Comfortable win for England; chaotic comeback for Scotland – Football Weekly

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Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

And after complaining endlessly about England struggling to break down a low block, is it okay to complain about England breaking down a low block before it's even got into position?

A 3-0 win and a game that was over after about 11 minutes?

But lots of positives for England.

Another goal and good performance from Morgan Rogers in the Jude Bellingham role.

Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice looking impressive in midfield.

England won without Harry Kane.

Ollie Watkins scored and Bacayo Saka hit one perfectly.

Jed Spence and Anthony Gordon linked up well on the left.

And Jordan Pickford had nothing to do and then made two good saves when he was given something to do.

Conclusion, it's coming home.

A huge win for Scotland at home to Greece.

Not a brilliant performance, not a good performance.

Greece should have been ahead in the first half and deservedly were in the second before Steve Clark's men went and scored three.

Also, there's Austria's biggest ever win and the Pharaohs scoring four.

We'll discuss FIFA, UEFA and Israel's potential ban amid the early stages of the ceasefire.

There's Ancelotti at Brazil, Cole Palmer building submarines, and a queue of people in Perth ready to get my AirPods from Terminal 4.

All that plus your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning.

Hello.

Hi, Max.

Bon jour sava, Philippe Au Claire.

Sava tribien, merci, Max.

Ma, merci durien.

And hello, Johnny Lou.

Hello.

Let's start then at Wembley, England 3 Wales.

Nil Matty says, has Barry booked flights from New York to the furthest possible country from England yet?

Hashtag Hashtag it's coming home.

Rich, is Ellis James okay?

Well, Ellis and John were playing the Swansea Building Society Arena last night, so no voice note.

England were good, Johnny.

You know, following that extrament performance in Serbia, it felt very positive.

Yeah, and I think, you know,

it's nice to remember at times that England are allowed to be good.

That I think the prevailing noise around this team is so often so negative and

just

quite bitter in a way that it's possible just to say that was a good performance.

They played well.

All the pieces seemed to fit together.

What I really liked was the mobility.

I know this is a team without Kane.

Watkins, so much movement, so much good work, intelligent running up front.

You have Rogers combining off.

I thought Elliot Anderson was incredible in the base of midfield.

He, I think, has given Tuchel a real problem in that position now.

Yeah, Spence was good.

Anthony Gordon, so much energy.

And even though it's sort of the intensity understandably ticked down a little bit in the second half, I thought the defensive desire and hunger to chase back was really encouraging.

I think that's exactly the sort of thing that Tuchel's going to want to see.

That even though it's a friendly, even though the stadium is emptying,

they're still tracking back and making fouls and trying to stop counter-attacks.

So yeah, it is good.

Wales were pretty awful.

I mean, this is, they played like a League One team, basically.

This is a squad that's full of either premier league or or you know established championship players in the most part and they would just dire for half an hour at least why is it a problem that elliott anderson's been good because that is a that's a problem position that he seems to you know have just slotted in and i see morgan rogers has given tuchel a problem because there's dude bellingham sitting there and you you know that's tricky but for anderson i i can only see positives yeah no no i think i think he's he's potentially nailed nailed down that that slot.

The midfield is going to be a big puzzle going forward because you know there's a huge amount of talent to fit in, and you're going to want different players for different games, for different sorts of games.

You know, you have Cobby Maynu, you have Adam Wart, and you have Rice in a slightly more advanced role.

But I think Rice and Anderson is becoming that established, too.

No, you're right.

It's not, it's, it's a nice headache.

It's not, it's a nice dilemma, as they say.

Yeah, yeah.

Barry, what did you, what did you make of it all?

I mean, it is interesting because of the people that weren't there, as well as the people that were on the pitch.

Yeah, this was an England team with no Bellingham, no Foden, no Wharton, no Grealish, no Rhys James, no Harry Kane, no Cole Palmer, no Trent Alexander Arnold, and then maybe to a lesser extent, no Nonni Madoweke, no Tino Liveramento.

They're all big names, good players,

in some cases extremely good players.

And England played, I thought, exceptionally well.

And Thomas Tuchel in the build-up to the game

said that he's trying to build a team.

It's not about collecting individuals.

And I'd say, unless he's had a word with Jude Bellingham and Foden and the Grealish,

that they're probably fairly worried about their position in the squad going to the World Cup.

Will there be one for them?

Will there be positions for them?

on the plane.

I think they have every right to be worried because Tuchel

doesn't pander to egos.

Tuchel is there specifically to do a job, manage England to the World Cup, try and win it, and then he'll be gone.

So if, for example, he elected to leave Jude Bellingham out of the squad,

he would probably get pelters from certain quarters.

He already got pelters from certain quarters for leaving Bellingham out of this sad.

But

say he does and England goes to the World Cup and win it, great.

If they go and don't win it, which is more likely,

he won't care about any abuse he gets because he'll be gone uh he won't be in charge anymore so i i do think those players have every right to be concerned but we should probably dwell more on the players who were there i don't think anyone in an england shirt put a foot wrong last night jordan pickford had a very quiet night but he did whatever was asked of him heard someone saying he hasn't conceded a goal for England in a year.

Anderson was great.

Anthony Gordon was great.

Ollie Watkins scored, got his opportunity and scored a goal.

Morgan Rogers was great.

If I was an England fan, I'd be more concerned about the omission of Adam Wharton than any of the other big-name players who weren't there last night.

I just think he is absolutely terrific.

But Tuchel doesn't seem to fancy him, as is his right.

Sure.

I mean, I suppose Elliot Anderson is playing so well that makes that less of an issue.

What impressed you most, Philippe?

The movement to start with, because we can say and repeat that Wales were actually not very good, but they were not very good because England made them look terrible.

And there was more intensity from that England team.

I mean, England has always a problem starting its games.

Remember, even against Serbia, it only clicked a little bit later.

And this time it was front-foot and in a friendly from the very first second.

I love the interplay between Gordon and Spence.

I mean, Spence had a wonderful game.

It looks super good.

I agree.

It was absolutely superb.

He's finding relationships.

That's one of the hardest things to do.

So you've got the relationship on the left.

You're going to have the relationship on the right as well, with Bukay Yosaka being back as well.

You've got a real spine in the team now.

He's found.

I mean, Mark Gay, we should also...

make a lot of him for what he brings.

And I mean, it's pure class.

It's got now with Gay and Stones, probably in terms of distributors of the ball, the best centre-back partnership you can find in English football.

So you look at all these things, but more than anything, it was the willingness to run and the intelligence of the runs.

It was constant.

The Welsh didn't know where to look.

There was constantly one player darting here, darting there, and they were not random runs.

They obviously had been worked out.

And they managed to sustain that for a whole half before, you know, the inevitable happened.

You know, you put your foot off the gas, you're thinking about the next game, which is

a more important game in many ways.

You're thinking about your club and so forth.

And you start

changing a few players here and there.

But

I was mightily impressed.

And I have to say that I will join the chorus of praise for Elliot Anderson

Problem Solved.

It's remarkable.

that that player is absolutely superb.

We forgot to mention, I think, Cole Palmer about the absentees, which I I think is a bigger problem than some of the others.

I don't think Jude Bellingham at the moment is a problem.

The way that Morgan Rogers is playing in this England team, he really doesn't deserve to have his place taken by a player who's just come back from surgery anyway, and who hasn't always produced the goods contrary to what some people may think in an England shirt.

He's scored some very important, spectacular goals, but I don't think he's been quite the influence on England that some people say he had.

Yeah, I don't disagree with that.

Or he tries to do too much, perhaps.

And yet, Johnny, you can just see as we get closer to the World Cup.

Like, like Barry says, you know, maybe Tuchel won't care, but it'd be brave.

It'd be brave to start, you know, this team that started or a variant of this one and leave out that many players.

I don't see any routes to England winning the World Cup without Drew Bellingham.

I don't think he was very good last summer at the Euro.

downright bad for a lot of that tournament.

He's still won them two games pretty much on his own.

They don't beat Serbia without him.

They don't beat Slovakia without him.

Sure, but sorry to play Devil's Advocate, but like if somebody had been there playing well,

they wouldn't have needed to score an overhead kick, I suppose, is the point.

No, no, totally.

I mean, that's not just about his bicycle kick.

He was the best player on the pitch for half a game against Serbia.

And the reason that they drop off in that first game is not his fault.

I think

you cannot win an international tournament.

Even if you're peak Spain, you don't win an international tournament without being able to to win games in lots and lots of different ways.

Some games you're going to have to steamroll the opposition.

Some games you're going to have to be a little bit lucky because the margins are going to be so tight.

And I think you need players like Bellingham and Palmer as well for some of those situations, and not necessarily all of them.

I think there is a case that

you bring him on for the last half hour in games that are tight.

And same with Palmer.

What Tukal, I think, has shown so far in his selections is that he prioritises players who could follow a plan.

Morgan Rogers can follow a plan.

Rakayo Sakaka, he loves Eze for this reason, because Eze can follow a plan and who will go pretty much where he tells them.

And so I think that's going to be the basis of his team going forward.

But you still, I think, also need players who can deviate from a plan because international tournaments are one on luck and brilliance as much as they are on systems and processes.

I think there's one difference for Bellingham.

Cole Palmer, Jack Creedish, regardless of their talent, are players that you can sub in.

Bellingham is a starter.

That's a huge difference.

Because in the group, he doesn't have the same status.

He doesn't have the same status in terms of image.

He doesn't have the same status in terms of the way he presents himself and what he expects to get.

And I think that a Jude Bellingham who would stay on the subs bench would not necessarily be very good.

for the England dressing room, if you see what I mean.

I think he's one of those players, yes, you can try and build a team around an exceptional talent like he is, but I don't think you can leave him on the bench and just ask him to switch it on when he comes on.

You know, like Greenish can do that, and Cole Palmer can do that.

No problem.

I think it's a completely different problem.

And it's going to turn into one of those sagas, my dear Max.

We're starting now.

We've got quite a few months to go, but there will be columns, many columns, many debates, many people

putting their opinions across in a very, very strong way.

And it's going to become, yes, I wouldn't call it the Dreyfus affair of English football because Dreyfus ended up in the penitentiary in Guyana, which is not exactly the same thing.

It was a tragedy.

This is not a tragedy.

This is actually quite funny.

But it's going to turn into a soap opera.

There's no doubt about that.

It's quite interesting, Barry, that we don't, I don't know how good or not Bellingham is in addressing.

I take Philippe's point that there are players that expect to start.

It sort of reflects a bit on what Stephen Gerard was saying about the golden generation not all clicking, then not being a great vibe.

And

Tuchel needs to build that, doesn't he?

If he's going to start players who are inverted commas lesser or seen as sort of not as high profile, he needs to somehow build a vibe where he can then rely on somebody who is a superstar to come off the bench.

Yeah, I have no idea, like you, what kind of

presence Bellingham is around the camp if if a Bellingham who feels he's should be starting isn't starting is going to sulk and

brood and create disharmony I just don't know there seems to be a suggestion that his dad is a very difficult man to have around and can be a malign influence on dressing rooms.

I read somewhere recently that Job,

who left Sunderland during the summer to go to Brussels, Dortmund, is considering his options now because he feels he's not getting enough game time with Dortmund.

Is that him or is that his dad?

I don't know, but there seems to be a suggestion that Bellingham Sr.

can be quite difficult if he feels his sons aren't getting the treatment they deserve or the respect they deserve.

But

I would say if Tuchel

was in any doubt, he wouldn't think twice about leaving him out.

Johnny disagrees.

Johnny thinks he is needed.

I'm not so sure.

Whoever England takes to the World Cup, lots of incredibly good players are going to be left behind.

Players will get injured in the next few months and they'll miss out probably.

So opportunities will present themselves.

But it is very nice.

I wish Ireland had this kind of problem.

Put it this way.

Yes, I would just want to draw a parallel.

The idea of leaving out a player who is considered to be maybe even the best of his, you know, of his age group and of this particular generation, some teams have done it with great success.

And one team that I'm particularly fond of, which is my French team,

the French team started its 1998 World Cup campaign by leaving out

Eric Canton and David Ginola, who were supposed to be the two best French attacking players of that generation.

I'm not joking.

And of course there was Zidane and there was Joe Caffe, but Dugari and Kivarch went to the World Cup, to the Euro 1996 and to the World Cup in 98.

It's part of the same trajectory.

Eric Cantona and David Ginola were cut out from the group by Emil Jacquet.

That was one of his first decisions as a manager.

It worked.

It worked.

It's mad when you think about it.

It undeniably did work because they won the tournament.

But I remember Stefan Giver in that tournament.

Oh, bless him.

He was very much a passenger on that team.

10-man France won that World Cup.

But Bellingham isn't Cantona or Jinlla in this scenario.

I think we're being slightly harsh of it, to be honest.

Yeah, no, no, maybe you're right.

He's Zidane in this scenario.

Zidane, who didn't do a lot at Euro 96, got sent off in the early stages of the World Cup in 98.

And there's this big national, you know,

is Zidane ever going to turn up for us?

And he does, he does eventually, you know, plot twist, he does turn up for them.

You know, he's the guy that does, you know,

I think he does need a certain license.

And I think, you know, it is, it is hard to say that he's basically what we're saying is too much of a dick to be, to sit on the bench, which I think I don't see, you know, I don't see a huge amount of evidence for that.

He's, I think it's a judgment call that people make based on little snippets that that that you hear about him or you see about him that i think are not like like barry says we don't have the full picture i i think there is an ego there but i i don't also see it at any of his previous clubs

there's not been any evidence that he hasn't been willing to to submit himself for the team.

I think his natural game is sort of roaming.

It might not, you know, tactically, it might be hard for a coach to integrate him into his tactical plan, but I don't see a huge amount of evidence that he's going to be like a problem child in that respect.

I need to intervene

because you're calling me out, Johnny Lou.

When I talk about Canton and Ginola, I'm talking about the media impact of their non-selection.

That's what I was talking about.

I wasn't comparing the style of the players.

It's that there was a Cantona camp and a new Cantona camp, the rest of it.

But Cantonor kicked a fan.

Cantonot,

he leapt into...

the crowd and kicked a fan.

And that's part of the reason.

Yeah, but he came back.

He came back and he had his best ever season for Manchester United, at which point the clamor for his inclusion in the French national team was absolutely deafening.

And the same when, remember, David Ginola became the double player of the year in England, quite controversially, I must say, but at the time when he was no longer playing for France.

But that was my point.

It was about the media attention.

And the second thing, when the idea that it's because he would be a kind of sulky character, it's not exactly what I have in mind.

It's what I have in mind, that England cannot play with Jude Bellingham as England plays with Jude Bellingham, if you see what I mean.

If he's in the team, you've got to accommodate the team to an absolutely exceptional talent.

Nobody's doubting that.

So you would need quite a change, I think, in the way England is set up if you've got Bellingham or if you haven't got Bellingham.

That's my concern on this point.

That's quite different from saying he's a bit of a dick.

That's not the point.

Even though, if you talk to his ex-Boris Erdortman teammates, he wasn't the best love character in the dressing room.

But on the other hand, he was by head and shoulders above any other player, and he made a success of Morrison Dortmund.

So there you go.

And that's on Tukal.

I mean, this is what Tukol is doing, right?

He is trying to accommodate.

He might be suspended.

He might be injured next summer.

For whatever reason, he might not have Bellingham available.

And he's trying to build solutions that work without him.

So I think

that's a test of coaching as much as anything.

Yeah, to move on from Bellingham, because there's a lot of projection.

He might be a total delight, you know, and come on and play 20 minutes and go, this is my dream and win us the World Cup.

We don't and he's an exceptional talent but it was interesting that Barry that Philippe mentioned the amount of running that Ollie Watkins did and obviously Harry Kane is having the season of his life but it is sort of similar you have to play slightly differently I guess if you have a centre forward like Kane who is brilliant and scores lots of goals or if you have someone who runs and runs and runs and runs and runs oh absolutely I mean

the goals were very soft you have to factor in whales were terrible last night yeah no yeah like really bad they and it's probably good they got that hunkering performance out of their system before their big game against Belgium on Monday.

Watkins scored a goal.

It was well taken, but he was unmarked on the line.

He also missed an extremely good chance when he clattered his shin off the post.

I thought he might have done himself serious mischief there, but he got away with it.

Wales should not have allowed Saka to score that Saka goal.

And they were three soft goals, but they did score them.

They could have scored more.

They probably should have scored five or six.

But there's no doubt in my mind.

Harry Kane is their standout striker.

And if anything were to happen to him, it would be a huge source of concern.

Johnny, what did you make of Thomas Tuchall calling out the crowd?

He said, the stadium was silent.

We didn't get any energy back from the stands.

We did everything to win.

If you hear just Wales fans for an hour, it's sad because the team deserve more support today.

I have felt that as an England fan going to England games before I was, you know, when I was young and not in the media at all, that there's a sort of inhibition for England fans, especially at home.

I know there's lots of kids and families, but I remember at United Six, a half-time, all the Scotland fans just booming out status quo and having the time of their life.

And I saw standing there going, I wish we could have that much fun, but for some reason we can't.

Yeah, this is why

England always had trouble winning at Lourdes for a long time, because for every team visiting, it's their cup final.

It's a huge occasion for them.

And

the other side of it is that england play at wembley far too much they play at laws far too much they play at wembley far too much and it becomes almost rosent and routine for them and you know you would say to tuchel well welcome to a wembley october friendly that is basically what it's like and that's something you have to that's something you have to live with and

other countries get around this by taking their games to other stadiums uh which england have started to do a little bit to be fair to them but i think there is a huge difference between the atmosphere at wembley and the atmosphere you would get at i don't know villa park stadium of light like you know you could name 30 grams in in in england where you would get a much better you know you'd maybe lose out a little bit on club wembley subscriptions and and whatever but you get a much better atmosphere supporting the team but obviously the fa need wembley

they need to milk wembley for as much as they can get because that is their that is their you know cash cow and that's something that tuchel knew when he took on the job and that's something he's going to have to work with.

But I think there's one thing we should thank the FA for,

because I have to say, I'm not the only one who found that their partnership with the Alzheimer's Society was very, very, very powerful.

And to watch these people who are suffering from this awful disease come to the pitch with England players who, by the way, were chatting to absolutely and singing the national anthems, I have to say, I cracked up a bit.

It was well done the FA for that.

Yeah, now fund some proper research.

The mascots that led the teams out were 22 men and women suffering or living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

And it was the Alzheimer's Society who did that initiative.

Fans were chosen from England and Wales.

And yes, a good point you make, Johnny, about research into the impact of playing football.

No, no, like, sorry, campaigners have been, have been saying that the FA have been dragging their feet.

And, you know, not just the FA, but football politics, have been dragging their feet on properly funding, like really thorough comprehensive studies and research into

MND and Alzheimer's and other kind of related diseases.

So it's a really nice gesture, but obviously it needs to be,

open your wallets.

Well, it's not really up to the FA to fund that.

I think it's to our government to fund that.

The FA is not responsible for funding medical research, apart, of course, in conditions which are created by playing football, which is not exactly what this is about.

And I think we shouldn't be too harsh on them.

It actually really brought home the message, I think on this occasion.

I think we sometimes we have to see the glass half full when it is not quite so.

I agree with that.

Alright that'll do for part one.

You and Murray will join us from the jazz bar to talk about Scotland's win over Greece in part two.

The jazz bar

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly, live from the Jazz Bar.

You and Murray joins us.

How are you?

And you okay?

Hello, how are you?

Yeah, very good.

Ken says, which was the biggest British theft from Greece?

Scotland's amazing results tonight, or

the Elgin marbles.

Yeah, I mean, look, when you first see 3-1, you think, oh, that's a good comeback.

But it doesn't tell the whole story, does it, Ewan?

No, I mean, I've witnessed a lot of weird football games in my time, but that was right up there.

I mean, how Scotland won, let alone by two clear goals, I don't know.

That's twice Scotland have done that to Greece.

They did it in Athens in the first leg of the Nations League playoff in March.

Now, Greece came back and won the second leg being held so it didn't really matter but that's two games out of three i i think scotland have been comprehensively outplayed by greece but have won the game so they'll be they'll be sick of the sight of us at this point yeah it means scotland are second i mean they're level on points with denmark i mean that

you know given how the group would look ewen if greece had won this game like they should have done it's absolutely enormous isn't it absolutely and listen the flip side is you know ultimately greece didn't take her opportunities so i mean part of you shrugs your shoulders and says well

you know in that case you don't deserve to win so maybe we shouldn't we shouldn't shed tears from for them um but yeah scotland are now in a fantastic position they they play belarus on sunday who i think i can comfortably say they will they will beat and then they go to greece and then a home game against denmark to finish off which already looks like a you know a massive tie they're they're in

a better position than I thought they would be in and they're in a I think the best position since 1998 to to get back to world cup the way you said they will comfortably beat belarus is the most confident i've anyone ever heard anyone say

predict a scotland result i just heard a very loud internal alarm bell when he said that

no no no no this this this belarus team is very very poor and scotland are at home i i would be i'm happy to come back on here on Monday morning, dressed however you want me to dress and say whatever you want me to say.

I think Scotland will win.

I'm quite happy saying that.

And I'm a cynic, as you know.

Yes, we do.

Steve got made a chip.

He took off Gannon Doak, who was playing well.

There wasn't not an end product, but he was a really bright spark.

Brought on Billy Gilmore, and actually it did make a difference, didn't it?

Yeah, I'm not sure how well Gannon Doak was playing.

That substitution was met with kind of dismay in the stands.

The important thing was putting Gilmore on just to get a bit of control of the game and keep the ball in midfield.

And he did that very well.

You know, Gilmer has a habit of not playing.

You know, Clark has a habit of not picking him in some of these bigger games for Scotland, which raises eyebrows because until he came on, Greece were completely dominating that part of the pitch.

Yeah.

And look, you have to credit them for scoring three goals, Johann.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's what I mean.

For all,

I openly say I think Greece was superior in so many departments.

They didn't take their chances, and Scotland did.

I mean, I don't know if you've seen the third goal, the London Dice goal.

It was an all-time

howler by the Greek goalkeeper.

So

I don't know how much praise you give Scotland for that.

But

yeah, I mean, from 1-0 down, from being on the ropes, and at that point, your whole World Cup situation's in deep jeopardy, they recovered very well and got the result they needed.

And in such a truncated section, that's ultimately

all that counts.

And actually, it's worth you and pointing out the save that Angus Gunn made just before Linden Dyke scored.

It's a brilliant save.

Brilliant save from Koretsis, who came on.

He was was on the bench, the Greek kind of wonder kid, but he's had flu, so he didn't start the game.

He came on.

That would have been 2-2.

And fair play to Angus Gunn.

He's gone to Nottingham Forest where he's not playing.

I think going by his own comments, he expected to play a lot more than he has been.

So he's not had competitive action.

But Scotland needed him there, and he pulled out a great save because that would have been...

Again, 2-2, draw it home with Greece.

The mood would be totally different to what it is this morning.

Goalkeeper is an issue for Scotland, isn't it?

Because the three goalies they had in the squad last night had, I think, one appearance between them this season.

The guy from Rangers, whose name escapes me, then there's him, Gunn and Craig Gordon.

So that and Craig Gordon's obviously injury prone and 42.

So it's going to be an issue for them, isn't it?

Absolutely.

There's a bit of a national crisis with

goalkeepers.

To be fair to Gunn, who I have never been particularly sure about, he's played very well for Scotland recently.

He plays very well in Copenhagen.

And

last month at the start of the section, as we just said, when called upon last night,

he pulled out a save.

But there is a broader and bigger problem that Scotland has a massive talent gap between Craig Gordon, as you say.

I mean, Craig isn't playing for Harts.

He's not the first choice goalkeeper at Harts, having come back from injury anyway.

But there's no one apparently younger coming through.

So we're kind of hoping that Angus Gunn does reasonably well.

We hang on to him as the first choice goalkeeper for now.

And someone emerges from the shadows.

But there's a broader and bigger issue there about the lack of Scottish goalkeeping talent.

Look, it's every part of me just itching to say, what about Anti Naemi?

But, you know, that's a...

For listeners who haven't heard that clip, somebody rings in Talksport years ago to talk about, you know, who to pick and goal.

And he says, what about Anti Naemi?

And someone says, he's Finnish.

And the guy says, he's not Finn.

He's near Finnish.

He's only 28.

It's just one of the great vocals

in phone in history.

Surely nobody anywhere has not heard that by now.

Surely you don't have to repeat that.

Auntie Naemi.

Aye.

I don't know why he doesn't get a game.

For Scotland.

Aye.

He's from Finland.

He's what?

He's Finnish, isn't he?

He's not finished.

He's only 28.

No, not Finnish.

He's from Finland.

What do you mean?

That's what he the he his nationality is f finished.

He's from Finland.

He's not Scottish.

No.

Oh, I thought he was Scottish.

Jim says, Would Barry have scored the opportunity that Greece passed up in the first ten minutes?

Or is it only head as he does at the back post?

It was some miss from Pavlidis, Barry, wasn't it?

Yeah, uh the ball was squared across the face of goal.

He had a a tap in at the back post and somehow didn't connect with the ball.

He he missed uh

another good opportunity as well, headed over when he should have scored.

I mean, Missouri, he fired over when he probably should have scored.

Greece should have been out of sight.

I think Scotland,

well, there's no question they rode their luck last night, but fair play to them.

They got there in the end.

But it was Steve Clark said after the match, he said, you know, the first half was tricky, but you know, Greased Louis Carve was open.

I thought, hmm,

I think they did.

Johnny?

Clark's been in charge for six years now, right?

I was watching the game at the pub last night because they had several screens.

They were showing the England game and they were showing the Scotland game, also the World Grand Prix darts.

So that was

the optimum setup.

And there were a couple of Scottish fans, Scottish guys there.

And what they kept saying was under Clark that they don't seem to have, they kept saying we've got no identity, we've got no playing style.

And I wondered whether that was because of the talent that is available to him now, which is of a kind of different order to predecessors in his job.

You know, that kind of Serie Ar midfield.

Are there expectations on him more elevated now in terms of the style and the kind of football that fans are expecting him to play?

Because

it looked to me like they were sort of playing, or they were almost caught between two stools, really, trying to play good football, but also trying to play effective football.

But the part that was good wasn't really effective, and the part that was effective wasn't really good.

Yeah, I think, to answer your question, yes, there is higher expectation.

I'm not sure that's entirely valid.

Of course, Scott McTominay has been a revelation, but, you know, Andy Robertson plays for Liverpool now, not every week.

But if you look beyond it, I've just spoken about the goalkeeping position.

If you look at centre-back, if you look at centre-forward,

there's not that much depth of talent.

And I think sometimes people's expectations where Scotland should be is misplaced.

I mean, Steve Clark, this will be his last campaign, come what may.

He's either going to leave a hero in the summer, having taken him to the World Cup, or he's, you know, it's going to fizzle out and it will be disappointing and he'll leave in the summer anyway.

But he could be the first manager in history to bring Scotland to three major tournaments.

I mean, he's brought them to back-to-back Euros, which have both been disappointing, I should hasten to add.

If he brings him to a World Cup as well, as I said, the first one since 1998, I think he's done a fantastic job.

But yes, to answer your question, Johnny, there is that gnawing sense of this team should be better.

I'm not entirely sure that's accurate or fair, but that definitely does exist.

He equaled Craig Brown's record of 71 games in charge last night.

So he'll be the longest ever serving Scotland manager by the end of that huge victory over Belarus.

While you're with us, Ewan, we should talk Russell Martin.

We talked about it on Monday a little bit, but sacked as Rangers head coach after 123 days.

And blimey, Ewan, what 123 days it was.

Yeah,

I have never known any manager to meet such antipathy from the moment he stepped in the door.

I mean, it was like you'd been a captain of Celtic who blew his nose in the corner, fly your eyebrows once, or something like that.

I mean, the whole thing was

vicious, but it was almost vicious from the start.

And I don't entirely know why.

I mean, ultimately, he was the wrong guy in the wrong movie, and it didn't work.

Yeah, I thought by the end, the abuse he got was unfair and over the score.

I mean, he didn't appoint himself to the job, did he?

But so

I think it crossed a line, and actually, for you know, for the good of his health, he's better off out of that situation.

I think the reason why he's been the subject of such abuse from the very beginning is very, for me it's obvious.

It's Rangers.

He's vegan and he's voted for the Green Party.

And

you have to see the comments of the history MSP, Modo Fraser, after he was sacked, who said, no more vegans, Buddhists or Greens at Rangers.

I mean, and I think you've said that.

I think you've said pretty much everything.

Would you agree, Ewan?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I mean,

he was reported to the police for those comments, I think, as well, wasn't he?

I don't know.

I mean, I think what we've seen here is a build-up of frustration because Rangers have more often than not been a clear second-best Aceltic and people are fed up with it.

But I look at some of the managers in recent times that Rangers fans have got behind, and I think, well, why did Martin get this level of animosity?

intrigues me.

And no Rangers fan I know can particularly answer it.

They can answer why he wasn't a good manager and didn't fit the job and didn't fit the club.

And I understand all that stuff.

But I think he was so on the back foot from the outset that it was a weird situation.

I've just checked.

Stephen Gerrard says, my diet is heavy with protein and carbohydrates.

On a match day, that means lots of chicken, fish, and eggs for the protein and pasta.

So he is not a vegan.

Might ban ketchup, though.

Yeah, that's true.

I don't know if he's a green.

I have spent some time with Stephen Gerrard.

I don't know his politics.

I don't know if he's a Green Party voter, but he's the favourite to take charge.

And actually,

it's sort of a perfect situation for everyone, isn't it, Ewan?

Yeah, I think that's absolutely right.

I mean, I don't know what other options he would have, given the way his coaching career has gone.

And for the reasons we spoke about with Rangers, when there's been so much antipathy towards a manager, which then rumbled on towards the board.

But what do you do?

To me, you appoint the most populous option, and that is Stephen Gerrard.

You know, I'm not saying 100% of Rangers fans want him to get the job because that's not fair but if he gets the job you can guarantee fans will get completely behind him and that is what they need at the moment whether he'll do a good job whether he's a capable manager i think that's very much up for debate but i just think he's the as you said i think it's the obvious answer all around just now

hearts are top aren't they which is exciting high flying hearts yes very much so

there's two things going on there one

the need basically for another team to to challenge in Scotland.

It's been 40 years since, it's going to be be 41 years since a team that isn't Celtic or Rangers won the league.

So there's a broader call for that to end, which is sensible and legitimate.

But also, Tony Bloom has got involved in Harts, Hartz News,

Jamestown Analytics, his recruitment model.

And it's in its infancy in terms of Hart's relationship with that, but it's already proving hugely successful.

And they've had an excellent start of the season.

They play Celtic in

the two games time at Tynecastle.

And that already looks like a hugely exciting game.

Good stuff, Ewan.

Thanks for coming on, pal.

Thank you.

And if Scotland don't win by at least two clear goals on Sunday, you can ridicule me as much as you like.

Okay, um, well, we absolutely will.

We didn't need your permission, Ewan.

Maybe you do that anyway.

That's fine.

Yeah, part three is always just ridiculing you.

You should listen.

Good man, Ewan Murray there, our Scottish football correspondent.

Quickly and completely unrelated managerial sacking and rehiring news.

Watford have sacked coach paolo pezzolano after just 10 games in charge they spun the wheel and javi gracia has the job back though what the amazing is how pezzolano managed to sneak into the kike sanchez flores twister board to get the job but uh there is javi gracia and uh We look forward to Paolo Petzolano getting the Watford job in about three years' time.

George Elek is here on Monday to do some EFL stuff, so we'll cover that in detail.

Other international news, Austria got their all-time biggest win.

They beat San Marino 10-0, four goals for Marko Arnortovic, and like 6-0 at halftime, they really wanted 10.

Like they kept scoring and getting the ball out of the net and going back to the centre circle, which is, you know, perhaps a bit harsh on San Marino, but you know, we always complain when it's 5-0 at halftime and 5-0 at full-time.

So well done to them.

Faroe Islands scored 4 against Montenegro from the Sweeper Pod Twitter feed.

A historic night for the Faroe Islands have equaled their biggest ever victory.

Goring was rounded off by Arnie Fredericksberg, who once combined his semi-pro football career with a job as a frozen pizza salesman.

Northern Ireland plays Slovakia tonight, Poland, Ireland on Saturday.

Troy Parrott said in the build-up to this one, Barry, that it's not over until it's over.

How close do you think it is to being over?

It's not Poland, is it?

Sorry, did I say Poland?

I meant Portugal.

Yeah.

Oh, it's a shame, isn't it?

It's made it a lot harder.

I mean, I wouldn't be confident of that one either, but yeah, give us Poland.

Yeah, I was stunned.

I was really thinking hard.

How do I feel about that one?

Scared is the answer.

Portugal in Lisbon, Ireland's players, and

John O'Shea did the presser yesterday.

They're all making all the right noises and

being very apologetic about being beaten by Armenia, but

do your talking on the pitch, lads.

You shouldn't have, you know, they were well beaten by Armenia.

That wasn't some freakish upset or anything.

Armenia were very worthy winners.

And

I will be astonished if Ireland come away from Lisbon with anything other than a heavy beating.

All right, that'll do for part two.

Part three, we'll discuss Israel's continued participation in the World Cup qualifiers.

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Read, watch, and listen to The Guardian for free at theguardian.com.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So, Israel played Norway on Saturday, Italy on Tuesday.

There are security concerns over both matches.

Johnny and Philippe, you both wanted to talk about this, and when you both wanted to talk about it, it was before the ceasefire.

So, Hamas and Israel,

this is the headline on the Guardian homepage right now, prepare to implement ceasefire.

As Netanyahu says the deal is approved by the government, and I guess, Philippe, this has given both FIFA and and UEFA an out, hasn't it?

For the time being, because, you know, fingers crossed, we don't know how this is going to evolve.

But the problem for them has been, if it is a problem, that they have been not dragging their feet, but

pretending they didn't have any feet to drag to start with for a very long time.

And I think one important thing when you talk about the suspension of Israel,

you have to remember that it is a situation that has been going on way before

what happened on 7 October and what happened after 7 October.

I think it's important to recontextualize that.

In 2015, FIFA had actually commissioned a report which was led by the South African Tokyo Sequale.

You remember him, the man with the greatest name in football.

The report was submitted just as everything exploded at FIFA in 2015, the raid on Boro Lag, the suspension of Platini, of Blatter, of so many other people.

And this report basically recommended the suspension of Israel back in 2015 for a simple reason, which is the fact that in the Israeli leagues, there are clubs which have been formed in the occupied territories, the illegally occupied territories of Palestine, and which are part of the Israel league system.

That is a clear violation of

the statuses of both UEFA and FIFA.

It's been going on for years and years.

Then this tragedy happens, this catastrophe happens.

And then so the pressure becomes absolutely huge.

But they're trying to find ways out of it.

You have to remember the UEFA.

They said that there was going to be this emergency meeting.

You remember, Max, about convening the executive committee and which was minded to suspend Israel.

There was never any official statement.

It was leaked out in a private briefing to a couple of members of the media.

That's all there was.

So even that was done in a kind of non-official way, only for them

to,

before the

Trump, well, the American proposal was accepted in

loads of brackets here by Israel.

And before that happened, they said, oh, no, no, no, no, it's not, we're not going to have this meeting because, well, we have to give peace a chance, basically.

Which, honestly,

yes, absolutely, let's give peace a chance.

We're all praying for peace.

But this was as hypocritical as you can get.

And I can tell you one thing.

When UEFA made that first statement about the meeting of the Executive Committee and the possible suspension of Israel, I contacted and some of my colleagues as well contacted members of the Executive Council of UEFA.

None of them.

And I said none of them were aware.

that this meeting would take place.

And as for FIFA, we can't hope anything from FIFA.

They just refuse to face the situation.

They have done that for, you know, I don't want to go into the reasons.

Maybe Jonathan can do that.

Maybe, you know, you can talk about it.

But we have to know the background of what is going on.

It's basically a problem that UF and FIFA don't want to deal with.

That's as simple as that.

Regardless of the catastrophic situation, regardless of the fact that this has been going on for over a decade, they don't want to deal with it.

Yeah, I mean, I totally understand.

I understand

what I would call the institutional reticence.

I hesitate to

call it cowardice, because I think there are huge practical, legal, institutional, sporting consequences to making a decision of this magnitude.

You are essentially going up against so much of the vested interests, not just in the sport, but in global politics.

You know, we have seen how strongly the US State Department came out against even the suggestion that Israel might be excluded from 2026 World Cup qualifying.

This is the level of pushback you're going to be dealing with.

For me, the moral case is totally unarguable.

Israel had absolutely no place playing any kind of representative international sport at all for reasons I think I've outlined in my writing and

for the plain reason that

they are trying to exterminate another country, another member state,

a FIFA member state.

This was happening obviously

long before the bombing campaign in Gaza.

The Palestinian football team that is based in Ramallah and the West Bank has been has

faced insuperable, like absolutely incredible obstacles, simply trying to play gaming because of things like road blockades, because of things like

travel restrictions, the fact that

players are simply basically unable to get to basic things like training and

access facilities.

So there's that.

And also you have the fact that I don't know the exact number.

I don't, you know, sadly, I'm not keeping a running tally, but Israel has killed over 800 Palestinian athletes since the bombing campaign in Gaza.

And I think, you know, is Israel uniquely evil?

I think that's what people would assume that I'm saying, of course not.

Are there not other rogue states elsewhere committing really quite staggering crimes?

Of course there are.

But I think that there comes a point where you need to, morally speaking, you need to draw a line in the sand.

And I understand why that drawing that line is hard.

But I think

for the sake of simple humanity, it does need to be done.

According to the Palestinian Football Association, 437 Palestinian footballers have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023.

Palestinian health authorities say that Israel's actions have killed more than 67,000 people, nearly a third of the dead under the age of 18.

And that is all since the 7th of October, when Hamas took the lives of at least 1,219 people and led to the taking of 251 hostages, most of them Israeli citizens.

Just on the game in Oslo, there'll be heightened security measures, no fan zone, capacity reduced to 3,000.

Protest in Oslo has been announced by the Norwegian Palestine Committee to coincide with the match.

The Norwegian Football Federation said proceeds from the game will be donated to a humanitarian cause, Earmark for Métis Saint-Francière, and their emergency relief efforts in Gaza and surrounding areas.

In Italy, the mayor of Udine,

Alberto Alberto Felice Di Toni, told Italy's La Presa, I'd asked for the Israel match to be postponed because the atmosphere was not right for a national celebration as a national team game should be.

That request was not considered by the authorities for various reasons.

It would have been better idea to play it behind closed doors to avoid throwing fuel on the fire.

Philippe?

I've just come back from the Play the Game conference where Lisa Klavernes, the president of the Norwegian Football Federation, was speaking.

She actually confirmed that there was a majority of UEFA EXCO members who were in favor of a suspension.

So, which is very important because it means if there had been this meeting and if there had been a vote, Israel would now be suspended.

The decision not to do anything is lying with the people at the very top of UEFA, not necessarily the people from the Executive Council who represent European Federations.

I think it's an important thing to specify here.

Elsewhere, Johnny, you wanted to talk about Carlo Angelotti in Brazil.

Yeah, I think I saw him during a press conference in Portuguese the other day.

Yesterday, he's in Seoul.

They're in Seoul.

I think they're playing in a few hours friendly against South Korea.

So add that language to his repertoire.

I think it's a really, it's an utterly fascinating marriage because you have here one of the most...

I think underperforming nations, certainly at a global level, at a World Cup level, with a really proud football culture and heritage and tradition and five World Cups, as we know, essentially turning to this guy from European football and saying, can you make us rational and sane?

Can you create something

coherent out of these really disparate paths?

Because

the irony is that Brazilian football is, certainly at a domestic level, is a place that coaches basically get fired after three or four months.

You know, you have six bad games and you're gone pretty much, where this the style of football is often like it's it's wildly mixed it's often not very good and and yet you have an industry which is absolutely

there's not still nothing better than brazilian football at exporting footballers at producing footballers and exporting them around the world and getting them to plug in and play whether it's you know ukraine or scotland or italy or qato or australia whatever you know there was there are brazilian there were there are brazilian footballers everywhere and yet nobody has ever managed to to draw these disparate strands together Well, nobody for a couple of decades has been able to draw these disparate strands together.

I just find it really fascinating to see whether Ancelotti can do it because he's the fix-it guy, right?

He's the guy who takes stars, who takes stars from around the world and speaks in their language and creates an environment, makes them feel comfortable and gets music out of them.

So yeah, it was interesting that he said he wants players, he was saying ahead of this, he doesn't want players who want to win the ballon d'Or.

He doesn't want players who want to win a World Cup for ballon d'oeu purposes, for individual glamour.

He wants players who could submit to the team.

I think it's a similar conversation to what we were having with Tuchel in England.

And I just think, yeah, if Ancelotti can't do it, then I don't know who can, to be honest.

Yeah, just add one funny thing about this Brazilian squad for those two games against South Korea and Japan.

13 of the players called by Carlo Anchilotti play in England.

That's pretty amazing, I think.

Including the whole midfield.

I mean, the midfield, Casemiro, Lucas Paqueta, Bruno Quimarez, André, Jao Gomez, and Joel Linton.

So that's basically the Premier League is going to represent Brazil in the next game.

Philippe, I'm sure you'd be the first to congratulate Cristiano Ronaldo on the news he's become football's first billionaire, according to Blundorg.

They said he earned more than 410 million between 2002 and 2023.

When he joined al-Nasser in the Saudi pro league in 2022, he became reportedly the highest paid player in football history with an annual salary of just £177 million.

His contract was due to end in June 2025.

He signed a new two-year deal reportedly worth more than £298 million, which will keep him at the club beyond his 42nd birthday.

Gary says, in light of the news of Cole Palmer's trademarking of the term Cold Palmer for products including, but not limited to, soaps, Christmas crackers and underwater vehicles.

How excited should we be to see a potential fleet of NATO U-boats emblazoned with Cole Palmer's face and branding congregating in the Black Sea as his battalion of warships patrols the front lines of an imminent World War III?

Kind regards, thanks for the wonderful pods.

Yes, Cole Palmer can now add the trademark term to a wide variety of products according to the BBC, including ice cream, toys, clothes, footballs, and football boots.

It also enables him to trademark a range of other eclectic products such as beard trimmers, underwater vehicles, mopeds and mouse mats, should the need arise.

What else do you need than a cold palm?

You can buy two for one, a coal palmer mouse mat and submarine.

Yes, Johnny.

You know, like Morgan Progress claimed, you know, Morgan Progers did the cold, he claims that he did the cold palmer celebration first.

He does the

cold thing as well.

So he claimed, he claims ownership of that.

And I wonder whether this is just, is this just going to end up in England's two number tens ending up in the high court over a copyright issue.

Surely just in cars that can go underwater.

That's how it's Rogers versus Palmer.

And

whoever wins that battle gets to sit on the bench when Dude Bellingham starts in the World Cup.

It's very much Mr.

Plough versus Plough King.

Now, finally, I mentioned that my AirPods were at Terminal 4 at Perth Airport, and I can see where they are on Find My AirPods.

Thank you to David O'Doherty for telling me how you could do that anyway perth has come together paul max and team paul from perth here i was listening to your latest podcast i heard about the airpods having done this myself in the past i can understand your dilemma i'd be happy to drop into terminal four grab them on your behalf and post them back to you in melbourne i've been listening for a number of years i feel this would be the least i could do for keeping me entertained three times a week that's paul okay barry ian says hi team long time listener first time writer i'm an artist living in perth i listen to the podcast every week while painting my new studio is right beside perth airport i could actually go and pick up Max's AirPods, send them back to him.

I'd be happy to.

If Max can line it up with Qantas staff, I'll pop on over.

I love Sunderland being part of the conversation again this season.

Valiant effort by Jonathan and Barry to keep mentioning them during the long and painful absence from the top flight.

Let's see if we can get those AirPods back.

Haway the lads.

That's Ian.

Ian.

Ed says, huge fan of the pod.

Newcastle fan living in Perth.

Please come and do a live show in Perth.

I promise Barry and Co.

an amazing night on the blend.

I'm more than happy to pick up your misplaced findable AirPods or whatever they're known these days.

We'll ship to Melbourne free of charge.

That's Ed.

Sean, I'm not a football of Modric's or Raphael Leiao's quality.

I am from Perth.

I can get your AirPods and send them cross-country.

Gianni, I'm in Perth.

I'm flying to Melbourne at the end of the month.

If Melbourne is where you are, I can bring over your headphones.

If that was serious, and Jack, hey mate, do you want me to pick up your airport pods from Perth Airport?

So there you've got all the offers.

Who should I go to,

Barry?

Well, Ian, the Sunderland fan, is the obvious candidate, the artist and Sunderland fan, who Ed, Newcastle fan, can't be trusted.

Okay.

Yeah, I'd I'd go with Ian, but I mean, they're all good, they're all generous.

What, Paul, Ian, Ed, Sean, Gianni, Jack, it was very kind of them.

Let's face it, going to an airport to do anything for anyone, even if it's someone you know, is a massive pain in the ass.

So they're going to do it for, well, I suppose you're not really a stranger because they listen to you every week should you conduct interviews maybe like an interview process second interviews maybe an attitude test should we do a podcast series we'll start well originally I'll send I went for a job at the FA once Johnny management sort of like the graduate scheme at the FA right and it went from 20,000 and we got down to like the final to 10 or 15.

We didn't meet anyone from the FA because it was like a recruitment team in to work out if you'd be good at the FA or not.

And

I got top marks in all the things to get down to the last three, except for the team working section where I spoke too much and didn't listen to anyone else.

Hopefully, I've learned to be a better listener in the following 25 years.

The jokes write themselves.

Anyway, let's go with Ian.

And then, if Ian fails, we'll go down the list.

But thank you to everyone in Perth rallying together to reconnect me with my AirPods pros.

And that'll do for today.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, Johnny.

Thanks.

Thanks, Philippe.

Thank you, Max.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you.

Football Weekly is produced by Silas Gray with Joel Grove, and our executive producer is Phil Maynard.

We'll be back on Monday.

This is The Guardian.