Nottingham Forest’s return to Europe and a Premier League preview: Football Weekly Extra

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hello and welcome to the guardian football weekly a rare chance to do some europa league as a few games migrated to wednesday night and just search for first winners forest manager continues but a two-all draw in bettis isn't a bad way to start a campaign two goals for igor jesus has and jettison new zealand's finest already celtic draw one all in Belgrade.

If you can guess both scorers in this game, give yourself a biscuit. In the Carabao, straightforward wins for the Premier League sides.

Find out how many of Emil Heskey's sons came on for Manchester City in their win at Huddersfield. There's a Premier League preview.

Unbeaten leaders Liverpool go to the only other side yet to suffer a defeat in Crystal Palace, while Newcastle Arsenal is perhaps the pick of the games.

We'll ask if a 64-team World Cup is as terrible idea as it sounds. Catch up on the start of the WSL season, answer your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning. Hello.
Hi, Max. Welcome, Robin Cowan.
Good morning, Max. And good morning, Sam Dalling.
Good morning, Max.

Let's start with the Europa League because we don't get to do it that often. And Nottingham Forest back in Europe for the first time in a long time.
Sam, you watched their draw away at bettis.

In the end, not a bad result, even if a late equaliser means Ange is still looking for his first win, but you'd probably take a point, wouldn't you? Yeah, it sounds cliched.

Naturally, they'd have taken a point before the game, but I think they were pretty disappointed. You could see that at the end.
They were absolutely brilliant in that first half. They really were.

Yeah, I know they went behind quite early. And there was a bit of talk beforehand about Chris Wood not playing.
You think, oh, is it not a game for him, given what he's done?

But Igor Jesus scored a couple of goals. And what does he cost? 10 billion quid from Botofego.
He scored two versus Swansea last week, two last night. I think he's putting Chris Wood under pressure.

They probably

should have, wait, they should have scored a third in that first half, right? Hudson Adoy and Jesus managed to miss from about a yard out between them. I'm not sure who we blame there.

Probably both of them. They share it.
But I think second half, Bettis came back into it, and that's what quality sides like that do.

I think Forrest had 30 touches in Bettis' box in the first half and only four in the second.

But Forest under Ange, like, they're already, I know they haven't won, so it sounds a bit weird, and they've also surrendered leads three times but they're starting to look like the forest that a lot of the fans wanted them to be so it's the whole the king is dead long live the king and last year under Nuno there was this idea that they could have been a little bit more expansive with their players and actually they've started having more possession in the games it wasn't as frantic as open as Ange at Tottenham

But they just that you had like the centre back stepping up and that would never have happened under Nuno.

I tell you that midfield of Sangade, Luis and Elliot Anderson, like it all never not make me sad seeing how good Elliot Anderson is becoming. Like he really,

it's not unrealistic to say he could start at a World Cup for England. And there was a run he went on in the box.
He's very simple.

He's not flashy, but he just stepped inside two players like jinxed inside a couple of players and almost set up Jesus for a hat-trick. And he is just, he ran the game for that first half.

And they fell away in the second half, which would be disappointing. But, I mean, as I said at the start, they would have taken it.

And as you said, there's not much chance to watch Europa League because it's a Thursday. I don't watch much of it.

And it's like watching Premier League years from 2010 to 2025, these couple of games, because you look at the lineups. You're like, oh, Adrian's on the bench.
Pablo Fornelles is involved.

Yeah, you've got Anthony. And then in the other game, we'll talk about later, you're looking at, oh,

Pedogrini's the manager over at Bettis. And then the other game you're going, wow, Arnaltovich, Ian Acho, Brendan Rogers.
So like, it was a lovely little nostalgia throwback.

And I know know that's that wasn't the question directly asked, but hopefully I've answered it in some way. No, no, no, absolutely.

I mean, this is interesting, Barry, is I think there are probably a lot of people presuming that Ange will fail at Forest.

I don't know if that's, I don't know if I'm speaking for everybody, but because it didn't really work at Tottenham, but they did win a trophy, people, or people are waiting for him to fail.

And they haven't won yet. So it is interesting to hear that they are, you know, Forest are changing quite quickly.

Yeah, and he said they would after his first game, that defeat at the hands of arsenal he said they'd have changed before their next game which was the following wednesday i think uh i thought they were very impressive last night the way they're getting players forward in a way forrest didn't really do under nuno their first goal i thought was wonderful uh hudson adoes and chenko anderson Douglas Louise and Morgan Gibbs White were all involved in getting the ball forward and cross the field.

At speed, Morgan Gibbs White sending a lovely low delivery into

between two defenders to Igor Jesus who who couldn't miss I was quite impressed with him I thought they did enough to win it a draw was probably fair but they do look a completely different proposition to

peak forest under under Nuno

I thought he Nuno was playing more attacking football this at the start of this season before he got fired but But the forest of last season, this is a completely different ball game they're trying to play.

And

I would say the early signs are good. They are going to concede goals, though.
That is going to be an issue. But if they score more than they let in, then that would be okay.
Yeah.

Which they haven't managed to do yet. But, you know,

from

small icons, from very small icons. The interesting thing that Sam alluded to, Robin, is Chris Wood, isn't it?

Because I don't know if he, unless he wasn't fully fit, he was on the bench and Igor Jesus started. And then Arno Calimuendo, another striker that they signed from Wren, came on for Jesus.

And you sort of think the lot of a footballer to be, you know, one of the best strikers in the Premier League last season to now, and who knows? It might start the weekend.

So this conversation might be moot. But at the moment, it's seemingly definitely not first choice under Ange, and perhaps not even second.
Well, that seems to be the problem.

That's basically why Nuno isn't there anymore, is that he was given a load of players that he didn't really want.

Yeah, no, no, it's tough for Chris Wood, obviously, because he's had such an incredible record. But that record was under Nuno.
So I wonder if he's just going to sit there, wait. West Ham in January.

West Ham in January. See where Nuno pops up next and he'll do it.
You know, Harry Redknapp had a lot of those players, didn't he? Was it Cranchar and a few others who just followed him around?

They're very different approaches, aren't they? And yeah, it's interesting for Ange Postakoglu. I just feel like it's, in some ways, it's quite a tough gig, isn't it?

Because I think most Forest fans would be quite disappointed that Nuno's gone. They might be excited by the new approach, but it's not actually got them results yet.
They should have won yesterday.

Looking at their, they had an XG of 3.27, which is enormous, actually. Away a European game.
It's really impressive, but they didn't put the chances away and allowed Real Bettis to...

to get back into it. So yeah, it's just, it's really interesting to see

the fans' perception of Ange continues.

I think the fact that he has got that trophy obviously helps him from Spurs. But as Sam said, they've taken the lead three times.

They've not hung on. So yeah, it's yeah, as I say, it's just interesting to see how this score progresses under Ange Postakoglu.

Yeah, I mean, the Europa League is winnable for the English sides that are in it. You know, it'd be amazing to see him do it again.

Meanwhile, Barry, Celtic drew one all at Red Star Belgrade.

And as Sam suggested, you know, if you'd told me there was a game where Kalecci Ianacho opened the scoring and Marko and Ortovic equalised, I mean, I wouldn't have known the game.

I just wouldn't have had a clue. And actually, if you'd said it's part of Sound Belgrade, Celtic, I'd have gone, fair enough.
Sort of sounds about right, doesn't it?

Well, I knew Ionacho was at Celtic because he was this very underwhelming signing they brought in on a free after failing to get anyone better on during the transfer window.

And then Adam Eda decided playing for Celtic was beneath him and agitated for a move to Swansea on, I think, deadline day.

This was the derby of despair, I suppose, between the former champions who were embarrassed by Paphos in the playoffs hosting the team that were humbled by the team of former European champions who were humbled by Kyrus Almaty.

Celtic started with Dazine Maid up front. It's well documented as well as Ida going.
Diogo Furahashi left them from Birmingham. Jotta is out with another knee injury long term.

And Nicholas Kuhn left as well. And they

didn't really replace any of those players.

Mark Ornautovich playing for Red Star.

That surprised me. I did not know that.

I think a draw here was probably fair as well. Caspar Schmeichel made a couple of one sensational save from Bruno Duarte shot from distance that he somehow tipped onto the woodwork.

Arnautovich lashed one into the side netting.

Cameron Carter Vickers put a good chance wide for Celtic, a header with the goal gaping. He put it wide somehow.

There was a winger playing for Celtic, Benjamin Negrain, who I must confess, I don't know anything about him. I'd never heard of him.
I thought he was good, and he teed up Ianacho for

his goal.

Ianacho missed a couple of good chances. When Ionacho scored, actually, Joe Hart, who I'm a big admirer of as a pundit, I have to say, off the bat,

Joe Hart said, I told you about Ionacho, he's ice cool in front of goal. And I was saying, well, Joe, now,

come on, you're over-egging the pudding a bit there. But he was ice cool on that occasion, took a fit, a pop past defeat on the turn, and smacked it

past Matthias in the red star goal. At the end of the game, then Schmeichel had to pull another big save out of the bag, and Ianacho missed a good chance to win it for Celtic.

But they'll probably both be happy enough with the draw. Yeah, it's interesting ice cool, isn't it? As a phrase, we think he's probably what room temperature in front of goal, Ianacho.

But then, if you're hot in front of goal, that's also good. It's a kind of a weird curve that I haven't really spent any time thinking about until now.

Uh, In the League Cup, that's what it's interesting, Robin. We saw Newcastle win, Spurs win, Man City win, Arsenal win.

It's actually quite how strong these squads are for these sides because they all made a lot of changes.

And yet you looked at those teams and you think, blimey, you know, they're not putting Academy, many Academy kids out. Certainly, you know, Spurs and Arsenal.
Yeah, no, I had the exact same thought.

Not much magic in the Cup of Dreams this time. Although it's not the Cup of Dreams, is it? It's the Cup of Fizzy Pop

this one. But yeah, no, absolutely.
I mean, particularly Arsenal, they made nine changes, and they still, it's ridiculous starting 11.

You know, the Martinelli, Trossard, Louis Skelly, who can't seem to get a game in the Premier League. Califiori's been referred to him.

Ben White has come out from injury, Saka starting, you know, it's and then Eze, of course, you know, so that's nine changes from the team that you know drew with Man City, but still, that is an incredible, strong team.

And Eze over scored his first goal for Arsenal, really nicely taken.

Trossard's second was immaculate, although I think there were still a few grumbles that they didn't really put the foot down against Port Vale.

I think the only little bit of magic wasn't there, and I guess Sam can talk about this, was Andy Cook's goal against for Bradford against Newcastle United, big, big Newcastle fan.

And even though it obviously didn't mean too much in terms of the scoreline, that must have been a great, great moment.

But I've got to say, and I know it's, you know, it's the home stadium's prerogative to where you put the away fans.

I absolutely hate that from Newcastle United, that they pop the away fans as far away as possible, you know, and I know it's, you know, it's obviously for their benefit, but, you know, I know a lot of people have been there to watch their team and they're just, they're up in the gods.

And they could, you know,

if

a player scores, they have to kind of look up and point to the fans up there in the top tier. I just, I don't know.
I don't know. It's just not a great spectacle for them.

As I say, it's obviously Newcastle's, you know, it's for their benefit, but I don't know. Yeah.
I don't like it.

And it's not your fault, Sam, but you are the the newcastle representative here yeah and it's a bit like say if you've got a dodgy zoom stream sometimes there's a delay between an away team scoring let's say if i'm sat in my seat in the east stand i see the ball hit the net and it's like one second two second and then suddenly you hear the noise and but yeah i mean cook what a story right because i don't think he played in the football league until he was about 27 and he's suddenly like been prolific from bradford and they're an amazing team right they had their this promotion last year last kick of the game and they're top of league one.

So actually, had this game been the other way around, it would have been fun for the neutral, I reckon.

So he got injured on New Year's Day, and he actually had tickets for the Carabao Cup final that Nicasa won, but he couldn't go because he had knee surgery scheduled for that day.

So it was a lovely moment for him. Ultimately, it didn't really cost Nicasel anything.
Well, it didn't at all. But yeah, it was a,

on the point about rotating, like it was, again, Eddie Howe did so.

And there's an argument to say that, you know, on Football Manager, when you played those like inter-squad games in pre-season, in terms of the side Howe picked a Bournemouth on Sunday and the side last night, it was almost even.

You're going, oh, which one's stronger? Which team would beat which team? And that's unusual for Eddie Howe.

It's something that he didn't do last time Newcastle were in the Champions League and he's going to have to do now.

And getting some of those, particularly the defenders. I mean, it'd be interesting to see what he does against Arsenal defence-wise, because Trippia Trippia didn't play or didn't start last night.

But yeah, Willa Sula gets a couple of goals. Guimarez comes in and just controls it, but they played it at walking pace, right? And scoring those two goals just before in and around 20 minutes.

There were some nice little moves, and people were like, oh, why are they playing 90? But actually, for them, for Bruno and Geraldin, it was played at walking pace.

And good to see Will Aceula get a couple as well. The most exciting part of last night's Carabao Barry is two of MLHesky's sons on the bench for City, Jaden and Regan.

I mean, I don't know how many sons he has, but two of them came on, which is not really a question for you, Barry, but was just quite interesting to see the Heskies, the spawn of Hesky's doing so well.

Well, I some years ago went to Emile Heskey's house in Cheshire to do an interview with him. And

while I was there, Mrs. Heskey was taking,

I'm going to presume it's those two lads to training. And

they went to training in a powder blue Bentley.

So I look forward to when they break into the first team hearing the story of the hardship they had to endure as children trying to make it as professional footballers.

There was this weird Irish bloke one time who was

talking to dad. But Emile had his own sort of rumpus room, Ned Flanders style, in his the basement of his house and he had like pool table fuzzball

uh loads of his shirts and other people's shirts up on the wall and there was a bar in the corner with uh loads of sickly what you call them those

sweet shots you drink or students drink uh schnapps snaps and that kind of wicked that kind of stuff aftershocks yeah that kind of thing different bottles all in different colours.

But a lot of the bottles were almost empty. And I said to Emil, who drinks all that stuff? And he hadn't noticed that they were all almost empty.

So I think I may have got his two young sons and their friends in a lot of trouble. So I'd like to apologize for that.

Phil Fohen's got a nice goal player one, too, with Divine Mahogany Mukasa

in his first appearance for the side. Savinio Bangdini.
Is Mahogany a hard man? Well, it's a good question, to which I don't know the answer.

But yes, much harder than his brother Balsa, of course.

Sam, James Trafford playing for City. I mean, you wrote about a million words on him when he was about to sign for Newcastle.

Does it pain you to see him not playing for Newcastle and not being even first choice for Man City now? Yeah, it pains me, but I feel for him. I largely feel for me because those...

million words have never yet seen the light of day and there was a chance if he'd have stayed as city's number one they might have but it's got to be weird for him right?

I've said it on the pod before.

Getting games like this is nice, but he went there to be a number one. Like, he's established himself as a number one over the last couple of years.

And he went there with the confidence to be cities number one. But his issue is like, Donna Rummer is just so good.
Like, he's just a giant. You look at him as a 40.

You must think, how do I beat this man? And we see it game after game. We've seen it in Europe and we'll see it again.

So, yeah, I don't know what Trafford does. Like, does he try and push for a loan?

Potentially. He'll get games at Manchester City.

There's enough games for him to play,

but it's got to be disappointing. And am I sad he's not at Newcastle? I think he would have been Newcastle's number one for a long time.
Ramsdale played last night for the first time.

We sort of forget about him signing on loan. I mean, Nick Pope's been brilliant at the start of the season, and Newcastle aren't conceding goals.

How's very conservative with a lowercase C, but I do wonder if Ramsdale might end up as the number one by the end of the season. But long term, yeah, I'd love to have seen Trafford.

And it may be if he doesn't get games, clubs might go back in for him come January of the summer. Would Chelsea not be an ideal place for Trafford to go? Because they desperately need a goalkeeper.

It is a good point. Well made.

And I mean, Pep's not averse to letting players go to, you know, rivals.

I don't know who are whose rivals, given how Chelsea and City are going, where they might end up. But yeah, it's a good point.
Fourth round draw.

Arsenal Brighton, Grimsley, Brentford, Swansea Man City, Newcastle Spurs, Wrexham, Cardiff, Liverpool Palace, Wolves, Chelsea, and Wickham, Fulham. Those games to be played the week commencing?

I don't know, but when they happen, we'll tell you about them. And we'll be back in just a second.

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Hi folks, it's Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So the Premier League's back.
Two remaining unbeaten sides in the league meet at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace unbeaten in 17.

I mean, I guess, Robin, Robin, it's hard to count stats that span seasons, but perhaps we haven't been quite as glowing about Palace as we should have been.

And okay, they've won two and drawn three, but you know, they did lose Eze

before the season started and haven't necessarily replaced him. And defensively, very solid.
What chance do you give them against Liverpool? I mean, a chance, definitely. I think that's the key.

They're so, so good defensively. They are absolutely rock solid.
They give very little away. So it's all quite low scoring their games, quite a few draws as well.

I just think Oliver Glasn knows exactly what he's doing. And again,

it's just such a shame that, again, they've lost a big player. I think that you know, it has

halted their attack a bit. Mateta doesn't really have too much to feed off, not as much anyway.
So, yeah, I guess Liverpool obviously will be favourites, but I think

they'll be given a good game. And yeah,

Glasna's contract is up at the end of the season. He's not going to sign a new one.

I think he's a bit fed up with just how Palace are run, but that's just how it is, isn't it? That's just

their state. They will sell their best players.
And, you know, obviously Mark Gay will go in the summer.

So I think, yeah, they kind of have to succession plan for him as well for the head coach because it sounds like this, he's going to stay for the rest of the season, but that'll be it.

Yeah, and that would be enormous, right, for Palace to lose here. I mean, are we at the stage, Barry, where we need Liverpool to drop some points? Well, well

i'm not i mean you don't need i know you i know i knew that's how you'd answer that question of course you're not but you know we want a title race and you know they are now five wins from five and no one else is mounting a spectacular i know it's very early and you know they're only five points they lose in arsenal or tottenham or even bournemouth win and it's two points but still It would be good, I think, for them to lose a game.

Yeah, I suppose it would in the interests of having a title race.

But we are only five games in.

There's every chance they could drop points away at Palace. And people have...

The main concern about Liverpool is that they're winning all these games without playing well. Now, I would argue they played very, very well

in going 2-0 up against Everton last Saturday, but... then proceeded to play very badly as they tried to protect that two-goal lead.
So there there are vulnerabilities there.

It is up to other teams to exploit those vulnerabilities. And as yet, no one's been able to do it.

I think Palace could. Yeah, they could.
They've had their hand forced, Sam.

What a blow. They're going to have to play Alexander Isak because Ekotike is suspended.
Will they be okay?

It's really tough, isn't it, when you have to look at that threadbear squad and think, oh, who's going to start up front?

But yeah, I mean, I know you've probably covered it already, but Ekotike is a bit of an idiot.

i mean that that's the worst red card it's the worst two bookings i don't know if they still do find do you remember they it always used to be like a two-week fine like maximum i don't know if you can still get away with that because players kick off but i hope he's fine uh like is that it's a chance as well isn't it because they're both they both want to play through the middle isaq and i like how ani slot keeps referencing sort of isaq's lack of fitness and not being able to start as if it's somebody else's fault other than the player himself's fault.

It's like, well,

I don't know what you're trying to get at Arnie but

I'm pretty sure I know why he's not that fit but anyway but look he's there's a couple of chances he missed where a sharp Alexander Isak would just put away in midweek and that'll come and this is a chance and that you think for Ekotike you give Alex Isaac as much as it pains me to even say his name you give him a go in the side like and he gets running you he's just becomes undroppable so I I think Paris should worry but their defense is is pretty good you know we talked about you talked about gay and Lacroix, but like someone like Chris Richards goes unsung.

Like, he's become a very good Premier League defender over the last couple of years. So that back three of Palace, it'll be tested, but

they can do it. Their record against Liverpool at home isn't great, actually, but I think it's a bit of a misnomer.

They win up at Anfield relatively frequently, but they haven't beaten them down at Seller since the game where Liverpool lost a title all those years ago. But yeah, so a tough one for Palace.

They've got Saar back, I think.

He's missed three games from a hamstring injury, and that back four of Liverpool's is where they're, I mean, it feels weird to call it a vulnerability because it's they're in the top of the league basically and not dropping points but that is their slight vulnerability yes I got in trouble for I think the other day for saying Palace have a good record against Liverpool then someone messaged to say Liverpool have won the last 2,000 games at Selhurst Park or something like that so my apologies look Sam you've had enough of talking about

your former players who are good elsewhere like Anderson or Isaac or players that almost came to you but let's talk about your team and the players that are actually there they play Arsenal at home.

What is the sentiment at the moment at St. James's? It's a mixed one.
I think it's been a, like, people feel it's been a very good start despite circumstances and despite the lack of points.

Like, not having a centre-forward in games has cost Newcastle points right a couple of times.

Anthony Gordon comes back for this one after that silly suspension.

How's having to evolve? And Newcastle's game plan is essentially go at teams for the first 30 minutes, like really properly press them, try and scare them and get that early goal or two.

And if they don't do that, they're still not quite sure how to

play in games. I feel like the Barcelona was a good example.
They did it for half an hour, but they didn't get the goal.

And that's probably how the PSG game a few years ago would have gone had they not got those early goals. And Liverpool was the same.

Arsenal don't have a good record coming up to Newcastle in the last... few years.
I think they've lost the last four.

We don't know what kind of team, how is going to play. And it's weird.
I said it a bit earlier. Usually you can be pretty sure who's going to play.
He's very loyal.

Fabian Shea is out with Concussion and Malik Chowell's come in and looked really, really good.

And there's an argument that people like him and Botman and Lewis Hall didn't play in that Champions League game.

And you're thinking, oh, I mean, it's great we have that depth, but are you too loyal, Eddie? The Kieran Trippier one is interesting because...

He just looks

at the very top level. And that's what Arsenal, Barcelona,

He just looks a little bit past it, and teams are targeting down the right.

And it's interesting to see how the games evolve because he's probably used to playing against wingers earlier in his career, like Sterling and Wright-Phillips and Lennon.

And now, the left-wingers, they're all kind of like massive inside forwards. You know, Rashford gave him the run around.

People like Cunha, I don't know who will play off the left at Arsenal, but Martinelli could play there. So it's a very different game.

So that's the weakness that I think Arsenal will be looking to exploit. But it's always a great atmosphere.
Volta will start. He's having to manage him.

The Joan Vissa injury is like Vissa basically didn't miss a game for about two decades and has suddenly gone off on international duty. And now he's not available.

So that will annoy Howell because he likes to bed players in.

It's going to take some time because the attack is very different in terms of its makeup. Voltamada looks a good player.
He's probably not the can conjure something out of nothing.

forward that Isaac is, well, still is. And Arsenal defenders will be pretty pleased.

There's no Isaac because he gave them a torrid time a couple of times last year on the arsenal perspective robin i mean there has been this criticism about you know whether arteta is courageous or not and it was quite interesting after the the city game where city was so defensive and perhaps arteta wasn't really expecting that but they didn't do enough to break man city down and and a man city that aren't quite as good

that perhaps they need to go into these games and and sort of I don't know, the way Sam suggests Newcastle set up, you're probably smart to be not that courageous for 30 minutes.

But it'd be quite interesting to see if Arsenal do go for it. Yeah, but what does go for it mean? This is the thing, because I think they have struggled to break down teams.

And Newcastle have an exceptionally good defensive record

this season. And yet, as I mentioned against Port Vale, I think there were, again, there were sort of grumblings of loads of possession, but not too much threat.

So, I mean, will he approach it differently? I don't think so. You know, obviously, they're going to try and win, but you know, it's another big game.

I feel like they've had this sort of Super Sunday game, haven't they? Very often early on. They've had Liverpool, Anfield, they've had Manchester City and now Newcastle.

You know, it's quite a difficult start against teams that are obviously competing for Champions League places.

I feel very sorry for Mononi Madueke, I've got to say, because he had a fantastic start to the season.

He's going to be out for at least a couple of months, it seems, with injury. They should have Odegaard back, though, so he could provide a bit more creativity.

So, yeah, I mean, again, it's going to be a really intriguing game. I'm not expecting a very high-scoring game, I would say.

I think that, you know, maybe that, maybe that sort of a, that result against Man City last season sort of, I don't know, clouded things, you know, that was it 5-1, you know, in that game. Yeah.
Yeah.

I don't know. I just don't think realistically, you can't do that really against most teams in the Premier League.
Yeah. And actually just so it just does oversimplify things when you decide.

And it was my question, so I'm at fault for it, I guess, Barry, to say, look, you know, will you go for it? Or will you, you know, it's not as simple as going for it or shutting up shop.

You have to look at what the opposition is doing. And if they, you know, if an opposition comes at you, that means they've got holes behind them.
But at the same time,

you know, it's not a crime to be cagey at times in football matches. No, absolutely not.
Look, Arteta

seemed very surprised by criticism that was leveled at him

about his tactics in the city game. So journalists basically did that thing where they quote what the sky pundit said back at him and then he at his pre-match presser ahead of the port Vale game.
And

so he said, Well, no one had a problem with my team selection for the athletic Bilbao game. So, you know, where was the criticism then?

But I would counter that with, well, the athletic Bilbao game didn't really matter because it was the first of eight Champions League games. So even if you lost that one 6-0, it's no big deal.

Whereas the game against City is a far more important one to ideally win or ultimately not not lose, which is what they did in the end. And then

he argued: well, we had 70% possession against Man City. What other team ever notches up numbers like that? And that's, I suppose, a fair enough point.
But what did you do with that possession?

Very little, I would say. So he's entitled to his opinion.
His critics are entitled to theirs.

I don't think either opinions are spectacularly unreasonable, but I do think he got it wrong against Liverpool and City. This is away at Newcastle.

I think we can all agree Newcastle are not going to be Arsenal's title rivals, but they're one of those teams they have to beat if they fancy themselves to win the league.

Chelsea Brighton, Ali Maxwell yesterday said the vibes are off at Chelsea.

And the caveat is, I guess, is that it's so early in the season for all these games, Robin.

But

it's such a fascinating case study of a football club because it's sort of so different with so many players, et cetera.

That if things don't go right, you know, and for the neutrals, that's probably the direction they want it to go to see what happens, right? Yeah, no, you're right.

They're such a hard club to read, aren't they? Really difficult. And Barry alluded to it.
This goalkeeping situation is totally absurd, isn't it? Because again, they kind of struggled past Lincoln.

Philip Jorgensen was in goal. He flapped quite a lot.
And then you've got Robert Sanchez, who obviously did what he did last weekend. It's absolutely

the amount of kind of player trading they've done, and they haven't got a sort of really top goalkeeper is quite mad. This is always quite a good game, I think.

Quite a tasty game because Chelsea have kind of been seen as a sort of feeder club for Brighton. There's a lot of

ex-Brighton players in the Chelsea squad. So it's interesting.
And yeah, I know you said it last time, but David Squire's cartoon on

Enzo Enzo Mareska was sensational. But I think there is a kind of serious point there: with yes, footballers are paid well.
Raheem Sterling hasn't had that easy life, has he?

Yeah, and I'm also sure that he's probably not in a great place at the moment. So, yes, I'm sure Enzo Mareska's dad has

done some pretty hard yards, you know, and it's a tough, tough

thing he's doing. But I also think you can have sympathy for these overpaid shirkers

who are being forced to train in the dark or whatever. Those overpaid shirkers can leave the club if they want to, can they? There's no one keeping them prisoners there.

But they also were given a contract so they can stay and not do much. Yeah, they can stay, but I go really by the complaints.

And the Instagram post Raheem Sterling put out,

he just observed it is

20 past eight at night and it is cold it wasn't a long it wasn't a complaint was it yeah but so he may be happy enough there in in the bomb squad but he if he wanted to he could leave and he but he would have to take a big pay cut apparently he doesn't want to leave london um so he's limiting his options but uh

i'm kind of with maresco on this one

come january and you see and a disappointing performance as raheem sterling and Chris Wood failed to link up for out of sorts West Ham under Nuno's Bill Zanzo

but hopefully Raheem can get the same agent as Deion Dublin and then host deadliest catch and then prove you know then we can find out once and for all who had it tougher Mr.

Mareska senior or Raheem Sterling Brentford play Manchester United Sam you know the United emerged from the chaos of the Chelsea game with three points so so they need to build on that but and Brentford sort of tricky to work out under Keith Andrews so far yeah Yeah, it feels a little bit Ten Hagian, doesn't it?

That if that's the right phrase. Oh, well, they get a win, so now they're going to build on it.
Manchester United have turned a corner, et cetera, et cetera.

Yeah, they've changed quite a lot under Keith Andrews, Brentford. They're really compact and they've pressed really aggressively from goal kicks as well.

So it'll be interesting to see, you know, with the narrative around Manchester United's goalkeepers and who's going to play. It seems like Bayendere is the number one for the time being.

So that'll be interesting.

They just need more from their new signings right sesco's come in and buemo's come in and i know sesco's not played an awful lot or not started games an awful lot but i mean so he's only paid 207 minutes not yet scored or assisted and bumo going back to his former club he was prolific for them last year but just got the one goal in five games and there was this

a little bit of talk about how last year he was so far above his XG in terms of goals and whether that was sustainable. But perhaps it's written for him to go back to to Brentford and score a couple.

Who knows at Manchester United? How can you predict them? They haven't won any of their last seven Premier League games away from home, which seems remarkable.

I mean, actually, it sort of feels totally understandable. You know,

I feel completely unsurprised, but I thought it would be more. I did this game last year, actually, and it was 4-3 to Brentford.

I don't know if you remember, but Manchester United had heavily rotated in anticipation of the Europa League final, which obviously paid off for them. Yes, yeah.

I forgot the G-Tech was sort of exciting last year, you know, especially at the start of so many goals. Weren't they? Villa play Fulham.
They played Bologna in the Europa League tonight.

They were in advance talks with the former Royal Associated Sporting Director Roberto Alabe to replace outgoing president of football operations Monchi.

Is this significant, Barry? You had an interesting stat about their team from the weekend. Yeah, the Villa team that started against Sunderland had

nine players who predated Unai Emery's arrival at the club. And he's been there for six transfer windows.
So that seems a lot. And I've noticed that in

because of Villa's really bad start to the season, people are looking for a stick with which to beat Emery. And his transfer record seems to be the one everyone has seized upon.

Insofar as he's brought in, I think about 23 players have come in on his watch, plus Rashford and Asencio last season on loan.

The only unequivocal successes are Yuri Tiegelman's, Morgan Rogers, who is not playing well for Villa this season so far, despite his brilliant performance for England, and maybe to a lesser extent Paul Torres and Amadou Inano, but Amadou Inana can't stay fit for any length of time.

So in that time they've also sold John Duran for a lot of money, Douglas Louise, Amari Kelleman, Tim Ira Boonum, Jacob Ramsey, Musa Diaby, mainly sales they've made that they didn't necessarily want to, but for PSR reasons.

A lot of the players who've come in under Emery have been very, very underwhelming.

Another, just on the Villa Sunderland game last week, Morgan Rodgers, or Sunderland posted a clip on social media of Trey Hume upending Morgan Rodgers with a tackle which I will charitably describe as full-blooded and robust.

And Rogers, I'm pretty sure it's genuinely his account. Rogers took grave exception to Sunderland

promoting this kind of violence and setting a bad example.

Won't somebody think of the children? And Sunderland fans reacted furiously to this.

But I think Trey Hume was very, very, very lucky not to get sent off for for it he didn't even get booked it's astonishing he didn't get a yellow card for that like it's absolutely mind-blowing it is a kind of foul that you see on one of those reels of park football that then erupts into you know everybody on the pitch you know and coaches and managers and friends and wives and all this that you know it's a it's a proper sunday league i've had enough of you mate i i love trey hume and I think the only thing that saved him was the fact that Sunderland were already down to 10 men and that the ref maybe didn't want to make make it nine.

But

yeah.

And there were proto. Oh, but he got the ball.
And now, A, I don't think he did. And B, even if he did, that doesn't matter.
Just on the, you know, Emery saying about them being lazy.

And he said lazy a lot, didn't he? And Esri Concer was asked about it yesterday in the press conference ahead of the European game tonight.

And this was the only thing that I think maybe, maybe Emery can turn this around because it seems to be only heading in one direction. But Esri Concert was saying, Yeah, he was right.

Yeah, we weren't in the right place.

So I just think, I know, obviously, you know, they're sat side by side in a press conference, and he can't really say, Yeah, I didn't like that, really didn't like that.

You know, I don't, don't like him anymore, you know, that he can't really do that. But I just think the fact that he kind of owned it, he clearly appreciates what Una Emery has done for him.

And I feel like that sort of comment made me feel like there's a little bit of hope that maybe Villa can turn this around. The one thing I'd say there is

Unaomiri's English is not great.

It's not a criticism. And I think he might have meant something other than lazy.

Really good.

Incredibly fastidious.

Elsewhere, Man City, Burnley, Spurs, Wolves.

Martin got in touch. A friend of mine to say, hope your flight went well.
You mentioned on the pod that last night was Wolves' first win of the season.

Wolves beat West Ham 3-2 in the second round of the Carabao Cup. I'm looking forward to a special pod dedicated to Wolves' journey to Carabao Cup glory next year.
Okay.

Leeds, Bournemouth, Forest, Sunderland, Everton played West Ham on Monday night. I don't know, Sam, if anything piqued your interest from those fixtures before we move on.

The Spurs one is an interesting team selection, isn't it? Because they've been so good defensively. He's made just one change, hasn't he?

Jed Spence, who's been brilliant and made his England debut, has been playing at left back, but Destiny Udogie has come back from injury.

So he started against Brighton, and Thomas Frank was pretty effusive in his praise.

So it's just odd to see Spurs with a set or back four of Poro Romero van der Ven, and then it's one of them Udoggi and Spence. So there's an interesting battle.

And also the Paolina one is fascinating.

I know he scored an overhead kick in the Carabao Cup, although the way it was described in the headlines, and then I watched it, it's like, okay, it wasn't quite.

I mean, it's still an overhead kick, right? But in the pantheon of overhead kicks, it's quite low down. But

they paid.

So when Biden bought Paulina, they paid a lot of money for him and it didn't really work under company it he didn't really like that style of play and he started well against PSG and against Manchester City Paulina he's brilliant up at the city but he wasn't so good against Bournemouth

he was taken off against Brighton in that game they pulled back and it'll just be interesting there's some Spurs fans they can

maybe in games at home against sides we'd be expected to blow away and maybe he's a little bit too defensive which is weird because they spent the whole of last year desperate for that person to play in that position.

And now they've got them. And already it's like, oh, do we need them anymore? So

that's piqued my interest to answer your question. Yeah, and you're absolutely right.
One of the lowest budget overhead kicks. I would even call it just hooking over his shoulder.

I mean, credit to him for scoring, but you know, that is that's not. Who are you talking about yesterday who was like, you said had a fall? This was like the having a fall overhead kick,

wasn't it? It was like the aesthetically sort of elderly overhead kick. I mean, credit to him yes it still went in but yeah it wasn't the Gareth McCleary the Gareth McCleary of overhead kicks.

That's what it was. Anyway that'll do for part two.
Part three will begin with the possible World Cup expansion to 64 teams.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. There was some suggestion yesterday the World Cup might expand to 64 teams.

Matt Hughes, writing in the Guardian, FIFA's not planning to expand the World Cup for the Centenary Edition in 2030, despite his president Jenny Infantino meeting a delegation of South American leaders to discuss the idea in New York.

Infantino met Uruguay and Paraguay's heads of state, the president of the South American Confederation, Com Nabull, as well as presidents of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay federations at FIFA's offices in Trump Tower on Tuesday for the first formal discussions about a proposal that was raised informally by the Uruguayan FA at a FIFA Council meeting last March.

It does feel like too many, Barry, but I was trying to think

64 is

64 is actually not, it's just as bad as 48, isn't it? Because you

would you have would you have more no team would play more matches, I think.

Although it does seem like a lot, it does seem like a lot. I'd be fairly confident the Republic of Ireland still won't qualify,

so I'm all for it. Let's get it up to 128, and then maybe we'll be in with a squeak

in 2034, is it?

Yeah, look, if top newshound Matt Hughes says it's not going to happen, I'd be fairly sure he's probably right.

It seems excessive on an average World Cup. You're already watching, is it three or four matches a day?

I literally do not have time to watch anymore, and I have a lot of free time.

Yeah,

I think in the World Cup, there'll be eight Sundays. Is it eight? I think eight.
We'll have to do some days watching eight football matches. I just can't.
At what state?

And And we might be sitting next to each other. We're hoping to do it from New York.
At what point will we kill each other? Or just say, listen,

everybody needs a game off. Of the eight, you didn't have to watch this.
You got some free time. I didn't have to watch Panama versus Trinidad and Tobago.

With all due respect. Because I hate football and I'm a lazy journalist.

WSL, we're three games in, Robin.

What stood out? Well, as always, our old friends Chelsea have

got the only 100% record. Yeah, I mean,

but again, again, they haven't played very well, but they get it done. And that's just what Chelsea do.

It'd be interesting to see Manchester United look very thin, sort of squad-wise, but they've managed to make it to the Champions League main draw for the first time.

This weekend, obviously, was really difficult, particularly Sunday. So I did the Manchester United

Arsenal game, and it

was really hard to strike the right tone. It didn't really feel feel particularly right to be doing it.
I was working with Farrell Williams, who was just totally cut up the whole day.

So, yeah, I just hope everyone who

is sort of still reeling from all of this is looking after themselves. Because, yeah, Matt Beard, I think it's just been remarkable.
the stories and the tributes that have flooded in for him.

So, yeah, it's just again, everyone's just really shocked by it. And it's just difficult not to be, not to be affected by that news coming through.

And actually, it is not important, you know,

how difficult your day is to commentate on a game then, but it is, it is professionally, and we've all been in that position sometimes where you actually have to do a show when, you know, I know Barry was on air and I wasn't on air when, you know, halfway through a radio show and the news about Ricky Hatton happens.

And

trying to strike the right thing is actually really quite difficult in the position you were in to know. And you probably just don't want to do it, right?

It's sort of one of those, you love your work, but actually it's a game where you just don't want to be there. Well, well exactly and as you as you mentioned yeah it's just kind of um

almost sort of as it happens sort of trying to editorialize and also make sure you're you're you're actually physically the right tone it's really hard so but obviously that is very secondary to what has happened in his family but um but yeah it's uh it's just yeah just very tough tough weekend for everyone and yeah i mean certainly make sure you listen to the guardian women's football weekly and the tom gary especially has has written a really really beautiful moving tribute to to matt beard so yeah definitely point everyone in the direction of that.

Yeah, and as we mentioned on Monday, it's incredibly sad, isn't it? And our hearts still go out to his family.

It's such as the news cycle that you just sort of move on and, you know, football happens and life happens and life continues.

And perhaps the only way that is for, you know, anyone outside it to sort of get over bad news.

And a massive gear change to California Canary, who got in touch to say, have you all been made aware that Jan Franco Zola is the designated buggy driver at the Ryder cup i don't know if you've seen this barry that he is driving francesco molinari's buggy and there he is just squatting down right bottom left as if he's like a yt s player uh in this big team i think it's so great that you know possibly the most talented sports person out there is gianfranco i mean that is some of them these are quite good golfers and i do love the ryder cup but how great that he's out there it makes me want europe to win so much more just to see him there hugging somebody you know yeah um

apparently he and francesco molinari became good buddies uh when molinari moved to london and i'm not sure where

zolda must have been at chelsea at the time i guess and uh he's he's been recruited to drive the buggy um i mean there is previous i do remember one european rider cup team had DJ Spooney among the ranks, the backroom ranks, and nobody was was quite sure why.

He wasn't doing anything as important as driving a buggy. So sort of people were going,

he's good for vibes. Why is it good for vibes?

But there he was.

Would you have Kevin Phillips or someone, Barry, if it was you driving you around? Look, if you saw me try to hit a golf ball, Robin,

you would quickly realize I will never be on the European Ryder Cup team.

I don't think, Barry, I have to say it, I don't think anyone needed clarification on whether you would play golf for Europe in the Ryder Cup. But who would help you?

You know, who would help you by driving you around in the buggy, do you think?

I might get my

Macamate

Jonathan, not Wilson, a different Jonathan, but only if he could bring his

dog Norman along. Because Norman helps calm me down when I'm stressed.
Do you think Zola's like the emotional support for the European team? Yeah.

Yeah.

Emotional. I think he'd be very good emotional support

driver slash chauffeur. Rest assured, it wouldn't be me.
Barry would find me by about whole five just asking how things are going. He would just be like, get out, get out, get out of this buggy.

Anyway, that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody.
Thank you, Barry. Thank you.
Thank you, Robin. Thanks, Max.
For the tape, Sam's Wi-Fi was so bad that he has disappeared.

But hopefully we'll edit it in a thank you right now. Thank you, Sam.
You're welcome. Thanks, Max.
Thanks.

Hopefully, you didn't say anything derogatory or offensive to me, but I like to be honest in all forms of broadcasting. That's what happened.
Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Bill Maydard, and we'll be back on Monday.

This is The Guardian.

When you're a forward thinker, you don't just bring your A game, you bring your AI game.

Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people, money, and agents so you can transform tomorrow. Workday, moving business forever forward.

Hi folks, it's Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman.

Whole Foods Market is your holiday headquarters with everything you need, whether you're a guest or hosting the big dinner with show-stopping centerpiece means like bone-in spiral cut ham or bone-in rib roast or even king crab.

And if if you want to take a few shortcuts, no one is looking after all, try the heat-neat sides from the prepared foods department.

Shop for everything you need at Whole Foods Market, your holiday headquarters.

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