City go top after Arsenal and Liverpool battle to draw – Football Weekly podcast

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Speaker 1 Play is everything.

Speaker 4 Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

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Speaker 11 Hello, pod fans. Barry here because Max is in bed.
I'm obviously here to deliver the obligatory message telling you that we had finished recording the pod before Eric Tonhag got fired.

Speaker 11 Not a massive surprise. I'm vindicated in my prediction that he will be gone before Christmas.
Way to make that all about me. We'll discuss it tomorrow.
Thanks. Bye.

Speaker 12 Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Good fun at the Emirates.
Arsenal pegged back twice against Liverpool. Saka brilliant again.

Speaker 12 The Goulas again on the wrong side of some tight decisions and Mo Salah equals Robbie Fowler's Liverpool goal-scoring numbers.

Speaker 12 At the London Stadium, were Manchester United robbed by a late VAR penalty. Certainly they'd robbed themselves by missing so many chances in the first half.
A wild game at at Brentford.

Speaker 12 Poor Ipswich, two up, then equalising late on down to 10 men before Mfuemo won it for the B's.

Speaker 12 Poor old Matt's Viffer, lots of places he could have kicked it, and straight to Tommy Doyle wasn't that place. An extraordinary late comeback from Wolves.
Cole Palmer is brilliant.

Speaker 12 Spurs are Spurs as Palace get their first win, and Chris Wood makes a late push for the Ballon d'Or. Late equalisers for Everton and Bournemouth.

Speaker 12 And at the end of it all, Manchester City are top after beating Southampton, despite the Satan's being so, so, so, so good. Elsewhere, Barcelona Real Madrid, it's three wins from three from Cambridge.

Speaker 12 We'll take take your questions and that's today's guardian football weekly

Speaker 1 on the panel today barry glenn denning hello hi yeah hello troy townsend hi max and welcome dan bardell hello max uh let's start the emirates then arsenal 2 liverpool 2 what did you make of this one barry i really enjoyed it it was a very good game of football uh both teams dominated for spells in the in the sort of post-match fallout I'm seeing Arsenal get criticised for

Speaker 1 not being proactive enough when they were on top in the second half. But I think you can make concessions for them because they had a very makeshift defence.

Speaker 1 They lost Gabrielle early in the second half. Saliba, obviously, already missing through suspension.

Speaker 1 I hope that Gabrielle's knee injury isn't as serious as I think it might be from my amateur perspective. And

Speaker 1 yeah, some really good goals, two and fro game.

Speaker 1 Saka, who I wasn't expecting to start, did start and, as usual, played well for Arsenal. His goal...

Speaker 1 It had a touch of the Bergkamps about it, which is quite fitting because Dennis Bergkamp was there in attendance. But that little

Speaker 1 side foot nutmeg past Andy Robertson was just sublime.

Speaker 1 I immediately thought of Dennis Burgamp when I saw that. Lovely finish.

Speaker 12 I think a draw was fair.

Speaker 1 You mentioned some decisions. I don't think anything was particularly egregious there.

Speaker 1 Although I noticed on a WhatsApp group I'm on, Mates featuring several Arsenal fans. The week has gone off to a great start with some more conspiracy theories.

Speaker 12 Well, look, we'll get to those, I guess. But it's hard to know who.

Speaker 12 I wonder, Troy, I do think, given what happened to Arsenal's back four,

Speaker 12 you know, that actually, you know, Barney writing, look, with 74 minutes gone, the back four was Party, give your white Lewis Skelly, which has a clear Venga-era Worthington Cup feel to it.

Speaker 12 Where exactly was Carl Jenkinson and all of this? I think they've done really well here, Arsenal.

Speaker 12 You know, and as Barry said, Saka was the best player on the pitch for the first, certainly the start of the game.

Speaker 13 Yeah, I was, um, I thought it was a very special first half. I was to and fro, then Arsenal dominated and quite rightly went in a goal up.
But I was a little bit disappointed with the second half.

Speaker 13 And I can understand Arsenal's approach, particularly once they lost Gabrielle, because losing both centre-halves against a Liverpool attack

Speaker 13 must have worried Arteta. And then I was a little bit confused about Liverpool's approach.
They didn't really go for it, did they?

Speaker 13 They didn't really get at them in the manner that Liverpool have done in the past, and particularly how they'd done against Chelsea the previous week. Saka outstanding.

Speaker 13 I was surprised Liverpool left Robinson isolate with him. Robinson's clearly lost a yard of place base and is probably

Speaker 13 on the downward spiral. And Saka really led him a merry dance quite a lot in that game.
Gary Neville was disappointed in Van Dijk's kind of

Speaker 13 play

Speaker 13 in the opening goal, but I'm not quite sure Van Dijk could have done much more than what he did. Some say he should have got back quicker.
Well, Van Dijk is not the quickest anyway.

Speaker 13 And if it's going to be a foot race between Saka and him, then

Speaker 13 it's all over. So I was conflicted, but I think Liverpool, once they summarise the game now, will be probably disappointed that they didn't really go and push for it and go on and win it.

Speaker 6 Yeah, I think it looked

Speaker 6 a great game. I think it would have been interesting to see that game had Arsenal been at full strength.
You know, Arsenal fans have got a lot of grievances at the moment, injuries being one of them.

Speaker 6 But there's no doubting that if Arsenal have got their first choice back line, I think they probably don't concede, maybe go on and score a third.

Speaker 6 But I think it's just two really, really good, good football teams at the moment. That second goal from Liverpool, the equaliser, it's a sweeping move.

Speaker 6 And we've all spoken about what Liverpool have done under slot, how they've changed, how they've become a bit more pragmatic on the ball. But that goal was prime clop really, wasn't it?

Speaker 6 The sweeping counter-attack. It was shades of Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool.
So it shows that they've still got that in their locker.

Speaker 6 I think it's a better result for Liverpool than it is for Arsenal, despite Arsenal's injuries and the players missing just because if you look at the league table now, Arsenal are five points off Manchester City.

Speaker 6 They've dropped points recently.

Speaker 6 You don't want to be chasing Man City and this iteration of Man City may not be the strongest Manchester City but once you're behind to them they're very very difficult to catch and Arsenal have kind of been used to being the team that were kind of Man City chasing them over the last few years.

Speaker 6 Already five points to me feels quite a long way back.

Speaker 1 I think it is worth pointing out that Liverpool were also missing players through injury, specifically Diogo, Jota, and Alison. But I don't think

Speaker 1 Liverpool have more strength and depth than Arsenal. So

Speaker 1 I think that's why the focus has been on Arsenal's missing players.

Speaker 12 Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. That Liverpool guy is beautiful.

Speaker 12 Alexander Arnold's pass is obviously brilliant, but I think Nunes does incredibly well as well. That's not the simplest pass when you're running at pace.
Obviously, Salah.

Speaker 12 Interesting, Salah, has he equaled or gone ahead of Robbie Fowler? He's equal Robbie Fowler.

Speaker 6 He's equaled Robbie Fowler.

Speaker 12 And me and Barry were trying to have this conversation.

Speaker 12 You know, Robbie Fowler is such an iconic Liverpool player, but I feel there's no sort of contest given what Liverpool have achieved with Salah's goals compared to what they achieved with Robbie Fowler's goal.

Speaker 13 Yeah, but look, Salah is

Speaker 13 just on that goal. Like, yes, Trent's pass, Trent's trying to outdo Ben White there, isn't it?

Speaker 13 Because Ben White has produced the same thing earlier yeah brilliant pass from white true nuniez was was great but salah's movement you know from being out wide to getting himself dead center of the goal that was everything that yes trent's pass makes the goal but if salah doesn't make those movements nuniez has got to do that all by himself and salah's movement and then i still don't think it was an easy finish but he's he's made it look simple and um he will go down listen when he finally leaves we hope i think for the premier league's sake it's not at the end of the season, but when he does finally leave, he'll be in Liverpool's folklore for sure.

Speaker 13 And like you said, because of the trophies he's won, because of the different kind of goals he's scored, because he's been that player all the time for Liverpool.

Speaker 13 Look,

Speaker 13 he's been an outstanding individual for the Premier League, and I think we'll be lauding him for many, many a year.

Speaker 12 It's interesting when people talk about the control that Slot has given Liverpool, Dan,

Speaker 12 to the point where it gives this idea that Klopps Liverpool were so chaotic that everyone was just running into each other the whole time.

Speaker 12 I seem to remember them being really quite good and like winning the Premier League and winning the Champions League.

Speaker 12 But every time I hear this sort of control that Slot has brought, it does make me... I don't know if we're forgetting how...

Speaker 12 Were Liverpool totally mad? I mean, I think they were, yes, they were, you know, they were heavy metal inverted commas.

Speaker 12 But I don't see like a wild difference. It is slower, but it's not.
I think we're sort of forgetting that Klopps football wasn't insane the whole time, or maybe I'm misremembering.

Speaker 6 I think not so much yesterday, but the difference for me has been Liverpool spent a lot of time having to chase games last season.

Speaker 6 They went behind yesterday, but really, they haven't gone behind too many times this season.

Speaker 6 Last season, and the Klopp in particular, it felt like they'd let in an early goal and they'd then have to chase the game. They'd be throwing subs on, maybe going away from the initial formation.

Speaker 6 And that was what made it feel a little bit more chaotic last season. But I think you're right, generally, like Liverpool

Speaker 6 played some brilliant football. And the thing about yesterday as well is set pieces now.
More set piece goals in the game yesterday. They're so, so important.

Speaker 6 And, you know, Sky cut into the set piece coach

Speaker 6 whenever a team, or particularly Arsenal, has a set piece now. I was at the Villa game on Saturday, and this happened on Tuesday in the Champions League as well.

Speaker 12 Are all the Villa fans wearing Austin McPhee wigs now? Well, no,

Speaker 6 but we have now got at Villa Park set piece coach chance when we get a set piece in a dangerous position. So, you know, sky bat into the set piece coaches.
Fans are singing about the set piece coach.

Speaker 6 I don't know whether the Arsenal fans have got a song for their set piece coach, but set piece coaches are very in vogue at the moment.

Speaker 12 Nicholas Yova, somewhere Yova the Rainbow.

Speaker 6 Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one.
That's a good.

Speaker 12 I mean, it does look like a line of scrimmage, actually, when Declan Rice plays that pass and then or like a bit like a loom. Like the four of them all run into position.

Speaker 12 You know where they're going, but it's really hard. I mean, it's a very tight off side court.
It's a good header from Marino, wasn't it?

Speaker 13 But that's why I was surprised a little bit, Max, in Liverpool's approach, because they'd done it once where Mourino should have scored.

Speaker 13 And rather than set themselves, knowing the quality of Deccan Rice's deliveries into the box and knowing that he's going to put it on a sixpence, I was surprised that they allowed it to happen again.

Speaker 13 It's a great goal from Arsenal's point of view, but really surprised that

Speaker 13 they were allowed it to happen again. And just on clock.

Speaker 13 I'm with you, Max. I think it's quite disrespectful the way

Speaker 13 his football's almost been dismissed now as something of the real past. That I think the reason why there's a lot of prominence around Slop is because it's just happened so seamlessly.

Speaker 13 Yes, there is a very good squad there anyway,

Speaker 13 but other managers have not dealt with very good squads, and we'll talk about a couple, I think, today.

Speaker 13 But yeah, just he's seamlessly got his ideas across, and they're obviously taking to them very well. So, you know, it's a pat on the back for both, I think.

Speaker 12 Sounds like you called him Arna Slop. Did I? Which,

Speaker 12 you know, that could be a headline when it all goes wrong.

Speaker 12 Callum says, is it really an Arsenal fan?

Speaker 12 Is it really just in our heads? Callum slowly falling down a PGMOL rabbit hole. Help me back out, he says.
I mean, they did, Barry.

Speaker 12 You said nothing egregious, but it is kind of like there were lots of little decisions, weren't there? Canate on Martinelli, which could have been about does get the ball, but he goes in very strong.

Speaker 12 I mean, Havertz does miss a really good chance just right after that. Then you have the one at the end where Anthony Taylor blows for a foul.

Speaker 12 Is it Kevior's a judge to have fouled Sober's lie sort of jumped into him? And Havertz might have pushed someone afterwards, but it's sort of tight.

Speaker 12 Van Dyke does kick Havertz, and that could be a yellow. You know,

Speaker 12 Louis Diaz kicked the ball away at one point. It's obviously the same thing as you know.
So I don't know. I do have some sympathy, Barry.
I don't know if you do.

Speaker 1 No, I don't.

Speaker 12 Okay, fair enough. Anybody? Does anyone?

Speaker 6 The one that stood out for me is

Speaker 6 the kind of disallowed goal at the end that would have made it 3-2 because they're complaining that it's not a foul bite by Kivior, but I'm pretty sure from looking back at it that it would have been disallowed for Hanball anyway, because I think it might have kind of hit Havertz's arm.

Speaker 6 It's all subjective, isn't it? Every team will feel hard done by at some point during the season. I think with Arsenal, it's an amalgamation of things at the moment when they've got...

Speaker 6 a perceived you know loads of injuries sack has gone away with england got injured missed games herdegaards injured they're losing centre half, they're getting sending off.

Speaker 6 So then, kind of, when you've got all that going on, I think any decision that kind of goes against you, you're going to kind of get this pack mentality that the world's against.

Speaker 6 You've been like wolves at the start of last season.

Speaker 13 For me, it was Anthony Taylor. You know, they honed in on him, and he for the first one on Sober Slide, he put his whistle to his mouth, didn't he?

Speaker 13 And then he delayed, then he delayed, then he delayed, and then he whistled. Admittedly, he did whistle before it went in the back of the net, but I think the confusion came because,

Speaker 13 listen, I don't think it's a foul either. I think it's very soft.
I think we see those in the middle of the park all the time, but it was just the delay that caused the confusion.

Speaker 12 I think it's worth pointing out Arnis Lott got booked. He was complaining about Arsenal players going to ground a lot.

Speaker 12 But he said, I said to Ibrahim Canate, this is a fucking joke. The fourth official thought I said it to him.
You're a fucking joke. That's definitely not what I said.
But I got a yellow for that.

Speaker 12 And now I'm on two and I have to be careful. To the London Stadium, West Ham two, Manchester United one.

Speaker 12 Jed says, do the panel think with all the savings Inios have made at Old Trafford they could buy a goal?

Speaker 12 I guess let's start with the penalty because I mean Ten Hag wasn't happy about it.

Speaker 12 Unfair and unjust, just the way we considered the penalty. I think he has a point then, doesn't he? I mean, I've watched it a thousand times.

Speaker 12 I think I thought it was a foul for the first 500, and then I don't think it is for the second 500.

Speaker 6 No,

Speaker 6 I'm the same.

Speaker 6 I mean, Ten Hag says a lot after games that I don't agree with nowadays, and a lot before games that I don't agree with.

Speaker 6 but I do agree with this kind of high bar that once it it hasn't been given as am I remembering this right did the referee go up to the to the screen have no no he didn't give it yeah yeah yeah yes so so David Coote was the ref and Michael Oliver was the VAR clearly not part of the cartel that's for sure I don't yeah I just don't think there's a there's enough to overturn that and say it's a stonewall death definite penalty which is the way it's supposed to be and this is where This is where people can have genuine frustrations because that is the inconsistency that comes from the PGMOL and this iteration of VAR and what they're trying to do at the moment.

Speaker 6 But to answer your initial question, I just don't think it's a penalty at all.

Speaker 6 It's quite funny to see Manchester United lose in the last minute again because obviously as a child, Manchester United used to score a lot of goals in the last minute and you'd almost expect it.

Speaker 6 Nowadays, you do almost expect... something like this to happen to Manchester United in the last minute and them lose again, but it's not a penalty, no.

Speaker 12 Ian's a West Ham fan, so with West Ham's half-time XG of 0.04 and diogo dallot's half-time xg of one was it obvious that west ham would win this afternoon i mean troy they did man united were good and created so many chances you know garnacho hitting the woodwork that dallo miss alvara sends it onto his own bar fabianski uh in just to to confuse barry great save from casemiro like they they should have won this football match the biggest one obviously was dallot's miss i don't know how he's missed it i've seen worse but he it's you know bruno fernandes' ball is just as good as um trent's ball as good as ben white's ball and you'd you'd think even though he's a fullback that he would put that away but

Speaker 13 despite those catalog of misses you have to give praise to west ham here everyone the focus is on manchester united quite a lot and you know lobber tech tele making three uh changes at halftime and changing the whole kind of way that the game was going then made it an end-to-end game which West Ham needed and Manchester United don't really like they don't like the open nature of these games and it was quite telling the interview after by the way I don't think it was a penalty I think it's an awful decision um

Speaker 13 what happened to the era of let's ref let referees ref the game and unless it's clear and obvious but mart martinez was

Speaker 13 in his interview which i saw last night was telling because he blames the team he doesn't blame the officials he blames the team for not finishing those chances and and you know being out of sight before west ham could have made any of those changes so you've got to look at the team themselves but a lot of praise there has to go to West Ham as well.

Speaker 6 Dallow's obviously watched Maserari play as a number 10 in midweek, a fullback player number 10. I think that's probably his chance of ever playing as a number 10 gone with that miss.

Speaker 12 Interestingly, Dallow is one of the man United players who has sort of really improved.

Speaker 12 He's not many, and he's done really well.

Speaker 12 I mean, it was a vital win for West Ham, this baz.

Speaker 12 We were saying, you know, before the game, there was whatever happened, there was a big crisis clax over one of these managers. And for Lopategui, this is really big.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and they got away with it to an extent after that first half when United should have been out of sight.

Speaker 1 But fair play to him, he rang the changes, brought on three subs in the second half, changed the formation and rescued it. And it's a huge,

Speaker 1 huge win for them. Palace as well had a huge win.

Speaker 6 It will be interesting to see if they can turn things around because, you know, they can't they need to remember how bad they were in the first half of that game they they were lucky i've wrote notes for this i don't often do notes but i i do it for this because it's a it's a serious podcast in my opinion and i've written something i've wrote something down i don't know what i mean by this but i've just wrote lopotagi is more david moise than david moise but i don't but i don't really know what what what i mean but by that well i mean a lot of people did say that it wasn't it's not the sort of paradigm shift that western hand fans were looking for in the football that they play.

Speaker 12 So maybe they shouldn't have done it. But then it's funny.

Speaker 12 The Moyes thing is really funny because he did get them a trophy and West Ham win a trophy once every 50 years, and yet it felt like the right thing to do.

Speaker 12 So I'm sort of conflicted as to how both those things could possibly be true.

Speaker 12 David says, The Europa League seemed a while back, but it's Jose Mourinho making a brief but villainous cameo appearance in our season better than having him in the league every week, showing up like a managerial version of a Dalek or the Borg.

Speaker 12 I don't know what the Borg is.

Speaker 1 It's a baddie on Star Trek.

Speaker 12 Is that right?

Speaker 12 Yeah, so Fenabache manager Jose Marino sent to the stands. Brilliant voice of him there.
And then, you know,

Speaker 12 he has main character energy. And he did it again.
It's three draws from three for Manchester United in the Europa League.

Speaker 1 The amount of fawning in the media over Jose Marino, who is, let's not forget, a thoroughly unpleasant man who has done some despicable things

Speaker 1 during his time in England anyway. I'm not so sure what goes on when he's not here, but

Speaker 1 the fawning over him in the media last week before and after that Manu Fennerbach game was nauseating.

Speaker 12 You're right. It's one of those things where...

Speaker 1 You're welcome to your opinion, but I just don't be, don't be that Max.

Speaker 12 If you just want an easy life, you just go, oh, I don't mind a minute of Classic Jose every three months.

Speaker 1 But this is Classic Jose who drummed Anders Frisk out of the game. That was because it's Classic Jose.
It's Classic Jose who drummed Dr. Eva Car Nero out of the game

Speaker 1 through his thoroughly awful behaviour.

Speaker 1 It was Classic Jose who confronted another ref who was

Speaker 1 an English ref in a subterranean car park and then he had a go at the ref after this game as well. And

Speaker 1 I don't know. Some people think it's hilarious.

Speaker 1 leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Speaker 12 All right. That'll do for part one.
Part two we'll begin at Brentford.

Speaker 2 Coach, the energy out there felt different. What changed for the team today?

Speaker 3 It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery.

Speaker 1 Play is everything.

Speaker 4 Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Speaker 5 Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Speaker 3 Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game. That's all for now.

Speaker 6 Coach, one more question.

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Speaker 12 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Brentford 4, Ipswich 3.

Speaker 12 Dan, I felt so gutted for Ipswich. Just,

Speaker 12 you know, obviously the Premier League is ruthless, right? And we see that when, you know, it's suddenly 2-2 from 2-0, but they have that chance at 2-0. Smodix, you know, who could have made it 3-0.

Speaker 12 They get back late on. They even hit the post, like Liam DeLap's effort, you know, in injury time.
Like, to come away with nothing just

Speaker 12 feels wrong.

Speaker 6 Yeah, I've watched a lot of Ipswich this season, and they are better than their points tally so far suggests. They've pretty much been in

Speaker 6 every game. I would say if they've lost, there's been a lot of fine margins in there again at the weekend.

Speaker 6 But what they've got to snap out of is they let in goals at bad times, like 2-0 up, going into half-time you cannot be going in 2-2 and that's exactly what happened and i think that's where it's which have suffered this season it's it's the timings of the goals that that they let in i think that a game a few weeks ago against west ham where they conceded right on half-time as as well and to get yourselves back to three three with a with a lovely goal from from de lapp to then to then let brentford go again and and win the game i just think they're kind of learning on the job aren't they switch like so many teams that have come up over the last few years and they do an awful lot right and i've been really really impressed with them and really impressed with Keir and McKenna.

Speaker 6 But they've just got to get those little fine margins right because that's what's going wrong for them at the moment.

Speaker 12 And yet, they are sort of bottom or 19th in every single metric that is used.

Speaker 12 No, no, no, but I don't disagree with that. I don't, I feel like the two can be can be right, even if that's possible.
I feel the Luton fan says, when does the Ipswich media love in end, Max?

Speaker 12 A point and a win fewer than Luton had after nine games last season. Yet we're not hearing the media say Ipswich will be down by Christmas.
And you have to feel for Harry Clark, Baz, don't you?

Speaker 12 That was a tough old day.

Speaker 1 Well, first of all,

Speaker 1 that Luton fan, if he doesn't think Luton got a lot of love from the media last season, he's absolutely delusional. I think everyone wanted them to stay up,

Speaker 1 and so yeah, that's he's he's complaining about something that you know he's he's created a straw man there, um, because Luton got more love than any team last season from the media. Harry Clark,

Speaker 1 it was his Premier League debut. It's one he'll remember.

Speaker 1 And in time, he might even be able to laugh about it. But it was a bit of a nightmare for him.

Speaker 1 Keen Lewis Potter

Speaker 1 had him on toast and he scored an own goal, gave away a penalty and got sent off. Not the perfect hat-trick because it was two yellow cards, not a straight red.

Speaker 1 Jan Bednarek got that playing for Southampton against Maniu in 2021 when Southampton lost 9-0. But his red card was later rescinded.

Speaker 1 So I don't know if his hat-trick still stands. But

Speaker 1 this was

Speaker 1 absolutely brilliant game of football, and you do feel sorry for Ips, which, yeah, they were a little bit naive, I suppose.

Speaker 12 Did you make a Brentford try? I mean, the last home game was 5-3 against Wolves. I sort of don't have them down.

Speaker 12 You know, when you look at the fixtures, you don't go, oh, there'll be a goal fest at Brentford.

Speaker 12 I don't know if they are incredibly open or,

Speaker 12 you know, I don't know what it is, but I mean, long may it continue.

Speaker 13 They're playing to their strengths, and their strengths, obviously, look, everyone was going to be really focused on Brentford now that Ivan Tony's not there. But have they missed him?

Speaker 13 They're scoring more goals now than what they were before.

Speaker 13 But it does once you have that approach. And it's a great approach.

Speaker 13 And, you know, all those goals in the first minute or just after a a minute prove that thomas frank has got them playing in a way or has designed a way of them you know getting in people's faces straight away but defensively that that they're going to get caught out and ipswitch did it very well but it's exciting they're in the top half of the table they're creating more headlines than probably they they many people would have done and look they're just getting by but at the end of the day no one's going to remember it was for 4-3 and what happened in the 4-3 they're going to remember that they won 4-3 and i think their approach is their approach is one to be admired you know he's he's having to almost rebuild this team again frank and with what he's doing his name is being touted about quite a lot but i hope i'd like him to stay there because i think he can create so much at brentford football club that they it's kind of a match made in heaven there I said on this pod actually the first time I came on, I think it was that Mbumo is actually more important to Brentford than Ivan Tony.

Speaker 6 And a few Brentford fans tweeted me saying that's spot on. No one speaks about it, but that's absolutely spot on what you've said.
And I think it's shown at the start of this season.

Speaker 6 Him and Vissa, I think they were both recruited in the championship and they've come up to the Premier League and every season it feels like they've scored important goals.

Speaker 6 They've won games because of goals from those two and I just think that's excellent recruitment from Brentford and Mbumo probably does get talked about a lot now but Vissa is a player who's done wonders for Brentford over the last few years.

Speaker 6 He's been really, really important for them.

Speaker 13 Does anyone think that Clark's second yellow could have been avoided? I thought it was harsh.

Speaker 13 Yeah, I don't think if he plays for a top side or a top six side, whatever people want to call them, although the top six is not what people recognise at the moment, there's supposed to be more leniency over the second yellow.

Speaker 12 Are you going for Gary O'Neill? Are you going for Gary O'Neill?

Speaker 13 I'm probably going to back Gary here. I don't think it's a sending off to compound what is obviously an awful day for him, but like Barry says, he'll probably remember it in the future.

Speaker 13 I just think that

Speaker 13 the free kick is enough.

Speaker 12 Maybe, you know, Harry Clark, when he's doing the after dinners of Suffolk in 25 years, he'll be glad of it i mean i loved how he dragged the ball in for the own goal because you could see him try and he's going the wrong way but try and head it back but his head is not going in the direction he needs his head to go in he's just sliding and there's nothing he can do and you have to feel for muric right we talked about quite a lot he made some great saves and then he just sort of watched that one sail in but he scares me he scares me He scares me quite a lot, Murich.

Speaker 12 Yeah, let's go to Brighton. Paul said, could Barry successfully pass to an attacking player when it's a four-on-one?

Speaker 12 It's such an extraordinary moment. I think it's the sort of most extraordinary moment of the weekend, Baz.

Speaker 12 Bryant, a 2-1-up, they have this four-on-one. Matz Wiffer somehow passes it to Tommy Doyle.
And when you stop the action and you look at it, you think there is no way.

Speaker 12 There is no way if you told anybody Wolves were going to score in 10 seconds. They'd be like, no, that's not how football works.

Speaker 1 It's just, it's so extraordinary.

Speaker 1 Well, like you said yesterday, if you stop the play when press pause, when Wiffer is on the ball with three Brighton players ahead of him and only Tommy Doyle and the Wolves keeper in defence,

Speaker 1 no one's going to guess that. Oh, yeah, if you say to someone, who's going to score here? No one's going to guess Wolves in 10 seconds.
But that's what happened. And

Speaker 1 it was a crazy goal.

Speaker 1 Brilliant pass from Tommy Doyle up to Matthias Kooner, who sort of advanced towards a backpedaling Brighton defence. And his shot took a bit of a jammy deflection off Van Heck and went in.

Speaker 1 You could see Matt's Viffer running into shot and then just dropping to his knees and putting his head in his hands.

Speaker 6 Unable to believe what happened. I can't.
I can't.

Speaker 1 The Wolves deserve it for fighting back. They got two late goals, two of, I think it was

Speaker 1 seven goals scored on Saturday after the 85th minute. I think it's a very important point for them because obviously every point's important when you're down that end of the table.

Speaker 1 But they have a nice little run of fixtures coming up now where they could do some damage. Palace, Southampton, Fulham, Bournemouth, Everton, West Ham, Ipswich, Leicester.

Speaker 1 There's a lot of points up for grabs there that

Speaker 1 I won't say their confidence will have surged from this, but it gives them a good platform to build on going into that run of games.

Speaker 12 I love Gary O'Neill afterwards saying, you know, the advantage of defending with a one-on-four is you do have an overload when the ball goes up. I mean, you just take it to the corner.

Speaker 12 Why are there so many Brighton players attacking? There's so much of it, Troy. I just can't.

Speaker 12 And there was this view from the stands, like the match that I did, this top-down view, and you could see the Brighton fans, you know, getting excited to score and then seeing them give it away and then just sort of like sinking into their seats.

Speaker 13 I loved it. Let's be honest.
When you're four-on-one, the last thing you're thinking of is a goal at the other end. So why take it to the corner flag?

Speaker 13 You've got three other players to hit, and it's not a difficult pass, by the way, either.

Speaker 13 I don't know what, I honestly don't know what he was thinking. And,

Speaker 13 you know, you think about the points dropped for Brighton, and with Arsenal dropping points, and with Villa dropping points this weekend, they could have gone on 18 points with those two sides.

Speaker 13 And yes, Brighton will never be mentioned in like Champions League or winning the title bit, but that could have been a massive psychological thing for them as well. And,

Speaker 13 you know, in dropping points, they've lost quite a lot there. But the craziest moment I think we'll see in the Premier League this season, bar none.

Speaker 12 Ah, big shout.

Speaker 12 Danny Welbeck, of course, scoring another one. He's sixth of the season.
He might be the best Danny Welbeck of all the Danny Welbecks. And Evan Ferguson as well.
First goal since last November.

Speaker 12 So good to see him back. And Producer Joel saying, very satisfying that Ait Nouri scored in the 88th minute.

Speaker 12 Yeah. Let's go to Stanford Bridge.
Chelsea Chelsea 2, Newcastle 1. I mean, are we in running out of superlatives territory, Dan, with Cole Palmer?

Speaker 6 He is just absolutely phenomenal. He is a younger English left-footed Kevin De Bruyne at the moment.
Some of the stuff he is doing, just his all-round game. He's scoring free kicks.

Speaker 6 His passing range is absolutely sensational. He scores goals.
He just does,

Speaker 6 he just does everything. He said it repeated myself with tax set pieces.
He just does absolutely everything, Cole Palmer. And

Speaker 6 Manchester City, obviously, have got a lot right in the last however many years, but surely they must look at this and think this is a mistake because De Bruyne has come to the end of his career now and they've literally got

Speaker 6 the next best thing in Cole Palmer already in the building. Someone that I think can potentially do more in the game than Kevin De Bruyne has done.
And he's now at Chelsea. And it's almost justice for

Speaker 6 De Bruyne was at Chelsea for a period and then went away back to Germany. Manchester City bought him.
And Chelsea fans must have been thinking, what were we thinking? How did we let this happen?

Speaker 6 Chelsea have finally got their revenge with getting Cole Palmer in from Manchester City because he is absolutely incredible. I love watching him play.

Speaker 6 I love listening to his interviews after the game as well.

Speaker 12 Yeah, me too. It's interesting you say that about, you know, like Chelsea let Mo Sally go.
Like, it can happen, can't it? And that pass, Barry, for the opening goal. Just the pace on it, the

Speaker 12 wit, everything about it to set Neto free is unbelievable.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and he didn't didn't look, he looked, I'm not going to say off balance, but he was facing the wrong way when he got the ball, and then he turned and whipped it around

Speaker 1 one Newcastle player and inside another,

Speaker 1 and it's on a sixpence for Neto, who then squares for Jackson, who scores. And

Speaker 1 just

Speaker 1 the speed of thought and the precision, and

Speaker 1 it's remarkable. He is a remarkable player for someone that young and just seems utterly unfazed by absolutely everything.

Speaker 12 Perhaps not as exciting, Troy, but perhaps as important. Kaisedo and Lavia.
We obviously didn't see Lavier all last season, missed all last season. They bought all these central midfielders.

Speaker 12 That's really strong. I'm starting to think it's weird.
At the start of the season, we were like, this team is so unbalanced. It's insane.

Speaker 13 And you look at it now and you think, actually, they've got really good players almost everywhere well listen out of the 50 players they've got they've got to be able to pluck a number of good players but he's he's settled on a formation and look marescot obviously wanted those two back in play and it's at the expense of fernandez

Speaker 13 everything about fernandez we we know anyway but

Speaker 13 They are settled in there, but teams are still creating chances against them. So they're not at the height of their game at the moment, but they've definitely given a lot more stability to that side.

Speaker 13 And they're obviously allowing the likes of Palmer, the likes of Neto, Sancho, when he plays.

Speaker 13 They're allowing the likes of them to go and perform in the last third, you know, with

Speaker 13 extreme kind of excellence.

Speaker 13 And look, they spent a lot of money on both of them. So we are expecting them to step up, but I still think Chelsea have a weak spot.
And that weak spot is they allow teams to come at them.

Speaker 13 And, you know, if Isaac,

Speaker 13 once he'd got round Sanchez and done the one step over, two step over, you'd expect him to pass the ball. I think it was Joe Linton that was there on the backstick.

Speaker 13 And then we're talking about a totally different game. But listen, all the plaudits for Palmer are correct.
And those two, I think, will develop a lot more and more.

Speaker 13 But they were exposed a little bit against Liverpool last week. So I'd like to see them in those really big games as well and see what they produce.
But they've started off well.

Speaker 6 Yeah, I think it's really interesting that Lavia appears to be in this kind of Chelsea A team now and Enzo has been demoted to the B team that plays on

Speaker 6 a Thursday night. And I just think, you know, Lavia's interception for the goal is really, really important.

Speaker 6 I think Lavia does more things that a player in a kind of number six position for Chelsea will need to do that than Enzo Fernandez does.

Speaker 6 And, you know, I've said this about Anthony pound for pound, probably the worst signing in Premier League history.

Speaker 6 I honestly think there needs to be a discussion around Enzo Fernandez for the money that he cost and what he's actually delivered for Chelsea.

Speaker 6 I don't think, I mean, it's not easy to be fit for purpose when you have so many managers and so many players, but for the money they pay for him, I really don't think he fits what Chelsea are trying to do.

Speaker 6 He's not mobile enough, he doesn't get around the pitch well enough.

Speaker 6 Sure, he's got a good pass on him here and there, but I just think in that position, Enzo Fernandez doesn't fit Chelsea, and I'm not sure from what I've seen of him in the last year and a half that he fits the Premier League at all.

Speaker 6 And he was a really, really big purchase.

Speaker 12 Yeah, it's a good point. Just a quick word on Newcastle, Baz.
You know, they did have their moments, right? They obviously equalised.

Speaker 12 And as Troy mentioned,

Speaker 12 that moment where Isaac has to square it. But they are struggling.
No win in five now for them.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're finding goals hard to come by.

Speaker 1 I think a more confident Isaac, and I know he had scored earlier, but I think a more confident Isaac either scores with that chance or plays the pass to Joe Linton.

Speaker 1 Newcastle haven't bought well in the last two windows.

Speaker 1 They haven't sold players they might have got rid of, and they haven't brought in players they wanted. And I don't think Eddie Howe is under any pressure.
He's still a hero there. But

Speaker 6 they're,

Speaker 1 yeah, they're just

Speaker 1 not doing much, really. There's no danger of them going down, but it doesn't look like there's going to be any danger of them contesting

Speaker 1 the European places.

Speaker 1 It's a bit meh after all the initial excitement when the takeover happened.

Speaker 6 Just muddling along, aren't they, Newcastle? A little bit like we're waiting for something, but I'm not sure what we're waiting for with them.

Speaker 12 Joe has got got in touch before kickoff in the palace spurs game to say just getting this in before kickoff to avoid the rush later i can hear your voice now max uh to sellhurst park baz palace two spurs one when will spurs shake off the spurs he tagged like he wasn't far away this was and a really important win for the palace barry but spurs were i thought pretty abject in this football match yeah i think uh they just didn't turn up it's a really important win for palace a because it's a win for palace and b because i think if they lost

Speaker 1 the manager might have got the

Speaker 1 Oliver Glasnar, and I think getting rid of him would be a mistake.

Speaker 1 If Palace continued to play this well,

Speaker 1 they say it's a cliché about

Speaker 1 saying teams are too good to go down, but

Speaker 1 I would be astonished if there aren't three teams worse than this Palace. I think there'll be seven or eight teams worse than this Palace side at the very least.
Come season's end.

Speaker 1 and they showed how good they can be yesterday adam wharton was good for the first time this season he's been impaired by injury there is talk he might have to have surgery on a nagging groin injury eberichies was brilliant that uh moment where he sat pedro porro on his backside

Speaker 1 superb and then his little flick for the the goal uh was just wonderful and as you say tottenham didn't turn up they they weren't at it there was not very little intensity and Ange Postakoglu you can always tell how angry he is by the chippiness of his post-match interviews and he really wasn't having the questions being asked of him yesterday he was in a very snarky mood yeah I mean he can be a bit rude I think I love Ange but just you know you've got to

Speaker 12 you've messed up I think he did mess up Troy I don't know what you think as soon as I heard the team was announced he's made that good change against West Ham he strengthened the midfield and then he went back to this midfield, which was good against Manchester United, but it wasn't, you know, away to Palace is play a strong midfield, right?

Speaker 12 Play like a physical midfield. Madison, you know, deep is just not, I just thought it was wrong, especially when you're missing Sun, right? Son is such a crucial player for them.

Speaker 13 Yeah, I think he's using up a lot of his goodwill that he earned from last season. I like you, Max.
I thought it was a strange selection.

Speaker 13 He obviously has an issue with Madison.

Speaker 13 I don't think Madison moves the ball quick enough for an Ange-type type team and I think he slows the pace down and he obviously fought that at halftime last week. But

Speaker 13 I don't know. I think he's losing a lot of goodwill.
Too many players underperforming.

Speaker 13 A defence that at times, as much as what people love to talk about, Van der Venner, defence that looks all over the place at times. And I don't see much leadership in the Spurs side.

Speaker 13 So I don't see anyone grabbing other players by the necks and saying, come on now, we've got to do this. And

Speaker 13 Palace being such a tight tight tight ground you'll hear the frustration of the fans anyway and i think it was obviously at the end of the game i think there were some murmurs going on and the spurs players didn't really go over they clapped but they didn't really want to get too close but i just think if he had a portuguese or italian first name he could be looking over his shoulder i don't think that's in question but i think if he was a different kind of manager and maybe they didn't have that great first half at brighton so that people know they can play I think he'd be under pressure four defeats already isn't it for for Spurs it's the same number as Manchester United I think who obviously they're they've won one more game I think Spurs that Manchester United but there's something not right I don't think the balance of the that the team is is is right at all there's definitely a midfield problem and when something's worked so well when you've changed it last week it feels strange not to go with that again in the in in the game after i think and palace are palace are a good team and i think palace will become a tough tougher place to go as as the season goes on i think the problem problem they've had is that they've lost players.

Speaker 6 They've had to kind of bring in a few more than maybe they would have hoped this summer Palace and players are just simply getting used to each other and he's still trying to figure out his best team.

Speaker 6 It's a great win for Palis, but it's just another sense of frustration for Tottenham.

Speaker 6 I can't see them being in and around the Champions League places this season, which is where they want to be ultimately.

Speaker 6 So I think they may have to throw all their focus at a cup or Posta Cogli may have to throw his focus at a cup because they need something and it's just not quite all there at the moment.

Speaker 6 You know, the leadership I think is

Speaker 6 a really, really valid point, but I just think the makeup and the balance of that midfield, they're going to struggle against a lot of teams with that, in my opinion.

Speaker 12 But the difficult thing is when it works, it works in such a scintillating way. But that's the well, that's the balance, I guess.
Anyway, that'll do for part two.

Speaker 12 Part three, we'll begin with Nottingham Forest win at Leicester on Friday night.

Speaker 12 Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. It does feel a long time ago, but what a season Chris Wood is having, Barry.

Speaker 12 Since Nuno came in, only Cole Palmer and Erling Harland have had more league goals than Chris Wood. He's got seven in nine already this season.

Speaker 6 Yeah,

Speaker 1 he's hit a rich vein of form. Everything he strikes, pretty much everything's going in.
He's playing with loads of confidence.

Speaker 1 You keep bringing up the fact, Max, you haven't brought it up yet today, that we both relegated

Speaker 1 Forrest in the pre-season preview um so i i in an effort to figure out why we'd done that i went back and listened to it john bruin also relegated them and lucy ward had them finishing one place above the the drop zone and what we focused on in that was uh goalkeeping issues chaos behind the scenes and we'd kind of written off Nuno.

Speaker 1 So I think that was our big mistake. I don't think anyone could have foreseen this rich fan of Chris Wood as hit.

Speaker 1 And there is still a bit of chaos behind the scenes because their owner is a chaotic man who's currently serving a five-match stadium ban.

Speaker 1 And then the signings they brought in, particularly Milenkovich, you know, he's really, really worked out.

Speaker 1 They conceded a lot of goals from set pieces last season, I got an awful lot of goals from set pieces. We raised that as well, but they I think they seem to have sorted that out.
And

Speaker 1 they won this game. It was gifted to them, really, because Leicester, every

Speaker 1 Forest goal came from an extremely avoidable Leicester error. The first half was quite evenly matched.
Forests were much better in the second half. And

Speaker 1 Chris Wood scored

Speaker 1 the goal he scored when he had his back-to-goal and took a superb first touch and then curled the ball into the corner. That was absolutely brilliant.

Speaker 1 But again, that came about because Harry Winks had given the ball away cheaply.

Speaker 1 And then Wood's second, good goal, but again, a present from Wout Fass.

Speaker 12 I mean, he does give you, I mean, he's quite generous.

Speaker 1 He's a very generous man.

Speaker 6 I'd love to be on

Speaker 6 Secret Santa about fast

Speaker 1 in the build-up to Christmas.

Speaker 6 He'd definitely spend more than the

Speaker 1 tenor allowed.

Speaker 1 Here you are, Barry.

Speaker 12 25 Premier League goals for you.

Speaker 12 Yeah, so look, they've only lost once, four wins and four draws for Forrest. It's a brilliant start.
Let's go to the Etty Hat.

Speaker 12 Appleton says, How inevitable was it that Pep would describe Southampton as so, so good?

Speaker 12 This is what Pep said. He says, Today it was not how Southampton defend deep, it was how good they play with the ball, with the keeper and the movement.
It's a good game to learn as a manager.

Speaker 12 I'm going to learn a lot with Russell because they did really well. We were humble and accepted that they did really well.

Speaker 12 He said they are one of the best teams in the Premier League at at defending with the ball. When I first heard it, I didn't hear the at defending with the ball bit.

Speaker 12 And I thought, come on, you can't say they're one of the best teams in the Premier League, Pep. Even that for you is going too far.
I guess, Dan,

Speaker 12 they played a bit of good stuff. They had that chance with Cameron Archer and City once again, you know, one by the own by, you know, just one goal.
They're not blowing teams away.

Speaker 12 But, you know, if they're top now, then what hope is there for anyone?

Speaker 6 Yeah, exactly. They've not had Roderie the entirety of the season.
It used to be. Roderick doesn't play in Manchester City, don't win games, but they haven't lost a game for 11 months.

Speaker 6 I don't think they've lost a game since December

Speaker 6 last year now. So it's been a long while.
74 in 75 in the Premier League now for Erling Haaland. He's rubbish.

Speaker 6 He's no good. 74 and 75 is, quite frankly, ridiculous record.
I think Southampton were a little unlucky. Cameron Archer, in particular, a player I've watched a lot of.

Speaker 6 He's an excellent finisher, and he's so, so unlucky for that chance that it cannons off the bar.

Speaker 6 But in a weird way, and I thought this a little bit when I watched Southampton play Arsenal, I think their style might suit playing the big teams better, and they might make them look better in those games.

Speaker 6 But it's the other games that are going to be a problem for them with that style for Southampton. They were in both games, Arsenal and

Speaker 6 Manchester City. But you get the feeling that even if Southampton had scored, Manchester City would have probably gone up the other end, and Haaland would have made it 75 in 75.

Speaker 12 I mean, it was quite an unorthodox finish from Haaland. Sort of two-footed the ball, try a bit.
I mean, not as unorthodox as his ridiculous goal in mid-week. But

Speaker 12 I suppose it is just interesting to see if they do just keep grinding, if that's what they're doing. If they keep playing at, what, 70%?

Speaker 12 It just feels like they're not at it, and yet they're doing so well.

Speaker 13 It's almost that time of the season, isn't it, where they just get by the enormity of all the games at this stage of the season.

Speaker 13 I'm sure if we'd look back and look to October and November, they probably are winning games like this throughout the course of the times they've won the championship, the title.

Speaker 13 It was a typical performance almost at this stage.

Speaker 13 It's a great goal from Haaland. He's missed quite a few as well.
Game could have been out of sight. Archer should do better as far as I'm concerned and really put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Speaker 13 It's just Man City. They're grinding.
But look, they're only a point ahead of Liverpool. They've drawn two.

Speaker 13 People are talking about this title race at the moment as if it's all done and dusted and now Arsenal have dropped another set of points that they're out of it and Villa, we're going to come to Villa in a minute and I'm quite sure we'll get Chapter and Verse from Dan, you know, that they're not in it but they're on the same points as Arsenal.

Speaker 13 Chelsea are only a point behind. So City are going to have to keep grinding and when they get, again, let's not forget Arsenal talking about injured players.

Speaker 13 Dan mentioned Rodri there and we've also got Kevin De Bruyne who's been missing for quite a long time.

Speaker 13 When Kevin De Bruyne at least comes back this season, maybe they'll be creating and finishing more chances than probably they are at the moment.

Speaker 12 When, Dan, your team conceded an injury time equaliser after, I mean, basically this game was 97 minutes of Mark Travers tipping the ball over the bar, as far as I could tell.

Speaker 12 But do you just stare at the league table and add two points in your mind? I'm looking at the league table and you're fourth on 18, but are you just sitting there with 20?

Speaker 12 You just can't not look at it and go, that should be 20.

Speaker 6 It's a horrible, horrible feeling when that happens.

Speaker 6 And, and you know the they you you kick off and then the whistle goes so you know that like if the game was just 10 seconds shorter that you you you would have won the game but in fairness if i'm realistic about about it that's the first time in two years under unai emery that that's happened to villa where they've been winning a game at villa park and they've they've conceded a golden stoppage on those kind of things just haven't happened to us so it's a it's a feeling that i know all too well from over the years of being a villa fan but i'd forgotten how horrible it was over over the last two years Villa played really, really well, played some lovely stuff.

Speaker 6 People will look at it now and say, oh, they've drawn a couple of games off the back of Champions League games, but it's just one of those games where they've kind of, in the first half, they've done everything but score a legitimate goal.

Speaker 6 And in the second half, the goalkeeper for Bournemouth has just had a really, really, probably the best game of his career so far. So there's not much you can do about it.

Speaker 6 I think Villa's goal almost came too late because Duran missed a really good chance just before that. And I think have scored that, Villa Connor would have carried on attacking.

Speaker 6 It was quite strange that we went 1-0 up so late that we then kind of sat back a little bit. We made kind of a defensive player on for a striker because we had Watkins and Duran both on at the time.

Speaker 6 And we did a couple of things that we don't normally do. And I think we looked uncomfortable with that.
And that kind of gave Bournemouth the shout of getting back into the game.

Speaker 6 We gave away a lot of silly free kicks. And, you know, Ross Barkey would have wished he'd made that foul a bit earlier in that passage of play because he could have taken him down earlier.

Speaker 6 And and it's a good header it's a great header in fact from from Evan Nielsen for Bournemouth but I still come away from every game at Villa just feeling so so positive about where we are as a football club and what we've achieved over the last two years you know that kind of thing that happened at the weekend won't be the norm for us this season so Dan if you obviously you can score too early and now we've discovered you can score too late when when is when is a sensible time I would say for Villa first 15 you score score in the first 15 and I think your game plan doesn't change.

Speaker 6 I think for the first time ever, I think Villa's game plan kind of went out the window by scoring.

Speaker 6 I think a lot of people probably wonder what I'm talking about, but I think Villa fans will probably agree with what I've said.

Speaker 13 Are you blaming the manager here then for some decisions that

Speaker 6 I haven't got a bad word to say about that manager? You'll hear me slag anyone off in the world before I slag Unai Emery off. That man is

Speaker 6 a genius, and he's made a bigger impact on my life than I think anyone ever.

Speaker 12 Even more than the man who delivered your tumble dryer on your pod debut.

Speaker 6 Well, today we nearly had a scare because the food delivery was booked in for 9 till 10, and my girlfriend was going out, but I assured her she had to stay and that I couldn't go through that again.

Speaker 6 Oh, really?

Speaker 12 Yeah.

Speaker 12 What's she missed out on?

Speaker 6 She's taking the kids somewhere, I think, to Dryton Manor. I live near Dryton Manor, so I think they've gone to Droughton Manor thing Park for the day.

Speaker 12 Oh, no, that's nice, isn't it? For Bournemouth, Barry, getting four points from Arsenal at home and Villa away is absolutely brilliant.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 I think they were pretty lucky here, although you could argue they were denied two penalties. There was the Matty Cash foul on Antoine Semeno, and then Leon Bailey handled the ball for a lot.

Speaker 1 Corners struck really deep, and the ball dropped onto what I would suggest was an outstretched arm. I don't think those should be given, but

Speaker 1 they tend to be given. And I think Villa got away with one there

Speaker 1 when it was still 1-0.

Speaker 1 So,

Speaker 1 yeah,

Speaker 1 I think Villa threw this away, but Bournemouth probably

Speaker 1 ultimately were worth their point.

Speaker 6 Oh, oh, I'm getting the look of

Speaker 1 well, I'm just saying that, you know, they were denied what I think should have been two penalties.

Speaker 12 Possibly. No, I mean, I hate handball so much.
You know, I wouldn't, as I wouldn't penalise Suarez for that handball against Ghana.

Speaker 12 I wouldn't want Diego Maradona to be done for handball, given how much I hate handball. I just think

Speaker 12 you should be able to pick it up these days. Finally, it's got a Goodison, Everton one, Fulham one.

Speaker 12 Lady Greiser for better. Lovely cushioned cross from Ashley Young for that.
And a nice finish from Iwobi after good work from Smith Rose.

Speaker 12 Got a touch of the Steve Claridge's about, I mean, perhaps a better Steve Claridge, a more graceful Steve Claridge, but there's a bit of a bustling.

Speaker 1 Does he eat as much fruit as Steve Claridge? That's a very good question.

Speaker 12 For the right price, maybe he will.

Speaker 12 But, Troy, if you could succinctly sum up this game for us.

Speaker 13 There's not much to sum up.

Speaker 13 Wonderful effort from Guillé.

Speaker 13 The one that hit the bar.

Speaker 13 It was a great move as well, but a great effort. And I don't know why Dominic Calvet-Lewin is standing offside.
He puts the rebound away brilliantly.

Speaker 13 It is tight, but for me, that was the highlight until, as you highlighted, Emil Smith Rowe

Speaker 13 made that great run. And I think at that stage, Everton fans probably would have been leaving and probably disillusioned with a defeat at home.
But like you said, it's Everton kept at it.

Speaker 13 There's one thing you've got to give them there. They kept at it.
They ended up with Betto and Michael Keene up front. I mean, I'm not sure we're going to see a better front.

Speaker 12 Yes, Michael Keene up front.

Speaker 4 It's so good.

Speaker 6 I mean, so good. Let's call Warhurst.
Proper dice.

Speaker 13 I mean, the quality of his finish last week kind of earned him that, didn't it?

Speaker 13 And it just started to cause mayhem. Fulham, who were quite comfortable.

Speaker 13 uh defending against one were then defending against two they didn't know how to defend against them and you know, like, as you highlight again, Max, there, Ashley Young's cushion cross is just first.

Speaker 13 It's begging to be put in. And Betto did that and then went on one of the second longest runs I've seen to celebrate it.

Speaker 13 But yeah, probably, probably undeserved, but I wasn't at the game. Everton fans will probably say we deserve that one.
So well done.

Speaker 1 Now, I think even Sean Dice said they didn't deserve it. They got away with it.
And Fulham

Speaker 1 did miss quite a lot of chances. It will be Jimenez, this a jop, Adamat, Triore all missed pretty presentable chances.
I'm curious to know, I'd like to hear from any Everton fans.

Speaker 1 Beto, when interviewed after the game, said, you know, the fans have been really supportive and they sing my name.

Speaker 1 But when he came on and Dominic Calvert Loon went off,

Speaker 1 I There were loud booze from the Everton fans.

Speaker 1 And I can't figure out whether Dominic Loon was being booed off or Betto was being booed on or it was a bit of a combination of both because Betto hasn't done much to get Everton fans singing you know he doesn't get many opportunities he's only scored four goals he scored a priceless one here but um yeah I don't know it seems like Everton fans are running out of patience with Dominic Calvert Loon who appears to be running down his contract but um he seems like a a very nice fella, but he's very patchy, isn't he?

Speaker 6 I saw it as they didn't want Calvin Lewin to come off. That they were booing the decision taken off.
I don't feel it was actually against kind of either player.

Speaker 6 I think they just probably wanted to see both of them up top. Because Calvin Lewin's been decent so far this isn't.
I watched him play at Villa Park and he carried a threat all game.

Speaker 6 He he scored in that game and Mr. Chancey probably should have scored.
But all game

Speaker 6 he carried a threat.

Speaker 6 So I read it as that, that they just wanted both of them and they didn't want Carver Lewin to come off but they weren't necessarily against and missed the opportunity to have Michael Keane yeah I mean yeah Michael Keane's a weird player isn't he because his range of finishing seems really really good but then he's not great at defending and he's a he's a defender I obviously I've written my prolific notes for this one I've wrote one note for this game and it was a woby's sarcastic non-celebration I felt like that was the first sarcastic non-celebration I've seen of someone against their their old team.

Speaker 12 I liked it. Yeah, Barry, you mentioned, you know,

Speaker 12 you know, predicting Forrest to go down. The big mistake in our Premier League previews was not doing a lot of time on can Beto and Michael Keene play up front together.

Speaker 12 That's what we should have done. But maybe they, maybe the song for Beto is Things Can Only Get Better.
Then I, I mean, I would sing that. I would belt that out.
Good. If I was at Goodison.
Anyway,

Speaker 12 any other business? I mean, amazing result in El Classico.

Speaker 12 The highlights are worth watching because, you know, just Barcelona's high line and Kinina Bappe getting caught offside and then just the sort of masterclass of finishing from Lewandowski is an incredible result.

Speaker 12 We'll obviously chat to Sid soon when he answers his next WhatsApp that I send him.

Speaker 12 Ross says, are we Fitbar Corner to discuss the Dons title charge? Ken, you really need to talk about Aberdeen from almost relegation followed last season to unbeaten this year.

Speaker 12 Only drop points so far were in last week's 2-2 comeback against Celtic. What a turnaround.
Good flicking says, when will Aberdeen be discussed on Fitbar Corner asking for all dandies?

Speaker 12 Barry, we've got an EFL pod tomorrow, but if you could do a minute on Aberdeen, if you could do some research next 24 hours, that would be lovely.

Speaker 1 Well, I think I can tell you that I'm fairly certain Neil Warnock

Speaker 1 isn't still in charge of a petodry, but I will confirm later.

Speaker 12 Troy, you wanted to mention a podcast you're doing with Watford.

Speaker 13 Oh,

Speaker 13 yeah,

Speaker 13 I'm very pleased to say that we've been working on a Black Pioneers podcast. You know, it is Black History Month.
It's coming to an end.

Speaker 13 But Watford wanted to do more than just the standard keeping everything into

Speaker 13 the month of October. So, we released our first one with Lloyd Doily on

Speaker 13 the weekend, and they played it in the stadium. We've got another couple very legendary players at Watford coming up.

Speaker 13 It's some very interesting conversation about culture and upbringing, and then where they are today.

Speaker 13 One to look out for. The next one is very special, it goes a bit little bit deep into racism.

Speaker 13 Yeah, but

Speaker 13 I'm excited, it's gone down very well. Pleased for it.
And yeah, I've been working with a guy called Dave Missinger there, who's an absolute legend at the club as well, behind the scenes.

Speaker 12 What's it called?

Speaker 13 Black Pioneers, Black Pioneers, Watford's Black Pioneers podcast.

Speaker 12 All right, wherever you get your podcasts, I presume.

Speaker 13 Yes, indeed. And on YouTube as well.
So you can see me in the flesh on YouTube.

Speaker 12 Good stuff. And Charlie says, where will Cambridge finish in the championship next season? Three wins out of three.

Speaker 12 Of course, tomorrow's EFL pod will be devoted to our 1-0 hammering of Burton Albion there.

Speaker 1 Will you be able to give Sunderland going top of the championship five points? Clearly,

Speaker 1 a little mention when we find it. I don't know.
I mean it.

Speaker 12 I don't know. With Cambridge and Aberdeen, I don't think we'll have time.
We'll see what we can do. I don't want to make any promises at this stage.
Anyway, that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody.

Speaker 12 Thanks, Dan. Thank you very much.
Go and get the shopping. Thanks, Troy.
Cheers, Max.

Speaker 1 And thank you, Barry.

Speaker 12 Thanks, Max. Poor Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.
Our executive producer is Christian Bennett.

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