk.

But he would be up there as manager of the season so far because I think he's made what I thought would be a really, really difficult job look easier than it should be.

And

they play some nice football.

He's probably got his core of seven or eight that play every week, and then he makes subtle changes for each game.

Obviously, on the face of it, he's got an A team for the Premier League and then a B team for the Europa Conference League.

But a few of those players, like Felix, played, for example,

on Saturday, moved for Farner to write back and put Badiashila in the defence.

But he's got that kind of eight players that he's seven, eight players that he's relying on every week, and he's managing them really, really well.

It should be chaos at Chelsea, I always think, and it has been over the last few years.

But Mareska has kind of brought an unexpected calm to things that I didn't really see coming.

And they're doing really, really well.

Nicholas Jackson has been absolutely brilliant up front, a player that took criticism at times last season.

But if you look at his goal output since he's been there, it's probably up there with a lot of really good Premier League strikers over the years at this stage of his development.

So I think Chelsea deserve a huge amount of credit, and I'm not looking forward to my team going there next weekend.

You'd have thought the opening game of Ruben Amarin would be higher up the running order, but so much good stuff happened, Lucy.

They went to Portman Road.

I took an early lead with Marcus Rashford after two minutes before being pegged back.

Kamari Hutchinson, a great goal that was deflected.

Feels too soon, perhaps, to judge how well Ruben Amarin will do, Lucy, but what did you think of and so much was made of the formation?

What did you think of the way they set up?

Yeah, I mean, that is just the typical way that he sets up.

And to be honest, he does have the history of introducing a new style very quickly.

And I don't think it's actually as difficult as everybody thinks it is.

Offers a little bit more protection to the centre-backs.

I'm not sure that central midfield of Ericsson and Casemiro

will be the one

going forward.

They still need a bit of legs in there.

I understand Erickson because of his passing.

But he had said earlier in the week that

he wants fullbacks to be playing the wing back position because it's easier to convert that than convert a winger into the defensive part, but then put

Ahmed there.

But I quite like him as well, Garnacho.

It's interesting

for Rashford being a nine.

I think that is the obvious choice.

I don't think he particularly likes playing there, or apparently he doesn't like playing there, but I think that that's probably where will he will probably shine most in in this system.

So there's little there was little bits of positive obviously scoring early w was was positive but you know everybody was saying oh this is a perfect game well actually Ipswich at home are fearless.

They had a great press.

They really sort of

put Manchester United under pressure because of how well organai well organised they are.

But I I quite like Amarim.

I've done him a couple of times in in Europe with sporting and I I like his character.

I think that he he already has had a shock of how much sort of media attention that that he's had you know the interviews that he's had to do and it's not going to change overnight I wouldn't suspect but he needs to get a balance between having that sort of energy in midfield and having the pass in there as well that will obviously connect to the to the two tens what I want to say about this game is the best pass that I saw of the whole whole weekend was Leif Davis's little it was like a little tiny roll across it took three Manchester United defenders out before then Liam DeLap hit.

I mean, Onana saved a great save.

If you remember, he got beyond and then he just trickled this ball across that took out three Manchester United defenders, showing that you don't really have to pass it fast as long as you pass it in the right place.

And if DeLap had finished that, I am going to say Jao Pedro Timatoma

was better.

I mean, they were both good, but I think Pedros Timatoma was amazing.

Pedro's Timatoma was like a putt.

It was like a putt in Storm Burke.

You know,

it was like he's at Carnousti.

Like, it was like unbelievable.

I mean, I'm spoiling a lot of the Bournemouth-Brighton content here, but I thought that was...

I agree with you.

I loved what he did there.

And actually,

Inanna, who we've criticised a lot last year, Seb, I thought was, you know, he saves Man United in this game, doesn't he?

Yeah, I think he's a good goalkeeper.

But it's what people are expecting from him overall.

It's a lot to ask as

a top-level keeper.

This game, though, gave me a side note thrill.

And it was was hearing Peter Dury's roar Hutchinson.

That's, you know, these are the...

There was one moment in the first half I heard him say, oh, great Hutchinson composure, and I was hoping my wife would nod in agreement.

It wasn't to be...

I think, you know, it's a joy that I doubt yourself, Max, or even Dan have been able to feel.

And I guess maybe Lucy would have had it.

When Ashley Ward awards Martin Tyler, do an Ashley Ward header.

Martin Tyler for Barnsley or something.

Yeah, exactly.

Being an ex-teammate of Neil Redfern, I'm sure he agrees.

And I just...

But Manchester United,

underwhelming, but that side of the game, in a weird way, makes them watchable, makes them really watchable because they have got the players that are capable of scoring goals.

We saw that early on, but the way it played out.

And I know we're, you know, praised Ahmed as a wingback, but you know deep down he hates it.

I know he loves the fact he's starting, but he hates it.

He hates it.

Give that roll to Dallow, and I think maybe he enjoys it more.

I just think fullbacks enjoy that role.

Yeah, but I mean, Dallow's on the other side, right?

So he's got a

lot of

fit.

Yeah,

Dallo Dallow.

Deck on the bench.

Yeah, I mean, Shaw's not ready for it either.

You know, I blame Roberto Carlos for all of this.

Sure.

Well, I mean, I guess if Shaw was fit, you could play him on the left of the three and play Mesra out wide, right?

And then Dallow could go over to the other side.

I think, obviously, results are probably quite important, Dan.

But I wonder if just Amarim's calmness and his just a bit more chilled-out nature compared to Ten Haag might actually help him with whatever is to come at Old Trafford.

Yeah,

the media build-up in the week with him has been ridiculous, and it's easy to get carried away.

I've took in, for some reason, so much content of Amarim this week leading up to the game.

And I was really, really impressed with the way he spoke and the way he handled himself.

But the proof ultimately is in the pudding of the game.

I was really, really looking forward to this game of the week.

And actually, I really, really enjoyed the game because I've watched a lot of Ipswich this season.

And I think they're a lot better than their position in the table suggests.

They've got some really fun players, Leif Davis and Liam DeLap up front.

Liam DeLap is just absolutely fearless and I love that about him.

But I think they went 1-0 up and it got back to 1-1.

And potentially Manchester United could have gone under, but they didn't.

I think his team selection wasn't.

Look, he's early days into his tenure, and he's only been able to work with certain players through the week but they will get better because they won't have certain players playing in certain positions that that played there on so they're johnny evans who again i love

never a left centre back they've ahmad at right wing back not convinced it'll work long term but i quite liked that he had the nows to play masrawi behind him more of an orthodox fullback that offered a bit of defensive protection and allowed ahmad to to to come forward but i just thought in the first 20 minutes Manchester United had possession with purpose.

They had a little bit of identity even in that first two minutes and you know the goal, the goal that they score.

That's the first time I've seen any form of identity from Manchester United for a long time with the wing back getting to the byline and crossing the ball for the centre forward.

You know, it's early days, but at least that's that's an early bit of identity from Amarim's Manchester United.

And they'll get better.

There was lots of subtle changes, body positioning of defenders, for example, when Ipswich had the ball out.

I noticed that quite early on.

He'll be a good manager for them.

It's the first time I've felt kind of not convinced, but 80% of the way there with a new manchester united manager there was a fire alarm at stockley park which meant there was no var was that for the whole game or just for a bit the the ref had to uh like 10 minutes great really fun you know now the fans know that's a thing you just watch oh no you just watch someone's good for you somebody's gonna have to someone's have to there's gonna be to be a bouncer by the please break glass thing at stockley park isn't there or just people i shouldn't really be telling them should i um but no no one knows where stockley park is

Yeah, but

there is a security guard, so he's struggling to get in, I think.

Oh, fair enough.

And the Ed Sheeran cameo, I mean,

that was a moment, wasn't it?

When they're interviewing Ruben Amarin, and he just sort of tips up, like, the work colleague no one wants to hang around with and really hugs Jamie Redknapp.

And they're all a bit like, oh, like, obviously, you know.

They probably would talk to Ed Sheeran, and I can't begrudge them talking to Ed Sheeran, I guess, but everybody wants to hear from Ruben Amron.

He just sat there going, What is going on here?

It was very funny.

I thought it was very funny, and I felt for Kelly Cates in that situation.

Can you just say, mate, give us a minute?

Like, that would have been, I bet every part of her was then gone.

Can I just say,

it's not your time now, Ed.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

Part three will begin with Wolves' brilliant win at Fulham.

HiPod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here, too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Now, if you're 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 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.

And we're back live during a flex alert.

Dialed in on the thermostat.

Oh, we're pre-cooling before 4 p.m., folks.

And that's the end of the third.

Time to set it back to 78 from 4 to 9 p.m.

Clutch move by the home team.

What's the game plan from here on out?

Laundry?

Not today.

Dishwasher?

Sidelined.

What a performance by Team California.

The power truly is ours.

During a flex alert, pre-cool, power down, and let's beat the heat together.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Massey Andrews says, Does Mateus Kunya have the best goals to worldies ratio going right now?

I mean, Dan, two wonderful goals.

The first is like huddle to bird camp, isn't it?

Like Lamina's pass is ridiculous, and the way Kunya brings it down.

And his second is perhaps better.

I wanted to throw in the Lamina pass earlier when we were talking about pass of the weekend, because that was the pass of the weekend for me.

I honestly thought that was an incredible goal.

Kunya's such a composed player, but he's also got that kind of bite as well.

You can tell he's been schooled by Simeone and spent some time under Simeone, the way he plays the game.

But

he's been around for a couple of years now, but you actually forget.

Kunya costs £44 million, so he

should be a good player, shouldn't he?

And he's one of the best kind of forward players in the Premier League at the moment.

I find myself in a bit of a personal story.

I find myself having an interesting time with Wolves at the moment because, obviously, I'm a Villa fan, but my stepson has just started playing for Wolves in gold, training with Wolves twice a week.

So I'm spending a lot of time there.

I'm finding myself wanting Wolves to do well, which is a bit of a bizarre feeling.

And then over the last couple of weeks, actually, since he's been training there,

they have done well.

It's a weird scenario for me.

But Kunya's unbelievable to answer the early question.

Get him to chuck one in.

Take him out.

Gary O'Neill afterwards said, and this shows how football managers watch this in a different way.

Well, actually, he kind of checked himself because he was sort of saying, well, Kunya was a great player before I got here, but I've really made him amazing.

And then he sort of checked himself and went, it's all him.

But he did say this was his best out-of-possession performance.

And I was like,

I was really watching him in possession and thinking he was good at that bit, but, you know, each to their own of how we had loved this beautiful game.

But

it's a big moment for Gary O'Neill, isn't it?

You know, two wins in a row, getting out of the relegation zone.

And I think there was only one game where they were hopeless.

Was it Brentford?

And I was like, okay, actually, they are hopeless.

But the rest of the season, I think, actually, they've had a really tough fixture list, and they will be fine.

Yes, second half against Chelsea, they were pretty hopeless as well at home.

But yeah, I felt the all season.

I've covered quite a few Wolves games, and I feel like they've got the ability to certainly pick up enough points to not be down in the bottom three, that's for sure.

And I think Kunho, we sung his praises the last time I was on, so I don't need to add anything more there.

What I will say is, though, what did make me chuckle a little bit was that it felt like someone had told Fulham that you're only two points off second when they were winning the game.

I thought, this is not Fulham's role.

We don't do this.

We don't do this.

We just sort of hang around mid-table and no one notices us while we pick up good results and good performances.

And, you know, we've been praising Marco Silver all season, but it did feel a bit like, no, no, this is a game.

We can't win this game at this time on a Saturday.

We cannot win this game because if we win it, we are, all of a sudden, people are saying, oh, hold on, Fulham.

Well, they're in the mix here.

And I think it was just a bit too much for them in the end.

But credit to Wall.

So

I am actually pleased for them.

I don't have a dog in that particular fight.

And I am pleased for them because I just feel that I like watching them play, actually.

And I really liked them last season.

And I like seeing a side where they have...

players who want to run with a ball through midfield and

they just felt a bit different to a lot of other teams in the league.

So I'm pleased to see they're getting themselves back on track.

And I guess Fulwan doesn't tell the whole story.

I mean, Fulham did seem to hit the woodwork a lot, and you know, they had to play with 10 men for quite a long time because they'd made all their substitutes when Anderson went off.

And

I mean, Raoul, him in Eth, that is a big miss against your former club, isn't it?

I have no idea how he didn't score that one.

Let's go to Bournemouth Brighton.

Lucy, second best pass of the day or third best pass of the day, Jal Pedros to Matonima.

Brighton's best start ever seat to a Premier League season.

Yeah, and it was quite interesting because there's a bit of Twitter wars going on beforehand.

I think Bournemouth had put out a tweet that ridiculed, I think, Seagulls or Seaside or whatever.

And even a Brighton, I don't know which Brighton player it was that was interviewed afterwards mentioned it.

And it's mad because it just shows what somebody reads, the players read.

And if I could give any advice, don't read anything that's on Twitter.

Speaking from Perseus.

Sorry, sorry.

Are there no seagulls in Bournemouth?

Were they slugging off seagulls?

I don't really get it.

I had a look at the picture and I'm thinking, I don't really understand that, but it must be like a coastal thing that I just don't understand.

But it was mentioned afterwards by one of the players.

But yeah.

Coast banter.

Those of us who are far away from the coast, I'm actually quite close at the moment, but you know, we just wouldn't understand it.

We don't understand your seasiding ways, do you?

People in Blackpool absolutely pissing themselves at whatever that social media post.

The rest of us going, I don't know.

But I mean, I guess Lucy, it could have, you know, it could have gone either way.

They're two exciting teams.

It was a good game.

And like Bournemouth, in the end, you know, they could have got something.

But I think I love Jao Pedro.

I think he's a great player.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He is.

I mean, I'm surprised that somebody else didn't take him before.

I think it was at Watford, he was at,

yeah.

And he was,

he was very, very good there and not a particularly good Watford side.

But, you know, I like Bournemouth.

I like Erala.

I think

he's a very, very good manager.

But there's just something about Brighton that's quite exciting.

The play for the first goal was how they move the ball, how many players they have

up.

And Pedro is brilliant and second best pass, I think.

Third, yeah, second best pass of the weekend.

But like you say, Bournemouth could have won it, but probably on the balance, Brighton deserved three points.

Yeah, I think so.

Let's go to Villa Park.

Villa 2.

Palace 2, Dan, you're at this game.

You'd lost your previous four.

You've stopped the rot.

Many congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Was that the feeling as people walked out of Villa Park?

I just

can't fathom what's happened.

I just did not see this coming with Villa at all.

We've been so consistent and so good for so long under Unaiemri.

But obviously

2023, I think Villa was second.

in the league table across the entirety of the calendar year and it it was brilliant and then the 2024 we did have a few injuries at the end of last season we ran out of steam a little bit i think we're seventh or eighth so 2024 hasn't been as good as as 2023 but just seeing some things recently that i'm finding quite alarming uh last time i was on spoke about the set piece coach austin mcphhe no no chance for austin mcphhe at the uh

it's the mcphe hour isn't it because you keep no it's you keep conceding from your own corners When we get a corner, we either score or the opposition score, it feels like, at the moment.

And uh, it's I'm finding corners quite scary now.

And the off-side track from last season doesn't seem to be functioning.

You've got for the first Crystal Palace goal, Paol Torres is trying to play the off-side trap on his own, which probably isn't advisable, whereas last season, the whole back four

was playing it, and we just seemed too easy to play through at the moment.

It's probably a decent point in some ways because it does stop the rot, but there was definitely probably the most frustration I've seen at Villa Park since Una Emery's been there and I'm never going to get an Una Ayemri's back.

He's transformed the football club in two years but there's certain things that need rectifying at the moment because

I'm just not seeing what I've been seeing consistently over the last two years.

I think that they've got an issue on the right because they've not got Matty Cash playing because Leon Bailey is not in the form that he is.

What Villa tend to do is play central and then go wide and quite a lot of the stuff's going left and then becomes predictable because they then don't have that outlet on the right-hand side because they haven't got and also Consa as well.

There's so many bits, and I think sometimes when

the effect is a lot bigger than

the small differences, if that makes sense.

And I think cash missing

has been a cash missing plus Bailey not being in form, I think, has just sort of affected everything that Villa have done.

But they did, they missed, I'm looking at the stats of the game, they missed more big chances than Palace.

They were in the box more, so they're still sort of getting in the right areas.

But

yeah, I mean, I do villa quite a lot, particularly in Europe.

In fact, I'm doing them this week when they're playing Juventus, which should be brilliant.

But it is it's a heavy toll, isn't it, that the Premier League plus the Champions League and I think like you say Dan last season, it it they struggled towards the end of the season keeping up with everything and perhaps the the Champions League is just that level above in terms of preparation and excitement about it, maybe maybe affecting the Premier League form.

Do with Bubuka Kamara back.

I think if I look at Villa's results with and without him, it's a little bit like Roderie.

Villa up until February were absolutely flying and then he got injured and was ruled out for the season.

We've not really seen him much this season either.

I think Tillimans and Barkley, I love them both.

But I think one of the reasons we're so easy to play through is because neither of them are really defensive midfielders.

And Pallas, I think, targeted that and took advantage of it.

And credit to Pallas because they did play well on the break.

Did Bubukar Kamara walk around the field holding holding a trophy to say, look, this is how good I am, and I'm not playing just before, just to make the other Villa players feel inferior like Rodri?

They could have fitted his name across because they could only just fit Rodri across the pitch, like Bubukak Kamara would have probably gone on the edge of the pitch.

It's a very good point.

It's a very good point.

It does change who wins the ballon d'Or, doesn't it?

Because they can only afford five letters.

I was going to say, speaking of long names, when I saw Amari Hutchinson's score and he turned his back to the camera, I thought, oh, my name, my surname, he's quite long, actually.

It just doesn't really work as a football surname on the back of a shirt.

That took away the initial joy, it has to be said.

It's interesting to see sort of insight into how you watch football.

When I sort of think quite a lot of my work is quite self-indulgent, you know, you just base it entirely about your name.

I quite like that.

You know, maybe the next time you comment out on Ipswich, you should only say his name and none of the other players.

Just see how that goes.

Oh, I will.

And actually, I'm not going to say who the commentator was because I don't want to embarrass them.

But I was texted by a mate who is a big Ipswich fan.

And he was watching one of the games that were on.

And

he said that the commentator, the co-commentator, kept calling Amari Hutchinson Sepp Hutchinson.

Oh, really?

And he was...

Yeah, and I thought.

I don't know if it was Freud and Slip.

I don't know who I don't know what it is.

I did your...

It wasn't Lucy, by the way.

I was going to say, Max, you could take newspaper clippings of when Rushton and Diamonds do well.

It's a Rushton.

Rushton did well today.

Rushton did that could be one for you, maybe.

during the right at the start of the socram glorious before i'd even filmed before we'd even done a show we did a whole i did have filmed uh i'd say about 50 sketches with ann diamond uh you know former uh tv a m host and then we'd just go whoa rushing and diamonds were whipped last week and then it would cut to me being like whipped by Ann Diamond or that Russian and Diamonds a bit up and down and then it'd just be me and Anne Diamond bouncing on a trampoline.

It was a really and I hadn't done any shows.

So that was like the first thing I did was just a day filming really odd sketches with Anne Diamond.

Very strange.

But, you know, but that's why.

Can you tell the listeners who Ann Diamond is?

Because that was a long time ago.

Yeah, well,

so Anne Diamond, yeah, it was a long time ago, Lucy.

I think that's what Seb's saying.

I know who she is.

I know who she is.

Don't

say, you know, Anne and Nick hosted, what, the BBC version of TV AM?

So like, like, or maybe they did TV AM.

I forget.

But it was like breakfast TV in the 80s, I would say.

Did you know what I was talking about, Dan?

You're a little bit young.

You must have known.

I know Anne Diamond is.

I know Nick Owen is as well because he does the Midlands news.

Oh, yeah, it does.

Yeah, yeah.

That's the only reason you know who he is.

You don't know him.

I suppose for the international audience, there's a lot of them going, who is Anne Diamond?

Why am I listening to this?

And who is Anne Diamond?

And the Crystal Palace fans saying, you were just about to talk about Ismaila Starr, and then you spent five minutes talking about Ann Diamond, so we don't have time.

Finally, Everton Nil, Brentford Nil.

I cannot believe, Lucy, that Gary Innika, Michael Richards, and Alan Shearer all thought that that was not a red card.

Christian Norgard into Jordan Pickford.

I thought it was absolutely blatant stone wall.

Intent doesn't matter.

He didn't mean it.

He's unlucky.

It's a red card.

Don't let me put you in their box.

I think that if you go for a ball that's that high and you miss it, then you're always at risk.

But you know what?

Players know what they're doing.

You know what?

Players tend to, probably 95% of the time know exactly what they're doing.

So, you know, you talk about that

Nandidi challenge on Palmer.

He got him before he then tried to play the ball and then said he played the ball.

They know what they're doing.

So, and I'm not saying he's a nasty player, but they know that, you know, if I do miss, then that is what's going to happen.

And I think it just looks worse in slow motion, but you can't do that because anywhere else on the pitch, that is a red card.

Just deleting my notes where I put that it wasn't.

I didn't think it was a, was it, was it, was it?

Well, you, I I mean look you're fine you know Gary Lineker doesn't think it was I mean obviously that's why he should get sacked immediately from match of the day but um you didn't but like intent doesn't matter like they all said he didn't mean

I don't get he me I don't think he means it I'm I'm I know what you mean Lucy like players really know what they're doing but I don't think he means it at all but I but that doesn't matter like that is not the laws of football like if you just he's trying to score a goal isn't he yeah but he's just trying to score a goal yeah but like that's not an excuse like if you're trying to tackle someone and you get them that high, Seb, I mean

you're allowed to disagree with me.

This is like we're, you know,

I won't leave this thing and go straight to Blue Sky.

I'm happy to stay on this if you want to disagree with me.

I don't want to talk about this game

mainly because it was on at three o'clock and I'm watch keeping an eye on all the other games and this was the one I was paying least attention to.

How do you do that, Seb?

How do you keep an eye on all the games at the three o'clock blackout?

Because I work in television and I have access to these feeds.

They do film the games, don't forget.

They are able.

I mean, they probably didn't need to film Everton Brentford, to be sure.

So

you're giving no opinion on the red card?

Nothing.

I'm not giving any opinion on the red card.

And also, I'm also very disappointed that Brentford, who I keep saying produced great games that nobody pays attention to.

Well, this week I'm going to be fair and say this is a game where they didn't play particularly well, and so I'm not going to pay attention to it.

And Everton, I mean, we need them to start scoring some goals, don't we?

I mean, this is getting a bit silly, really.

Yeah, well, they do.

I mean,

someone needs them to start scoring.

I don't mind if they don't score.

I mean, I quite like a sort of slightly gritty, angry Goodison and Sean Dice going, yeah, we just need that killer instinct.

Everything else is good.

I'd happily have that.

for the next 30 games or whatever.

Anyway, Andrew says, I'm excited to listen to a Monday pod again.

West Ham won't lose until after it's finished, so I can happily listen along.

Yeah, Newcastle West Ham is on Monday night.

We'll talk about that on Wednesday, along with all the Champions League games for Tuesday night, but that'll do for today.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, Lucy.

Thank you.

Oh, we didn't have time to mention a great win for Leeds.

Fast, the highlights for Brit.

Go and watch the Leeds Swansea highlights.

That was something else, wasn't it?

Winning Nonto in injury time.

But thank you, Lucy.

Thank you, Dan.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you, Seb.

Thank you, Max.

We're just going to get the train to Newcastle now.

Okay, enjoy it.

Enjoy the game.

Football Weekly is produced by Dale Grove.

Our executive producer is Daniel Stevens.

This is the Guardian.