Bournemouth strike again and Salah sends Liverpool top – Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Manchester City have now lost two football matches in a row.

What's happening, Pep?

These opposition teams aren't meant to be this so-so good, but Bournemouth really were.

Liverpool go top.

Brighton could have been out of sight before Arna Slot side up their game in the second half.

Mo Sala with a proper Mo Salah to win it.

Arsenal dropped points again, defeated Newcastle, who scored a wonderful goal and didn't give Mikel Arteta's men a snip.

Perhaps you won't need 90 points to win the title this year.

Below them, there's another comeback for Spurs, who put four past Villa.

Manchester United are better under Rude Van Nistori and his role net.

Granted, it was a low bar.

Forest are still good, West Ham are still bad.

Southampton get their first win.

Ipswich and Wolves both managed to avoid getting theirs.

There's the magic of the cup in fitbar abedeen fans might be ruining asking us to talk about them there's good news for damien darf your questions and that's today's guardian football weekly

thomas says stellar panel this could be one for the ages no pressure barry glen denning

is that suggestion that i'm the weak link on this stellar panel

no absolutely not i was just introducing the panel it was like, it was just pumping you all up before the show begins.

Welcome, Nadam Manua.

It's been too long.

I know, I apologise, but I'm here now, Max.

Let's enjoy it.

Let's enjoy it.

You are.

And let's just be clear for the tape.

It is Nadam's fault, not ours.

John Bruin, welcome.

Yeah, well, yeah.

Hello.

Hello.

That's all I needed.

And you've delivered.

There you are.

Thomas was right.

It is a stellar panel.

There's nothing they can't do.

Let's start then

at the vitality.

Bournemouth 2, Man City 1.

Chris says, oh, Bournemouth, so, so good.

So, Man City's run of 32 games unbeaten the Premier League came to an end.

Bournemouth's first ever Premier League win over Manchester City.

John, you were there.

Thoroughly deserved, I thought.

100%, yeah, and a privilege to be there.

History was made, in a sense, of course, because of that.

Bournemouth had never beaten Manchester City.

The last time

they taken a point off them, Joe Royal was manager.

Sean Goethe up front.

And you look at that city team in that day.

It's a classic of its time.

But

Bournemouth were brilliant from the get-go.

Within seconds, it felt like that Edison was having to make a double save.

So it wasn't any surprise when Kirkz, a play I've seen before and thought was decent, but never seen him rise to these standards, great run past Phil Foden, who I don't think wanted to be in that position.

A brilliant turn finished by Semenyo.

And Bournemouth could have got more, and they deserved more at that point.

And we're just all over them.

And City were just caught cold.

And before the game, we'd had this thing of Pep's call to arms, hadn't we?

The call to arms of the walking wounded.

I know there's a slightly different way he's attacked this than Mikel Arteta.

Mikel Arteta's thing is, you know, we've got all these injuries, you know, we've had a disaster.

Pep,

the football man, has turned to it and said, right, everyone back.

And certain players answered the call.

Savinho, who we saw leave the field in tears, made the bench, wanted to play.

Kevin De Bruyne, we've not seen September, wanted to play, was on the bench.

But a few that did play probably wish they hadn't.

And that includes Kyle Walker, who got the most almighty roasting by Semenyo.

Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.

We were talking about Jerome Thomas.

Now, what's Jerome Thomas famous for?

Retiring Gary Neville.

Barry, correct.

This is why it's a stellar panel.

Yeah, that's absolutely right.

Yeah.

And

Karl Walker, who did, again, do the manly thing and front up after the game and just say, listen, you know, I'm playing through the pain barrier.

I think he trained only a few days over the season.

It had to be shunted to centre-back.

And then Semenyo sets up Evan Nilson's goal.

City come back as we'd expect them to.

Mark Travers was brilliant in goal, nearly actually saves Guardiel's header, but they never quite delivered that grandstand finish.

Remember, and it reminded me a bit of the Arsenal game.

You know, where Cissy camped and they're trying to get something, they're trying to find the angle, and he can't quite do it.

Have teams worked out that if you essentially act like a medieval keep and just sit there that

throwing your women and children over the over the side, you know,

emptying the privy down

that you can stop Manchester City.

Well, maybe, but maybe Manchester City are,

after such a long time, tired.

And speaking to some of the local lads, local reporters, their verdict was pretty much this has been coming for a while.

See, I haven't played that well for a while.

There are certain players who are, to use the Mancunian phrase, blowing out their ass.

And

that opens up opportunities for other teams who might want to win the title.

Would you go along with with that, Nadem?

Are they blowing out of their ass?

I think certain individuals possibly are.

I think when, for me, I look at that city injury stuff,

it's like certain players who aren't just in the flow of playing games at this moment in time.

And as a consequence, going to certain stadiums and going to certain matchups, like they do make a big difference.

Because in this week, with the players that were going to be out for city and stuff, I thought playing against Spurs away, for example, and this Bournemouth game was going going to be quite tricky because as John's like said, parking a bus is definitely a way to hinder Man City and it's a way to hinder the best teams.

But I think where some of the better teams also strive is because they've got speed in transition.

You know, welcome Spurs, welcome Bournemouth.

And I think for City, and to be fair, a lot of these better teams, because I think we saw it a little bit with Liverpool, when you're getting hit in transition, you see the speed of the opposition.

and is chaos.

From a team that wants to have like control, all of a sudden chaos arises because one person's made a mistake somewhere and now the other team just go.

And I think historically, a lot of the teams who park the bus, they don't have another gear.

They don't have that way to get out.

Maybe they've got like a target man.

They'll hope for a free kick.

But these other sides, they're set to go.

And it's not just one or two people going.

It's three, four, five, and it is at full speed and it is chaotic.

It's exciting for their own crowd.

And yeah, I think from City's perspective, it's not looked great.

in recent weeks, but they've managed to get the results.

And

obviously it would be me that says, you know, it's not too bad because they are still two points off top.

But I think for the way that Liverpool have been able to sort of get results and the momentum that they have, like I'll be honest with you,

I was with a former Liverpool player this weekend and he saw it and he said, and he said, he said, Glenn Hussain.

He said, I think that's it now.

He said, are they top now?

He says, I think that's it.

I think Liverpool will win it comfortably.

I think City will fall off because having watched them, they're looking so much control.

And I was looking at him thinking, you know, it's November, right?

But he's like, yeah, yeah, this is it.

I can see it.

But in fairness, he has won a league title with Liverpool before.

So maybe he's seen something that I've not seen.

But I think from City's perspective, it's one of the few times where, for me, they're probably itching for the international break so that they can reset and really think about how can they bring players back.

Because De Bruyne's on the bench, but De Bruyne's not really there because he can't.

I doubt he can play 90 minutes.

I doubt he can even play 45 minutes at this time.

But then you see him there and it's like, oh, you need a goal.

But De Bruyne's on the bench.

bench but he's kind of there just to warm a seat at the moment which is uh which is far from ideal for guardiol i'd imagine i think one thing that really impressed me barry about bournemouth was i think when you're playing city and you miss chances like in the first minute or like that adam smith one you know after tavania hits the post you just think oh shit it's city and so to hang on even at the end you know and they had they went close city like to to have those chances and go and score or go and score again or or hold on is so impressive from Bournemouth because you've seen other sides have the opportunities and kind of wilt at the end.

Yeah, they could have scored a couple before

their opener,

and they could have scored a couple after they went 2-0 up.

Tavernius' chance, obviously, Adam Smith had half the goal to aim for and put it over the bar.

That was a bad miss, would probably put the game to bed.

But

Mark Travers, I don't think he had to make a save until the 80th minute from a Harland shot.

and

then

while Bournemouth were seriously under the cost towards the end, it wasn't as backs to the wall as it might have been, or as you might have expected.

Haaland had a bit of a double miss.

I don't think it was as clear-cut a chance as

was made out.

And Foden sent a low shot fizzing wide to the upright when you probably expect him to hit the target.

But

Bournemouth really deserved the win, and their levels levels of intensity were quite remarkable really and I suppose if you're playing a team that's a bit leggy and has players who are carrying knocks then

you will hurt them when you play that intensely yeah I was just going to say as well I was I was doing some radio work yesterday and I was on with with Joe Hart and he was talking about in his career the different types of managers and coaches that he had and he's mentioned some like iconic managers like mourinos which he had and he gave them credit but he said in the last few years there are managers who live and die from like on details.

And as I look at Irayola and I look at the Bournemouth team, you can see that the team's so well drilled and they know the details.

And gone are the days, like I've,

okay, so Harry Rednat, for example, when I had him,

when I had him, he's a details.

He's a don't tell me details, man.

I don't know why I'm laughing.

Yeah, no, it's just that, yeah, you say the name, but like, he's obviously done very well in his career, you know, he's the last English manager to win an FA Cup, all that stuff.

But when he came to us at QPR initially, we do stuff in training.

But then when Saturday came before the game, he'd literally say, just get the ball down, good players play.

That was it.

That was the remit as you're going out.

It's just good players play.

Whereas I think these days you see some teams, and this is the prime example, in a team like Bournemouth, you know, they don't have a massive stadium.

They don't necessarily have a massive budget.

They don't have massive expectations.

But all the players understand what the manager wants from them to the finer detail as individuals and as a collective.

And I think across the years, Joe was trying to say in the last few years, he saw a different game.

He saw a different type of player.

And he saw that, you know, instead of, for example, like there's general coach and then there's specific.

General is like going and doing a shooting drill.

Specific is a coach pulling you to the side and doing a shooting drill according to the chances that you'll have in a game.

And before you know it, the players get better.

They start to refine how they perform.

And we're not just seeing that, you know, with Bournemouth.

There are other teams up and down the league where the challenge that they'll give you now historically will be far greater than the one which they did in the past.

And it's no surprise now that you know Bournemouth finally got their win against Man City, but also two weeks ago they got one against Arsenal.

You know, they are in that process of becoming a really good side, and maybe they'll live and die by the quality of the individuals come the end of the season.

But in any particular game, they're prepared and they've got a style of play, which you know means that they're going to be really dangerous for everyone that they play against.

With Iriola, I mean, his reputation at this point is hitting stratospheric levels, isn't it?

And deservedly so he's um a son i suppose of bielsa isn't he uh played for him at bill bow one of the best teams i've ever seen play in the flesh was uh the athletic bill bow team that uh beelsa had who were absolutely amazing at all trafford but um ended their season very tired are you allowed to say that about beelsa team still i think so yeah i think i think just about just about but what i'm saying but to ireola i mean we're watching from the sidelines he's out doing for Pep for intensity.

That's one thing.

And that is rarely seen.

Pep's shiny, muddy shoes, they were getting muddy, whereas Irayola, a little less smart, is just throwing himself around everywhere and telling his players.

And there's points where you could see that he's reading the next move and he's just all over it in a way that certain managers can be very demonstrative and clearly don't have a clue what they're doing.

This guy does.

But you wonder what happens to Irayola after, because we know that Pep Guardiola isn't going to be at Manchester City forever.

He's got to be a candidate for that job because of the style of play.

But you wonder, don't you, when you go to a top club, say you go to a Real Madrid, you go to a Manchester City, you go to, you know, all the big clubs.

Can the players play that style of play?

That was what I wanted to ask: was that it feels like you can do that at City and you can do that at Bournemouth.

And there's this off-middle rung, let's call them Manchester United, where the players players are good at so good that they're paid buckets of money, so they feel like they don't have to

stick to the plan.

Do you know what I mean?

Yes, you had like Emery and Tuchel went to PSG, you know, with their systems players that expect things of,

and you know, and it's like Neymar, Messi, whoever the stars were at the time, were just like, no, mate, I don't do that.

Or Ibrahimovich, I think it was, that Emery had a problem with.

And you wonder if Iriola is an Emery manager, where Emery's a brilliant manager, we know that, but he's not quite at the top, top level because he can't turn it around with

a big club.

And it's a personality thing.

What's Iria?

Iriola's a pretty quiet guy, right?

I mean, if you're talking me as a press guy going to his press conferences,

you leave in 25 words maximum for Iriola because he's not going to say that much.

Pep is very different because he's very quotable.

He's not Neil Warnock.

Let's say that for quotable.

Let's put that.

But he is.

But is the idea that actually if you buy the right good players, I think of how hard Salah, Fermino and

Mane worked.

Then

you do have the absolute best players

doing what they need to do for the team, right?

And that is about signing huge, like, that's knowing the person, right?

That takes time, though, doesn't it?

And at a big, big club, do you have time to turn the players round to that?

And that's, listen, I'm not disputing Irila is such a talented coach who's going in the right way, but you wonder where next and whether he would be a coach for Manchester City, because the next Manchester City coach is going to have to do a rebuilding job because they've got these players who creak with age at Bournemouth.

Because they're all blowing out their ass.

Absolutely.

Barrier Anfield is actually quite similar, apart from the result, wasn't it?

Because Brighton were brilliant in that first half.

And I don't know if it's...

I mean, I thought Verbruggin played very well.

He is part of their team, but they did have the chances.

scored a brilliant goal, and they did have the chances to be.

I don't know if out of sight is too far, but certainly more than a goal ahead before Liverpool turned it around.

Well, Barford Bruggin had a good save from Darwin Newburn, quite early.

Fairly Cadioglu's goal was superb after good work from Matoma,

and then Matoma almost set him up again, but he fired over on the second occasion.

Quevine Kelleher had to save well from Georginio Rooter in the first half, and Danny Welbeck sent a free kick not too far over the bar.

So they could have been further ahead at the break.

And then

I,

having seen the second half, presumed that Arnest Slot had really, you know, thrown a shit fit at the break.

But he says he didn't, but that he just told the players he they needed to up their intensity, and that's what they did.

Cody Gakpo's goal was good.

There was probably an element of good fortune about it, insofar as it went

straight in with Bart for Bruggin distracted by Darwin Newiness standing near him.

And

of course, Mo Sala scores a Mo Sala goal, cuts in and curls it round the keeper inside the far post.

It's an excellent goal from him.

Kind you sort of take for granted now, but because he does it so often.

And Liverpool were worthy winners in the end and i think fabian herzler was

he looked a bit sad afterwards in that he he thought yeah we've we could have done better here we could have

we should have taken a point at least yeah i thought i thought nadam like throughout these quite a lot of these games like it is about intensity like bournemouth would just had an intensity the city didn't have brighton had that for the first half and liverpool had that for the second half i think like newcastle were more intense than arsenal totland turn it on the second half against villa what what is that?

You know, you can't just say be more intense, right?

Obviously, if you're, if you're knackered and you're tired and you're carrying something, you can't be as intense.

Yeah, for sure.

But, but, how do you instill that in your team?

I think

some of the teams that we talk about in terms of intensity as well, we've seen Liverpool like be intense at Anfield, heading towards the cup.

We've seen that historically.

We've seen teams feel the pressure.

And I was just going to say whilst Barry was speaking that, you know, the definition of being on an island in the Premier League is playing left back at Anfield as Salah Salah gets the ball played in front of him and you hear the sound of all those chairs like rough you know like banging up because everyone's standing up crowds like oh

and then bang there we go welcome welcome to the experience but I think for when we talk about that say that Newcastle game when they beat Arsenal you talk about the Bournemouth game where they beat City and to a certain extent Liverpool for the way that they can play at times if you are a really good side a lot of teams will play a low block against you and when they do that it's very hard to have like real speed and intensity in terms of how you're playing because you're basically basically being directed outwards and then when you go outwards it gets to the wingers and sometimes it's 2v1 against you there's no injection of speed because you're hunting for space but the opposition are so well drilled that they don't give it to you but then all of a sudden if there's a turnover now here's the space for the opposition they're flying into it they're trying to play longer more direct balls into space for wingers and forwards who are making really intense runs and it just feels different but it's because of the way that the other team has to try and defend against it so i think in terms of trying to say to a side be more intense If you're say a goal down playing against a team that's in a really, really deep block and whatever,

it's a hard thing to do because some people say, I'll just move it quicker.

Listen, you can move it quicker, but they won't move.

They're still exactly where they were before.

And it leaves crowds frustrated because they think you don't care, but you're trying to find space.

And to find space, you've got to probe.

But for intensity, when you've got it, it's a great feeling.

Like when you're up against it at places like Anfield, you know, where the game's stretched, you're talking about a nightmare, mate.

Like it's so noisy and there's so much space.

And the only time a team really doesn't know about their positioning is when you're running back towards your own goal, because all you can focus on is where the ball is and what you can do to try and help it.

There's no six in front of you anymore, you don't have the wingers tucked in, it's just chaos.

I think, as you can see from the um from the Salah second goal in particular, there's desperation all around in that Brighton team because they know something's about to happen.

But unfortunately, if you set up that way, this is the way you can get caught out at times.

I mean, there's no doubt, John, that Slot's start is brilliant, right?

To come come in and take over and you know not meddle too much but change it slightly i suppose it's probably worth telling nadam's mate who's won the league that spurs had one more point than liverpool did this time last season now they're they are you know they they feel like a more balanced squad you know it seems less sort of mad that liverpool would be in this position But I don't feel it's a given that they will carry on.

You saw frailties that Brighton exposed to them in certainly in that first half.

Yeah,

injuries as well.

We played a part.

I mean, Canate left the field with a broken arm, I think.

Not broken, he said it'll be all right.

It looked bad, but okay, fine.

But,

yeah, it's it.

But the thing is,

Slot has been able to catch the rest of the Premier League cold because they aren't used to playing Liverpool.

Because I suppose there came a point where when you were playing Liverpool, you knew what you were going to get.

Because that's not to say that Liverpool were predictable under Klopp, but you pretty much knew the patterns of play you were going to do.

The model didn't change too much.

Maybe some of the players did.

Klopp did try and adjust it now and again, you know, add a passing player in there.

But Slot has that more relaxed style, that thing of what Brendan Rogers used to call resting on the ball, where you pass it around a bit more.

One of the funny things I've found about Liverpool this season is there has been this debate within the support base of like whether this guy is any good or not and whether they can get excited or not.

But it did feel that this Brighton game was a game where the crowd played its part, that the crowd was energised.

And if you've been part of a football crowd and we all have, it can just say anything like

just a fierce tackle or an incident and suddenly the crowd's up.

And I remember the game, was it a couple of seasons ago where Arsenal go to Liverpool, absolutely silence Anfield.

Suddenly a tackle goes in on Trent, there's a bit of an incident, there's a bit of a row.

It was with Jacker, wasn't it?

That's it.

Suddenly Anfield is ablaze and as Nadham says, suddenly the whole place is at you and then you're the defender, you've got you're looking for space and you just, the chaos descends.

And I think there was a bit of that for Brighton.

Brighton themselves have a lot to learn.

The Manchester has a lot to learn.

I saw them throw away a two-goal lead against Wolves the week before.

They're doing a lot right, but things are going wrong.

But the thing with Liverpool is they're doing a lot right, and not much is going wrong because I think Slot

is a very, very good coach.

And I think at this point,

and we can compare him to Ange last season, there may be a 4-0 with

an eight-man defeat to Chelsea coming up in which you

get injured.

Arnie plays offside on the halfway line, but I doubt it because he's not that type of guy.

But

let's credit the ownership with going and getting the guy that not many people thought of and actually seems to suit the squad that they have.

And because there are other clubs who are getting managers in that we're not sure if they suit

the squad that they're inheriting.

So that goes on an awful lot, yeah.

I just wanted to mention, you mentioned Rutaire, like that chance say by Keller.

The pass from Ayari oh to put him in wonderful is it's unbelievable it's such a shame it wasn't a goal because then you just don't you don't talk about great passes that often that that don't lead to goals it was absolutely superb wasn't it anyway that'll do for part one part two we'll begin at st james's park

Hi pod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Salty Guna says, no questions.

But a comment of how all of a sudden I see myself agreeing with Barry a lot, especially when it comes to Arsenal.

And I'm concerned, he says.

I mean, firstly, Baz, it's a brilliant goal from Newcastle, isn't it?

It felt so Newcastle to me, if that makes any sense to you.

Well, yeah, you explained why yesterday.

It was a wonderful cross from Anthony Gordon.

Whipped first-time cross, beautiful place for Alexander Isaac, who still had a lot of work to do, and it was a really good header.

So, Newcastle goes into this game without a win in five.

Eddie Howes, you know, there are some rumblings of discontent on Tyneside, I believe.

Some fans

think maybe it's time to get someone else in, others think he should stay.

I think they both make sort of valid arguments.

But I would say they were good here today,

and

I don't know where this performance ranks among Newcastles so far this season because they've had a funny time of it playing well at times and not getting results and then they started the season not playing particularly well but picking up points, lots of points.

But I can't think of a worse Arsenal performance this season.

No one was on it really.

Even Pakaya Saka had a bad game and Lewis Hall kept him very quiet.

Arsenal have now dropped twelve points with a quarter of the season played.

They've got Chelsea away next, Forrest at home, two tricky fixtures.

They were the meanest defence in the Premier League last season.

Now they're really struggling to keep clean sheets.

I don't think they've kept one in six games.

And

when Michel Arteta rang the changes in this game, his substitutes didn't really contribute anything.

Zinchenko, who seems really out of favour, he got a run out.

And Gabriel Jesus

didn't do much.

And

even at set pieces in this game, you know, where they're always a threat, Eklund Rice,

he was in charge of corners and free kicks, and he couldn't even get them right.

So it was just a really bad day at the office for Arsenal.

And,

yeah, it's too early to say that their title challenge is over, but

it's not looking great, is it?

No, it's just not that goal, John.

I was explaining to the Barry on the radio yesterday, I could just see Keith Gillespie hoying that in for Ferdinand, Les Ferdinand, or Raul Fox for Alan Shearer, yeah, or Asprino.

Like, it just felt perfect.

You know, it just felt exactly how Newcastle should score goals.

Um,

but what do you think about the title race and Arsenal?

I mean,

the question of that is, and it is related to Liverpool and City, and actually, how many points?

We all presume it'll be 90 points, but it might not be, in which case it sort of opens the door to having a bit of a fallow time.

It's difficult, isn't it?

Because

it's almost like they've allowed themselves to get too excited too early in the season, whereas in the previous two seasons, there was a lot of, oh, we're not in a title race.

We're just trying to do as best as we can.

And this was the season they were going to crack on for it.

It's interesting, Barry mentions Gabriel Jesus

and Sinchenko.

It's only two years ago or so that those two signings were hailed as this is the new Arsenal.

And you do wonder, but Arteta can be

a little careless with signings because Odegaard is out and has been out for a long time.

They need some creativity in midfield.

Now, Zinchenko, I'm told, was bought as this left back that could come inside.

And they've barely used him in midfield.

Now, I've seen him play for Ukraine, so view Max.

He's a very creative player when he plays in that position.

I don't, listen, I'm not in Arsenal training, of course not, but you wonder what UC could be, you know, as someone to spray passes around because he can do that.

And then you've got Jesus, who was the second coming?

Gag Dacey.

Very good.

And then in that first run, when Arteta suddenly looked to have cracked it with Arsenal, it was like, wow, Arsenal are great.

That run up to the World Cup before we had the World Cup break.

Jesus was probably the best player in the Premier League at that point.

And he, you you know, completely, you know, he led the press and he led their attack.

And then he's gone missing too.

Now, I know there's been a few injuries, but it is a squad game.

And Arsenal,

there are questions over recruitment.

And actually, I don't know if we knew this, but I have just seen this, that Edu has left Arsenal.

So

what does that say?

We don't know the ramifications of that, just like we don't know.

It's too early to say, as they say, about the French Revolution.

But yeah, and what I was going to say was: Edu is the guy that's in charge of recruitment.

Is there a question there, or maybe he's just decided to go on?

We don't know.

But

Arsenal is strong in defense, they've got a great midfield.

You've odd guards there, they're lacking in attack.

Have Arsenal sort of come into this season undercooked?

Possibly.

And one thing is actually just talking about going to Newcastle, a bit like Anfield.

Someone said this to me the other day, and I think it's quite interesting.

The The worst place to play on a 12:30 Saturday is Newcastle.

Is that the one place that can get it going at 12:30?

What is it about 12:30 in Newcastle that their crowd can get up when everywhere else you watch?

If you go to Leicester, you go to Goodison, you go ever, everyone's half asleep, suddenly, or Old Trafford or whatever, it's Newcastle, it's going, they're going mental there.

But yeah, it's

made of nods.

It's like where we got next Saturday, boss, Newcastle 12.30.

You just think, oh, no, because it's just,

yeah, because it's an early start, the other side of the country.

And they're at, yeah.

And Arsenal were caught cold, weren't they?

Perhaps, you know, that is the final impact of the French Revolution was the atmosphere at St.

James's

Saturday at half past midday.

Nadum, you look deep in thought.

Yeah,

it's really interesting.

Firstly, the Newcastle thing.

I think for Newcastle, what's tough about playing there is if

the fans feel like their team's an underdog, that's when it's like extra rowdy.

So you'll get the full experience.

Because, say, if they're favorites, if they were playing like a Leicester or something,

the noise wouldn't be the same.

And that's understandable.

But when it's a game against like Arsenal, who you know, they've shared pleasantries in seasons gone by.

This is when Arteta said it was a disgrace, but not a disgrace.

He said disgracier.

Do you remember that whole thing last year?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, that was a 530, so maybe that was a

yeah, but like there's a there's a history with that.

But as I look at Arsenal, it is really interesting because you mentioned, say, Jesus and Zinchenko, but he didn't put on Raheem Sterling on the weekend, I've just realized.

It's like the person I've forgotten is still at Arsenal, but I would have thought he'd have a bigger impact because some of these guys in Sterling, in Zinchenko, in Jesus, you've got people who've won the league before.

And initially, as John said, when they first came to Arsenal, this is the thing that's going to take them over the top.

These are the experienced players are going to show them how to do it.

But then here's a scenario where he's not even turned to them anymore.

And, you know,

it feels really, really, really premature to say they're not in the title race.

But

seven points is a lot.

Like, they are in a position where, you know, maybe it won't take 90 points to win a league, but Liverpool on course for 95 as it stands.

You know, Liverpool could have a slight fall off, maybe gets to 85.

And at that point, Arsenal to be in the mix, they need to be nearly perfect.

And the way that things are going, they've got into Milan away midweek, which is a really tough game.

Then they have Chelsea away on the weekend.

You know, is it good Chelsea?

Is it bad Chelsea?

Is it aggressive Chelsea?

If that goes wrong and Liverpool win, 10 points in November, you could say you can still win the title, but you're having to go past more than just one team to do it.

And at that point,

I don't think you'd be looking good.

And I think some of the Arsenal fans are starting to become a bit frustrated.

They're getting a bit tired about their team.

But if there's any silver lining, I think it's Martin Odegaard because now's the perfect time to ask for a new contract.

Because clearly, without him,

they don't really have a lot going on do they

still you have to feel for them getting so close twice like so close and then if you do drop off this season then it is just because your expectations change don't they anyway uh to uh the total hot spurs stadium grumpy says spurs typically coming from behind to win if only there was a term to describe this trend like there is when spurs lose from a leading position.

It's interesting, Barry, the eighth time this year Spurs have recovered from conceding first to win at home in the league, equaling Newcastle's all-time Premier League record from 2002.

24 points they picked up from those situations is 10 more than any other top-flight team in 2024.

I mean, I guess they've also gone behind and not won, which is why they,

you know, can be Spurzy.

But this was, again, this was a great turnaround after a not that impressive first half.

Yeah,

I thought Villa were pretty, it was pretty even first half.

I thought Villa were probably worth their lead.

Are we blaming Vicario for this one?

I think he gets a pass here because he did sort of save the shot originally or the flick off his own player, I think it was, despite being bullied when the coroner was coming in.

And then Adj made some second half changes.

They all worked.

Ben Davis, Richarlison, Basuma, Madison all came on.

They all contributed.

Hyungmin's son was very upset at being taken off after 55 minutes.

Can't handle a sad Hyungmin's son.

I mean, his cross was amazing.

Yes, wonderful cross.

I think someone on Match of the Day said, you know, Anthony Gordon's cross.

You won't see a better cross this season.

And then I thought, oh, well,

Sun's less than 24 hours later, or just over 24 hours later, was probably as good, if not better.

A brilliant cross.

And they just overwhelmed Villa in the end.

Villa made some costly individual errors and Villa kind of they have this in their locker.

You know, remember last season they started with a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Newcastle.

Now, to be fair, that scoreline did not reflect their performance.

They weren't as bad as the 5-0 suggests.

And I think they lost heavily against Palace.

Was it the final game last season?

And they

shipped four against Spurs last March.

So they do have this potential or capacity to implode.

I wouldn't be panicking at all if I was a Villa fan, but they have only won two with the last six in all competitions, although they did more or less tank the Carabao Cup, so that doesn't really count.

They put out a total reserve side, but it was a very impressive win for Spurs.

And as Ange said, you know, seven days is a long time in football.

Last week, I was a grumpy old gate, and now we've beaten City and we've beaten Villa all as well in Ange World again

until the next misstep.

Yeah.

And they know a lot of talk with Tottenham is about the balance of the midfield, which does mean you leave out someone like James Madison.

But they do look better.

You know, they played Saar and Ben Tenkur.

Basuma came on.

And Kulasevsky in the 10 is having actually a brilliant season.

Yeah, Kulasevsky is brilliant in the 10 for me.

I really.

enjoy watching him in there.

And, you know, at times, maybe the better matchup is to have him alongside Madison.

But I think Ange is as we can see you can clearly make his mind up and stick with it you know not least of all after 55 minutes taking off your captain but this is this is the way he goes and he was vindicating his decisions yesterday and overall to be honest when we talk about spurts if they're at home lock it in they're fine you know what i mean it's the way from home i think they've got four points i believe from from five games from five games away from home that's right so it's two different experiences the balance in midfield at home looks great then away from home all of a sudden they're hectic you know they're they're out of position.

They're causing tons of their own issues.

And, you know, when they're playing at home, I guess you can enjoy them.

You can enjoy the free-flowing football.

It's good to see Solanke get a couple of goals, see a few good team goals in there as well.

And it does give you hope, not least of all for like a Spurs fan, the fact that Arsenal seems to be getting closer and closer to here, even though they're supposed to be going for a league title.

So little wins, little wins, but also for the group.

So I mentioned Spurs' home record.

It's the third best home record so far this season through five games.

Do you know who's number one?

If I told you they scored 15 goals and conceded nine, who's number one?

Forrest?

Not Forrest.

Forrest are second best away record as it stands.

Shout out to Forrest in particular because their fans are all very much online at the moment.

And every time there's a show that doesn't mention them, you get a lot of grief.

So shout out to Forrest.

Long live Chris Wood.

We will get there.

We will get there.

Who's got the best home record in the Premier League?

And it's someone you wouldn't expect.

Yeah, it's absolute sleeper pick.

There's no way that it's at the forefront of your mind.

But again, these guys will be online as well.

But there's not that many of them overall by comparison.

I've just, I've run out of teams in the Premier League.

I mean, I've got them all in front of me.

Do you know what I mean?

I'm the one I'm staring at the league.

I should be able to do this.

Or put us out of our misery, Nader.

Chelsea?

No, it's not.

And

this is like the beautiful balance of it all.

Their away record is the worst.

They've lost four away games out of four.

Everton.

We are talking about Brentford.

Brentford have got the best home record in the Premier League.

Five games, 13 points, 15 goals scored, nine conceded.

City have got 13 points as well, but Brentford have scored 15 goals in five games at home and have not picked up a point on the road yet.

So what is that about?

Like, obviously,

is it just because you know where the toilets are and you know where your parking space is and the atmosphere and obviously crowd helps, but like

but is that it?

I don't know.

It's just it's honestly when you think about it it's a stupid game isn't it like it's it's a field

there's a field somewhere but because this field isn't really close to my house clearly it's not going to work well for me

I think it will balance itself out at some point but they've got good vibes haven't they as well

Brentford I mean I go to Brentford quite a lot and I wouldn't say it's the most it's not the Ali Sam Yen you know what I mean

it's It's a very homely place.

Maybe that's it.

It's the home comforts.

I mean, I know absolutely where to go at Bramford.

Everyone's nice.

Everyone says hello.

And you feel nice there.

So maybe that's it.

And of course, everything starts quickly there.

Of course, he always scored in the first few minutes.

True.

That is

very interesting, isn't it?

Oh, you went full Duran Duran in the minute by minute, John.

Did anyone notice when John?

No, no, no, no, nobody.

Well, he didn't actually touch the ball after that, as far as I could gather.

So

that was the end of that.

I don't even know the song.

I mean, if you'd said his name is Rio and he dances on the sand or whatever, I'd be like, okay.

That was, please, please tell me now.

Is there something I should know?

I think that was that one.

Anyway, what I wanted to say about this goal, Solanke's got a dinked goal.

Oh, yeah.

And I think, as I put this in, was a classic Tottenham goal.

You could see your hoddles, your dummy trescos, your, you know,

just the classic gliding Tottenham players.

I suppose if Solanke has...

One thing, he has got that style of a Tottenham player.

You know,

he's quite a good mover.

He's, you know,

I'm not saying he's going to be the best striker they've ever had.

I mean, they've just sold him, but he's doing better than I thought.

And remember that first game where there was a couple of misses?

I thought, oh dear, you know, this could take a while to get there.

But he's getting there.

And there's a late developer in life, really, because I saw Solanke play, I think he's a 16-year-old for Chelsea.

And it was like, this guy is going to be the next big thing.

And finally, he's there.

He's Tottenham's leading striker.

Massive credit to him.

I really liked it.

It's good to see him getting there.

But what a goal.

Yeah.

It's a hazard.

It's a bail.

It's a player playing with confidence.

So credit Ange for that.

To be a classic Tottenham centre-forward, perhaps he works a bit too hard.

I'm taking Harry Kane out of this.

But, you know,

thinking, you know, I'm sure Jimmy Greaves wasn't doing that.

I mean, I'll defer to my dad, but I'm not sure Jimmy Greaves is tracking back quite that much.

To Old Trafford, man, you won, Chelsea one, the most drawn fixture in Premier League history.

There's a stat that means nothing to anybody.

I mean, look, Nadem, even if Chelsea were, I think, probably on balance the better side, Manchester United just looks so much happier now that Eric Ten Hag isn't there, which feels harsh to say on Eric, if you're listening.

Okay.

I'm sure Eric is a frequent listener.

I'm sure he's subscribed to the pod.

I'm sure it downloads straight into his phone every morning and all that stuff.

I wouldn't feel so.

Yeah, but I'll spin it.

It felt, I think in some ways, it was happier because there was Van Nistro on the side who they've got a relationship with as a fan base.

You know, I think that makes the bigger difference.

I don't think it's a case of, say,

Ten Hag being out and, you know, it's, oh, thank God he's left and so on.

Because there is a bit of an awkward energy around that place.

You know, you're seeing players apologising to the manager saying, you know, I'm sorry, we got you sacked.

And you're seeing fans like sort of looking back a bit more fondly now that they're not having to go through with Ten Hag anymore.

But it's, yeah, this is the managerial change and it's going to be interesting for the most specific interim job you've ever seen whereby you've got this week and then basically off you pop to do you know to be an assistant whatever but the atmosphere believe it or not this weekend i've looked back at the games and stuff but i listened to a couple of these on radio and at the end of the game they were saying the crowd could have been louder all right i i agree i agree it's interesting though because

With radio, you know, the microphones for it are very close to section, so it sounds louder at times.

Maybe they had to pump it in.

Maybe it's like pandemic times with a fake noise, all that stuff.

But,

you know, it's one of those games.

As you said, it's the most drawn fixture.

And there were times in the game where not much was happening.

In the end, it's a draw of two teams that are probably aspiring to finish in the top four, who, if things don't go their way, might come up just a little bit short.

So it's

it had its moments.

United took the lead.

Sure, the crowd enjoyed it.

Van destroyed definitely enjoyed it, jumping up and down the sideline.

Gave me real trauma that seeing him do that because I remember him doing that for a long time there.

So just place Martin Keown nearby to run at him at any chance.

Yeah,

I'd really much enjoy enjoy that.

And then after the game, you know, you do the usual TVs, Man United Inquisition as usual.

So, you know, you know, I feel like they're back to where they were, yeah.

Out of curiosity, I put a stopwatch on how long the first half highlights of this game would be a match of the day.

It was two minutes, 18 seconds, which I feel was at least two minutes longer than it needed to be.

And Dolly Parton famously said, you know, about herself, it costs an awful lot of money to look this cheap.

And there was over a billion pounds worth of talent out on that pitch at one point or other

during this game.

And

it wasn't very good, was it?

I don't think Manchester United's players looked particularly happy.

I thought quite a few of them played really badly,

including Messrs.

Rashford and Garnacho, who just aren't putting the work in when it comes to their defensive duty.

And if you're not scoring goals, then, you know,

you have to put in the work, whatever you're doing in life.

And

I would say Chelsea will see this as

two points they left behind them because they were more impressive.

Kaisero and Lavia and midfield really stood out.

I think they gave away a stupid penalty.

Robert Sanchez is,

I think I've said before, he's a conspicuously weak link in this team, like me in this stellar lineup.

And yet they keep picking him.

Why are they picking him all the time?

He's there every week.

I'm not even sure who's backup.

Oh,

I was talking about you, Barry.

Oh, sorry.

It's an interesting conversation because as we were talking about before,

Amarim is going to have to go through this season and a January transfer window in which United don't have much wriggle room because of PSR

by somehow constructing the team that he wants out of you know this 3-4-3 or whatever formation.

How's he going to do that?

Plenty of centre-backs, no wing backs.

Luke Shaw, we could just about forget about him, unfortunately.

Diogo DeLotte, they must wish they could twin him because he could probably do both.

He could probably play on both sides.

But yeah, it's

this actually is quite a test of him.

But I mean,

let's think back to when big, successful managers came in.

Jürgen Klock came in at this point of the season, didn't he?

Back in 2015,

and there's that game, that 0-0 game against Tottenham, in which the tone is set because Liverpool players ran like blue-ass flies around that pitch until they could run no more.

And that's what we need, and that's what we haven't seen from Manchester United for a long time.

The Rude Van Nistor experience is this sort of, I see it as the, let's just wash finally

the Fergie stuff out of the hair, right?

Let's just, you know, just get, get, get rid of it, you know, let's let's bleach it out.

Let's, you know, you just get just for the long, last time.

And it's funny that I did think that the rude thing would change the atmosphere, would would lift it for that one point, like Ollie did, you know, a few years back.

But actually, it's almost like those days are gone now.

It's like we can't keep doing this

revival act.

Yeah, you know, if we talk about Garnacho and we talk about Rashford, Van Niswora played with Beckham and Giggs, who worked really, really hard down the wings, as Ned will know.

They just ran their hearts out every game because they had a very angry guy stood on the sideline telling them what to do.

And if they didn't, and that's been the problem at United, because someone hasn't done that.

Now, Amarim has to be that guy.

He has to be the person that gets them running.

He has to be the Jürgen Klopp.

Now, it might be a different style to Jürgen Klopp, of course, but what the fans want is for those players to look like they're putting in any effort.

And there was not much of that yesterday.

That first half yesterday, as Barry says, that's not even worth 30 seconds of highlights.

It was absolutely dreadful, particularly from United.

Did like Barcelona saying, would Nadam still fancy his chances of keeping Xerxe quiet for 90 minutes?

Who is this guy?

Listen,

we all have a lot of friends who, you know, Euro exports, Lars, Nikki, et cetera.

I always bow to their knowledge.

Andy Brussel, they all talked up this guy.

What?

Give him time.

Give him time.

You've got to give everybody time.

And Andy says, could any other manager pull off a turtleneck better than Van Nistroy?

I saw Musa Kronger from the stadio pod, who knows a roll neck, saying it was too high a roll neck.

It was like enormous.

It sort of made his neck look incredibly long.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

We'll go through the other Premier League games games in just a second.

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Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Matt says, How is everyone's relegation favourite in third place?

Is this the famous Clattenberg bump?

I mean, I guess of all the games you want, Barry, West Ham at home is the one you want right now.

But Forest were excellent again.

Yeah, they were excellent.

They scored some superb goals.

They benefited from more slapstick.

West Ham defending.

Edson Alvarez blunderbust himself in the foot with a stupid red card in the first half, I think it was, wasn't it?

Yeah.

Elliot Anderson was really good for Forrest.

And they continue to defy my preseason expectations.

Chris Wood can't stop scoring.

Nikolai Milenkovich is shaping up to be one of the signings of the season.

I think he cost about 12 million quid from Siorentine.

He's been absolutely superb.

Him and Marilla have formed a really good partnership, and Forrest thoroughly deserved to win this game.

I just say to Nuno, an apology.

The Wolves fans were right.

He's a really good manager, isn't he?

Yes.

He's excellent.

We were all wrong about him.

I mean, nothing says a team playing with confidence more than Ola Eina drinking Rybina afterwards and just saying, I was so knackered, I just hit it.

You know,

it was a brilliant interview, and it just showed just, they're just having a good time.

Well, yeah, it's always easy to have a good time when you're winning, but I really like Olena.

I think he's a really good fullback, especially 1v1.

And as somebody, you know, who watches him play for Nigeria as well, like he's a big part of that team.

He's got to seam score, two-footed fullback.

Like, he's a sneakily, very good defender in the Premier League, but he doesn't really get a lot of accolades, maybe because he's at Forest.

And if I could just have a moment as well, within games that I've played, played i never really feel sorry for people you know everyone's in their own situation but i did feel sorry for chris wood many years ago to see him do well i'm delighted because it was 2015 first game of the season leads versus qpr and he was getting booed by the leads fans in the first game of the season in the championship in 2015.

fast forward to now is in the top five or maybe top three scorer in the premier league and i'm thinking oh but it's at forest that you've got a one you've got this guy you've got that guy no no no all you need is a chris wood and i'm absolutely delighted for him i'll be honest yeah and

what's he doing well like like i mean scoring goals obviously like confidence but he's he's because he's not fast he's clearly better at football than i think he looks yeah

and i love a target man i love a target man but you think of the elite premier league footballers and sort of the grace we're talking about solanki's got like moves well he's a bit cumbersome but it doesn't matter yeah you could we can say he's cumbersome but he's not that bad he's not like completely immobile or anything like that but more importantly Nuno is seeing his strengths and seeing how he can help his team out.

All of a sudden, there's a greater focus on the wide men taking the ball up the field into transition.

Chris Wood, and it's the point I made earlier about the general versus specific training.

Chris Wood knows, it looks like he knows exactly what he needs to do for his team.

And he's doing it.

And he's getting opportunities because of it.

And he's taking them.

So his confidence is sky high, but his importance to the team is the same way.

You know, there are other players where, say, in the past for Forrest, maybe they were more focused on like a 1E running into the channels or doing something more central and chris would run a channel but there's other stuff going on and now he's you know he's probably one of the first names on that team sheet and it is remarkable to see forest doing so so well you know for them maybe a last maybe won't i don't know but they from when they beat liverpool and field that's when i thought okay there's something here and since then you know they are right they're exactly where they deserve to be according to the start to the season At West Ham, I've only defeated Palace Ipswich and were very lucky to beat Manchester United last week.

How feel like Lopotege is under a lot of pressure, Baz?

Yeah, he has to be.

I mean,

they're playing really badly, they've got disciplinary problems.

Mohamed Kudas got a stupid red card.

Was it last week, the week before?

Ed Snalver has gets a stupid one this week.

Lucas Paquetta is just a shadow of the player he was.

We all know he's got this betting issue hanging over him, which can't be easy because it's a potential career ender.

And

I presume West Ham's only reason for keeping Lopategi on at the moment is that it would be very expensive to get rid of him.

The only thing I would say is let's not forget that

Andy Areola, who we were all praising to the high heavens earlier in this podcast, he was without a win after nine games, his first nine games in charge of Bournemouth last season, you know.

So things can change, but it doesn't look like there's anything bubbling away there at West Ham for fans to be positive about.

I think that's a good point because I remember a year ago I was on a radio show and a Bournemouth fan was on the call and they were saying they were happy because they can see a style change which they really enjoyed.

They said they felt that the attacking football was really there.

And even though they hadn't had the win, they were feeling positive.

Whereas from the West Ham perspective, they don't have the win and they're not really playing any style of football with the new signings, which makes them feel like something's going to be better.

So I think you are right that, you know, how are you supposed to feel now as a West Ham fan?

You're trying to say, give him time, but then every other week, his team's doing something which makes you believe that like no time will fix the problems that are there.

And we've changed.

Like, how many weeks is it before you start thinking, oh, I wish we still had David Moyes?

You know, that's the ultimate test, isn't it?

Where does that come in into a season after he's lost his job?

Yeah, actually, Dominic said, look, I'm sure there are going to be pod jokes about bringing Moyes back and be careful for what you wish for.

Seriously, we did need to move on from Moise Ball.

All West Ham fans really wanted was a coach who would play more attacking football.

The hiring of Lopotegui felt underwhelming and is proving so.

Same disappointing football as last year.

That is why West Ham fans are frustrated.

The board went for another Moise instead of something fresh.

And like my dreams, they fade and die, he says.

Sigh.

Wills 2 Palace 2.

John, what did you make of this?

A roller coaster for Trevor Chalabay.

He was everywhere in the way of Mateta scoring a goal, making a mistake to give one away.

It was a good 20 minutes in that match, wasn't it?

Yeah,

I come back to poor old angry Gary.

It's just not happening, is it?

And the thing is, every time

I'll concentrate on Wolves, every time I see Wolves, I think they've got some good players, you know, they've got some really talented players, and then it just comes apart.

And Gway's equalizer is a sickener.

How long will O'Neill be in a job?

It feels to me like he's done a lot right, but a lot has gone wrong at the same time.

And he's fighting against the tide.

And one thing I noticed about this game is there weren't many people there.

Did you notice this?

Yes.

There was a great big, like, empty load of seats.

It felt like I saw that a lot of the Palace fans decided not to travel for whatever reason.

It was a 5:30.

I mean, funny enough, I was supposed to go to this game and I got redirected to Bournemouth and was delighted.

But, you know, and I had no problem with going to it, I should say, if my gaffers are listening,

I do like going to Wolves, and it's not the end of the earth.

And I chatted to some Wolves fans last week after the Brighton game that were saying, oh, that's a bad trip to go back from.

And, you know, it's that 5.30 kickoff thing.

Wolves and Crystal Palace are not near each other.

And, you know, will anyone think of the fan?

Well, of course they don't.

And it just had that emptiness about it.

I I mean, I did like the Wolves fans saying you don't know what you're doing to Gary O'Neill when he made two subs and then Wolf scored twice.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, Barry, you mentioned this.

He was really quick to point out those substitutions and what a difference they made to every post-match answer, regardless of what the question was.

And he did the same at Brighton the week before.

Like, he made changes.

And again, they're at him.

And,

you know,

there is fighting spirit in that team, but is there enough?

There's not enough probably to save the manager.

And that's quite sad because Gary O'Neill's giving it a full go there.

Is he good enough to be a Premier League manager?

No, but you would have thought that someone will take him on elsewhere in the championship because he's got something.

But we know what's happened.

Wolves have been unlucky with decisions.

They've been unlucky that they've sold the best players.

And the rubber the green hasn't really gone their way.

Ipswich won less to one.

Chris says, can you ask Naden when he's been in a team that can't buy a win, like Wolves and Ipswich?

Has a manager ever asked the players for ideas?

Or is that seen as weakness?

Oh, it's the weakest thing you could possibly ask.

Hey guys, guys, guys, what should we do?

What should we do?

Like

when you're going through those sort of spells, like every game in some ways will feel different.

There are games where you might get battered, but there are games where you feel disappointed that you didn't get the win.

I think Ipswich have been through that.

They've had some games.

I think they were down to Southampton and they batted Southampton, it felt like, and they were, but look, it's come up short.

And they've had other games within that time, like even a positive result against Villa at home.

I think that was a 12-fear kickoff or something one weekend.

But yeah, the manager's not going to come to you and ask, like, what do you think?

Because as soon as you do that, like, everyone thinks something different.

So, how about if it just goes to one person in particular?

Then it's a bit, well, what's this guy saying?

Yeah, no manager is going to do that.

Nobody in the team also keeps the tabs of how long it's been since they've won a game, by the way.

They always get told it, and it's a really awkward conversation.

And I...

obviously have been picked for this question in particular because up until two three years ago my qpr team had the record for longest longest amount of time before winning a game in the league.

I think it was, I think it was 17 games or something like that.

I went to the game, I was there when you won.

Yeah, man, the mighty hoops.

Come on, you are.

That's a great night.

Yeah, fantastic.

Yeah.

And that's the win that set us up on our way to being relegated.

But

I didn't want to say.

I didn't want to say.

But thankfully, thankfully.

I think a lot of the work had been done to make it a good thing.

Yeah,

but again,

it's so different for different teams because in that, it took forever.

It took forever.

And at the start of every season, I'd imagine most players and most clubs, the idea is just get your first win.

If you get it that first weekend, it's like euphoric.

But then as time passes, it's like, wow, it'd be nice to win one soon.

And then you drift to this point now where for some of those teams, a win doesn't even move you up in the table because you start to fall so far behind.

And that's when it's a bigger concern because now you don't just need one win.

You need two to be competitive.

And when you don't have one, it's an issue.

But also, shout out to Sheffield United for breaking that record a couple of years ago.

So i am no longer relevant in the history of the premier league thank you very much um it is worth mentioning i mean jardi's touch for io is brilliant but the leaf davis goal barry is something else isn't it yeah uh peach of a side foot volley i mean he was

lot lots of chatter about him when ipswich got promoted i think he provided two million assists last season uh from his position at left back i thought he looked a bit suspect in defence

in Ipswich's opening couple of games this season, but he's playing quite well.

I think Ipswich should probably have had a penalty for that

barge on Connor Chaplin.

He just runs straight into

someone.

I'm just mad that that's not a penalty.

And then Phillips gets sent off.

Yeah.

The win will come.

Like, I mean, you know, Southampton got their win.

Ipswich will win a game at some point.

I thought it would be this one, but no.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I still don't know how that wasn't a penalty.

And you're right.

Phillips, who I think should have got a straight red for his first challenge.

I thought that was naughty.

I might be wrong.

But he didn't really, the second one, he sort of pulled out.

Yeah, I think, you know, I was just going to say, Leaf Davis, lovely player to watch.

He really is.

Going forward, I wouldn't like to be, but going forward, lovely player to watch.

Really good, really good.

I like someone had a big t-shirt saying, choose Leaf.

Like, you know, choose Life WAM t-shirt.

t-shirt i thought it was great uh we finally got to southampton's first win of the season apologies it's the the last on the running order um and it all came nadam in that sort of 30 seconds you know beto it's the bar goes on the other end they score but like barry said they will get their win if switch that's how southampton got this one yeah it is and look at the margins again i think that beto goal being disallowed like initially when that goes in i'm like oh talk about a bubble being burst you think you've had it again and then it turns out that you don't but instead they celebrated that goal being disallowed as much as they celebrated the goal going in for them as well.

And that's what it's like when you're down there.

You know, it's desperate times.

And I think for the players, for the manager,

you have to get a win so that the fans start believing.

Because the moment they lose it, then it's not really a home advantage anymore.

It's like grumbles, especially for

the way that they're going to play, which Russell Moore is going to stick with, which I've got, I personally, I've got no issue with.

You know what I mean?

Like he knows his team.

He thinks that's the best thing they can do.

Then do that because if they try and change it, I don't think it makes them any more competitive, to be honest.

But first win on the board, celebrate it, and now you've just got that little bit of belief.

You'll be going to the next place thinking, well, we can do this again.

Maybe they won't, but you know, they'll believe that they can do it again.

And now they're one win away from being outside of the bottom three.

Who would have thought?

Yeah, can I just mark Russell Martin's celebration of the goal?

Because they all went into this big, manly sort of you know, jumping around.

And then he had to do the sort of pull himself out of it and then set

try and calm everyone down.

It was a magnificent, magnificent.

I wanted to pick out, you know, Betto's first touch for that dislayed goal.

It's unbelievable, isn't it?

Poor bloke, right?

That is just

a touch.

He will never do as good a touch as that again.

I mean, he's not that sort of player.

No, he is.

That was wonderful.

Yeah, yeah.

A bad touch for a big man.

Went on to Tamworth, who beat Haddersfield on Friday night in the FA Cup.

Proper long throw, causing chaos.

Harrogate beat Wrexham.

AFC Winward and beat MK Dons for for the third time in a row.

Liam says, I fully expect Hensford four.

Gainsborough four to be top of the running order.

Nine missed penalties in the shootout.

Wow, I'm going to go and watch that.

Brilliant game says, Gainsborough Trinity went through 5-4 on penalties in the end.

JB says, take a look at the Peterborough goal, which was disallowed for going through the side netting.

Spoiler, it didn't.

Went in.

And it's just awkward with the ref of the line.

You're like, oh, no.

That's a bit like, I think in the championship, Bristol City scored a goal.

Was it Preston?

It was one of the two, I forget.

Anyway, I think it was Bristol City.

A blatant hair ball.

And everyone's like, what are you doing?

How is that disallowed?

Anyway,

well done to everyone who won in the FA Cup.

Oh, and Max

Worthing, whose owner George Dowell was on with us a couple of weeks ago, they played Morecambe.

We'd say to George, that's winnable.

They lost 2-0.

They did.

But I saw him message.

I saw him on Instagram saying they got a very bumper crowd, and it was a great day.

Jimma says, any mention at all of Shelburne's League of Ireland win would be greatly appreciated.

Really enjoyed the preview of the final day, Last Pod.

Yes, Baz, have you been across it?

I saw Damian Duff celebrating by trying to ring Jose Mourinho and Jose not answering.

Oh, bro.

He didn't care.

He didn't care.

I watched this actually.

Oh, great.

Oh, go on then, John.

Well, the winning goal for Shells was scored by an Englishman, I noticed.

And yeah, rioters' celebrations up at Derry.

Was it offside?

Have I annoyed everybody by saying this?

No VAR in a League of Ireland and the TV replays weren't conclusive.

Denied Shamrock, was it five in a row, Barry?

I think that's right.

I think it would have been their fourth in a row.

Yeah, but it was just

yeah, great celebrations.

Uh,

Damien Duff, um,

people

in England won't realize or won't remember him like this as a player.

He's one of the most passionate

people that you'll come across in football.

Like, just it's all there, and he's really passionate about the League of Ireland.

Like, it's you know, the best league in the world as far as he's concerned.

Wouldn't you know, you would expect that Damian Duff, being a high-profile player, might one day turn up in England, but I'm not convinced that he sees anything beyond Ireland, he just loves it over there.

But fair enough, well, interestingly, um, the thought did cross my mind because the same crowd that own Shells own Hull City, right?

So, you know, who's to say there couldn't be some sort of crossover?

But I mean, he lives in Wicklow.

He seems very happy there.

He loves managing shells.

So

he may not be in the slightest bit interested, as you say, in managing elsewhere.

Ken says, no more Aberdonian Fitbar Corner, please.

Yes, Arthur.

We bigged them up last week.

They got humped 6-0 by Celtic in the League Cup semi-final.

And a bit of music for you, John.

I was doing the pod script in a Melbourne cafe this afternoon, and some sort of old-looking mods wandered in and very sort of cockney went I'll have a cappuccino please and I was like I'm glad there are lots of English people in Australia that's not a surprise and then some bloke walked in lugging boxes of stuff and lots of leads and someone said

you know one of the baristas said what's all that for and they said oh we're we're off to play a gig in castlemain we're the buzzcocks so there we are i was in a i was in a cafe with i presume punk royalty i'm not really i mean i know never mind the buzzcocks but i don't know the Buzzcocks.

Well, Buzzcocks now are, unfortunately, Pete Shelley, who was the lead singer, died a few years ago, so it's the guitarist.

So the

old mod guy that you will have seen is Steve Diggle.

Steve Diggle, brilliant guitarist.

I couldn't say I'd know the rest of the members because they've shifted around.

And

one of them was quite young.

One of them were like their kid who they'd said, you're going to be a mod and come along with us.

The original members of Split Everywhere, one of them actually, actually, John Maher, after whom Johnny Maher had to change his name to Johnny because

of the famous Buzzcocks drummer, he runs a motorcycle place up in the Highlands, I believe.

So there you go.

So, yeah.

But Steve Diggle, legend, an ultimate rock and roll man.

The man that has a breakfast of champions.

And I'm not talking about eggs and bacon, shall we say?

Well, actually, I mean, I think he was just having a cappuccino with one sugar.

He spilled the lid of the sugar in the coffee and was very polite apologizing to the staff so it turns out i was working not with the buzzcocks but with a buzzcock and his friends but you know it'll still do he's he's he he owns the buzzcock

right it's actually and you know what this is there is no the it's buzzcocks

yeah many apologies many apologies anyway that'll do for today uh thanks everybody thank thank you barry thanks max Cheers, Nathan.

Thank you very much.

Nice to have you back.

You're welcome back.

If you know you answer the the call, it's very nice to hear from you.

Um,

John Bruin, thank you.

Thanks for having me.

I mean, I mean the same to all of you, of course, apart from the week link, Barry selected again.

He'll probably be back on Wednesday.

Anyway, Football Weekly is produced by Silas Gray.

Our executive producer is Christian Benny.

This is The Guardian.