Liverpool thrash Manchester United and Arsenal drop points – Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Liverpool score three at Old Trafford and it could have been a slot more, a lot more, apologies.

Another half to forget for Casemiro and Eric Ten Hag isn't Harry Potter.

An almost perfect 87 minutes from Everton at Goodison.

It's just those three plus added time weren't quite so good as Bournemouth stage.

A ridiculous comeback.

Declan Rice's eyes pop out as he gets a second yellow.

Poor Joel Veltman just trying to take a quick free kick and walloping the Arsenal man.

At least no one in a Brighton shirt kicked the ball away right in front of Arteta in the first half.

All we want is consistency.

Another brilliant performance from Spurs, apart from the results bit, they're really good.

Newcastle digging out another excellent win.

Chelsea held by Palace.

Julian Lopategwi trolls Baz with his substitutions and Erling Harlan gets back-to-back hat-tricks.

Nottingham Forest stealth start to the season continues.

And Ipswich get their first point of the season.

There's lots of stuff we probably won't get round to.

Champions League draws, England squads, Sunderland's flying start, but there's always tomorrow.

We'll take your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hello, Max.

A first pod of the season, I believe, for Nader Manuha.

Welcome, Nadam.

Morning, sir.

Morning.

And a first pot of all time for Sam Dalling.

Sam, hello.

Hello, Matt.

Good morning.

Welcome, everybody.

Let's start Old Trafford then.

Manchester United Mil Liverpool 3.

100% record for Arna Slot.

I mean, completely deserved victory, Barry, in every way, I would suggest.

I mean, it's supposedly easy to read too much into this.

But there was always a chance this was going to happen because

since the start of the season, I've sort of of thought Casemiro is a potential liability and accident waiting to happen in that Manchester United side.

He was awful last season.

And while United under 10 Hag can raise their game against better teams and

drew with Liverpool twice and beat them once in the FA Cup when people were expecting Liverpool to do a job on them.

This didn't happen yesterday, and that would be a big worry for United fans, I imagine, because they were totally outclassed,

really, really well beaten, made

three terrible mistakes that led to three goals.

They could have lost by an awful lot more.

And

big, big problems for Eric Tenhag early in the season, and ones that were quite easy to see coming, really.

Before the game, they paraded Manuel Lugarte, who they signed on deadline day.

He wasn't registered in time to play yesterday.

And you have to ask why?

Why wasn't wasn't he available to play yesterday?

Why didn't they sign him earlier?

Because they need someone desperately to come in for Casemiro.

So a really good performance from Liverpool and a really bad one, a worryingly bad one for Manchester United.

One of the interesting things, Sam, about Liverpool and

people talking about the difference between slots Liverpool and Klopps Liverpool is this, you know, this extra control, as if Liverpool were just sort of rubbish under Klopp, you you know, for a year.

Like, suddenly, this guy's come in and just put two holding midfielders there, and suddenly they're the greatest team of all time.

But they looked so good, and like the goals they took, there just seemed so much confidence in that team.

Yeah, and people use the word chaos, don't they, about Klopp's Liverpool, as if like chaos, I suppose chaos can be a good thing.

It didn't

feel that bad last year, but yeah, control.

And, you know, any good CEO, any good manager comes into a company or a football team and they have a look.

And

they have a look and they tinker where is needed.

I think in football, well, it's full of egos, right?

Players, managers, even referees.

There's some refs that love to be absolute centre of attention.

But actually, for Slot to stand back and go,

I'm going to have a look here.

And oh, look, they're a very good football team, so I don't need to change much, not going to change for the sake of changing.

And often, you don't want to be the next butt one, right?

You look at Moyes, who came in after Alex Ferguson.

You could argue, what, 2013, Ferguson squeezed every drop out of that Manchester United side and left at the the right time.

Andy Goldstein coming into soccer AM.

That's yeah, exactly.

Yeah, very similar.

That was my next on the list actually.

I had that in my notes.

But yeah, the way that Slot has done that and showed a complete lack of ego and just tinkered and seems to have solidified them.

He's got a squad of very good players and he's just made them that little bit tighter.

He hasn't conceded a goal in his first three games.

I think he's the first Premier League manager to do that since Sven.

Little mention for Sven on the podcast back in 07.

So yeah, promising signs, isn't it?

Yeah, what have you made of of Liverpool so far, Nathan?

So to be completely honest with you, I hadn't seen a full game before yesterday.

You know, I'd heard people talking about them.

I'd seen some of the goals and like I love the Louis Diaz-Brentford goal in terms of the run, the timing of the pass, the speed of the counter-attack.

Like that's,

I was just thinking, that's terrifying to be playing against.

But then as I watched them yesterday, I think all those elements of control were still kind of there, but when there was space in front of them, they really got into it.

I think their front line is still huge for them.

And it's not a case of like it's completely different football under slot compared to clop

but they they looked really really good they look so composed they look like a manager on the side that's very calm with his team he's not constantly shouting at them to get up get back do this do that and then the people on the field can like play to their strengths i think as sancha said there like it's nice because most conversations here around Liverpool have been like, well, they've not really invested.

But in Slot, he's just got himself 20 plus new players who evolved very, very good.

So he's probably excited about what he sees.

And he's not as jaded as, say, some people knowing that, well, maybe this is a down here for someone and an up here for others.

But

they were very good.

I think I've got to say, though, and I don't know if I'm rewriting history here, and I don't want my head to be taken off by the hundreds of thousands of listeners of this podcast.

But I thought for the first like 20, 25 minutes, it just felt like it was a good game.

I didn't think United were that bad.

And then it was as soon as they conceded the goal.

Because like I was hearing fans, oh, they were cheering Delit because he got the better of Jota.

They were cheering Masrai got the better of Luis Diaz.

It was all this.

I was like, oh, wow.

I did not expect this.

I didn't tune in to see this.

I'll be completely honest as a blue.

But

then as soon as that first goal was conceded, you saw one team seem like to lose everything and the other one take everything as well.

And it was very, very impressive.

And as we say, it probably could have been more, should have been more.

And it was so good that it led to the old Sky Sports News inquest after the game as well.

You know, 20 minutes of

pure footballing content like we've seen every year, probably three or four times.

Yeah.

A bit of this is Manchester United we're talking about.

But it's sort of fair, barry i know you've alluded to it already i actually thought we we'd decided that casemiro had sort of lost a bit of weight and looked quite sharp and then that feels so significant making those two air and the second one because he was so light now he just sort of fell off the ball and was just totally barded out of it and then to be then to be hooked for a debutant baz i just thought it feels significant it is significant and it's it's a bit sad i've kind of felt for him a bit um because

you know how must he been feeling feeling getting taken off at that time he's a really he's a senior figure in the dressing room he's a popular figure in the dressing room and his teammates will have felt for him but you couldn't leave him out there because he was an absolute liability but Ratcliffe has come in he's brought in Dan Ashford he's brought in

Sir Dave Brailsford and their first big decision has been to keep Eric Tonhag.

Now, Manchester United finished eighth last season with a negative goal goal difference.

It's the worst Manchester United team of 30 years since before Fergie took over.

I don't think Ten Hag is the right fit there, but they've kept him in.

They had this very public sort of search for an alternative, couldn't come up with anyone better, so left him there.

He's made the decision.

Oh, then they also haven't signed the midfielder they so obviously need in time to...

you know, for the start of the season.

That seems like a poor decision making on their part.

and then ten hagg is i can't see him being i said this last week and i'll say it again i can't see him being there at the end of the season he'd possibly be gone by christmas he could even go today possible yeah it's not like i'm harry potter he said sam which feels like i know it's not his first language just feels like not a good thing to say that feels just like oh no it feels like the memes are coming yeah well i slept much better last night actually because that had been a question in my head i was trying to worry i've never seen harry potter and harry ten hagg in the same room so and there's weirdly I mean, was it Aaron Ramsdale dressing up as Hagrid?

There's a strange, like, Harry Potter world theme going through the Premier League.

Maybe it's like one of those days when they had Shearer at the Euros having to put as many songs into an interview.

Maybe the Premier League is doing that.

But yeah, he's a bit David Brent-like, isn't he?

In some of the things he comes out with.

He didn't say, as far as I'm aware, stick to the plan, which is what he said an awful lot in the past.

It just feels like,

what's the analogy?

Oh, right, we're playing a game of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, right?

And Tarrant's there.

And we've got keep Ten Hag or lose Ten Hag.

The contestant's gone down to 50-50 on the million-pound question.

They've locked in their answer, and Tarrant's gone, let's go to an ad break.

And the whole nation knows they've got the question wrong.

That light is going to go red.

It's going to go at some point.

We're just waiting.

How many adverts are we going to have before we get back for Eric Ten Hague to eventually be sacked?

Because if they keep fueling his obsession with buying former IX players as well,

it's just not a good look.

Man United fans are not happy and you can understand why.

I'm kind of presuming Manuel Ugarte will be a good signing.

There's every chance he won't be because

United haven't had many successful signings in recent years.

So he could be, you know, end up being a wrong fit as well.

We shall see.

Yeah.

In terms of that number six position, Graven Birch has sort of come in for Liverpool, Nadim, and done it really incredibly well.

Yes, he has, but not necessarily in a way that we would see a traditional number six because, yes, he does put himself about, he can make tackles, but defensively, it's not like he's fully locked in all the time.

It's more so in terms of how they build out with the ball.

And because of that, you know, he is a very, very good option.

I think his understanding of when to say run with it, when to take it under pressure, but then also having McAllister alongside him and lots of players around him who are very ready to receive the ball as and when, whether someone's on their back or they're completely free, you know, that's that's really impressive.

And I think to go back to Barry's point, by the way, so I've not paid huge attention again to Ugate specifically as a player across many years.

But the people who have, they say like he's a really good ball winner and stuff like that, which is great.

But Ten Hague's trying to focus on sort of building out from the back as well.

And by all accounts, that's not his biggest strength.

Yeah, but that's why Luis Enrique, I mean, obviously PSU have got some great midfielders, right?

But that's why he fell out of favour there.

Yeah.

Specifically that.

Yeah, and I don't know.

I think from a fan base perspective.

It seems like they're happy to see Casemiro go.

And for as much as Casemiro Casemiro certainly has some frailties, I think if you take yesterday out of it, I think in terms of being on the ball, he's not that bad.

I think he has been responsible for starting some of their attacks.

And I think if whilst they're playing like Xerxes, Fernandez, Mayanuz, all these people ahead, like they do need someone that can sort of go beyond keeping it simple.

And maybe I'm really simplifying his game, but from the stuff which I've heard, it's the defensive side of things that really makes a difference.

And if that's what they want to focus on, then great.

But then also, as we saw with the turnover, I think from the Casemiro first goal, they'll still be very, very open.

I don't know if one man himself, unless they're in Golo Cante, can cover all that space, to be honest.

It's worth mentioning that, was it 57th minute when Liverpool were doing the Olays, just doing sort of a rondo around.

You're like, that's got really hurt that early in the game.

Salah afterwards said, and we've talked a lot about him being in his last year's contract and Trent as well and Van Dijk.

He said, Salah, to be fair, I was coming to the game as if it could be the last time playing at Old Trafford.

Nobody in the club has talked to me about contracts.

It's not up to me.

It's up to the club.

He said to Skye, as you know, it's my last year in the club, I just want to enjoy it, I don't want to think about it, I feel I'm free to play football and let's see what's going to happen next year.

Um, let's go to Goodison.

Jamie says, Will Everton take comfort from Barry's comment on Thursday that losing this game wouldn't be a disaster?

Uh, Thomas says, Barry said last week it wouldn't be catastrophic if Everton lost to Bournemouth, but did the way they managed to lose the game actually make it as catastrophic as it could be?

I mean, Barry, this is

they were so good for basically the whole game.

Yeah, they were really good for 86 minutes.

Bournemouth were terrible.

It was a really, really bad Bournemouth performance.

And I'm not quite sure how Everton...

I still can't figure out how they managed to lose this game.

But they conceded three late goals,

having played really well.

And Sean Dyce was similarly at a loss to explain it after the game.

I'm not sure what he goes in and says to his players on the back of that performance, because as you say, they were really good for 87 minutes, got themselves a two-goal lead, probably should have been further ahead.

And then

just three lapses in concentration led to this total collapse that everyone found very funny.

Apart from Everton fans, obviously, who were left enraged.

Yeah, there's a great clip actually of Everton fans collectively getting up to leave as the third goes in, Sam.

You can't blame them.

I was just trying to think, as a football fan sitting there, just going,

this could only happen.

There are lots of teams that go, this could only happen to us, but it feels so Everton.

Yeah, once that first goal goes in, I mean, we need to, we can't really say Everton-y, can we?

It doesn't rig the roll off the tongue like Spursey.

It doesn't.

But we certainly understand it.

But when the first goal goes in, you hear about it or you see it and you think, oh, no.

And the thing is, they scored, what, 90 plus six, the winner?

They had two or three chances, Bournemouth, before that in the injury time.

So that's how flaky and frail Everton are.

As as soon as they concede that one goal they just fell apart in those moments in those lovely pictures of the kind of before and after pictures of jordan pickford uh like he wears every emotion on his face but you've fair play to those who stayed till the end they did have one bright spot and it was illiman and die like i really like him as a player and actually slightly oddly

You can understand that as a manager.

You think 2-0, 83, 84 minutes, you're okay to start with drawing your forwards, protect the league, but they took him off.

But I thought it was his first game for Everton

he's a wonderful little player uh great fun to watch and they picked him up for about 15 million quid which in new money kind of we've switched from what imperial to metric that's like your old four or five million pound player that's a a real bargain and this so this time last year Daish was sat there saying after every Everton came, oh, we played really well, but we didn't get any points.

And you actually looked at it and thought, yeah, you're right.

And the positive is that they were terrible in the first couple of games, Everton, but they did actually play really well here.

So it's difficult for Daesh to come out and stress that too much.

But I'm trying to find like pros in a disaster because it was a disaster.

Yeah.

I was watching Nadem, I got to match the day without knowing the scores, I'm saying to Barry, isn't it?

So for a bit I was thinking, well, something's got to happen here, right?

Or this is the worst Saturday in Premier League history where the opening game is like a boring Everton 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

I was like, what's coming now?

I can't wait for the last game.

It's going to be so bad.

But I suppose you have been in teams that have been sort of i don't know if you've ever experienced that kind of thing but just the moment where it go starts to go wrong and there's the sort of nothing you can do yeah so max um i think it was 2012 13 we we to put it into context won every game in preseason started the season didn't win a game in the league for 14 15 games it was i think it was who's this is this qpr this was qpr yeah this was um this was a record until thankfully shefford united took it just a couple of seasons ago and i'm very grateful for that

To

mention the Everton situation, like Daish after the game was talking about how he could like smell it in the air as soon as that first goal was conceded.

And that's a very, very dangerous thing because

he's seen signs that make him nervous.

He's seen whether it's the crowd himself or it's the opposition.

I think the other side is the opposition.

A team that's playing away from home that scores one late goal, then scores another.

You think, well, maybe they're happy with a point, but they kept going because they could sense the frailties in Everton and in that particular situation.

And when those players for Everton know that they've played well, but they don't necessarily have the confidence to believe that they can just see it over the line in key moments, that's the big danger, you know.

And playing at home when the crowd turns a little bit, and it's not to say that Everton fans don't support them really well because, you know, I watched them in the mid-week in the league up and they were right there, they were loud and so on.

But that sense of like impending doom with like literally no time left on the clock at all.

When you're a player that's playing for one of those teams, it's not nice because everything makes everyone anxious everywhere.

Somebody turns the ball over from like free kick in the opposition half or something, and you hear in the crowd like, ooh,

you're seeing the opposition streaming forward.

It's tough.

It's very, very tough.

And I do feel...

Do I feel bad for them?

I think I do feel bad for them because they did play well to that point, but 87 minutes, as we know, is not a full game.

So now they're on the verge of breaking the record, which they broke last year, which was to lose their first four games of the season.

So that was the first time in like 25 years.

And here we are again.

And I believe the game is Aston Villa away.

So all the very best to you.

The Toffees, all the very best.

I feel we're obliged, Barry, for you to say they'll be fine.

And we just keep saying it.

I'm not so sure they will be fine.

But, you know, I'm not going to write them off either.

But, you know, hats off to Bormut because they could have settled for a point.

But

after they drew level two all, they forced two super saves out of Jordan Pickford, and then he was kind of at fault for the winner.

But yeah,

they obviously could smell it in the air like Sean Dice.

Bournemouth tweeted a photo of their two previous Most Improbable Comeback Awards, which is not an award we've given too much coverage to on the pod, but many congratulations for getting a third one.

Yeah, I mean, you have to, as you say, you have to credit them for a very unlikely five minutes in a game where even all their players, and Iriola afterwards admitted they weren't very good but must be really nice after a game to honestly say yeah we weren't good but we won anyway um to the Emirates then Arsenal won Brighton won we have to start with the sending off Arteta says I was amazed amazed amazed amazed because of how inconsistent decisions can be in the first half there are two incidents and nothing happens then in a non-critical area the ball hits Declan on the back of his leg he turns around he doesn't see the player coming and he touches the ball.

By law he can make that call but then by law he needs to make the next call which is a red card for veldtman so we play 10 versus 10 this is what amazed me at this level it's amazing herzler said for me clear red card and you can't compare the two situations i.e giopedro booting the ball an entire football pitch away in the first half sam how do you feel about who got what and who should have got what in those instances Gal Pedro should have been booked.

They were told, right?

The players, media, managers, they were told if you kick the ball away, if you, well, not if you kick the ball away, but if you delay the restart of the play, that's the law.

So I think as soft as we can all say it is, I think Rice knows exactly what he's doing.

He's got to take some responsibility there.

He's on a book in.

He's an experienced player.

He knows how big the game is.

And they know how fine the margins are.

They lost the title by two points.

And so the focus actually has been on this refereeing decision.

The focus really should be on Arsenal slipping up in a home game.

And Rice has let them down.

And you can say it's soft.

We do say it's soft.

But he knew what he was doing.

And we're told from as long as I can remember, right, two wrongs don't make a right.

So you can

ask for consistency, but what you don't want is consistently wrong.

Just because the referee has got one wrong in the first half, he shouldn't then get another one wrong in the second half just to make up for being wrong in the first half.

I've used the word wrong a lot of times.

I also don't buy into the...

No, I understand.

Like, that's how I see it.

People could talk about, oh, the spirit of football, you don't want to see it.

You don't want to see it.

Declan Rice doesn't need to do that, right?

He knows what he's doing.

He's been stupid.

He's played 250 Premier League games or whatever it is.

That's where the buck should stop, really, for this one.

And Arsenal have dropped a couple of points.

Yeah, Barry, it's probably fair to say Joel Veltman also

doesn't need to do that.

I think Joel Veltman knew exactly what he was doing.

I don't think he was trying to take a free kick quickly.

I think he was trying to get Declan Rice sent off, and he did.

And fair play to him.

It was a supreme bit of shithousery.

I think when Chris Kavanagh took the yellow card out, he looked quite sheepish, as if to say, look, you've left me with no choice, so off you go.

But then we saw later, or yesterday, there is room for leniency and discretion because Will Hughes was very lucky to avoid a second yellow and followed by a red in Christopalas' game against Chelsea shortly after halftime, almost at the exact same time that Rice got his marching orders.

Now, I'm interested to know: will the referee who didn't send Will Hughes off, does he get punished for that?

Does he get a talking to or ticking off from Howard Webb?

I don't know.

I'd be interested to know

because Hughes should definitely have gone, but the ref showed him leniency for whatever reason.

Declan Rice has no one to blame but himself.

Yeah, I did like Joel Beltman afterwards, Nadim, saying, you know, I'll have to see it back again.

But I think he said that.

Just boot with someone in the head.

He should get sent off, really, shouldn't he?

As well?

Well, I think in regards to this, it just depends because

certain things can trigger off in your mind here.

And we're talking, the way it gets described is the Declan Rice red card.

But it's not a red card.

It's the yellow card.

So when you say red, immediately the sense of injustice within you just seems to like really spike.

But realistically, like Arteta is trying to explain what happened, but I think he's wrong.

Because Rice had kicked it away because he saw Veltman coming.

You can see, like,

he's looking down the pitch, and and then out of the corner of his eye sees Veltman coming to take a quick free kick and he just nudges it out of the way.

Like that's as much housery as Veltman trying to kick the ball at Rice's housery.

And I think the referee's had a decision to make and I'm with Sam whereby like Declan Rice all of a sudden in this, he's being treated as if he's an angel because of the sense of injustice.

But like he's on a yellow card.

You don't even need to be there.

Like if he doesn't kick the ball away and Veltman kicks it off him, the referee's also got a choice to make now.

Does he buck him for delaying the free kick from standing there?

I thought he would have managed that situation differently.

and I think he's made a mistake.

And because it was Arsenal at home and all this, and Arteta is very passionate about it, it feels like there's a sense of injustice there.

And we can talk about inconsistency.

That's perfectly fair.

But even the way he spoke about inconsistency, he said there were two in the first half, which he didn't book.

And then Declan's one in an area of the field which didn't matter where he barely did anything.

Like, all of a sudden, it's like, well, that's inconsistency, but this decision is just wrong.

I think...

He shouldn't have put himself in that situation.

I think the referees obviously made a big call in terms of giving him a second yellow card for it.

But I think there was something that's going to happen anyway, because if he didn't kick it, I'd say I think Veltman kicks it off and the referee again has to make a decision.

But what would the perception have been if Rolls were reversed?

And now say that was Ben White trying to kick the ball against Jao Pedro and Jao Pedro slightly nudges it off.

Would we be saying the same things from an Arsenal perspective?

Probably not.

So I think emotions played its part in this for me, to be honest.

Do you think Mikel Arteta is inconsistent when he talks about inconsistency?

And that is, and all we really want from managers is consistency when they're talking about consistency and inconsistency that's the key i think artetta's very very consistently passionate about defending his football club in any way possible and at times it may lead to a sort of sense of like in any particular moment like i'm being gaslit perhaps but maybe i'm wrong maybe i missed the point it's worth a word on giao pedro right he's such a brilliant player sam you've seen a lot of him in the in the championship and he's he's a great signing for them So my wife is a Watfin season ticket holder.

So I got hauled around watching them.

And he, at the point where everyone was talking about Emmanuel Dennis and Emilio Saras being the ones to buy, the Watford fans wanted to keep hold of Jao Pedro.

He's this little gem.

They brought him over from Brazil where he kind of came from nowhere, 16, 17.

He wasn't even the first choice striker in his side.

And then, as happened, the age group striker went up to the 21s.

He played, he scored goals.

He comes over, doesn't speak the language.

comes over with his family, suffered tragedy.

His stepdad died really suddenly.

And they all came over together, his mum, his stepdad, his best mate who was a YouTuber, and they all sort of lived together and

he worked ridiculously hard.

He's bulked up and he's just got that little bit of quality.

He's got that

kind of South American steel basically.

He looks at you.

I remember chatting to a coach of his at Fluminenzi called Eduardo Oliviera and they were one down in a semi-final when he said Chal Pedro just looked over and the eye, the glint in his eyes just said he was going to go and win this game for us.

So I think he was a very unbright and signing at the time in the sense that last season,

when them spending 30 million quid on a player was unheard of, they'd like to pick up people who no one had ever heard of.

But I think what actually they do is buy players whose value is going to increase.

And I think Galpedro's already has increased, and he could be a proper superstar.

He's a bit of a slow burner.

You know, some players come in at 16, 17, Rooney comes on, and it's an immediate start.

I think Galpedro is just slowly burning away and he's starting to look really quality in that Bryant team.

All right, that'll do for part one.

Part two will begin at St.

James's Park.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

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

Play is everything.

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

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

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly, must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim.

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So Newcastle 2, Spurs 1.

Sam, you were there.

You're a Newcastle fan.

I mean, it was a great game from a Spurs perspective.

God, they're annoying.

I mean, they zip the ball around like so beautifully.

You'll watch this guy, God, the intensity is amazing.

But actually it's a brilliant win for newcastle because they were dangerous on the break they worked so hard eddie howe was really pragmatic and they just sort of they did spurt you could see it coming from just the whole game basically it's this newcastle have had this amazing start and they haven't played any good football yet and they were so a couple of seasons ago under how it was that intensity as our identity and we kept hearing it and it wasn't like that at all and actually the southampton game first game of the season was a similar performance the two home wins have been almost like away games where Eddie Howe plays this sort of sous vide football where he sucks all the air out of it.

And the defence lines up and the midfield, the midfield three, don't move.

And

you can watch the opposing centre-backs.

They keep going further.

They get to the halfway line.

And they get past the halfway line.

And they're waiting for someone to break and give them that little gap.

And actually, Newcastle haven't been doing that.

They've had the discipline this year and the stamina to keep going.

So it's

look, if I'm Tottenham Hotspur, if I'm James Madison, which I wish I was, and Andrew Postagoglo, I'm on that flight home, and you just look at each other.

You don't have to say anything.

You just look at each other and just shrug and go, oh, like they know, like words aren't needed.

They should have really won that game.

They were the better side.

But whether it's a little bit of mental scarring, I mean, it was strange to be in St.

James's Park and not find Tottenham Freenil down after half an hour and incomplete disarray.

It was a bit weird.

We were looking around going,

this isn't how this one's meant to go.

But they were very good in spaces.

And Newcastle can't play the way they want to play by the way because they've got Emmel Craft and Dan Byrne at centre back at the moment who've done a great job but you cannot play that intense step up push football if you haven't got a centre half who can step forward into midfield and play football and so they've got a share out bottom and out so they've been forced into this pragmatism but

would you rather play badly and win or play well and lose because one team did that on Sunday and one team did the other and I know which one I'd rather be.

Yeah, and actually speaking of defenders who push up, Nadam, like Christian Romero did just sort of go on a mad run, and that opened the space for the Newcastle Open.

Yeah.

Yeah, he did.

And, you know, I think the way you described Spurs there was awesome.

You know what I mean?

Like, God, they're annoying.

Because

it should be simple to sort of talk about them because they do play nice football.

You know, it is attacking.

You see what they're trying to go for.

And then they sometimes come away with absolutely nothing.

But then as Sam was saying, for them to not be 3-0 down is a, we'll probably perceive this to be progress this year.

Maybe next year it's a draw.

Who knows?

Maybe they get a cup tie and they win that one as well.

But they are.

I do believe in them, especially later in the season.

And I thought, oh, with Vander Venn being out, maybe that'll be a concern and what have you.

But I thought they were fine, but this is ultimately the way it's going to be for them.

And unfortunately, they just find ways to drop points in times when you wouldn't necessarily expect them to.

And Newcastle, if this is going to be the way that they're doing things whilst their centre-backs are out, then it is proving to be effective.

And, you know, this is, I don't know, would you, as Sam said, like, it's weird that you'd rather be Newcastle than Spurs and not playing too well and finding a way to win, as opposed to walking off every game and saying, yeah, I thought we were good, won at every game, but in some games, say, yeah, I thought we were good today.

But unfortunately, we came away with nothing.

Yeah.

I mean, you look at Spursbury.

They should have won at Leicester.

I mean,

that is beyond no doubt, right?

They hammered Leicester and drew 1-1.

Then they hammered Everton.

And then they, I mean, they didn't hammer Newcastle, right?

Actually, Newcastle had a higher XG, but they were better than Newcastle, but they lost.

Yeah, they were better than Newcastle.

As

Sam has pointed out,

this pragmatism was necessary from Eddie Howe, and they won't be playing like that all the time.

But, I mean, the first goal Spurs conceded was from a throw-in, which is kind of unforgivable.

And then the second one was this kamikaze high line they played that was exploited by Jacob murphy and alexander isaac one suspects that if mickey van der Veyen had been there he might have been able to catch uh Jacob Murphy but um

Christian Romero got caught flat-footed and and Destiny Doggy couldn't couldn't keep up with him so that's that's how they scored their winner but uh it was a very good win for them and yeah a bit a bit lads it's Tottenham from Tottenham Yeah, Harvey Barnes' finish was great.

Gabdal says, what has caused the rise in archery celebrations in the Premier League?

Seems to be a lot now.

it's a very good point i presume the athletic will soon do a deep dive i was wondering about that i'm going to presume it's some video game that i'm unfamiliar with do you think there's a bow and arrow video game that the kids are playing surely not i mean i don't know sam you look young yeah not you're gonna i like to think it's come they're all just watching robin hood on vhs they've just gone back to that it's it possible

The Kevin Cost to the trees.

I am not one of you, but I fight like one of you.

Oh man, suddenly, suddenly I'm absolutely, I have a brother.

Oh, one of the greatest of all time.

You wanted to talk about Sandra Tenali, Sab, and like from an addiction perspective, didn't you?

Yeah, so he's come back.

And so I, without meaning to get like too serious, like I can, I can't speak for Sandra Tenali because I don't know him.

And his experience, his experience, but I've had, I can relate in the sense that I've done a couple of stints in rehab for one basically not eating, one where I decided I couldn't eat without bringing it back up again, right?

And

in those moments, like, you know how bad it is for you, but you just can't stop.

It's compulsive.

I shouldn't say you, I should say I.

I found it compulsive.

I couldn't stop.

And the pain, like the pain, it's almost in the soul.

It really hurts.

And you're chasing an endorphin.

I was chasing it and it just gets further and further away.

And where I went, it was with alcoholics and gambling addicts and drug addicts.

And I just think what's been really nice is A, the way Nicasa wrapped their arms around him as a human, right?

Because you see so many football teams treat players as just commodities, a bit like you know, Chelsea chucking out people that have been there for 15 years, saying, No, we don't need you anymore.

So I like the way they've wrapped around him.

And there's been moments, there was a moment at the end, or at the start, there was a flag display for him.

And even at Forest, after the penalty shootout win, there were

he came over to the away fans and he was sort of pushed forward by Jacob Murphy.

And you could see the emotion in his eyes.

And those moments are what I found I needed to like feel alive again because for a long time, right, I felt like I was alive but just not living and so like breathing but that's basically all existing and I think if you can hang on to those moments

I think that's wonderful and people need to remember and again I should stress I can't speak for him but recovery isn't linear so I felt sure it's not just better I was once there now there so there will be good days and bad days.

I have those.

I have days where the pain is just unbearable.

And I have good days.

And I think people need to remember that and not expect too much about him but he is a blooming good footballer and the way he passes a football my word it looks good yeah no I appreciate you know you sharing that actually I wanted to ask you again about the the feelings about the feeling amongst the fans about the ownership because it's sort of it feels a not quite it feels different I think they've eroded a lot of goodwill actually in this transfer window because

they haven't signed a proper first team players for a couple of windows now and Sven Bottman goes off in a Manchester City Cup defeat, right, last early, much earlier in the year.

Everyone's known since then, they did a sentiment back.

Everyone knows they need a right-winger.

And if it's obvious to supporters,

they got away with it yesterday, and it helps the feeling.

But about a month before the season, everyone, the fans are going, oh, well, they've sorted it out, you know, commercially.

We've got this, Darren Eales is the face of it.

They're out talking to us.

And I feel a little bit conned, you know, almost like someone has come up and talked to me and then taken something out of of my pocket while i wasn't looking i felt really good during the conversation and now i'm going well hang on a minute where but

you come out with all these statements they're just words that i think jamie rubin tweeted something about being united as one and always backing the manager and there will be blips well they bid 70 million pounds for a footballer so they can't say that they haven't got any cash and yet they've closed the window and they haven't brought anyone in and There's no entitlement to try and go for the top four, but it feels already like a little bit of opportunity missed with no Europe, with that chance just a strength from the hand.

And like Jacob Murphy comes on yesterday and on the highlights package, he'll look good.

Like I love Jacob Murphy.

He gets that chance and he sets up the goal.

It's one of the worst 10 minutes you will ever see from a substitute before that.

The number of times he gave the ball away.

Honestly, and he would admit that.

I don't feel bad saying it.

I reckon he gave the...

In tennis, you'd call them unforced errors four or five times.

He gives the ball away.

And if it doesn't go in those moments or when Kraft and Byrne are at the back and having Burn sticks it in, that's when fans go, oh, well, we should have signed someone there.

We were promised someone there.

And so they've got away with it.

But you can tell Howe is a little bit, it's not harmonious there at the moment.

Even Eddie Howe is getting a little bit niggly.

And you just wonder if that England job were to come up, would he be more tempted now?

Let's go somewhere harmonious.

Stamford Bridge, Chelsea one, Palace one.

I mean, you never know what you're going to get with Chelsea Nadum.

And after the six against Wolves, I was really expecting another six and I didn't get them.

You're a greedy, greedy boy, Max.

Greedy boy.

I mean I don't want Chelsea to score six.

I already pointed out, but I was expecting it.

Yeah, I think for what Chelsea are, like, I think they have the sort of fluctuations of what is a young side with a new manager that's trying to figure things out with the players that he's decided he wants as opposed to the ones he's decided that he doesn't.

So

I don't think the six, you know, that's more of an abomination as such, but that yesterday, I thought they were...

They were good.

I think Chelsea are going to be, overall, an entertaining side to watch casually, if you know what I mean, because they will have some games where they might blow up, but they'll have some games where they'll play some good football because you know the attacking threat is always going to be there.

I think they're pretty dynamic as well.

And I think on a different day, is it Maduecki scores a couple more?

Maybe the game's completely out of sight, but you know, this is the way the Premier League goes, and there's always someone on the side of the bit of quality.

And in this moment, oof, where Berry is a

delightful finish.

That delightful could never do it against me on a Friday in training, though, but delightful finish of Berry.

Just do it at Stanford Bridge instead.

But yeah, this is, I think this is what we can sort of expect from Chelsea, my mind.

I think they are a good side.

I think there's a lot of chaos around them, but they always have potential to be able to win any particular game of football, but then also not be able to hold on to leads and things like that, because I don't think they've got enough game managers in their side just yet, or at this moment in time, a manager experienced enough to know how to fully deal with sort of like big moments throughout a season as it stands.

Yeah,

it felt like two points dropped there, though, didn't it?

I mean, they had loads of chances.

Henderson played well, but they had loads of chances.

Mad Wake was great again.

Big time, you say you expected six, they probably should have got six, or maybe seven or eight.

I reckon they probably created more good chances in this game than they did in the one against Wolves.

Took some brilliant saves from Dean Henderson, and just some poor finishing from Madueke missed a couple of good chances.

Nicholas Jackson came out second best in a one-on-one right at the end when he ran onto that Mudrick ball over the top.

He'd hit hit one into the side netting before that.

And I think Crystal Palace were quite lucky in this game.

I've already mentioned the fact that Will Hughes should have been sent off shortly after half-time.

And Oliver Gazner did say after the game, oh, we discussed taking him off at halftime, decided to leave him on.

And then when he got away with that challenge

on

Cole Palmer,

they couldn't get him off quick enough.

So I think Crystal Palace, good point for them, but a very lucky one.

And their record at Stamford Bridge is atrocious.

So, yeah, I think they really dodged a hail of bullets yesterday.

I think you're right.

Yeah, I did like an essay afterwards.

Was uh, the question, I can't remember what else it said, it was just the right amount of power, just the right amount of curl, great goal.

And he just said, Yes, thank you very much.

It was sort of like one of my you know, cul-de-sac questions to you, Barry.

And he answered it absolutely perfectly.

Um, to the London Stadium, West Ham, one, Man City, three.

Ernest Harland's going to score a thousand goals this season, isn't he?

The second goal is he scored 70 in 69 Premier League games, more than one a game.

I feel good.

I feel energised.

I had a long vacation and pre-season.

Now I'm ready for more.

I mean, I don't know what...

We've been through this already.

I don't know what to ask, Sam.

I don't know what to say.

He kicks the second one incredibly hard.

That was my main observation of him in this game.

Yeah, I think that's a fair observation.

What was he?

He was in the chopping logs with his dad, wasn't he?

In the summer.

That was his vacation.

And maybe that...

look, he's brilliant.

There's not much new you can say.

I think he's in that extra.

He's got 97 goals in 102 games for them.

And Ronaldo at Real Madrid is the quickest ever to 100 club goals in 105 games.

So he's got a couple of games to get three goals.

And he's already in that.

Ronaldo messy territory, isn't he?

And he's 24 and he's just a very good striker who does miss chances as well.

Like that, the header he puts wider, Neil Neil, like he is sort of mortal.

Maybe he just does it to make us all feel better about ourselves a little bit.

It's like this one's for you, fans.

Like, this, I'm not completely perfect, but yeah, there's what more can you say about him?

Can you say he's a big game bottler that he doesn't score in semi-finals and finals?

Oh, don't be doing this, you.

Don't be doing this.

God, Max, what were you going to say?

It's not true.

It is true.

He has never scored in a semifinal or final for Manchester City.

Never.

Who are City's main goal scorers in semifinals and finals across all those years?

I can't remember.

See,

there you go.

You can't work it both ways.

Go on, Max.

What were you going to say?

Let's not have Barry get in any trouble.

No, no, I suppose to be, you know, I'm not just here to back up Barry.

In fact, far from it.

You are.

You are.

Talking sport on there.

Let's carry on.

Does it matter who scored in the semifinals and finals if Harland hasn't?

I mean, if they've won them, I suppose it doesn't matter.

There you go, Max.

That's the point, my friend.

You know what I mean?

I don't know.

You carry on.

You carry on.

I suppose my point was going to be, is it going to be like Don Bradman, you know, who just needed whatever to average 100 and he didn't quite get it.

And so we're just going to, Haaland's going to be just so close to being a goal a game in his career and he just won't quite manage it.

But, you know, sort of need him to leave the Premier League to make it interesting again.

That's a bit harsh.

But I think what I would say in terms of Haaland, like, as Sam said, like, he does miss some chances.

Last year in particular.

If you could run two compilations, the one of his goals and some of his misses and some of his misses will leave your drawer on the floor you think how could that be the same person not least of all i think it was one where he's volleyed it over the bar from a yard against united in the in the derby these are these are big moments in the crazy times but as he said himself you know he's been chopping wood in the summer with his dad watching everyone else getting tired at the euros and he's just he's just jumping a bit to get back because you know for him he obviously had a down year last year as top goalscorer in the premier league but the his style of play is one whereby like everyone says oh you know because i've heard loads of people say this even strikers oh if i was was playing for city i'd have scored x amount and so on not necessarily because some of the opportunities that he gets come because he's a six foot four freak if you know what i mean like his sense for positioning his ability to strike his speed like when he's running through one-on-one towards the end like tell me any defender other than van der Ben that could possibly catch him you know he's he's he's he's a unicorn at times and I think whilst he continues to work at his craft he will get better and better and better but I think for someone to assume that he's only doing it because it's City I think misses the the point.

Because I know City don't have a rich history in the Premier League across like the 30 years or however long, but he's currently third top goalscorer

for City in the Premier League in their Premier League year.

So he's clearly got something going for him.

Tom says, did Lopategui make the halftime sub just to check Barry was watching?

Who went off and who went on?

Areola on Fabianski on?

Was it?

Alphonse Areola went off, presumably with an injury because he hadn't done anything wrong in the first half and Lucas Fabianski came on.

And were you excited?

I was doing the minute-by-minute report, but it didn't faze me.

I was able to cope.

Belled on to you.

Just one small thing on this game.

As good as City were and as good as Haaland was,

it took them a long time to put this game to bed, and they should have had it won by half-time.

And West Ham, that time, West Ham started quite well, but City then, after about from about five minutes on, threatened to overwhelm them.

But West Ham was still in this game and had hit the post

with five minutes left.

Yeah.

Kudas.

Yeah, it was that turn from Pakatar in his own box that was just

ludicrous.

It's amazing awareness of just where everyone is on the pitch.

To Brentford, then.

And Bumo and Whisser have started brilliantly.

Six goals and assists between them already.

Hooney Dive and Tony, Sam.

What do you make of his move?

He's gone to Al Ali on deadline name for £40 million and is apparently on £403,000 a week, which is insane.

Like, he's good.

That's just an amazing amount of money.

I wonder what the free comes from.

Were they offering him £400 and he went, no, £405,000?

And then he sort of went, well, we'll meet you halfway.

As a football, you want Evantoni playing in the Premier League.

The market, unless you're a goalkeeper where there just seems to be this kind of merry-go-round of goalkeepers, it wasn't a very good market for, and that money and with PSR means that players can't move around.

The slightly so-called smaller clubs are waiting for the bigger clubs to make moves and they couldn't.

So there just wasn't the money to keep him in the Premier League at another club.

It doesn't feel like, look,

I

you will never, I don't know what he was on at Brentford.

Let's say he was on six figures a week.

But if someone comes to you in your professional life and says, I'm going to quadruple your wages and you're probably going to have it tax-free or however, whatever, tax advantageous, can I knock him for going, not really, you're going to do that, right?

It's not like the level of football is what it is he's not going to be uh lauded as a a great footballer when he was out there will he stay in an england will he get back in an england squad playing out there

maybe not whereas england day's already over with carsly coming in who knows but it's just a bit of a meh move like good luck to him he did really well at brentford he was brilliant for them but they showed uh they were forced to have life without him and they showed they have they can do it just go for six weeks take that money and then just you know

that's what jordan henderson did and he didn't get the money in the end you have to stay

you lose the tax, don't you?

Nadem, just on Southampton.

I feel like we're going to have this eternal conversation and compare Russell Martin to your mate, Vincent Company, and playing out.

Are you happy to engage in that chat?

Yeah, of course.

I'm happy to engage because, you know, if Russell Martin continues to do it, then he'll be at one of the big clubs around Europe next season.

It's the easiest way to think about it.

Yeah,

they're going to persist with that style because the manager trusts his players to do it.

I think the players themselves, they're seeing a very, very different opponent now, and these mistakes that they're making, they are being punished for.

It's a completely different level.

But again, you could ask the players to do something different and they might give it a go, but can they do that any better?

Do they have like the makeup of a team that can be really good at being, you know, really playing longer balls, winning headers, winning second balls, being good at set pieces?

At this moment in time, I don't think so as I look at their team.

And I think the way that they're playing at the moment, maybe there's a spark, maybe they'll win a game and they'll start to believe and they'll be able to perform better.

But I think the manager himself and the players, they'll adjust throughout the season just hopefully by the time they get it right it won't be so far gone into the season they're already preparing for the next year in the championship how is um how is your friend vincent doing is he still talking to you now he's the buyer and manager hey listen he's gone to germany he's won two games and by 11kuzz have lost a game of football so everything is going well for him currently and i'm sure it'll continue that way and he'll be the greatest ever buyer in munich manager ever yeah that's the way before we end part two uh we can send our condolences to the friends and family of sole bamber uh former Leeds, Lester Cardiff, well known at Cardiff.

Hibbs defenders died at the age of 39.

He overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2021 when he was playing at Cardiff.

He'd been working out in Turkey at Adana Spore, who announced the news on Saturday night.

His wife Chloe put this message on Instagram: said, For the last few years, I've watched Sol fight his cancer head-on with an astounding mental and physical strength and stoicism.

Unfortunately, it was never a fair fight.

Just when things were looking up, he took a downturn and finally succumbed on the 31st of August.

These years have been indescribably difficult, but we still managed to find joy and laughter in it.

I've experienced my worst days, but also some of my best.

Saul accepted his fate as God's will and left this earth knowing without a shadow of a doubt that he was loved wholeheartedly.

I made sure of that.

It was an honor to have loved and been loved by Sol.

I learned so much from him.

He's my hero.

My heart is breaking.

What a gift!

What a gift!

What a gift to have been loved by him.

Yeah, incredibly sad news and gone far too soon.

And we send our best wishes to his friends and family.

We'll be back in a second.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day, Scratchers, from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

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

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

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

Play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly, must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Leicester one, Aston Villa two.

Yeah, good win for Villa, Nadam.

I love that opening goal, that free kick routine, and the way that Jacob Ramsey takes that into his stride is so good.

Yeah, you can, not only have they worked on it during the week, they've worked on it many, many times during the week because to get that timing just right and to not like reveal what it's going to be before you start doing it.

And I'll be honest, I looked at Lester's team and I thought, oh, surely someone can sense that something's going to happen and they can try and stop it.

But yeah, but you don't know what it's going to be.

You can just sense that something different is going to happen.

It was a very, very good set piece.

And when it goes in, you know, that set piece, coach or whatever,

yeah.

Big Austin, yeah, he'll be after a pay rise soon, that fella.

You know what I mean?

He's putting some magic out there in the Premier League.

Yeah, they did very well.

And Duran's header as well, Baz, is brilliant, isn't it?

Ollie Watkins has sort of missed a few chances this season, but then Duran comes in, and it's a great header.

Yeah, a really towering header.

It's not happening for Ollie at the moment.

So Duran gets his opportunity and he's taking them.

That's his second goal of the season.

It was a really good strike.

Villa were hanging on a bit towards the end.

Mavadidi came on as a sub,

took on and beat

young Winston Bogart's nephew, who's playing for Villa.

I think it was his first appearance for them in something like three years.

I don't know if he's been sitting out his contracts for the last three years.

Flying in his uncle.

Just for the games.

But he got one of his four games that he'll play for Villa in five years.

Yeah, the cross to Indeedee, who

teed up Buenanott for a lovely finish.

And then

Leicester, I think, had an opportunity to equalise after that, or a penalty shout.

And then we retreated to Steve Cooper moaning about the ref after the game.

I'd forgotten how bad he is for complaining about referees after games.

It's very, very tedious.

But I had completely forgotten what a whinger he is.

And oh, because,

you know, whatever, he wasn't whinging with any great justification.

It's very much deflection, deflect, deflect from my shortcomings.

Yeah, I think you're right, Barry.

He seemed aggrieved about a number of decisions that he probably didn't really need to be aggrieved with.

Chris says, I give you permission to let Forrest go under that radar and a 30-second summary will be fine.

Yeah, Nottingham Forrest conspiring to play in games that we have very little to talk about or are down the bottom of the running order.

It's not an agenda, I promise.

But some they've started well this season.

Yeah, they have.

And Chris Wood has become the focal point, hasn't he?

Well, he is the focal point, right?

He can never not be at the size of him.

But all this talk of bringing forwards in, they tried to get in Ketia.

They agreed a fee, couldn't get in.

They were talking about Wisa, a couple of lads who were playing across in Europe.

And New Zealand wanted him to go to the Olympics.

And he said, I'm really sorry, guys.

Nuno says, I can't go.

I agree.

I'm going to get fit and firing at pre-season.

And look,

you have to play a certain way with Chris Wood, but

I don't think he's got

13 and 19 since Nuno came in.

He had a second one chalked off for offside.

So, I mean, who says there isn't a place for number nines, old school number nines who can't really run?

But it's lovely to see up at the city grand i agree actually there was one game it was at st james's park you probably remember it where he just turned into r9 ronaldo last season but actually naden like like if you have a focal point and they have like exciting players around him right like it's actually quite good to have someone who can just get it you know i'm you would yell make it stick to him and it does yeah you can definitely have that as important i think sometimes some teams have a have somebody playing up there and they're just very isolated but chris wood's a good player man you know i played against him i know he's a good player and it's good to see see him scoring goals as well because as you guys have been saying like there's been so much talk about people coming in to replace him but he's still scoring goals you know some might not necessarily suit the eye of everyone but effective effectiveness in the Premier League is pretty important and I think the stylized he scored 14 goals in the league last year some of our preferred attackers didn't score that many last season so clearly he's of value especially for notting forest just been a bit of a goalkeeper merry go round as well goalkeeper go round in this window and sam Johnson had his first game for Woolows.

At least, I think it was, yeah, it was his first game for Woolows.

He was very good.

I mean, he prevented Forrest from taking all three points.

Yeah, Belligard's strike was pretty good.

Well, what have you made of James Ward Prouse going to Forrest?

Well, Lopatega clearly isn't a fan of his.

I think he'd be good for Forrest.

He's an asset.

I think he's an asset to

any team.

I don't know.

He's never played for

sort of your traditional elite club, but

he's probably good enough to, but he's certainly an asset to any team outside the big six.

And like his free-taking, corner-taking are second to

very few.

And I'm a big fan of James Warprose.

And if we thought Chris Wood was good already, imagine what he's going to be when James Warpras gets on the pitch.

Exactly.

That's perfect.

To Portman Rhodes, Ipswich's first point of the season.

They drew with Fulham.

Liam DeLap's goal was absolutely absolutely brilliant.

And some end product from Adama Triore.

Do you think, Naden, from the small sample size we have so far, that Ipswich are the most likely of the promoted sides to

sustain a push at staying up?

If they are, maybe just by a little bit.

But, again, this, in some ways, it...

kind of feels like looting vibes.

You know, people are, it's quite nice, this, you know, they've got something going for them.

They are, they do have a threat, they're entertaining as such, but you still need to be getting the points on the board.

And I think many people would have fancied him to beat Fulham.

So, from when they took the lead, and what a great strike it was by Liam DeLap as well.

I think I hope at some point in the future we can have a debate about who had the bigger impact in Premier League football, him or his dad.

But that was

a very, very good strike, and they might just be edging it for now.

But the way that football goes, give it two games, and you know, it could be the other way around as Leicester win and Southampton outplay, you know, some team that we never thought they would.

Liam DeLap, Barry, is he on the radar for your uh, for who's managing Ireland now?

The Icelandic dentist

whose name escapes me at the moment.

I have no idea.

I would imagine...

He's quite English, but I think he qualifies for you as well.

I don't know if he qualifies for us.

If he does, we'll happily have him.

He may fancy playing for England.

And I can't say I would blame him really if both options are open.

He looked good.

He's a big lump, isn't he?

I don't know if he has a long throw in him, but he's, yeah, he was very impressive in that game.

Even if he doesn't, he should learn one and just bring it out.

At some point,

he just asks for a towel and goes, actually, I've got this.

Haimer Halgrimson.

No, what he should do is go over, answer the towel, dry off the ball, and then just throw it short.

Haimer Halgrimson is the island manager.

Look, it's an international break.

We've got, I don't know how many pods to get through in the international break, so we can do a lot on him in a bit.

Calvin Phillips made his first start for Ipswich since joining from Manchester City.

Andrews says the oddest transfer move potentially does Barry know where Jamal Lewis is moving to?

Hint, not a European,

no, I don't.

Anyone?

Anyone?

Sam's nodding.

He is having not been able to get in Watford side last year on loan, he is going to Sao Paulo.

São Paulo.

They're going to fair play to him going out there to a bit of Brazil.

He's going to be late joining up with the Northern Ireland squad because he's signing a Sao Paulo contract.

And good luck to the lad.

Well, the one thing that I know about Sao Paulo is I think it's the only city in the world where sort of advertising hoardings or billboards are banned.

So there are no adverts anywhere for anything in Sao Paulo.

And until someone mentions it to you, you don't notice.

And then it's weird.

And Paul says, how do the panel think the Football Victoria Metro North West Division Six champions will fare next season?

Yeah, massive,

back-to-back titles for me, Barry, in Football Victoria Metro Northwest.

Are you proud?

I'm very proud.

You know how much I love hearing about your football exploits every Sunday.

Do you get promoted now and will you be out of your depth next season?

Well, that's what happened last year and we thought we would be.

What was interesting about this one was we needed to win, but we needed...

There was another game between Albert Park and Barnstoneworth, and they could both win the league as well, but we needed an Albert Park victory.

And so we sent our left back's parents to watch that game and text updates.

And one of our teammates, it was 4-0 to the team we needed to win, but he told us all it was 0-0 until the last minute.

And then he let us in.

But we weren't quite sure if our left-back's parents knew which team was which.

So we were sort of celebrating.

Go, we can't be totally sure about this.

But yeah, absolute scenes.

And, you know, never stop playing is my advice to everyone.

It was a total joy.

Max, just to say, by the way, it's never good if you turn to someone and ask them, are you proud?

You know what I mean?

That's that's like, that's that's that's not a good position to be in.

I hope you're okay, mate.

We'll talk off the pod.

All right.

I know, I know Barry doesn't give a shit.

It's, you know,

comfortable in knowing.

Why don't you ring David Dougherty, your new Irish fancy man, and ask him if he's

good.

You know, I like, I love working with you.

He would be.

He'd be happy for me.

He'd be happy for any happiness I have.

As I've said before, Nadam, I don't know if I've told this story on air, but

when I

was moving to Australia, I took Barry for a pint and I took Charlie Baker for a pint,

who I do the Saturday show with on Talksport.

So on the Saturday, I go for a beer with Charlie and I say, look, I'm having a baby and I'm moving to Australia.

And I don't know if I'm going to be able to

keep Talksport on The Guardian, but hopefully I will.

And Charlie's first words were, you'll be a great dad.

And so then the next day, I do the show with Barry and I go to the pub and I have a pint and I say to Barry, I'm having a baby and I'm moving to Australia and hopefully I can keep talks bought in the Guardian, but I don't know.

I've got to talk to them.

And Barry just said, how does this affect me?

There you go.

Seriously.

Producer Joel says, I may have told that story before, but you know, it's not like me to repeat anecdotes.

I've only got three, so you know.

I'm happy to admit that Charlie Baker and you and most other people are better human beings than I am.

It's also worth saying for the record.

After I released my new podcast, What Did You Do Yesterday with excellent Irish broadcaster David O'Doherty and comedian, the first thing you did, Barry, was block me on Twitter and Instagram.

So there you go.

How petty you are.

Anyway, sorry to include you in this domestic chaps.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Thank you, Nadam.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sam.

Excellent debut.

You're welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you, Barry.

I love you dearly.

I love you too, Max.

So that was a tactic, a cynical cynical tactic, to get people to listen to your new podcast and

to get them to listen to this one to see if I'd be in a hump or have a hump or something.

Well, you sold me because I was a bit annoyed with you for a bit.

You know,

what the fuck's he doing?

There, you know, there we are.

Uh, all is well in paradise.

Football weekly is produced by Joe Grove.

Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

Uh, we'll be back tomorrow.

This is The Guardian.