Haaland destroys Wolves as City and Arsenal keep winning – Football Weekly

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Loads of goals, but nothing changed.

We're at the sun's out.

No one is blinking.

Over to you stage of the title race.

Arsenal comfortably beat Bournemouth and Man City.

Do the same to wolves.

At the Emirates, it took the gunners a a little while, but they created so much.

Well, more proof that Erling Harland is a flat-track bully.

Elsewhere, Liverpool Hammer Spurs, who now just score a couple late on to make things look slightly better.

Four straight defeats for them.

Is it time for perspective, or can I sound an enormous crisis claxon?

It means Villa will probably get top four even if they don't get another point, which is lucky because they might not.

At the bottom of big weekend for Nottingham Forest, they win while Burnley are hammered and Luton only draw.

We'll get Nick Ames on to be emotional about Ipswich Town's promotion to the Premier League.

Congratulate Bromley on getting to the EFL.

Answer your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hello.

Hello, Lucy Ward.

Hi, Max.

And good morning, Barney Ronay.

Hi, everyone.

So the title race then, Arsenal played 36, 83 points.

Saman City played 35, 82 points.

Should we begin at the Emirates?

Arsenal 3, Bournemouth-Nil.

Lucy, you were there.

How was it?

Do you know, it was a very warm day and the opening sort of half an hour of it, you could sort of, you know, when the sun comes out in England and everybody sort of struggles physically, it seemed a little bit like that.

But I actually,

in fact, I've got a personal, if I've got quite a few personal stories to tell.

Oh, here we go.

That's exciting.

It's like an audience with Lucy Ward, right?

Yeah, well, that's the only reason I've come on.

If I'm not talking about myself, I'm not coming on.

That's the deal.

So, one of my kids, one of my many children from Leeds, Lewis Cook, now plays for Bournemouth.

TNT thought it was a very good idea that I interviewed him before the game.

So I got to do that when he's like now not a little boy, he's now a man with a baby of his own.

And so it was very nice.

And

I asked, I was with Ryan Christie as well.

So there's the pair of them.

And I asked Ryan Christie.

Lewis Cook, when he was little, he used to have a tantrum and cry in the middle of the pitch when he lost.

And I just wondered whether he still did that.

So that made everybody laugh.

So yeah, so that was good.

That was that was a nice little thing for me to do all those years later.

But yeah, Arsenal, you know, they sort of dominated.

Though I like Raula's team, I like the way that he sets up Bournemouth and I like the players that he's got.

I think that he is a manager that is going places.

Um, now, whether, you know, obviously Bournemouth want to keep him, it's a project, etc.

But there's just something about him that is very clever.

Um, and you know, I could I could see Bournemouth just keeping going on an upward trajectory, to be honest.

Barney, uh, you were also there.

How was it for you?

Did you get to interview someone that you knew as a child?

I mean, I spoke to Dave Heitner for a bit, and I've known him for quite a while.

Luce Cook played really well, I thought.

And I haven't really been watching him every week or anything like that.

But

is he the only English footballer currently playing as a deep defensive midfielder in the Premier League?

He might be.

I can't think of anyone else.

Yes, probably is.

Probably is Barney.

And do you know what?

He's got an England cap as well, but he had two cruciate ligament injuries

sort of quite close together, and he's sort of out of the reckoning.

But he was the captain of the under-20s that won the World Cup a few years ago, so he's you know, he's got that sort of pedigree.

He's he's played, he played, you can see what he does, he goes really deep, doesn't he?

He goes in between the centre-backs and is really comfortable there.

And obviously, that's something he's worked on with the manager.

I don't, you know, I mean, obviously, he's not going to get picked for the Euros, but it's odd that there's no actual English football.

You know, Calvin Phillips is now going to go an entire year without starting in a Premier League team that's won, despite playing for teams that tend to win.

So, I mean, he's not going to go to the Euros.

I don't know who he is.

I don't know who's going to play in that role.

This has got nothing to do with what you asked me, but no, it doesn't.

It doesn't.

But maybe that's a sign of, you know, it was a kind of procession, I guess, for Arsenal.

Well, no, there were interesting, there were some interesting refereeing decisions, which I've noticed.

I mean, the part of that...

It's sort of really irrelevant.

Arsenal played really well, and it would have been weird if they didn't win.

But

we kind of end up talking about refereeing decisions because the league is not really changing, is it?

The battle for sixth place was being hiked up today, which may or may not be a Europa League place, maybe a Europa Conference place, depending on whether the city win the FA Cup.

But that three-way battle is hotting up.

But nothing else is really happening, is it?

We're led to believe there's a title race going on.

And you're kind of watching it happen in slow motion, but it's like a...

It's been badly plotted.

It's like a rom-com where it's too predictable you can see there's not enough there aren't enough obstacles there's not enough jeopardy yeah guy gets girl at the start and then stays with girl yeah

well yeah and that it's not happened yet but you can see that sandra bullock and um you know joey from friends are going to win there needs to be some kind of jeopardy and there isn't we can just see it sort of ticking itself off every week you mean it's boring varnies what are you trying to say it's very boring well that seems mean spirited to say it's boring because if you support manchester manchester city it's not boring presumably it might be it might be sometimes it feels like the defining emotion of this kind of supremacy is not jeopardy and excitement but defiance and vindication so if you like defiance and vindication and shaking your fist at the authorities i mean if you took away their 115 charges

What's the jeopardy?

What's the story of this domination?

I don't know.

This is not supposed to be an insult because I love watching the team.

And I think that they've coached players and made them better.

Obviously, Pep Gagliola is a genius,

but it just is like watching this happen endlessly.

It's like Taylor Swift has released seven albums at once, and they're all at number one.

And you have to say they're all good, or you're biased against Taylor Swift, rather than say, Well, maybe something a little more ragged or original or not just the same.

It's a great project.

Let's just agree, it's a great project.

Barry, welcome.

Hello.

So are you going to provide the other side of this to say this is a fascinating title race and you can't wait for the twists and the turns?

No, it's not fascinating.

I don't think there will be any twists or turns.

But then we saw in the Women's See Pleague yesterday that there was twists and turns, not entirely unpredictable twists and turns.

I think I mentioned on Thursday Chelsea might, you know,

ratchet up their goal difference against Bristol City, which they did.

And

Arsenal might beat Manchester City, which they did.

So it's not out of the question.

I mean, you keep asking us about Arsenal's win, and so far we've addressed bornness, refereeing errors, the WSL, rom-coms, and Lewis Cook.

Lewis Cook and Calvin Phillips.

And yesterday on the radio, we were also trying to struggling to find anything,

I don't know, interesting or novel to say about Arsenal's win or Manchester City's win.

Maybe that's down to our shortcomings as broadcasters or pundits or whatever you want to call us.

But this was a routine win for Arsenal.

Odegaard played well.

Declan Rice played well.

It was good team performance.

They have two games left against Manchester United, Everton at home.

They will probably win those games.

It probably won't be enough.

And I think if we're relying on Spurs to get a result against City,

which seems to be the most likely

possibility of City losing on the evidence of that Spurs performance yesterday, which we're now moving on to, instead of talking about the match you've asked us about, they will get absolutely walloped.

I think so.

Okay, then, Lucy, very quickly then,

the decisions I think that Barney's referring to, one is Havertz winning that penalty, sort of leaving his leg in.

Is this a foul or not a foul?

How do you feel about this?

Well, I did get somebody very angry saying that, how dare Lucy Ward say that?

That is clever, leaving his leg in.

I mean, the thing is, right,

it wasn't Havertz's fault that Travers kept going and went through his leg.

That is not Havertz's fault.

So if the goalkeeper's coming out at 100 mile an hour and he can see, Havertz can see that that's tell you what other master of it, Jack Grealish, absolute master of it.

And you know what?

It's actually quite a skill to make it look like you're not diving and get you get your foot in there and get taken out.

Can I agree?

It was Napoleon, wasn't it?

He said, never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

And that's essentially what's happened there.

But you could also say that it's a foul by Havertz on the goalkeeper.

Because if you deliberately initiate contact with someone where you're not trying to play the ball, which is what happened there, maybe it's a foul by Havertz.

But I don't really think that.

And I think it's really boring.

And basically what happened is it looked like a penalty, so the referee gave it.

Then when they reviewed it, there wasn't enough to say it's not because

the goalkeeper comes sliding out, and you know,

he's not duty-bound to avoid him.

Um, and yeah, it was really clear, and it was a brilliant pass from Oddegaard.

And

everything leading up to that was really skillful.

And as Lucy says, to actually do that, it's really difficult.

What Havertz did is actually very skillful, and that's just that.

But the second decision was ridiculous, and that should have been a goal for Bournemouth.

That is the push on David, the push on David Ryer.

As Jim says, if that's a foul on Ryer, should every single Arsenal goal from set pieces be retrospectively disallowed?

Do we think that is that he got a beneficial treatment that goalkeepers don't always get?

Yes, I mean, he's being you're being rewarded by the referees there.

You can choose a goalkeeper who's really tall, powerful, clears everyone out, and is like one of these sort of Dave Bessant types.

But tactically, teams don't want to do that.

Ryer is really good at high claims, as they call them, but he's also an agile, modern goalkeeper.

And that means it's much more difficult for you to come running through everybody, clear them out of the way, and punch the ball.

And he didn't do that.

So it's kind of almost a tactical decision not to have that kind of goalkeeper.

Why should the referee say that's a foul?

Because other people are also allowed to stand there.

While we're on decisions, Barry, did you think that the Manchester City, they would have won anyway, right?

It's the opening goal.

The first goal is always crucial, unless only Haaland's about to score four in a game.

But I thought that was a foul by Gvardiol, but it's not often given.

Ian Ryan back to the day said it was one of the worst decisions he'd ever seen and is never a penalty.

I thought it was a very, very harsh decision because I'm not sure what Ryan Ait Nouri was supposed to do.

And I don't think there was any aggression on his part, and it was as much a foul by Guardiol on him as it was by Ait Nouri on Guardiol.

It was just, yeah, I didn't think it was a penalty.

But like you say, that didn't make any sense.

Coming together.

Yeah, coming together.

Lucy, do you agree with that?

Yeah, do you know, the only thing I've got written next to Man City versus Wolves is in big letters, boring.

That's all I've written next to it.

And I don't mean that nasty against City.

Guardiola is unbelievable, makes players better.

But I can see Arsenal dominating in the next few years when Pep leaves and City are in National League North.

Manchester City fans get very upset if you suggest that watching them route any team is boring.

And that's fair enough, but I think quite a lot of them are bored as well.

John Nicholson from Football 365, 365, who's been on the podcast, he tweeted and subsequently wrote an article saying just how disinterested or uninterested.

I never remember which is which.

I think it's uninterested.

Uninterested he was watching this game, and he got loads of abuse, obviously, from angry Manchester City fans.

But, you know, if you're bored watching something, you're bored.

Not everyone has to have the same opinion.

I switched this game off at half-time and I watched the Equalizer 3.

I love to commentate on City because there's so many patterns and

you can see what they're trying to do and where he's targeting.

It's brilliant.

I love it tactically.

But when I'm sort of relaxed at home watching, it's not quite as interesting for me.

However, I would love to be a Man City fan and have enjoyed what they've enjoyed.

But, you know, I just want to see a little bit, like Barney said, a little bit of jeopardy somewhere along the line at some point, whether that happens or not.

I just don't know how long Guardiola will stay there.

That's interesting, you know, because if he wins the title, what else is there to do unless you just keep winning?

I think what is weird, though, Barney, is that you have this sense of jeopardy with arsenal and not with manchester city and yet they're basically have they have very similar records so far right you know city haven yeah i mean apart from one of them has won the league six years in a row um apart from that and is world club champions yes apart from that because arsenal did win an fa cup about five years ago no you you know you're right um

but i thought city did play really well it's really it's a hard one is it i look at the hat-trick goal for harley I think it was the Hat-Trick goal where it was two passes straight down the middle of the pitch.

A brilliant pass from Phil Foden cuts inside, slightly heavy touch, brilliant sort of shots into the far corner.

Is that not entertaining?

Maybe, I don't know.

It was sort of like watching a really good exhibition of something, like where it doesn't feel like the, it's like Torville and Dean are doing a really good ice dance because they're going to win anyway, and no one seems to be able to stop them.

But the movement and the, yeah, as Lisa says, the patterns were

great.

You're right, but I think it does come to the fact that

you feel they could just keep winning forever if you don't change anything.

Like, this will just keep happening forever.

And although other teams have dominated before, and I remember it being quite boring that Man United won everything, football wasn't quite as stratified in those days.

You didn't feel it was inevitable.

When they won the treble, they lost a lot of games.

You know, at one point, they lost something like four out of 11.

And the treble required all these weird, and they're basically quite lucky, but when sitting on the treble, they weren't lucky at all.

They just steamrolled at everyone and they were incredible and they're the best team I've ever seen I think probably John Bruin asking why are wolves in red to which Duncan Alexander replied pretending to be someone's grandma again which is a very good line isn't it to Anfield then Liverpool for Spurs two this was interesting producer Joel saying a real bring your own board game to school end of term vibes to this Spurs fourth defeat in a row first time in 20 years that's happened and was quite upbeat afterwards Barry says look at least we played our football And I kind of admire his stubbornness in the face of glaringly terrible playing out from the back.

But I don't know what quite to make of it.

Yeah, I mean, I think Jürgen Klopp summed it up very well in his post-match interview.

And he said, we were really, really, really, really good until we were really rubbish.

And then we were all right again.

And by...

the same token, Spurs were really, really, really, really, really bad until they were

really good, and then they were quite bad again.

Spurs could very easily have been seven or eight-nil down at half-time, and they repeatedly tried to play out of the back, out from the back, and couldn't beat the Liverpool press, so they kept giving the ball away inside their own half, or on the edge of their own penalty, or in their own penalty area.

And

yeah, I do admire the obduracy and stubbornness of persisting with this tactic that clearly isn't working working

with players,

several of whom just aren't good enough to persist with it.

And I don't know if the

idea behind it is

do we just keep doing it until they get better?

Or do we keep doing it because everyone keeps telling me I shouldn't do it?

And I'm just not interested in their opinions.

But it clearly wasn't working.

They stuck with it.

Yeah, they got well beaten.

I mean, the scoreline flattered Spurs, but there was a 20-minute period in the second half where they got into the game.

But that was always going to happen because the energy Liverpool's players were expending with this ferocious press is going to take its toll.

So, do you just try to weather the storm and not concede four goals?

I don't really know what the logic is.

I'd love to sit down with Ange over a pint, like in an off-the-record chat and go, look,

why are you being so stubborn?

Well, Danny Murphy made an interesting point on the match of the day, Lucy, which is, look, you can, you can still play out, but if you occasionally go long, like City do with Edison, then it means the defenders have to think, okay, well, we can't all press.

Because he was stopping the play, saying, look, Vocario's got it here.

And Spurs have got like a three on two up front.

But Liverpool don't care because they know they're not going to knock it long.

That's when you, the, the manager can't control everything.

That's about Vaccario's decision-making.

You know, we don't know whether he sort of says to him, you know, every so often, let's mix it up because then, especially against a team like Liverpool, so we can take out about six or seven of them.

We don't know that.

I mean, the only thing I would say, I mean,

nobody's going to put me off the fact that I think Postakoglu is absolutely brilliant.

And I think they've found their level in terms of what the squad's all about.

The squad's hardly any depth.

They've had their injuries.

Recruitment needs to improve.

Will be really interesting when and if Postakoglu gets his own players in to play his own way.

But sometimes, behind the scenes, if the manager sort of

is constantly saying about how he wants to play and

his ethos, and then when someone starts complaining, he then changes it a little bit.

The players go, Hang on a minute, mate.

Are we supposed to buy into this if you don't buy into this?

So it's about the quality of the players doing what he wants them to do, and also the quality of the decision making.

I think that's quite a lot of it.

And I think that what's not being said

is they're going to suffer.

They've suffered from losing Kane's.

Harry Kane papered over so many cracks in terms of the goals that he scored in the last few seasons.

And now, we're coming into the end of this season, that is pretty obvious to see.

So,

they've not just got players who will just score goals from nothing.

It was interesting when Rich Allison came on and they had someone to play up to, they looked a little bit different.

I don't know, Liverpool sort of maybe took the foot off the pedal, but when you've got a proper number nine that

he can play off, or the way that they play then I think that makes a difference and I think we saw that well I was sort of working on the presumption that Vicario has been specifically told you are not to kick it long are you saying that might not be the case all I'm saying is that that that goalkeepers or any players

if they see trouble just be they didn't you don't turn around and go oh because he did that because you told me to you make a decision and then you deal with the manager afterwards so if Vicario's thinking he needs to play it long regardless of what the manager says at various points and then he can deal with the manager after the game, I think that you're sort of looking at some of the decision-making of the players is poor, to be honest.

You have to also accept that Vicario is in the team for that reason and was bought for that reason.

And it's really hard to make, particularly if you've had a shocker the week before where people are saying he's really vulnerable in swinging corners, you're going to stick to doing the this is why I'm in the team, aren't you?

It's really hard for him to then make decisions to abandon the thing that he feels he's good at and start lumping it down.

I mean, the fact is Spurs should be better, shouldn't they, on a macro level?

You look at the stadium, they should be better, but I don't think it's Postacoglu or any of these players' fault particularly.

They just keep changing the manager, losing the best players, not investing in the squad, and it will show up whatever your weaknesses are.

It could have been this, could have been Ange being a bit stubborn on this or that squad being thin.

They're going to be shown up in the end if you persistently change your manager, don't invest.

And what happens next will be very important.

They definitely don't need to sack another manager, that would be insane.

Peter Druy said of Harvey Elliott's brilliant goal: frame it and stick it on the mantelpiece of its life.

Yes, I wondered if I'd imagined that.

I was watching the highlights on that sort of ones that pop up on Google, and I thought, did he just say, Do you put framed things on a mantelpiece?

That's the question.

Yeah, I think you can put a framed thing on a mantelpiece with a little, you know, it's got like a little sort of cardboardy bit that will.

Oh, but it's more, it's more, it's the stick it on the mantelpiece of its life.

What's the

is that means that is that the greatest mantelpiece?

Is that what he's saying?

Is it like, or is the goal?

I don't, is the, I can't work out what the mantelpiece is.

It's the mantelpiece of his life, Max.

His life is a chimney breast.

His life is a chimney breast with a central vented area for combustion.

Yeah.

And that life has a mantelpiece, like most chimney breasts.

And the mantelpiece of his chimney breast life now has that gold frame.

I'm not sure those cardboard bits that stick out the back they're too deep to work on the most mantle.

I think they're more for shelves.

I think it would be leaning against the wall.

Well, I've got a mantelpiece in the room I'm currently in, and on it is a bottle of wood glue and a super soaker.

Right.

So, is it blurred as well?

Because everything else looks blurred.

Is your house actually blurred?

It isn't a blurred house.

The mantelpiece of Barry's life is blurred.

He's blurred, yeah.

That's about right.

I mean, it was an absolutely brilliant goal.

And the camera angle from behind, just the way you saw it bend and you thought, well, that is in.

And then just the way it arced in the top corner was beautiful.

And Liverpool were excellent, Barry.

And Salah was very good.

After, you know, he's not had a great couple of months, but he is good.

Like, we've sort of forgotten that he's really good.

And the reports are that he will stay with Arna Slot at this stage, which I think is quite interesting.

Yeah, he was really good uh and he had a shocking miss as well, which

he saw the funny side of.

And I think his life was made the easier by the fact that he was up against Emerson Royal, who was playing out of position and seems to be getting pelters for his performance in this game, justifiably so to an extent.

But I did think he was getting no help from anyone.

He was really left horribly exposed.

And I think was it when

Harvey Elliott robbed the ball off him and crossed for Cody Gakpo like

he was up against two players and you know I don't think there was much he could do about that no I'm not sure I'm not sure I think dribbling into one of them was not the right choice but but I agree that he you know it's not all his fault he I did think he was left horribly exposed and then didn't he him and um Christian Romero have words of something at half-time if if Mo Sala stays I mean I I thought maybe Liverpool are just saying that to

force an increased or a higher bid from some team in Saudi Arabia or wherever.

But maybe he will stay.

I don't know.

All right, that'll do for part one.

Part two, we'll do the relegation fight.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Barney, very excited about the race for sixth place, the battle for sixth.

We will get to it, Barney, I promise.

Before that, at the bottom,

great weekend for Nottingham Forest.

They won.

Burnley lost.

Luton drew.

They won at Sheffield United's Barney.

And actually, this was a really good game.

And Sheffield United gave a pretty good account of themselves.

But in the end, you know, Nottingham Forest had some very good forward players and probably shouldn't be where they are.

Yeah, it was a good game.

It was a really aggressive game, which I was surprised by.

You know, Sheffield United don't have much to play for other than their already damaged pride.

But they seem to really want to...

to beat Nottingham Forest and really up for it.

Shall I tell you why?

It's because of the miners' strike.

That's why.

there's always between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

It goes back to that.

They didn't

draft in Scab Labour from Nottingham

during the strike.

Yeah, I'm sure that's right.

The atmosphere was

kind of electric, and the players seemed really up for it.

But, you know, yeah, you're right.

Notting Forest in the middle of their kind of signings do really have some good forward players.

I really like Callum Hudson-Madoy.

I've always quite liked him.

He's a local boy, comes from around here.

My son used to vaguely know him and says he's just the the loveliest kid um was always very nice to the slightly younger boys and um

i think he found the rough and tumble of the premier league and chelsea a little bit much um and he seems to have um certainly physically he's got stronger he's been in the gym i mean he really does look stronger but he's really gifted and he's got the ability to move sideways in a way that people just can't cope with and um yeah he he's really good signing, and um,

they they looked delighted to win the game.

They're not out of it yet, though, are they?

It's not they're not safe, no, um, which is surprising.

I kind of thought they were because Luton looks so depressed by the 1-1 draw, um, but it's not it's not over, is it?

Yeah, I liked Kaminski coming up when it was one apiece, it's just rare a keeper's up for a corner, the Luton keeper, when, when uh, you know, you already have a point, but yeah, Forrest 17th with 29 points, Luton 26, Burnley 24, and yeah hudson o'doya he like his first finish actually is brilliant but he scored the same goal twice didn't he and almost scored it a third time yeah uh

so

if it works go for it and ryan yates is a sort of there is a guy who is sort of i don't know if this is harsh lucy sort of eking out every ounce of talent that he has to be playing in the premier league maybe that's doing him a disservice but i felt like he kicked his whole season into the mantelpiece of his strikes that's what i thought with that goal i thought it was just, it was just like, I really just have it.

I think it's his first Premier League goal.

Yeah, it is.

I think he's scored in every single league now from National League all the way up, which is incredible.

But it just shows you that, you know, you need a little bit more than just sort of technique and skill.

You need something, there's something about you

mentally and your work ethic, and then it can take you far.

And I think he's, you know, a prime example of that.

And I please for him, actually, because every time we do Forrest and he plays, he sort of leads them by example.

And I think that you still need players like that in a Premier League team.

Where's Nuno for you now, Barney, on the sort of dying Jedi, ancient medieval night gathering moss stage?

Well,

he looks much happier, doesn't he?

Obviously, he's not a Spurs, so that kind of helps.

No, he looks sort of trimmer and slimmer and more excited.

He's got more energy about him.

I was just looking at the, I wanted to talk more about the miner strike.

It just hadn't occurred to me, but I have heard that before,

but hadn't really sort of gone into my apparently.

If you need get me to give you a lesson on English history, I'm more than happy to do so.

With specific details of the footballing rivalries of the cities of Nottingham and Sheffield, Barnesley, Barnsley's Barnsley, um, Nottingham Forest is the worst, Barnsley fans, yeah, because they're right at the heart of it, they they can't, yeah, they've still got that um

underlying hatred of Nottingham.

There was a very good drama about this on

BBC or ITV last year, which is worth digging out.

Yes, Sherwood.

That's what it's called.

Worth a look.

Nottinghamshire miners decided by a majority of 74% not to go on strike and sort of became

the sort of place where the kind of police presence gathered and

moved from.

I mean, yeah, it's a long time ago.

It is a long time ago.

Yeah, I mean, you sort of wouldn't have thought Ben Brereton Diaz would perhaps care about these sort of things, but maybe.

Why?

What are you saying about Ben Brereton-Diaz?

He has no conscience or that he's no, I don't say I'm not saying he has no conscience, I'm just not sure that he's too focused on you know the mining strikes of the 80s.

But look,

I may be completely wrong.

Uh, let's move on, says uh, producer Joel for some reason.

Third goal that Sheffield United conceded was their hundredth goal that they've conceded, so that equals Swindon's record in 93-94.

Swindon played 42 games in that season, uh, two games to go for them to beat it.

Great win for Forest and made even better because Bernie lost 4-1 at home to Newcastle.

And actually, Bernie started this game, Barry, kind of okay.

And then familiar failings resurfaced.

Yeah, Jacob Bryn Lawrenceon had an effort saved by Martin de Bravka.

And then Bruno Guimaraz, I thought, blatantly shoved Lorenz Assignon in the back in the penalty area, but no penalty was given to Burnley.

on the pitch and and Var didn't seem to want to get involved.

I mean, I'm pretty sure it was a blatant shove, both hands in the small of his back, and over he went.

So, maybe if Larson had scored, or that penalty had been given, it might have been

different.

But

Jacob Murphy

set up Newcastle's first goal.

Callum Wilson and Alexander Isaac played very well together.

Not often they start together or are even on the pitch at the same time together.

And they were just a real handful for Burnley's

pretty

poor defence.

And

it ended up an easy win for Newcastle.

I thought Burnley would do better in a game.

They really had to win.

And, yeah, it was a largely poor performance.

Just when they had hope, Burnley.

Andrew says, just the fact that Newcastle are sitting inside the top six after missing the most players to injury and suspension, kill any doubts about Eddie Howe's credentials.

He's faced a lot of criticism and derision

during large parts of this season.

Lucy, what do you think?

Yeah, I mean, as well, I think he changed the, I think Barry's just said there, alluded to it, he played sort of 4-4-2, which he doesn't normally play.

So he sort of changed it tactically against Burnley because obviously it worked

the way that Burnley play as well.

But yeah, I think Eddie Howe has coped with...

you know,

the lack of players available at various points during the season, the European stuff and playing in the Champions League.

It's just that, you know, with the owners that they've got, everybody's just thinking that he will be replaced at some point with a bigger name, you know, with quotation marks at the side of it.

And it's a shame, really, because I think he's sort of shown that he has got the metal to deal with a club as big as Newcastle.

What I would say about that game is Company has got away with

loads of criticism that Chris Wilde has got just because he's Vincent Company.

And I think quite a lot of the stuff that they do is quite naïve.

You know, you're talking about Anjet Spurs, he's got better players.

Company still tries to do what he does, but with players that obviously are not confident

and don't really have the belief to play in that way.

But I don't really think he gets much criticism, which is quite interesting.

Maybe because he's Vincent Company.

I'd also argue that or question this suggestion that Eddie Howe has been the subject of derision.

I don't think so.

Who has derided Eddie Howe for any

shortcomings Newcastle?

I mean, any time we've discussed Newcastle, we always caveat it by mentioning the number of injuries they have.

So, I don't think it's fair to say he's been the subject to derision, or if he has, I'm certainly not aware of it.

Well, I think he's sometimes accused of being defensively naive, which goes back to his Bournemouth days, but I don't think that's particularly been the case.

I think he definitely deserves another season.

Do you think with managers like Vince and Company, I sometimes feel like

it's a job interview, a season in the Premier League it's a job interview for the job you really want to do and you know that if you have a reputation for a style and a way of playing that that's gonna mean you'll have a better career a longer career at a slightly more important club in your eyes than if you just try and grub for points and you know maybe end up with three points more playing like Sean Deitch I mean I guess if you're if you're if you're saying you know and is trying to bring in this football at Tottenham and okay you've got to look at the quality of your players then company has tried to do the same, and actually succeeded in the championship at Burnley.

So, like, if you are, if you have a way, you know, the company way.

But it's at the bottom of the league, though, Max.

Like, you know,

Tottenham are probably going to finish fifth.

Tottenham are going to finish fifth.

And so he's, you know, at times he's been absolutely brilliant and it's worked.

But company and Burnley, and I think Barney, you know, I know you sort of tongue-in-cheek there, but you probably,

there's a bit of truth to that.

You know, so this is how I play.

Who cares about Burnley Burnley sort of thing, as long as everybody can see the

coach that I am.

I don't know what it is.

It's just, I just, Chris, in fact, I think Chris Wilde did an interview and actually said it, basically saying, How come I'm getting all this stick?

And other managers at the bottom are not getting the same sort of stick that I am.

Although I don't think anyone's eaten a sandwich in front of Vincent Company, so that might have

something to do with it.

Luton won, Everton won.

I mean, a point not really enough for Luton, Baz.

I mean, they gave it a good old push.

They had sort of had like these three great chances in injury time, and, you know, Rob Edwards was just there with his hands over his eyes.

Yeah,

they always are usually given a good old push, but I mean, that penalty Mengi gave away was just absolutely stupid.

He lifted up Jared Branthwaite at a corner, and

it was like a wrestling move, basically.

Pick him up and sit him down.

It'd be much better if he got on top of the post on, like, he got on the turnbuckle and then jumped onto Jared Branthwaite like that and pinned him and said, come on, if if I'm going to give away a penalty, I'm going to do it in style.

Yeah,

and there was no need for it.

The ball wasn't anywhere near Jared Branthwaite at the time.

I don't think the ball would even be kicked at the time, but you're not doing yourself any favor.

And he'd also almost just scored an own goal and almost given away a penalty with what I

possibly was a foul on Dwight McNeil.

So it was quite an inauspicious start for Mr.

Menge.

And Luton went behind.

Luton equalised, as they often do.

Elijah Adebayo, I thought, did really well to hold off Ashley Young, chest down the ball and finish.

It is unlikely to be enough.

And if you're at home against an Everton team who have not much to play for or nothing, depending on whether they go into administration or not in the next couple of weeks, you probably need to do better.

But yeah, it was a dumb penalty to give away.

Let's do the race for sixth place, Barney.

Chelsea beat West Ham 5-0.

And they were excellent, weren't they?

I mean, Cole Palmer and Madowake together were just superb.

Yeah,

I mean, I don't know.

Maybe Chelsea are cool.

Maybe that's what they are.

Maybe they're a ragtag bunch of kids who are just, you know, finding their way.

Maybe it's maybe it's like take that.

You know, they're a manufactured band

who are actually finding

actually we're really talented and we, you know, we've got drama and things.

They seem happy.

It was nice to see them looking happy um obviously winning five nil helps they they do have um you know they obviously have a lot of attributes like um energy and speed and skill and youthfulness and we haven't really seen any of that we've just seen a confused version of them um and they are now uh closing in on on victory in the battle for sixth place although much will depend on what happens tonight with Man United at Crystal Palace.

And obviously, as we know, that could be a Europa League place or possibly a Europa Conference League place, depending on whether Man City beat Man United in the Vicuart Final.

And this is the last really live issue in the Premier League, isn't it?

I think Chelsea will probably get it because they seem to be enjoying themselves and playing with freedom.

I don't know what that means, but they seem to have enough sort of fun about them to mean they probably won't sack the manager.

Probably, maybe.

Well, Malduicki said after the game, you know, we're starting to put things together and play as a team, which is what they conspicuously hadn't been doing up until quite recently.

And I think if you compare and contrast Chelsea and Spurs, there's going to end up being an element of recency bias in that, oh, actually, Potch did quite a good job after all.

And

Ange is a big fraud because Ange had his purple patch right at the start of the season where it looks like...

Potch is going to have his

near the end.

And that's what we'll remember.

Yeah.

Gigi makes a good point, Lucy, which is, should Chelsea not sign new players in the transfer window?

Like, like, you've got these players, they're sort of learning to play together.

Should you actually go, do you know what?

Let's not rip this up again.

Or, I mean, I don't know how much they can spend.

I mean, if they didn't spend, then they could feasibly keep, couldn't they?

Like Conor Gallagher and players that they might need to sell for PSR reasons.

I may be wrong on that.

Yeah,

I think they probably do need to sell.

But all they need is

a couple of Thiago silvers.

That's what they need within that squad.

Because I think that, you know, that penalty incident, I think that Pochettino was quite pleased that everybody, the world saw that, because that's what he's had to deal with.

You know, players who, you know, have come to new club.

new club, big club, young players who are trying to sort of prove themselves.

And it's such a competitive environment behind the scenes of these young players that they all want to do well.

And sometimes it overspills.

And he's probably had to do with that.

And I'm actually chuffed to bits for Pochettino because I think he's a good manager.

And I can only imagine what it's been like behind the scenes there since he's come in.

And now he's sort of got a grip of it, sort of a tenuous grip, but it's working for him.

So I'm quite pleased.

I mean, on the opposite side of that, I feel sorry for David Moyes.

West Harm

leaking that they're interviewing new managers, hanging him out to dry, absolute, complete lack of class from them.

And

I don't really think he deserves that, David Moyes.

And I don't think he'll be there next season regardless but i don't think he deserves what he's got getting at the moment no i mean they weren't great jarr bone did hit the bar three times the look on his face when it hit the bar the third time does he get to keep it bringing hornet

in his car

he should have put it under his jumper shouldn't he as he walked off the pitch um west ham reportedly in talks with julian lopotegui and i heard someone on the radio saying they were a bit worried you know they were talking about lopotegui it was an expert saying look you know he does have a propensity to be a bit dour and i was thinking if you're gonna gonna get someone in i mean is is spanish dour just can never be as dour as scottish dour is that sort of one of the dourness stakes there's just nothing lock potegwy could do to be as dour as as moisy barney well he may be dour in a different way i mean david moises is the only manager who's tried to make a go of finishing you know top six say while having less of the ball i mean that's why he's unusual um

that's that's quite an unusual way to try and be a good football team these days as opposed to surviving among other better football teams.

I don't think Lopitegi would do that,

but sort of intensive defensive stitching

might be a good thing.

David Moyes was interesting after the game.

They said, do you think the scale of defeats like this will have any effect on your situation at the club?

And he just went, no.

And that was that because he knows he's going.

That was all the answer you needed.

Yeah, good one-word manager answers.

We could get the press conferences done very quickly.

Brighton beat Villa 1-0.

And they really deserve this, actually, Lucy, I thought.

They had the better chances.

They'd been on a bad one.

I hadn't won since the 10th of March

when they'd beaten Forest.

Villa obviously still needs something potentially to get fourth place.

But we had Dan Balder on the radio saying, you know, basically, Villa are limping towards the line.

One leg is still working and Spurs are limping towards it and neither of their legs are working.

And that's kind of what's happening at the moment.

Yeah,

I've covered Villa quite a lot on going to Perez this week as well to do the second leg.

And

Villa have been absolutely brilliant.

Una Emer is absolutely brilliant.

But I think that

the injuries that they've had to key positions, I think is now taking its toll

on the group.

And it's like I think the loss, Spurs lost yesterday, probably confirmed.

I think that

Villa will get the fourth place.

They might need a little bit more, but what do they do now?

Do they go for it two goals behind on Thursday and then sacrifice a little bit of the weekend, or do they

sort of split the energy between the two?

I don't know what they can do because it's going to be so difficult out in Praeus in Athens

on Thursday night.

Is it Liverpool that they've got?

Who have they got next weekend?

Yeah, they've got Liverpool.

Yeah,

it's on Monday.

It's on Monday.

I've covered it, like I say, I've covered them in the league and I've covered them in Europe, and they just are lacking in intensity and energy from players who have been absolutely brilliant.

I mean, you know, I think they're the story of the season in terms of what's happening in the Premier League, Villa, you know, potentially being in the Champions League.

Yeah, they've got Liverpool and Palace.

So I don't know, Palace, you know,

can on their day be good, so they may get no more points, but they'll probably still be okay.

So, yeah, that game against Olympia Arcos was a bit of a surprise for a lot of people because they were 2-0 down, got it back to 2-2,

and then lost 4-2, missed that penalty later on, which made such a difference to the complexion of the game.

But, you know, they are still in it, of course.

Brentford 0, Fulham-0.

Thank you, chaps.

And Crystal Palace play Manchester United tonight.

We'll cover that on Wednesday, and that'll do for part two.

Nick Ames will join us in just a second to talk about Ipswich Town.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So Ipswich promoted to the Premier League after being in Huddersfield 2-0, back for the first time in 22 years.

Nick Ames joins us.

Ipswich fan, how are you, Nick?

I think as you get older, you realise there is such a thing as a double hangover, don't you?

A two-day hangover.

So apart from that, I'm fantastic, Max.

Yeah.

I've never really, I've never had you down as a, I'm going to really, really, absolutely get totally wasted.

But maybe just the mood hit you.

What point?

At what point in the day?

Had you been at it before the game even started, or were you too nervous?

Well, I mean, dropping any veneer of professionalism here i was in the pub at 9 30 in the morning but i was drinking alcohol i was drinking alcohol free ghost max at 9 30 because i know how to pace myself yeah oh absolutely and i saw people fall by the wayside not me um but i was

tucked up in bed by about midnight 30 so it wasn't an all-night so what does it mean what does it mean to you this season and and and just talk us through the day oh

um um, incredible, and honestly, it's still sort of sinking in because you know, when you've been so sort of worried about something for such a long time and spent so much emotional energy on it, and then you almost feel a bit flat when it's done, really.

Um, but no, it's um, it's absolutely incredible.

The town centre of Ipswich, I don't think, could sustain the number of people that were celebrating in it.

I've never seen anything like that.

There were sort of tens of thousands of people that just come in just to be part of the occasion, even if they

weren't at the game or had tickets or anything like that.

It was all fairly chaotic and post-apocalyptic the next morning.

Massive achievement for the talent and the club, 22 years out of the Premier League.

And there were moments in that time.

I mean, I've come on here and done a few Ipswich corners down the years, and

I've been fairly

negative about their prospects.

And there were times when

I thought I wouldn't see us get to this point again,

certainly with football in its current form, if you see what I mean.

Um,

and and now everything is transformed, it's

completely

changed for the foreseeable future.

It was a fantastic day.

The players were welcomed by a big

flares and you know, coach welcome that are quite popular now before the game.

I know our photographer Tom Jenkins got some fantastic pictures of it that are worth checking out in a gallery on the website.

Um, and then the match itself,

I'd been so worried about it all week.

Totally illogically, because this is a team that doesn't mess up.

It's always got it.

It doesn't lose when it shouldn't.

It's very, very secure.

But I just thought there's always that 10% in football where a relegated Huddersfield team can do something to you.

But after about one or two minutes, you could sort of tell in the tackles and the challenges that maybe Huddersfield weren't quite as up for it as Ipswich were.

You might say they didn't want to get in the way.

I don't think they wanted to get hammered or anything like that, but they didn't want to get him away.

And in the end, they picked them off really serenely.

And when the second goal went in from Amari Hutchinson, who, by the way, is going to be an absolute superstar,

went in just after half-time,

it was pretty obvious that they were going to get the job done.

And then the rest of it just sort of dissolved into a haze of pitch invasions and cramming the town centre and hopping from bar bar to bar lot lots of celebrations from from kieran mckenna and and the players late into the night the players were definitely having a good time it was it was just a fantastic day yeah um i think east anglia is not necessarily a hotbed of football um but i think people can be a bit sniffy about you know what football means to smaller towns or other parts of the country where it's not sort of totally central but you get the sense that this is a town that sort of we were chatting to a podcast yesterday on the radio saying you know like since kieran mckenna has come in like kids in the town are now all wearing it switch kits as opposed to you know man city man united arsenal kits etc oh it's crazy all all of my mates who who live up there that they bring their kids to the games they've got the shirts they're totally invested 10 years ago this never happened five years ago it never happened it was which lost a generation of of fans which which i think is is common in clubs outside the top six or seven when you're having a long period without success you know you're going to get hoovered up by by the bigger clubs aren't you and um

it's the tide has turned now I think the

CEO went on an interview yesterday and said they've sold 60,000 shirts this season which is crazy but the thing as well

it's not a town club as much as a county club i think although ipswich has got a population of 140 000 i think suffolk has got about 900 000 people living there you've got north essex too so the catchment area and the level of potential engagement is massive because there's there's not many other football clubs about apart from Colchester and Norwich.

So, you know, you have people coming in on Saturday from all these places just to be part of it.

And I think, you know,

I've always said it, it's a club with a lot of potential in terms of its, you know, how far it can go.

Kieran McKenna has done an extraordinary job, hasn't he?

Amazing, amazing.

I think.

And it's easy to be a bit hyperbolic at moments like this, but he's one of the best managers on the continent in the entirety of Europe, I think.

The guy is remarkable.

He's taken a team that was 12th in League One, I think,

certainly mid-table and not doing too well.

Consolidated things, built a bit in his first half season, and then he's made consecutive seasons of

points tallies in the late 90s in different divisions, which is just absolutely stunning.

He's not spent millions and millions and millions of pounds, I think, from the starting 11 on Saturday.

I think eight of them started the game

where they got promoted from League One against Exeter.

So he's added to the squad judiciously with a couple of good permanent signings and a couple of fantastic loans to like Murray Hutchinson, who I mentioned from Chelsea, who really came alive in the second half of the season.

And I hope they can keep for another year.

Jeremy Sarmiento from Brighton

had a fantastic impact as well.

And what he's done is he's improved players.

And you kind of forget in all the hubbub we get about about about the transfer market and who should this manager sign and this and that it is possible for a coach just to get stuck into players and juice for absolute most out of them and make them better and a lot of these players in that squad were considered decent League One players and not much more and he turned them into absolute Rolls Royces who were dominating games and teams in the championship.

And if you talk to any of them or people around them and people around the club,

they just say that

the individual work and the detail and the effort that goes into making sure every single person at that club and in that squad can fulfil their potential is astonishing.

And it's a remarkable job he's done.

And I mean, the guy's got such a tremendous future.

And

I think he alone is a reason why you can't write Ips, which offers, you know, bottom place next season or even bottom three because the guy has absolutely got it.

And I, you know, it's impossible to predict what will happen, but I think they could surprise a few people.

Yeah, there was an interesting article from the Metro years ago.

I don't know if you've seen it, it's been sort of reposted saying some of Manchester United's squad are unhappy with how much influence Kieran McKenna has over Ollie Gunnar Solskjaer's men.

And you think, ah, that like Solskjaer could at least could see that this guy was a great coach.

So, I mean, in terms of next season, like it's obviously a big jump.

We've seen that this season.

But

you think with some sensible investment, they could surprise a few people i think so i think they're not going to be able to go that wild financially i think because of the psr rules i think might not be be be particularly in their favor for splashing as much money as the owners might might want to um

but i i think with three or four good additions down the spine of a team maybe a a a midfield heir to sam morrissey who's been a remarkable captain and again someone who was written off a bit earlier um in his career.

Another striker, another centre-back, a couple of good loans.

I think it's possible.

And I just think Kieran McKenna has shown what happens when you have faith in players, faith in individuals, and work with them to make them better.

Do you want Norwich to come up with you?

This is difficult, right?

Because I do want the Sangian Derby back in the Premier League.

It's been about 30 years almost.

Well, it has been 30 years and

29 years.

And I've got great memories of a few of those as a really young kid, but I'd just like a couple of years first where Ipswich can properly crow over them if possible, because it's been a long time.

Also, you're incapable of beating them, so it's you know, it's not the six points, it's not a handy six points

because Ipswich haven't won one won an East Anglia derby in like years, is it?

Over a decade or something?

Correct, but there's a chant going around the stadium nowadays, which is 15 years years, who gives

something

worth which town, and we're going up.

So, I mean, thankfully, that's probably my

one-line response to that question.

Fair enough.

Well done, Nick.

Thanks for coming on, mate.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, guys.

Cheers.

Nick Ames there, Apswich fan,

just a martyr card.

Then Birmingham Huddersfield joined Rotherham as the team's relegated to League One.

Speaking of pitch invasions, the Birmingham fan who belted one in from 25 yards, have you seen this in the pitch invasion?

It was just absolutely brilliant, wasn't it?

And like, you could see,

you know, him lining up to take it.

That's young Ian in the background.

Lining up to take this shot.

And then, as it went in, just the crowd who are on the pitch just turning around and just to like envelop this guy.

They've just gone down, but like, this is the moment.

Really, really good.

So, the playoffs are Leeds.

Probably the best scold I've seen on season two.

Probably, isn't it?

Playoffs at Leeds, Norwich and Southampton, West Brom.

One onto Bromley.

First time they'll ever be in the EFL.

They do 2-2 with Solihol Moores.

1-4-3 on penalties.

Their captain put on an EFL armband before taking the winning penalty, just sort of grinning like a Cheshire cat, and then he put it away.

He was, yeah, very cocky, but it worked.

Yes, Barney?

Byron Webster, the legendary Byron Webster.

What makes him legendary?

Well, he played for Millwolf for many years, and he's been a stalwart servant for Bromley as well.

Ah, well, good for him.

And yeah, great win for them.

Finally, Paul says, given that Max apparently can't tell the difference between carbon dioxide and methane, what excuse would members of the panel make if he offered them a refreshing drink he'd made in his soda stream?

Yes, thank you, Paul.

I can't remember what we've been talking about then.

But anyway, that'll do for today.

Thank you so much.

Sorry, Max, it's been

a big goal.

I just have one question for you.

You tweeted last night that the public should not be allowed to vote for a goal of the month of the day, too.

Yes.

Why?

Well, I'll tell you what.

Who do you think was robbed?

I think Jeffrey Schluck was robbed, actually.

And I think Eze was robbed.

I think they were both.

But that's the thing.

You see, now I agree.

We've had Brexit.

We had Trump elected president.

We've had the Tories in 2000 or for the last 14.

So, yes, clearly the public can't be trusted.

But I'd have given it to Crystal Palace's other goal.

And I think the vote was probably split.

Right.

And that's why McAllister got in.

Well, this is the theory I have is obviously the fans of any of the clubs involved in it shouldn't be allowed to vote.

So you should only be allowed to vote.

Who should be allowed to vote?

Just a cabal of sort of North London dinner party,

Australian

Bridges.

No, no, no, no, no.

So what I mean is it shouldn't be.

So like if

a team, if your team have a goal in goal of the month, you should not be allowed to vote.

Well, how would you enforce that?

Well, I haven't thought

through policing.

I've not thought through the details.

In the same way, on phone and radio, just to make it a bit calmer, you shouldn't be able to have fans of the club who have played to to ring up after that game so it's just only you know so you just don't want that's it i'll just sort of taking the taking the tribalism i haven't thought of the the way to make it work yeah as producer joel says mandatory voter id the goal of the month that's what that's what we need it's the only way it'll work i do appreciate it's not a democratic view that i have but i've just felt for schlupp because he because i'll tell you why schlupp's finish was like it was a bit like mcalister right they both absolutely hammered the ball and schlupped did it better.

So his goal is better than McAllister's, objectively.

Schlupp's Schlupps made a better noise as it hit the back of the neck.

Exactly.

McAllister.

And he caught it better.

Whereas the Eze goal, I can see like some people like a banger, some people like a slick passing move.

I get that.

But yes,

that's how I feel.

I feel strongly about it.

Anyway, thank you, Barry.

Thank you for the question.

It was worth asking.

And thank you for coming on.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lucy.

Thank you.

Cheers, Barney.

Cheers.

Thanks, everyone.

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Daniel Stevens.

This is The Guardian.