Arsenal go top of the Premier League as Liverpool lose again – Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Sound, the brackets mini, close brackets crisis at Liverpool Claxon.

Three defeats in a a row for Arna Slots and after weeks of not being great but winning late on they're now not being great and losing late on Chelsea missing so many especially in defence are an odd team but sometimes a good team Kaisedo with the perfect long range whack and Estevauer late on Mareska sent off for being happy we can't have that it means Arsenal go top a tediously easy 2-0 win over West Ham but they lost that one last year this could be the year for Mikkel Spurs a third after a gritty wet windy resolute win at Ellen Road.

Pascal does strike twice.

The kind of game that they probably would have lost last year, given they lost almost all their games last year.

And is now losing games at Forest.

2-0 at Newcastle.

Voltamada was very good.

Manchester United are back.

Well, who knows?

But a win is a win.

Everton somehow end Crystal Palace's unbeaten run.

Another chance to say we're all happy to see Jack Greedish being happy.

Bournemouth are fourth.

Antoine Semeno leading a comeback against Fulham.

Donielle Marlin scores a couple of decent ones for Villa.

Man City win at Brentford.

And more late Agony for Wolves.

Still without a win for the irresponsible Vitor Pereira.

Elsewhere, Russell Martin is sacked as Rangers manager after a complete disaster.

And Barry's head head has been turned into a holiday game for all the family.

We'll answer your questions as always and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, John Bruin.

Hello.

Hello, Max.

Welcome, Lucy Ward.

Hey, Max.

And hello, Barry Glendenning.

It's not for the first time, Max.

I want to skip straight to the end to find out about this game.

Again, it'll be an anti-climax, but it'll be a nice thing for people to hear at the end of the podcast.

Shamek says, what happened this week on the football?

Great Great question.

Let's go through it all.

We'll begin at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea two, Liverpool one.

Mareska running down the line for that winner.

I mean, a brilliant moment for Estevao, a great moment for Mareska, even though he was sent off.

Producer Joel saying, Does that make it four red cards in five?

Not sure.

But anyway, Barry, a huge win for him and a huge win for Chelsea.

Yeah, and a worrying defeat for Liverpool.

I think they don't lose three in a row too often and

they're not playing well.

But

from a Chelsea perspective, I find it kind of difficult to get invested in Chelsea this season.

I'm not sure why.

I just I think there's so many they seem to have about a hundred players in their squad and I can't keep track of them and they play guys I don't know, which you know, I have no idea who they are, which is rare for a big six team.

You know, I could be forgiven, I suppose, for not recognising a few Burnley players or Leeds players because they've just come up.

Moise Casedo is turning out to be just a fantastic signing for Chelsea.

Liverpool fans will be aware, obviously, they were looking on going, he was about to sign for us and then didn't.

In terms of Liverpool's performance, there's just so many things wrong.

And I presumed they'll just click into gear at some point and start winning while playing well instead of winning while playing well within themselves.

And that's not happened.

They're still not playing well.

and now they've started to lose and it's worrying.

What do you do with Mo Sala?

Who I think he has three goals and a few assists, but he's clearly not the player he was

in recent seasons.

Do you do the unthinkable and drop him?

Because I think you could see there were a few occasions in that game where he did his Mo Sala thing cutting in.

from the right and trying to curl one inside the far post and he was ballooning the ball over the bar.

And you could see his teammates starting to get frustrated with him.

And that is something I don't recall seeing before.

So, plenty for Ernest Slott to think about over the next two weeks of international break.

Yeah, I did try and lead with Chelsea Lucy, but I mean, Liverpool losing three in the row is the story, I guess.

And do you know what, Max?

Yeah, that they're struggling to get the rhythm going.

Liverpool, you know, integrating new signings who have not hit the ground running, but that will happen.

But I think from experience, I think from a human side, the grief of losing Jota is just doesn't stop

when all the tributes and the laying of flowers ends.

And I look at Salah and he just doesn't look happy at all.

If you think about it, as

an adult, you sort of go into a place of work which is always full of fun every single day and one person now is not there and you've still got to go and and and you know perform physically and mentally i honestly think that that's got a lot to do with and and you know people other fans will say that's just excuses but i just think the the combination of new players in and that affecting a lot a key part of the the group is is massive because it just doesn't go away you know everybody who knows who's lost someone close to them it's particularly unexpectedly particularly when they're young it it's a very very difficult to get your head around and it's already quite pressurized being a Premier League footballer.

And I honestly think that that just sort of tips the balance of performance.

And it was never sustainable that they were going to keep scoring late winners.

You know, that always was going to tip the balance at some point.

But I do think the grief will play a massive part of it.

No, I completely agree.

And actually, it's difficult in a way because you don't...

Well, you can probably analyse every Liverpool game and at the end of it say, look, they are going through something.

And

I think we've talked about it before.

We have talked about it before, John.

But, you know, it's a really stark example of the fact that, you know, sort of all analysis of football is at some level quite superficial because we just don't know how any of these guys are feeling.

And I was listening to another podcast talking about Salah's form and saying how bad it was.

And I was thinking exactly what you said, Lucy, which is, look, we might be projecting.

We don't know.

Clearly, he was incredibly moved.

And like all the, you know, he had someone and football dressing rooms are quite.

sort of odd places anywhere in terms of how intense it is day to day and sort of how close you are to these people whether they're your friends or they're not.

So we might be projecting.

I don't know, but I really get that sense, John, that

this is something that we should never, ever ignore for, you know, not just this season, but for these young men.

It can't be dismissed because all of us will have or will experience this type of thing.

And

footballers are human beings.

I do wonder.

that that loss has in a strange way affected the integration of those other new players because arriving at a club where there's this thing hanging over the other players that they've lost their friend and trying to be part of a group that actually shares something which is deeply sad might be very difficult for those new chaps coming in.

And we have to,

it seems a bit trite to put an asterisk, but you have to put that against Liverpool at the moment.

Arnie Slot spoke very well about this.

But Arnie Slot, of course, will also talk about the football matters, which are that a team is failing to integrate for whatever reason.

And the changes he's making aren't coming off in a way that they did last season.

So, whereas last season, you know, it was a genius move to put Ryan Gravenberch as a central midfielder.

That's maybe not coming off in the same way this season.

Florian Wurtz.

Florian Wurtz was a pressing machine, I was told, in the Bundesliga.

Maybe pressing in the Premier League isn't the same as in the Bundesliga because I laugh at a joke.

You might have to put in a tackle in the Premier League.

You might have to throw in one.

And

he does a lot of running around chasing after the ball, but I'm not sure he's quite up to the physical bit yet.

And that will take time.

Listen, when you've paid that much money for a play, you've got to give them time, even if people like us are already beginning to ask questions.

But you've got this issue of Salah,

where the more cynical people are saying, well, he's got his new contract.

And, you know, does he that?

No, I don't think that really works.

I think Salah is off for whatever reason.

And this is it.

There's a great big intangible over Liverpool in that they've signed all these players.

They signed, I mean, Isaac.

It's funny, isn't it?

The best two touches in this game came from Isak and

although did he mean it?

Verts, yes.

Well,

yeah, he meant that.

He meant that.

There are the glimpses of what a player he is.

Yeah, when he set up for Gakpo.

who unfortunately Gakpo did not have a good game apart from that.

Oh, no, sorry.

Sorry.

I thought you meant the Vierts one where he...

Yeah, but the Vertz one, he did mean that one.

The Vertz one, that was unbelievable, yeah.

If Isaac meant that, it's extraordinary.

Yes, yeah.

I mean, that is, yeah, that's what you pay 100 and whatever million for.

But those.

Okay, the most effective touches, obviously, Salah misses the chance

created by Vertz.

So there probably are signs that it can work, but it's

again, I made this example at the start of the season and

I will celebrate myself.

Why not?

The Juan Sebastian Veron comparison just rings out, doesn't it?

Where the football at times can be beautiful, twinkle-toed stuff, but it's not very effective.

And you've got other players like the right back spot.

What about Trent Alexander?

Remember, Alexander Arnold, what a good player he was, it turns out.

You know, you've got Connor Bradley having, he's a problem, isn't he?

He gets booked.

He gets booked too easily, doesn't he?

That's probably he's not that disciplined.

And Frimpong,

I think among Liverpool fans, they're already saying, why did we buy this guy?

And yeah.

But do you know what?

Let's talk about Chelsea a little bit.

I was talking to the detective chief superintendent of the celebration police.

His name is Jonathan Wilson.

And he was saying about Mareska's celebration.

He said, why is it after winning the seventh game of the season, is he celebrating like his Bob Stoko or David Pleet back in 1983?

You know, I mean, it would be great, actually, to see Enzo Mareska in a pair of moccasins, you know, and white suit.

Mareska, is he a big game manager?

He's beaten PSG, he's beaten Liverpool, and yet in other games, Chelsea played like a drain.

And when Barry says they're mysterious, that's another edge to it, isn't it?

Right, I suppose that's the point.

If you're an odd team, like I said in the intro, sometimes you can be bad and sometimes you you can be good.

And it is like it's some feat, Barry, to beat Liverpool, even if it's an out-of-form Liverpool when you are missing so many defenders, and then another two get injured, and then you write, you bring on players, and you're you do have to have like Wikipedia open at the moment.

If you're not a Chelsea fan, to be like, that guy is that guy.

And I don't think that's like professional irresponsibility of us.

I think a lot of neutrals are like, oh, okay, he was 35 million from them, and he was an academy player.

And, you know, and there must be part of Mareska just looking at the, you know, who he's putting on his bench and like thinking where do they fit in a kind of whiteboard

well I knew they had Gissins I knew they had Estevao and what a performance he had in his 20 minutes

it was pretty much a man of the match performance set up a goal uh had a couple of shots himself created a brilliant chance for Enzo Fernandez which which he uh didn't convert so that but i knew about him from the club world cup uh i knew about mark yu because he went on loan to Sunderland and then they took him back when

the lap got injured.

I think he might have played one or maybe two games for Sunderland.

Hato, who's this guy?

Not a clue.

I think he replaced Achimpong, who I also wasn't particularly familiar with.

Maybe it is professional responsibility.

Yes, it is.

I do find it.

Do you not watch the UEFA Conference League last year?

No, I don't.

Well, you told me you watched everyone that I commentated on, so obviously not.

No, so Lucy, well, fill us in, Lucy, because you know, you're the most professional of us.

Well, a champong is an extremely, I mean, he should have had a lot more minutes than he's had.

He's very comfortable on the ball, and he's played a lot.

And this is the thing about Chelsea now: is that they can bring some of these players in when they're having problems injury-wise, and know that they can perform.

You know, some of the places that they went to were wild, you know, like the fans, the opposition fans, whether it was Warsaw or Copenhagen, these players played in that sort of environment.

And Sean, so the Champong, Tyreek George, you know, there's all these Academy players.

So if he needs them, he'll play them, although he's loath to play them.

That's the thing, Bereska, at times.

He'll play them in the Conference League and he sort of had separate squads.

But I've noticed that even though Champong is probably one of the better, even if you don't even consider him a young player, he's one of these better defenders, he doesn't really get a chance.

And I noticed as well, who did I notice?

I was going to say Malagosto playing in midfield actually actually was really impressive, I thought.

Yeah, I mean, he's just, I mean, technically, you know, right back is arguably the most, if you're right-footed, is the most simple position to play because everything's in front of you to the side.

There's, you know, it's not sort of 360.

So if you've got that sort of technical ability, as Rhys James has as well, you can sort of integrate.

But I just think that Chelsea were the only team who were at the end of it were trying to win it and prepared to take risks.

And I think that was the bit that just got them over the line at the end.

And Estevau is going to be an unbelievable player.

Yeah.

Well, that Liverpool defeat meant they were replaced at the top of the league by Arsenal.

They beat West Ham 2-0.

Mikel Artesa 300th game in charge.

The game itself, completely unmemorable, I would say, John.

But it has been a really, really good week for Arsenal.

This and Newcastle away were games they lost last season.

They've won those both.

They had a good win in the Champions League as well.

And it could be a title-winning team, this.

For the fourth season in a row.

Yeah.

Arsenal look like contenders and this could be their year if we flip through the other contenders they have the strongest squad that is of no doubt uh match of the day did a comparison of their bench last season against West Ham against this season against West Ham and there really was no comparison um and so they they suffer

what last season was a mortal blow the loss of Martin Odegaard,

who had been brilliant actually against Olympiakos in midweek,

him back to his best.

It didn't knock him down.

Eze moves into the centre and they bring on Zumimendi, who's a really high-quality player, and they get the job done.

And it's about getting the job done, winning those games.

Okay, it's West Ham.

The other match the Dave Fatte enjoyed was that West Ham's last four meetings against Arsenal have featured four different managers.

Yeah.

It tells you something.

Which says something about.

Yes, yes it does but actually and the thing is arsenal have built a stability and the fact that they are teta can the amount of defenders they've got is incredible i mean even chelsea's injury crisis he'd still be able to field a you know a full group of internationals if he had that they are yeah just so full of options i suppose the big question is if jokarez it starts scoring goals on a i was saying this yesterday actually i said if he scores say half of harlan total say, I think Arsenal are pretty set fair because they're getting goals from other parts of the team.

City,

we'll get to them, are reliant on Haaland.

But

Arsenal, they look well set.

They really do look well set, and they are not letting setbacks get to them in the same way.

It's not as frantic.

But I think at this time last year, they were already fretting, weren't they?

There's no need to worry.

They've got so many good players.

There shouldn't be a problem.

Watch that, the Odegaard incident, and it reminded me of an injury that I learned when I was at university that was called the Unhappy Triad of O'Donoghue, which is basically an NFL injury.

So, when you hit in the knee from the outside, it damages your MCL, which is your medial collateral ligament, which I think is what Odegaard has done, your medial cartilage, and your ACL.

And I remember that.

And it always, and when I saw it, I thought, oh, God,

that could be.

But I think it's just been reported that he's done his MCL, his medial collateral ligament, ligament, which is probably the best thing that out of that that could have happened.

So, yeah, there you are.

Some knowledge, some injury knowledge there for you, Baz.

Don't fall asleep.

What did you call us?

Sorry?

The unhappy triad of O'Donoghue.

O'Donoghue, right?

Who's O'Donoghue?

Yeah, it must have, it must have happened to him first.

I don't know.

Okay.

I don't know that.

He was an unhappy triad.

He didn't really want to be in the triads.

He had the tattoos.

Yeah, but he just didn't want to be there.

Yeah, it paid the bills, didn't it?

The thing is, as well, like winning the title is either being the best or the least worse.

And obviously, at the moment, Barry, you look at the rivals with Liverpool slipping, and it is, of course, very early.

You know, Liverpool slipping a bit,

City could really still turn it on, right?

There's no doubt about that.

But like,

you'd have to go, God, we've been second so many times.

And now, look, the door is ajar, even this early.

Yeah, well, Arsenal are now favourites to win the title.

And

I think they're very justified in that favoritism.

The cynic in me thinks they will find a way to mess it up but it's far too early to say it's theirs to lose.

So many things could go wrong.

Of course.

But they are just on the evidence of what we've seen or what I've seen so far, I think they are definitely in a very, very good position to win it, given their performances, their defence, their squad depth.

Yeah,

totally justified in their favoritism at the moment.

Congratulations to Michela Teta for winning the title.

Anyway, that'll do for part one.

Part two will begin at Ellen Road.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Leads one Spurs 2, Tottenham a third, Lucy.

I'm not sure how good they are, but you were at this game.

What did you make of it?

It was all set up, wasn't it?

You know, Leeds' home record, the baying crowd, and

the atmosphere, the weather was absolutely horrific.

I did some filming beforehand, and there was a wind tunnel in the east stand, which nearly took my head off.

The viewers of TNT Sports managed to see my goal in Lucas Radovis' testimonial, even though it looked grainy.

It was only 20 years ago, but in the cop end.

So I made sure that that was played out.

I didn't realise it was a good goal against Bruce Gobelar.

So it was, you know, it's that levels.

Levels.

Let's say no more about that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We all had a line, but none of us said it.

Carry on.

So,

Spurs, very impressed with Spurs.

You know,

I'm sure we'll talk about Russell Martin later, but Thomas Frank in an example of a manager who recognises when, you know, things are

what sort of challenge he'll face in when he goes to a place like Ellen Road.

And they actually, the Ellen Road crowd after the start were actually really quiet because Spurs did quite well.

They got a goal and then they allowed leads back into it, which I thought was good play by Calvert Lewin, who had a really difficult afternoon against Van Derven and Romero.

What a player Romero is, by the way.

I mean, obviously, I've commented him on live, but he's using Miles Away.

I'm using Miles, but he's right on top of it at Ellen Road, so it was quite interesting to watch.

But those two are very difficult to play against two Spurs centre-back.

Kudos was very good.

It's quite a tight game, but I just think that when they got the second goal and Leeds changed to a back three and shoved Calvert Lewin up with the other two centre forwards, and he went for it, did Daniel Farker?

And he has actually been criticised a lot for his choice of his subs, timing of his subs.

But I think Farquhar has shown that he's learned a lot from his experiences with Norwich in the Premier League.

He's not playing the same as he did last season with Leeds in the Championship, completely different.

You know, he's going a little bit longer.

He's recruited all physical players that sometimes lack a little bit of finesse, but, you know, it's what's needed.

And he's got a few creative players.

Okafor, if he sort of keeps coming good, then great signing.

But what Thomas Frank did, when they changed to a back three leads, I could see him.

for a minute or so having discussions with his centre-back, with his coaching staff, and he just then shoved on Kevin Danso and went, right?

All right, then you won't get past us now.

We'll just match you up, and you know, you don't really score from open play, which leads don't.

That's what they're struggling from.

And they saw it through, and I just thought it was a masterclass from Thomas Frank in dealing with what's in front of him rather than this is my philosophy, and I'll do it regardless of what happens in the end.

And very impressive.

And Leeds were brilliant as well.

You know, Leeds will cause lots of problems at Ellen Road.

I think

they need to make sure that they improve themselves in front of goal when it's not a set piece.

However, you know, set pieces might help them

get wins and points this season, but a really positive start for Leeds.

Lucy, what did you make of Javi Simmons?

Because I think a lot of Tottenham fans are looking at him because they are missing Madison and Kudosevsky for a sort of a creative spark.

Thomas Frank allowed him to just pop up anywhere.

He was very effective in terms of so

when Spurs won it back, you just looked where he was, wherever he was, is where they sort of attacked down.

And Leeds left it quite open at

a quite high line with no real pressure on the ball at times.

That's how they got the first goal with Tell.

But I quite like Simon's.

There was a couple of balls that he played that they don't have anybody that can play those balls because obviously Madison's not there.

And I think that might be, once he sort of finds his feet even more, I think he will be really important for Spurs.

And it is, John, a game that, you know, Totten don't win because it's cold and wet and hard and leads were good.

And so that, I mean, I don't know if I don't, those clisses do feel,

that feels like it.

And maybe they did have a resolve under Pochettino at times.

I mean, actually, Pogetino departed in 2019, which is a reasonable amount of time ago.

But we forget that for quite a lot, Spurs have actually been quite a decent team in the last 10 years.

And there's just that, I suppose, the Mourinho period and then the Ange.

And

they were a good team under Conte.

So expectations are quite high.

And this is a club in transition.

This is a club that's just...

Daniel Levy has been ushered out in succession style.

You know,

the family are taking over the business.

And it's a club in turmoil.

And

every time, let's praise Thomas Frank for a guy who can instill a team to play and win at a difficult place to go.

ignore all the distractions because at other clubs stuff like that starts to peel into the dressing room.

He's just getting on with his job.

It's funny you talked talked about Simmons.

I was told when I was at a Spurs game a couple of weeks ago that over in Holland a couple of, well, one in particular, keen-eyed Dutch coach was saying, why are they playing him on the left?

He is not a left-winger.

Get him in the middle.

You'll get the best of him.

And I think Frank is starting to realize that, that he can only really we know he's a good enough player to give a free roll, but it might take a little bit more time.

He's not, he's come from a different league.

He's He's not someone like James Madison that's arriving from the Premier League and

is up to speed.

There's a very good player there.

Tottenham are going in the right direction.

It's felt like a while, even though they won the Europa League last season.

Strange old game, isn't it?

I mean, no one on this podcast would say Javi Simmons was a winger.

That I can say for certain.

Any strong thoughts?

I mean, Lucy mentioned Dominic Calvert Lewin there, Barry, another day where he had some chance.

And Vicario had made a couple of good savings this game, but Cavaloo had a couple of chances, the kind of chances that he does miss.

Yeah, and he missed them.

Uh, I think he had three presentable chances.

Uh, Sean Logstaff put a good shot, just narrowly wide.

Joe Roden hit the post with a header when it was still 0-0.

I was very impressed with leads, but the last time I said they look light up front, they proceeded to score four goals in their next game.

So,

uh, but they do look light up front on On another day

with a slightly more consistent

or clinical striker than Dominic Calvert-Loon, they might have won this game.

I thought they were really good in defeat.

Let's go to Old Trafford.

Manchester United 2, Sunderland-nil.

Manchester United have won three home games in a row, the first time in over two years.

That's happened.

Their first clean sheet of the season two.

John,

they're back.

Ecstatic scenes as they beat Sunderland Tudor.

Yeah.

Better.

Better.

That's all we can can say, really.

That's all Ruben Amrim was prepared to say.

I was listening to Gary Neville,

Gary Neville kicking back at criticism of Gary Neville, as he often does.

He's going to be busy today, then.

Yes, well, yes.

That's a separate issue that let's probably not discuss on this podcast.

But he, Ruben Amribun said, like the pundits have been kicking up against us.

And he said, well, we used the pundits back in 1995 when Alan Hanson said we couldn't win anything with kids.

And, you know, we all want you to to do well.

Why would I go to Walt Trafford if I wanted you to lose?

And all this.

And maybe things are turning.

Perhaps they're not.

We don't know.

But the thing is, he is, he made slight tactical switches.

Diallo looked very good in that game.

Mason Mount

is a player who is one of those players, and there aren't many of them who's looked better under Ruben Amarim than he did under previous management.

Sesco, nice goal from the

Route 1, we're calling it now.

Route 1 is

throw-ins now.

Let's discuss this because we might get to it.

The throw-ins now that they're so prevalent in the game.

I was chatting to some pals after the Brentford game yesterday.

In football, and Lucy may know this because she's the best informed of us on actual football, can you actually lift up your teammate

like you can in rugby

for

a throw-in?

Or is that considered some sort of infringement?

Yeah, it'll be ungentlemanly conduct, or whatever they call it.

Yeah, that is, yeah.

It's that right.

It will be, yeah.

They just have that section open for anything that people might think of like that, John.

I think.

But also, it'd be very hard, actually, to, because a line out is going in a specific place.

A long throw, it'd be actually, I don't think, I think what you'd have is just one of your players 12 feet in the air missing the ball.

I just don't like, I think, actually, because it's not.

But if you've got like the biggest guy in the team, say he's just going to get in the way of the ball.

I mean, because when I was watching Haaland essentially as the leading man, he's the lock forward.

I wrote this in my match report.

You know, he's the lock forward.

That's like, he's the target for the, when the opposing hooker is throwing in the ball.

I mean, it's, we've got to this strange situation where it's, it is like watching a rugby line out when coyote for it's just so we'll see Haaland coming out now with those little

handles strapped through his stride.

So his teammates make a conditional purchase.

You'll be able to lift it.

It'll take about six to lift him up.

Yeah, but the odd thing is isn't the odd thing that you know long throws have always been quite useful perhaps not as useful as you know that not everyone's ruined your lap that suddenly just how you know sort of like shish

football teams are that everyone's gone well this this seems totally this seems like a really good idea like like it just seems odd that there weren't just a few teams always doing it or maybe they were like everyone's just gone why don't i just lump it in the bottom who who didn't who thought of this do you know what it's got quite a lot of them probably didn't know they could do a long throw when I was working for the Premier League in COVID, and I was going around to Sheffield United to check that they were doing all the processes right, they weren't going too close to each other, et cetera.

They were on the training ground.

I was watching training and Chris Wilder and Alan Nil were sort of working out set pieces.

And Jack Robinson picks the ball up and went, oh, I'll have a go.

And then absolutely arrowed this.

long throw and he did it and nobody attacked everybody just went why did you not say you could do that and then from then on from then on, Jack Robins, every time I see him, he's not playing for them anymore, but for a few years after he played for them, and he would take these long throws.

And they're all like, how the hell?

Why did you?

He said, well, I did know I could do it.

Well, why didn't you say?

Because that is so effective.

And they used it quite a bit after that.

It was quite amusing.

Barry, what did you make of Sunny Laman's debut and goal?

I mean, got a clean sheet.

Fans were singing, Are you Schmeichel in disguise?

He did everything was needed to do, I guess.

I was kind of surprised he was brought in after what I would say was Bayinder's probably his best game for United last week.

But Lemmons came in.

He made a couple of decent saves.

I think you'd expect him to make them.

Nothing out of the top drawer, particularly, because Sunderland didn't really offer much in this game apart from the chance

Bertrand Treora missed.

when it was still scoreless.

But

clean sheet on debut, you can't

do much better than that, I suppose.

But he didn't have a great deal to do, but anything he did have to do, he did quite well, apart from one little rush of blood where he charged out of his penalty area and got away with it.

I mean, that's that Triore missed.

There was some conjecture on the radio yesterday, Barry, about whether it was offside.

And so, not a bad miss, but I don't think Triore knew it was offside, John.

And that would have changed the whole complexion of this game.

Was that three minutes in?

If Sunday take the lead, it is very different.

Yeah, yeah, because

Manchester United's

sense of of self is so lacking at the moment,

and fans at Old Trafford as well, that it would have been United in crisis again, and the world turns to Old Trafford.

And it's the funny thing, isn't it?

As soon as they start winning soon, everyone's like, oh, that's boring, isn't it?

Oh, yeah, God.

No one cares about that anymore.

Without Man United to punch.

We used to be used as a punch bag.

They're no use to anyone, are they?

That's the thing.

That's it.

That's just their role in life now.

It's just for everyone to laugh at them.

John, that hurts, you know.

That hurts.

Yeah, but I suppose the next thing is to get close, is to sort of Arsenal come second and not quite do it.

You know, that's where the that would be the next stage, I reckon, of this process, but feels a reasonable way off.

John, you were on the south coast on Friday night, you know, in your in your souwester

to see Bournemouth beat Fulham.

Good comeback from Bournemouth.

Well, the first half was affected by the weather, let's put it that way.

Good God.

And the the second half, I think the players just thought we're going to have to run around a lot more in this because otherwise it's going to be even worse.

And Semenyo, who'd not really been too involved, suddenly just took up the cudgels and was absolutely brilliant.

More tributes paid to Irayola for some very nice substitutions, brings on Justin Cliver, brings on Jimenez, push up on Overlap on the right, gambled.

He took off defenders to go for to try and get back in the game and just went for it.

And it paid off because

at the moment, Bournemouth have players in reserve that can come in, which they didn't have last season.

Remember, they were playing with 12 fit players at one point and doing very well.

The squad is stronger despite being asset stripped over the summer.

He continues to be a

hugely impressive character.

I felt deeply sorry for Marco Silver, who decided to style it out in just a sweater, which will have had to have been wrung out the minute he came into the dressing room.

I think he just at the start was like that, and it's like, being the alpha male that he is, was like, I can't really go back on this.

I can't come.

The club puffer will have to stay in the dugout.

And I don't remember this time when they played at Bournemouth last season, they subbed off the wrong player.

Do you remember this?

He was going to take it was Sasa, Lukic, and Sessignon.

He got one of his assistants got mixed up.

Yes.

Then Lukic got injured, and I just saw this howl of frustration from Marco.

Just, oh, God, it's like this place, you know, this thing, this always happens.

And to be fair to him, he was quite nice towards

Bournemouth afterwards, saying, you know, they really are a very, very good team.

Did you see this?

I wrote this in my talking point for today's website, The Guardian.

Justin Cliver scored.

uh on a week that his two brothers scored great stats yeah consecutive days uh patrick clivert's sons shane reuben and justin all scored.

Do we know who they play for?

Shane plays for Barcelona youth team, essentially, in the UEFA Youth League.

Is it Ruben is the other one?

Ruben plays for Leon,

I think.

And obviously Justin plays for Bournemouth.

And what a hit from Justin Clive.

Oh, yeah.

I have to say, Barry, if you are Fulham, the Semenio first goal is brilliant.

But you cannot let it in.

From a Fulham perspective, that is just like banging your head against the wall, I think.

I thought that was just brilliant, that goal.

The way so he used his strength to get past Castania and Chuckueze to the byline, his touch to keep the ball in play, and then another touch to create the angle.

And he said himself afterwards, I looked up, I saw I had no options, so I thought, right, I'll try and put it between the keeper's legs.

And that's exactly what he did.

And to execute that perfectly in apocalyptic weather conditions

i was so impressed so i get he shouldn't have been able to get past timidate castania and chuckowese but when he did it was just a piece of genius i think i wouldn't really blame burnt leno for it the way he created that angle was superb yeah no i'm blaming the defense not not leno uh to st james's part newcastle 2 forest nil so a good result for newcastle because i haven't had too many good results this season we'll get to and in a second lucy voltamada is fascinating.

He reminds me a bit of Sheringham.

Obviously, it's a different shape and size, but that's the of all the statistics this weekend.

The fact that he did not lose the ball once.

And when you're a centre-forward with your back-to-goal,

that is astonishing that he wasn't tackled, that someone didn't, you know, like, and I don't know, maybe Forrest was sitting off him a bit, but every touch, the way he lays the ball off, like, he's just, I think he's a delightful player.

He's quite tall as well.

And usually, sort of taller players, you know, may sort of struggle with that.

But I just, what I like about him is he's quite individual.

If you look at him off the pitch, he's

sort of, and you don't often see this in football, as they all sort of wear the same thing.

He's a little bit different with what he wears and his style, you see, with his moustache.

And

that is an exception rather than the norm.

Honestly, they daredn't be different because, well, who knows?

You know, same car, same clothes, et cetera.

So I quite like that, which tells me that, you know, that coming into the Premier League probably didn't faze him.

And you can tell, you can tell

his performances and the fact that he's getting on the score sheet helps as well.

I think a big character, big confidence.

So, you know, when Newcastle fans, obviously, losing Isak was a big issue.

But once it got to the stage where, you know,

they knew he didn't want to play for him.

It's like when he came in, it was like, well,

and I'm not sure that.

you know he will be as good and he probably won't be as good but he's a bit different and he will help the side.

And I think he's sort of shown that in the opening games that he's played.

So, yeah, I like him.

I like him a lot.

And actually, if you've got a player like that, John, and it'd be interesting if, you know, if Sheringham played in an era of one guy up front, you have to have pace around, you know.

So, Gordon and Alanga next to either side of Voltamata is like is actually really interesting, I think.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Karl Heinz Rumminiger's words being eaten when he was, you know, yeah, I mean,

that was one of those uh quotes uh we did it last week for the uh football daily um newsletter digging out you know quote of the day or whatever and it's like is that one real like could actually someone have said that and uh yeah it did turn out to be true we verified it uh it's yeah i mean voltamar i love this guy he is i mean that penalty

pressman levels yeah pressman levels

Brilliant, brilliant.

And do you know what?

After all the Ezac stuff and yeah, it was a painful time for Newcastle United supporters, that sort of reality check of like, oh, we're not really where we thought we were if players want to go to Liverpool.

And then you get a guy like Voltamada, who is different, a sort of folk hero type of guy who offers something that makes your team more interesting, all the better for it.

I have really enjoyed him being in the Premier League.

And I'm also, I mean, okay, there's the Sherringham comparisons.

There's a sort of Peter Crouch comparison.

I I actually think he's a...

I've not really seen a player like him.

I don't really think I can compare him to anyone just

because he has such a mix of skills.

And

yeah, and also the look is amazing as well.

He looks like the type of person I might run into at one of my death metal gigs, you know.

He just...

You know, you wouldn't want to be stood behind him, you know.

No, that's true.

Sort of like a badly cast musketeer in a three musketeers gun.

You know, he sort of looks right, but you can't put someone who's seven foot as Aramis,

can you?

But you've done it anyway, and he's sort of getting away with it.

Meanwhile, Barry, Andre has been in touch for seven games.

They're yet to win.

The reporter on Match of the Day says, And it's been a roller coaster.

And I wanted to say roller coasters also go up.

So

it hasn't really.

They're one point above the relegation zone.

And he's already in this kind of, you know, the ange.

I don't care.

I love the position I'm in right now where I have to fight for everything.

It's what I've done my whole career.

I started in Australia when I was 32 in semi-professional football.

I'm here in the Premier League at 60.

Do you reckon I lack self-belief?

I don't like a fight.

I'm here.

I didn't get here because of my connections.

And he's right.

You know, Ange is right.

Well, I think he got specifically there because of his connections.

Yeah, he did.

I'm going to say.

Yeah.

So the swim ball with what's his face?

I've seen that picture.

Maranakis.

But I know what he's saying.

I have a certain amount of sympathy for Ange because

they've had seven games in 30 days since he took charge.

When is he supposed to train the team?

When does he get to impart this philosophy?

But he knew what he was signing up for.

He

has a hard act to follow.

He isn't following much of Plom.

To be fair, I think Forrest have played quite well in some of the games they haven't won on his watch.

They did not play well in this one.

They were well beaten by Newcastle.

Joe Hart launched a very spirited defense of Ange on Match of the Day last night.

And Joe

has been one of Ange's biggest cheerleaders because Ange threw him a career lifeline when he was let go by Spurs and it didn't look like anyone wanted him.

And he went on to have a very successful few years at Celtic under Ange.

So I get that he probably thinks he owes him one.

But his defence

falls down.

because

he was comparing a bad time Ange was having at Celtic to to the bad time he's having now.

But it doesn't really matter how bad a time Ange has at Celtic.

Celtic aren't going to get relegated.

They're never going to be in a relegation scrap.

Forrest are very much in a relegation scrap.

And

look, who knows?

I think he should be given more time, but it's easy for me to say that because it makes no difference to me whether Forrest stays up or don't stay up.

And Maranakis, we know, is a very volatile, combustible character.

Who knows what could happen in the next couple of weeks during the break?

Yeah, if Ange does give a career lifeline to his biggest cheerleaders, I may well end up being the set-piece coach for nothing in the forest.

We can do it together.

Did you see the

internet meme of

Manj as James Bond?

Did you see this?

007.

That's his because that's his record so far.

Right, right, very good.

I mean, they did lose to Mitcholand as well on Thursday night.

Oh, yeah, I was there.

That was a bit nasty.

Yeah, and he got some, yeah, the fans weren't happy at all.

And then he did a three-minute interview where he looked at his shoes and at the end said, we've just got to keep our heads up, which I did quite enjoy.

Right, that'll do for part two.

Part three, I'll begin at Goodison.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So Everton 2, Crystal Palace 1.

Sergeant Nappa says are Everton in pole position for the Everton Cup.

Will United take the spoils?

Sal says, would Barry have scored that Grealish goal?

You know, in the same way that everyone likes Mason Mount, I think.

I think everyone loves Jack Grealish and everybody likes hearing other people say, it's so nice to see Jack Grealish playing with a smile on his face, Lucy.

And,

you know, Everton probably shouldn't have won this game.

Palace were much better for 70 minutes, but I think nothing makes neutral fans happier than seeing Jack Grealish being happy.

Yeah,

and Palace have been absolutely brilliant.

I mean, under Ollie Glasner, honestly,

the way that they play and the way that he's got that, you know, we talk about formation three, four, two, one.

Yeah, it's not the same way as Amarin plays it, but he's got it absolutely nailed for his time at Frankfurt as well.

But yeah, Jack Green, I think people sort of revisionism about his time at Manchester City because the year that they won the treble,

I remember doing quite a lot of commentaries, and he he did what Guadiolo wanted him to do.

Guadiola doesn't have wingers that are the same as everybody else with the way that he's he's now playing at Everton.

You know, he wants them to sort of drag players away and, you know, know the time to go quick and slow, et cetera.

And he has a massive part to play in that Grealish of winning the treble Manchester City.

But, you know, deep down, the villa Grealish was dying to come out.

And the only way that that could come out couldn't have come out of Manchester City.

It had to come out somewhere else.

And David Moyes must have just been like, God, if I could get Grealish, I know exactly.

If I just say to him, right, this is what I want you to do.

And And then, you know, I'm not going to tell you how to do it because you know how to do that.

And it's amazing.

And he just seems like, you know, I mean, he might be a party boy.

And I don't know whether he still is as much as he used to be, but he genuinely is a player.

It looks like all the fans watching would love to be him just because he just looks like he's a fan playing the game who is obviously very, very good.

He just enjoys every bit of it.

He's so nice to everybody.

And so it's nice to see him doing well and nice to see him playing for Everton.

Yeah, just that's it.

Exactly what you said, backs he's just smiling doing what he wants to do and scoring goals and being effective and you imagine being at hill diggerson stadium and everybody absolutely loves you it must be absolutely buzzing yeah it's infectious he's got an infectious sort of bit like james madison maybe more more so just a real infectious energy about him that i think you know will be so good for for Everton for as long as he's there.

I mean, Beto made a big difference.

I'm sorry to say, Barry, you were quite lethargic in the first half.

And it was right that they replaced you with

Beto.

Get him off.

Get Barry off.

I said, I was quite lethargic at the start of this

podcast this week.

We've not got any better.

Thanks.

Here we go.

At the end of this game, I could not figure out how the hell did Crystal Palace not win.

I mean, they should have been out of sight.

Yeah.

And between Pickford making some great saves and

various Palace players pulling off some quite astonishing misses, misses.

It was

just funny, but it's a great win for Everton.

Fair play to them.

They kept plugging away, and they got, I mean, the penalty was ridiculous.

That was just the tackle of a very fatigued player, I think.

La Croix gave it away.

The goal was a little bit lucky, the winner.

A little bit.

Yeah, okay,

very lucky.

I don't want to be down on Everton.

It was a good win for them, but even David Moyes said afterwards, you know, we were lucky that we should have been or they should have been out of sight.

But what a win.

I think, Crystal Palace, this is early signs of the Thursday, Sunday factor coming in.

They looked very tired in that last 20 minutes, and they don't have a huge amount on the bench compared to other squads whose strength and depth, newfound strength and depth, we've been lauding in recent weeks.

Yeah, I think so.

But look, they unbeaten run of 19 games is not unimpressive.

And some of those games, you know, that does include an FA Cup final and a community shield, etc.

And well done to Jordan Pickford, his 300th game for Everton.

Aston Villa beat Burnley 2-1

and 2 goals, John, for Donyon Marlon.

Two really good finishes, actually, I think.

Yeah, he's a sort of forgotten player, really, isn't he?

He was signed at the same time as they signed Rashford and what was the other guy's name, remind me?

Cincio.

Yeah, sorry.

Sorry, let's do that again.

He's the forgotten one.

He's forgotten.

My brain is melted.

I think that's staying in, bro.

Okay, the forgotten one,

as well as the other forgotten one.

Yeah,

we're Thingamy Jig and Thingamy Bottle.

What do you mean call it?

And what's his name?

Yeah.

So what's his name scored two very good goals?

I remember actually seeing him come on just about the same time as he signed as Rashford and the other bloke and thinking, there's a player.

And then we've not seen much of him, but he's a very speedy player.

He's got

a lot of power in the shot.

Good signing.

It feels like the last time I was on the pod, it was all over for Aston Villa.

That was it.

Rack and ruin, a relegation season.

Uni Emery going back to Spain, tail between his legs.

No, he's a good enough manager.

They've got enough talent.

They'll be okay.

Yeah, four wins in a row.

They beat Final 2-0 on Thursday night as well.

I thought Fleming was a little bit lucky to stay on the pitch when he raised his arm into a little bit.

Yeah, well, that was some check complete.

And you're like, are you sure?

I would uncomplete this check quite quickly

Man City one won the Brentford.

You were at this one as well John.

So not the most exciting game, but the Haaland goal is just a lot of fun, isn't it?

He said his quotes after a great first five minutes he Vandenberg kept pushing me.

So I thought, all right, let's have it.

For me, this is a proper goal.

And it was just like, I'm bigger than you.

I'm bigger than everyone.

Here I go.

I'm just going to run straight through you.

And Nathan Collins, don't you dare try and get in my way either.

That was pretty much, which Nathan Collins Collins clearly did not do.

Turn, run past player, clatter, goal, let's go home after I.

And the best defender on the pitch, Erling Haaland.

I've noticed, obviously, City,

there aren't as many stars in the team as there used to be.

There's no Kevin De Bruyne, you know, Gundergan's gone, Kyle Walker, whatever.

So you've got the alpha male collection now is Haaland, who's 25 and a daddy these days.

And then you've got Dunna Rummer, who actually, Pep's line was quite funny.

He goes, We signed this guy, and he's only 26.

I thought he'd been playing for centuries, which is great.

And

I agree.

They're the three and Pep, of course.

And there was a point just in front of the press boxes, just behind.

There's a point where Pep and Haaland were both sort of shouting and pointing and directing and saying to Donna Rummer, you know, get the ball over here when you're kicking it and stuff like that.

But then there was a sort of buddy hug between Donna Rummer and Haaland.

I think these two, you know, game-recognized game there.

I think it's that can create electricity, couldn't it?

Like the Large Hadron Collider when Donner Rummer and Haaland embrace and it powers a small nation.

Yeah, and he made a good save from Thiago, didn't he?

He didn't quite sort his, I think quite sort his feet out.

He never, well, Thiago had too long, maybe, to think about that one, and then suddenly it was all over.

Max, Dr.

Ward again, Roderick, hamstring.

So,

when you do your ACL,

that ends up being all right.

The actual graft onto the knee.

Usually, it's, you know, when you've rehabbed it, that's all right.

But you get the graft, I would suspect mine was from my hamstring into, and they use that as a graft to replace

the ligament.

And you end up always having, because obviously you've had a piece of your hamstring taken out, you always tend to have a little bit weaker hamstrings that side.

And obviously, the technology now, sports science, means that Roger's hamstrings may be a little bit percentage-wise stronger than mine was.

However, it still has an effect, particularly the amount of minutes that it plays.

And so you always get the like the little

knocks and strains to hamstrings backs sometimes as well when you're coming back from an ACL.

And it's a shame, really, but

they're so reliant on what he does that

it did affect them in the second half when sort of Brentford got themselves together as well, which obviously helped.

I don't know if I prefer your medical

knowledge or Barry's just from the look of him, I'd make it six weeks.

It's hard to say.

That's more than six.

Do you think that's more than six?

Could be three months.

Oh, really?

Andy Gray used to do that, didn't he?

On Scar, do you remember?

Like from the, say, the

commentary box at Goodison, he died.

That's a medium lean there goes six weeks, you know, just like that.

Well, I was playing last season,

one of the last games of the season, and our star striker caught, I put him through and he took a heavy touch and then there was a bit of a coming together.

And

he went down and held his knee.

Henry ran up and just went, Yeah, that's an ACL.

But Henry is a doctor, and he was right, but his bedside manner wasn't a man.

I don't think that's what Court wanted to hear.

He was lying in agony.

They brought out the stretcher that I don't think had been used since the First World War.

You know, it was like all, you know, a suddenly threadbare thing.

And actually, as he was taken off, the ref booked him.

And I thought, you don't need to do that.

He might have found the defendant.

You don't need that.

He's done his ACL, mate.

Come on.

Anyway, I think one of the best sights in football is someone getting booked or sent off while lying on a stretch.

You bastards.

I know you're miserable, but here, have a card.

Actually, I mean, speaking of,

well, sendings off, because Vito Pereira was sent off as well as Mareska.

And we forgot to say that neither of them were allowed to do the TV interview, which seems like a prize.

Yeah.

You know, you shouldn't be let off that.

Anyway, whoever his assistant was said, Vito's very

apologetic.

He was sent off for, quote, irresponsible behaviour in the technical area.

But agony for Wool was this, Barry, because for the second week in a row, they were so close to winning a game, they had massive chances at 1-0, and then they just fall asleep at a corner they don't need to give away.

Well, you've pretty much summed it up.

They should have increased their lead after going a goal up,

and

it somewhat for Tudor's opener.

Then there was that incident where Pereira got sent off for being

his feckless behaviour and they missed several good chances.

The corner was there was no need to give away that corner.

Chachua gave it away completely unnecessary.

Sam Johnston was understandably furious with him.

Brighton took it quickly while Sam Johnston was still being furious with him and they scored an equalizer.

Well, they did deserve it, but Wolves should have been out of sight.

I still think

Wolves are not the worst team in the division by any stretch of the imagination, despite being bottom of the table.

Yeah, I agree with you on that.

And Lucy was nodding as well.

And so we all agree.

Yeah, I do think as well.

I think rather than seeing it sort of negative, I think that's a three-game unbeaten run, including the win that's kicked it off against Everton in the League Cup for Wolves.

And it's all about those small little steps for them because they didn't start well, obviously.

They're losing games.

And then all of a sudden, now, even if you forget about the sort of late concessions if they've put they've not lost in three games and that's how he will when the dust settles he'll approach it with his players that they've you know that they've put in performances that they should be winning and they'll they'll they'll turn it around i think i i agree with barry the only problem is well wolves the wolves hierarchy tend to have kind of an itchy trigger finger don't they so I think it would be unwise to sack Pereira, but they gave him three, they gave him a three-year contract.

Well, there is that too, isn't it?

And

he pointed out, I was at Spurs last week.

He pointed out that the players that were signed all arrived on the final day of the transfer window.

He's like, how are you supposed to build a team that quickly?

So

I think Wolves could be okay, but they're going to have to crawl before they can run.

You see what I mean?

Russell Martin is available if they do,

if that trigger finger goes, but he's been sacked as the Rangers head coach after 17 games.

The club's saying, while all transition periods require some time, results have not met expectations.

And I suppose, lucky for Rangers fans to hear that the expectations are not this low.

It got pretty sour.

He required a police escort to his car after they drew at Falkirk.

Fans blocked the team bus.

One win in seven in the league, 11 points off Harts in first, nine behind Celtic.

We'll speak to you and Murray about it in depth soon.

But Barry,

it's been a terrible appointment, hasn't it?

Yeah, it was baffling.

He wasn't wanted by Rangers fans to begin with.

He couldn't have got off to much worse of a start

the fact that hearts have Tony Bloom on board and are doing really well hasn't helped him either but

just

it

it was a weird appointment and

he didn't do himself any favours with some

coming out with some almost arrogant stuff in in post-match interviews when he had very little to be arrogant about.

I mean, I just,

he clearly had something something about him at one stage as a manager.

And I believe, and I happy to stand, corrected if I'm wrong, Swansea fans loved him.

They got Southampton promoted, but

Southampton last season, the Premier League, and Rangers this time around, it's just been horrific.

I have covered a few of the Rangers' games in Europe this season for The Guardian, and that's involved me, you know, watching all the build-up and off TV.

They can send me to Glasgow one day if they'd like, but you know, that's another issue.

The The post-match stuff, you're almost watching for the post-match Russell Martin interview to see how we could explain this one away.

And it's always this, well, it's all going really well, apart from that bit, yeah.

And then the rest of it, I can see so many positive signs that we'll get it together.

And one of the owners,

it's the 49ers group, isn't it?

Was in Glasgow for, I think, played Genk a couple of weeks ago or a week or so ago.

And he was not,

he was surrounded by Rangers fans at the end.

You could see the TV footage of them all just saying, Why have we still got this guy in charge?

And I was actually sat next to a Rangers fan yesterday

at Brentford, who just sort of had head in hands as the latest result came in and was just like, I said to him, I said, Oh, next time I see you, Russell Martin won't be your manager.

By the time I think I got into the pub after the game, Russell Martin was actually gone.

So, you know,

a misadventure, should we put it that way?

i think they will they tried to be progressive didn't they with the choice of manager there's progressive and then there's russell martin i don't think they're maybe the same thing stevie g bat i don't know who they turn to dice

dice written all over it yeah oh dice i like dice dice versus brendan rogers would be fun wouldn't it uh we end with uh this from alex says hi max i'm on holiday in bali with the family uh doing a digital detox pods excluded i have created a new game in the pool with my kids it's called barry's Headers.

You throw a ball from one end and your kid leaps in and has to head the ball as beautifully as Barry did.

Are you pleased to have made Barry's Headers?

It could become the next Kirby.

All the kids could play it and talk about it nostalgically in years to come.

I'm honored, delighted.

And I'm sure many of their headers are far better than mine was.

Good to know.

Well, hopefully we'll be big in Barley off as we do a live show there.

Be useful.

Quite easy, you know, sort of equidistant almost.

Well, easier for me than you, But we could make it happen anyway.

That'll do for today.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, Lucy.

Thank you.

Thanks, John.

Don't cherry with me.

Thanks, Barry.

Thank you.

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Phil Maynard.

This is The Guardian.