Farewell Ange Postecoglou and Slot slip continues at Anfield – Football Weekly podcast

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Speaker 4 Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly, one of those rare podcasts which Manchester United fans will actually want to listen to. A winner and field for the first time in almost a decade.

Speaker 4 Harry Maguire, the hero, heading home late on. Could this be the turning point? Four defeats in a row now for Liverpool.
They could have won this game.

Speaker 4 Cody Gakpo kept hitting the woodwork, but the woodwork famously isn't on target. And the mini crisis continues.
Big And is sacked after 39 days at the city ground.

Speaker 4 Chelsea really tried to give Forrest the lead, but another defeat and the conspicuous departure of Maranakis from his business class seat meant the end as Sean Dysch is poised.

Speaker 4 Also today, a cracker at Selhurst Park. On the one hand, Matetta scored a hat-trick.
On the other, he ballooned one over for the win in the 99th minute.

Speaker 4 Arsenal win one of those narrow, these are the games that win you titles matches at Fulham, while Erling Harland propels City into second spurs could have ended the weekend second but lose to two brilliant goals from aston villa that matty cash passed and then there's sunderland going seventh danny wellbeck find wining it and a real ball stays ball at turf moor from loom shauna all that plus your questions and that's today's guardian football weekly

Speaker 4 on the panel today barry glendenning hello hi max welcome john bruin hello max and good morning seb hutchinson good morning max stephen says no question i just wanted to say it's nice as a manchester Manchester United fan to actually look forward to the pod after Liverpool away.

Speaker 4 Two wins in a row for the first time in the league for Ruben Amerim. Their first away win since March.
Their first winner and field in almost a decade.

Speaker 4 It is, John, and you are a Manchester United fan, just a huge result for him and for United and for the guy with the hair and for all Manchester United fans.

Speaker 6 It feels good, yeah. There's no doubt about that.

Speaker 6 I hate this fixture. I've always hated this fixture.
It is torture to watch. And it was torture towards the end as well.
Because

Speaker 6 obviously, when Liverpool equalise and you think that they're going to

Speaker 6 win in the way that they have done a few times this season and have done in that fixture before.

Speaker 6 But United saw it out and then it becomes a great fixture and, you know, really enjoyable.

Speaker 6 And I was thinking last time I watched that, United win that, it was a Rooney goal. It was Louis Van Haal.

Speaker 6 I watched it in the company of

Speaker 6 Guardian Football Weekly alumni Paul Doyle.

Speaker 6 Hi, Paul, if you're listening.

Speaker 1 Yeah, hi, Paul. We miss you.

Speaker 6 Yeah, great man. A great man.
We were at Stoke City together. So

Speaker 6 we were a glamorous fixture of the day. And that was a long time ago.
Let's put it that way.

Speaker 6 And this felt, and when you actually think of all the differences between Manchester United then and now, There are so many changes and so many false dawns and Liverpool have been great almost the whole time since then.

Speaker 6 That's not to say Manchester United were particularly great in this game, though they did play very well in the first half, but they got it done against a team who are having problems, problems that we'll probably go into.

Speaker 6 There was a point in the second half when Casimiera, who played really, really well, but obviously cannot do 90 minutes anymore. That's fair, let's be fair, goes off and they started falling apart.

Speaker 6 And the thing is, Liverpool changed the tactics and went to this 4-2-4 formation. And this is it.
Slots the gambler now, isn't he? He just chucks everything at it.

Speaker 6 It does resemble that point when managers completely lose the run of themselves and just throw everything at it. I'm reminded,

Speaker 6 an Irish friend of mine reminded me of when Ireland beat the Dutch in 2001 when they had Hasselbank, Van Nistelroy,

Speaker 6 you know, Roy Mackay and you know, just every every possible Dutch striker of the last fifty years up front. And it felt like Liverpool did that.

Speaker 6 And the thing is about about Ruben Amarim, his refusal to change his tactics meant that

Speaker 6 Liverpool were getting at them. But one of his tactics is Harry Maguire, the resurrection man of Manchester United.

Speaker 6 Now, let's give some props to Harry Maguire because there is a guy that has taken so much stick over the years and, you know, become the internet piss take, mean, whatever you want to call it, for years upon years.

Speaker 6 And he stuck around.

Speaker 6 he wanted to stay at Manchester United he actually speaks as someone who wants to do well for for Manchester United he always came out and gave these interviews that were you know fronted up for which Roy Keene actually was was often very dismissive of him but he came through on a big game and you know if you score the winner at Anfield for Manchester United the scouse busting they used to call it in the 1980s you become a hero.

Speaker 6 So well done, Harry Maguire. Remember last season, actually, he missed one in the last minute.
So he must have thought his chance to be that guy had gone. But he is that guy now.

Speaker 6 And credit to Manchester United. I had a big smile on my face for the first time watching that fixture in a decade.

Speaker 1 Which is great.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Manchester United, only two points off water said.
I mean, in previous weeks, we have talked about green shoots, or as my friend Mark Bosnich said, green sprouts.

Speaker 1 And there are some more here.

Speaker 4 Especially down the right-hand side, Seb.

Speaker 5 What's the difference? What's the difference?

Speaker 4 Well, green sprouts are just just green sprouts. They don't mean things are growing, are they? They've already grown.

Speaker 6 But greens do sprout.

Speaker 1 That's true.

Speaker 4 Well, that is true.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 4 that's a good point. Now you make it.
Anyway, down the right-hand side, you know, Ahmad and Mbuemo. We saw it after a minute, right? We saw that was good against Sunday.
It was good again yesterday.

Speaker 4 Yeah, and I think...

Speaker 5 Brian Mbuma, we look at all the transfer business that's been done by all the clubs and the money that's been spent.

Speaker 5 I actually think Manchester United's transfer business in the attacking areas was arguably the best of any club. I think Kunya and Nbuma are players who are going to score goals in the Premier League.

Speaker 5 I mean, it's not happened for Kunya as much as he would have liked, but I think he has that quality.

Speaker 5 And I believe Benjamin Sheshko, when you look at the whole striker market, he is seen as a project striker.

Speaker 5 He's a player when you look at it and you think, the only thing I feel he's missing is that edge to his game, that edge that Say Haaland has.

Speaker 5 Weirdly, the edge that Yokarez has in the mentality of going in for a 50-50 and showing and using his frame. He does does seem a bit passive in that, but he has the technical side.

Speaker 5 I think he has the physical attributes to do that. Brian Mbumo to finish that chance with his weaker foot, and he falls into that category.
He's a rare, say, 3.5 pronunciation player.

Speaker 5 And by that I mean there's, and I've done it myself, there's three ways I've said his name over the course of his career. The 0.5 is for the native pronunciation that no one can ever nail.

Speaker 5 But the three I've had in Buemo, I've had in Bumo, I've had Mbomo.

Speaker 5 I think there's another actually, but there's something in there.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 5 for a player who scored that many goals, you thought we'd have nailed it by now, but we haven't quite got there. And he's a player also that you think players bounce off him.

Speaker 5 Even Van Dijk in a couple of moments was a bit unsure about should I go toe-to-toe with him? Because he has that big backside. He has that big back.
He can...

Speaker 5 block players off. I mean, I used to have it a little bit myself.

Speaker 5 Sorry to go off on the tangent, as I usually do.

Speaker 1 Of course. Yeah, we have to have one of those.

Speaker 4 Not a lot to get through, Sim. Yeah, sorry, yeah.

Speaker 5 Just going back to what we were talking about, Manchester United winning, I think they take a lot of credit from this because the mentality as well.

Speaker 5 My favourite moment of the game in some respects was Casemiro's wild challenge just before he came off because he knew he was coming off.

Speaker 1 And it's that free hit.

Speaker 5 That free hit. He looked across.
Agate's coming on. I'm going for this.
I'm never going to get there. He was miles off it.

Speaker 5 But he went in for the challenge, and they had to have that concentration because I think against Liverpool, you know the waves are coming, whoever you are, whatever form they're in, they're always going to score goals.

Speaker 5 And they're on this run, I think, 42 straight games in which they've found the net. But this time, just like the last three matches, the opposition responds because the game is so open.
It's so wild.

Speaker 5 That's the biggest concern for Liverpool, I think, going forward.

Speaker 4 Before we go to those concerns, big sir Jim Barry specifically mentioned when saying Amarin had his three years, that Arteta took a while and it was his 35th game in charge, a win against Chelsea that was a turning point.

Speaker 4 And this was Amarin's 35th game in charge. i suppose we can't read too much into it unless we forward wine a year or two or three

Speaker 1 but it i and i don't know how significant it is because we don't know really how good manchester united are but i think for him it's probably his biggest win as their manager isn't it oh without question yeah winning at anfield is really difficult united they they had to ride their luck a little bit but i think they deserved to win it was a very chaotic game very entertaining for for me as a neutral and you're dead right.

Speaker 1 You can't read too much into it from a United perspective until we see, you know, let's see how they get on against Brighton next weekend. But it's certainly a step in the right direction.

Speaker 1 I think tellingly that first goal, that's the goal Amarim wants United to score. You know, that's what his setup.
That is the goal they're supposed to score.

Speaker 1 Coming in from one of the wings and or playing it out wide, coming in and

Speaker 1 finishing. It really knocked Liverpool out of their stride.
And I guess United were helped by the fact that Virgil Van Dyke was uncharacteristically terrible.

Speaker 1 And Mo Sala had another bad game in a match where I think quite a lot of us thought, ah, he'll get a goal here. He'll play well here because he always does against Manchester United.

Speaker 1 But it was another bad day at the office for Mo. But

Speaker 1 yeah, hats off off to United. And

Speaker 4 I agree with John, but huge props for Harry Maguire.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I mean, meanwhile, John, I mean, Cody Gakpo almost scored two brilliant goals, as well as the one he did score, and then missed a sitter later on. Salah skewed that one wide.
Ekatike put one wide.

Speaker 4 I mean, on another day, Liverpool win this comfortably, do they? I mean, I'm just trying to work out. They didn't.
I know the result is the result, and that's how we view it.

Speaker 4 And it's four losses in a row. First time in about 11 years, that's happened to Liverpool.
It's under Brendan Rodgers. So there are definitely problems.

Speaker 6 I don't think they'd win it comfortably because nothing is coming off that easily for them, is it?

Speaker 6 Those chances are

Speaker 6 chances they're playing with a level of anxiety that we didn't see last season.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 6 a part of it is that it's a different team. It's a different team with...

Speaker 6 I mean, there's obvious stresses involved. And we should mention the Jotter thing that I know some people get annoyed by, but you cannot dismiss.

Speaker 6 But to move it on to the actual football element of things, it is that he's trying to overhaul a team and he's playing it.

Speaker 6 Say Florin Vertz is on the bench.

Speaker 6 Now, actually, I thought Florin Vertz came on and looked quite good and is a very effective player when they dropped him a bit deeper and he's given space by Manchester United's refusal to play any different tactics.

Speaker 6 And he looked fine.

Speaker 6 But there are so many players who are sort of scratching around. Even Gakpo, I mean, he's a player that Liverpool Liverpool fans haven't particularly taken to, even though he seems to be...

Speaker 6 He's productive in that he scored a few goals, but there's a lot of misses go on there. And then you've got, I mean, Salah.
I mean, this guy,

Speaker 6 there is a theory out there

Speaker 6 that Liverpool are playing are building a team for when Salah isn't there. We're just having to play Salah in it at the moment.
Right.

Speaker 6 Which is it, which is and he's sort of watching it's almost watching the team that's going to be when he's playing in Saudi Arabia,

Speaker 6 whoever comes next to him. And the defence, Virgil Van Dyke, remember this cool guy that we used to know, this sort of like chilled out, breezy, and oh, this is so easy for me.
Look at this.

Speaker 6 The face on this guy throughout that game, the rage in Virgil Van Dijk's face as he's looking at other defenders, going, why haven't you not,

Speaker 6 why are you there? And just he looked angry and he looked stressed.

Speaker 5 John, John, can I touch on that? Do you remember the bit where the cross came in and Van Dijk cleared it into Kirkz's face? Yeah, him in the face, and he was still angry at Kirkz.

Speaker 6 He looked

Speaker 1 like, why are you there? What are you doing there?

Speaker 6 And

Speaker 6 you are not supposed to be there. This is not what we do here.
And yeah, I mean, it's like

Speaker 6 there was

Speaker 6 afterwards, Slot talked about, I mean, Slot was, this is a good thing.

Speaker 6 We didn't see this last season season because

Speaker 6 there was no need for it. Slop is

Speaker 6 a poor loser, isn't he?

Speaker 1 Oh, you know, such all so many cliches.

Speaker 4 It's like every manager

Speaker 4 in league one and league two just says, well, they just get, they just knock it long, and that is very hard to defend.

Speaker 6 They're just long balls and all that. It's like, mate, I don't know if you've watched the Premier League in the last year and a half.
I mean, this is what happens.

Speaker 6 And actually, that wasn't a long ball performance. You weren't watching Dave Bassett.

Speaker 1 I mean, come on, man.

Speaker 6 But yeah, there is this sudden, maybe it's a Dutch thing of, you know,

Speaker 6 they're good winners, but they're bad losers. And listen,

Speaker 6 there is that point, isn't it? You'll never see a good loser be a good winner. That's the thing.
And so, but Liverpool, just every little bit is grinding. It's not working.

Speaker 6 And it feels like a team that is a champion team and won the league very well last season.

Speaker 6 Yeah, four losses in a row. Crisis Club.
You know, it doesn't, it feels like a long time since we've seen Liverpool on that level of angst, which shows you what a good job Jung Klopp did.

Speaker 6 Yeah, and it showed you what a good job Slot did, and now it's anger.

Speaker 4 Yeah, uh, Idrak Frankfurt away on Wednesday, Brentford away, Palace at home.

Speaker 4 So, not impossible, but not simple, you know, and you know, also worth mentioning that Isaac hasn't you know hit the ground running.

Speaker 1 Oh, who?

Speaker 6 I mean, where was this guy? What there was one shot, wasn't there? There was a sort of grubber that the

Speaker 6 goalie

Speaker 6 united with a goalie.

Speaker 4 what a difference that makes nice to see Sir Alex and Sir Kenny eating chocolate buttons as well. That was a

Speaker 4 nice touch, wasn't it? Anyway, look, we've got a lot to get through. Uh, Tommy says, My thoughts are with Max and the rest of Australia at this difficult time.

Speaker 4 Candid says, Admit it, you want Maranakis on the touchline. Forest Nil Chelsea, three.
Uh, Ange Postacogu sacked about 20 minutes after the final whistle.

Speaker 4 He was in charge for eight games, no wins, 39 days, five Premier League games, the shortest in Premier League history. Uh, Les Reed's 41 days at Charlton looked impossible to beat.

Speaker 4 Sam Allardyce did 30 days for Leeds, but he was brought in to see them to the end of the season, so doesn't quite count.

Speaker 4 And this amazing theatre about Maranakis, you know, filling the screen in that seat and then cutting back to the seat and there's nobody there. And it's, you know, it is thumbs down for Ange.

Speaker 4 I mean, it does said...

Speaker 4 It's such an amazing descent from how good Forrest were last year under Nuno to getting rid of him, bringing in a completely different manager with a completely different style with no time to train the players him not doing a good job and now they're where they are it's sort of quite extraordinary you can't predict this no no i've been on a few forest podcasts they had this feeling and i've probably done these podcasts for the last three years and when they came into the premier league obviously the feeling was just stay up

Speaker 5 and then they went on this run that had them in the mix for champions league football and once you go on a run like that the whole feeling of the club changes i think aston villa have been through it recently as well once you're in that mix mix, you don't want to drop out.

Speaker 5 And for the owner, for somebody who already has a Champions League club, he's used to seeing them in that competition. And in his head, he's thinking, well, Forrest are where they should be.

Speaker 5 And then that has overtaken his belief on where they should go. And Nuno's style was working for a period.

Speaker 5 The back end of the season, they almost stuttered over the line and they almost missed out on Europe entirely or on the competitions they wanted to be in.

Speaker 5 And they had the back route way in to the Europa League. And you felt the tensions at the back of last season.

Speaker 5 The moment Nuno was let go and Postacoglou came in from that very moment press conference I think it was the Forest supporters were not behind him at all because they'd seen the template in their eyes their temp you know football fans templates of how they view things are often quite short and they would have looked at the last year under Spurs and they thought what are we doing why are we going down this route why are we choosing this man and he didn't have them on side from the start and that created a problem for him I did their second game against Swansea and I have to say I don't think I saw in the entire 39 days Ange Postakoglu

Speaker 5 smile during a match.

Speaker 5 It was a constant angry shake of the head for a full 90 minutes and when you look at some of the games they played in that run of course they played Arsenal first but you look at some of the opponents I mean even

Speaker 5 Forrest from two seasons ago would have backed themselves to beat some of those sides that they faced. I mean the Mitchelin one was particularly bad bad because they responded and went behind again.

Speaker 5 And when your own fans are chanting against you early doors, singing chants that you feel only the opposition would sing, but the forest supporters are singing it.

Speaker 5 I haven't seen many Forest supporters who are almost upset about it.

Speaker 1 They're almost like, well, we knew this was going to happen.

Speaker 5 This was obviously going to happen. Maranakis sought it out.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I mean, it does feel a bit like this game in a way is a sort of microcosm of Andrew's time at Forest Barry. And he has been a bit unlucky.
Like, they were never going to score in this game.

Speaker 4 They had, like, they could have been 4-0 up. Chelsea kept passing them the ball.
And even when they're losing, Neko Williams has that chance.

Speaker 4 And then is it Eagle Jays who's managed to sort of hit the bar and post and bar and post like a pinball machine?

Speaker 4 And then you think back to the Swansea game, where there's no way two Swansea players strike the ball that beautifully within 10 seconds of each other for that winner.

Speaker 4 Like, it was just like he needed something to go in off his backside, Ange, and it never did. And he was just, for whatever reason, screwed.

Speaker 1 I think we all had a fair idea it wasn't going to work out for him at Forrest because

Speaker 1 he definitely needs a preseason with the players to impart his ideas. Forrest were decent in the first half here, but they were largely good because Chelsea made them look good.

Speaker 1 I think Chelsea just kept giving them the ball. And despite all this charity, they couldn't score.

Speaker 1 And then Maresco

Speaker 1 made changes at halftime, brought on Kaisedo, Gissens and Gu.

Speaker 4 And that made a huge difference.

Speaker 1 Obviously, Caisado is probably Chelsea's best player. And

Speaker 1 they go two up. Maranakis leaves his seat very pointedly.
And I

Speaker 1 genuinely thought he might go down to the touchline and

Speaker 1 sack Big Ange on the spot, like mid-second half, but he didn't. He spared him that humiliation and had the good grace to leave it till uh

Speaker 1 twenty minutes after the final whistle. The thing is,

Speaker 1 I look at Maranakis and let

Speaker 1 be charitable. He's he's an eccentric and volatile character and you think, God, you'd have to be mad to work for him.
And then,

Speaker 1 well, maybe you'd have to be mad not to work for him because

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 presumably leaves the city ground with a a big lorry load of cash, payoff, And

Speaker 1 I don't think his reputation has been particularly damaged by this short spell at Forest.

Speaker 4 Do you think? Do you think?

Speaker 1 I think everyone seems to have their view of Ange. And I don't think anything he has done or not done here at Forest has is going to change anyone's mind one way or the other.

Speaker 4 True, I guess, John, I guess it means... Taking this job means he doesn't get another Premier League job.
Whereas if he doesn't take this one, there is one there.

Speaker 4 So maybe it doesn't change because this is the one. But if he'd waited, I think Barry's Barry's alluded to, don't take this job.

Speaker 4 If he'd waited, he might have got a better chance at a different club coming in in a different, you know, don't follow the guy that everyone loves and then try and change everything when you've got no time on the training ground.

Speaker 6 Yeah, you could see him washing up at Wolves or something like that, but that isn't going to happen now.

Speaker 4 With all due respect to Wolves,

Speaker 6 Wolves, Wolves are a club who can be trigger-happy, let's put it that way. So, like, that's, I can't actually see the Wolves fans taking to that either.

Speaker 6 You know, as Barry said, actually, I watched the first half of this game and thought they're playing quite well. And the thing is, with Ange Ball, it's quite exciting to watch.

Speaker 6 And yet, it's difficult to take to when the team ends up losing every game. So

Speaker 6 that's what sullied his reputation, isn't it?

Speaker 6 The stats of his Premier League form are absolutely awful. You know, like real relegation form.
It's such an oddity. You know, he's banked to payoffs.
He's banked to Europa League. What follows next?

Speaker 6 I mean,

Speaker 6 Seb mentioned that, you know, the lack of a smile. We saw it, didn't we? That picture of him leaving the ground with that young girl, young girl fan with this big grin on his face in his big car.

Speaker 4 Weighed down with leather holdles of cash.

Speaker 6 It's funny,

Speaker 6 I hadn't, because

Speaker 6 I was at Brighton getting ready for the Brighton game, and

Speaker 6 when Barry's message came in on our WhatsApp group saying, oh, he's left his seat. So I said this to everyone, we were all, oh, he's left his seat.

Speaker 6 Everyone was like, oh, oh, you know, we all know what's going to happen. But it turns out he just got in his car.
And I was wondering what sort of car Maranakis has.

Speaker 6 Because do you remember club chairman? It always used to be a Rolls-Royce, didn't it?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 Or Jag. Or Jag.

Speaker 6 What is it now?

Speaker 6 What's the car of the day?

Speaker 1 I'm going to say bulletproof Pommer.

Speaker 1 Matt Black.

Speaker 6 Some sort of oversized Lexus. Yeah, yeah, something like that.

Speaker 1 Sorry, Max.

Speaker 5 I've just got this. John just gave me this image of Angel's like a horseshoe crab, just sort of drifting towards like Mosley Old Hall or something, like just outside Walterhampton.

Speaker 1 And they said there is for his final Premier League job. Oh, dear.
There was a great moment towards the end of this game

Speaker 1 when a note was sent on to the pitch for Rhys James. And Rhys James read it and gave various people instructions.
And he had this folded piece of paper in his hand.

Speaker 1 And he he didn't know what to do with it.

Speaker 1 And he spent, I'm not exaggerating I would say three or four minutes with this note in his hand and he was trying to just looking for the recycling bit I think he was looking I think he was looking for Melo Gusto just

Speaker 1 not another red he didn't want to roll it up and throw it on the pitch either because he's anti-litter or in case a forest player picked it up and read whatever was on it and he eventually

Speaker 1 stuck it in his sock, which is what I was willing him to do as I watched it. Just put it in your sock, put it in your sock.

Speaker 1 And then, about 10 seconds later, whacked in Chelsea's third goal, having got rid of this anxiety over what to do with this unwanted piece of paper.

Speaker 4 Sean Dice is the favorite to take over at Forest Reports that they are in advance talks and they'd already been in talks, so could be appointed today. So, you know, welcome back to the Premier League.

Speaker 4 Sean Dice, and that'll do for part one, part two. We'll begin at Selhurst Park.

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Speaker 4 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Dom says, So, my Californian son is traveling around Europe, decided to go to his first ever Premier League game yesterday.
Big moment.

Speaker 4 He was going to go to Fulham Arsenal, changed his mind, went down to South London for the Palace game. Imagine that being your first live game you ever saw.

Speaker 4 I told him he may never see another like that. He's still in shock.
Yeah, so Barry, and Mateta Hatrick, a penalty equalizer in the 97th minute,

Speaker 4 but he balloons that one over the 99th.

Speaker 1 And you're not quite sure

Speaker 1 if he had a good game or not. Yeah, he scored a hat-trick.

Speaker 1 I said to you yesterday, upon being handed the match ball, he should have just handed it straight back because he should have had two hat-tricks, Max. He missed two chances in the first half.

Speaker 1 He missed that absolute sitter. The best chance he had all afternoon to win the game

Speaker 1 deep in added time after scoring the equalizer from the spot. He was I've never seen a man look so unhappy to score a hat-trick.

Speaker 1 It was quite the afternoon for all Jean-Philippe, but this was a brilliant, brilliant game of football.

Speaker 4 I really, really enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 Bournemouth went two up,

Speaker 1 Palace got back, Bourma went ahead again. You thought, oh, that's it.
And then an absolutely stupid foul by Diakita on Marquet to give away the penalty from which Palace equalised.

Speaker 1 I think Ireola wasn't happy with it, but but I mean, I suppose they always feel weird to me. The only thing you could argue is that

Speaker 1 they're not always given, but this one was, and you can't complain about it. Just an outstanding game between two really, really good teams.

Speaker 4 That hatchet comes off the back of his first goal for France.

Speaker 4 And Wilfrid Zahar getting very annoyed that Matetta remembered a time when a few Palace players laughed that he wouldn't make the French side.

Speaker 4 Sort of quite legitimately, I think, at the time, given who was playing up front for France 10 years ago or whenever it was, probably not quite 10 years ago. Meanwhile, a young Frenchman,

Speaker 4 Eli Croupi, 19, his first start in the league, two goals. He looks so happy.

Speaker 4 I mean, perhaps he's in the dressing room being laughed at by Alex Scott and Ryan Christie that he said he's going to play up front for France. And they're like, hmm, have you seen him, Bappe?

Speaker 4 But he looks so happy, didn't he, to score those goals?

Speaker 6 He did. He did.
I was chatting to someone over the weekend and

Speaker 6 they were telling me that

Speaker 6 in the world of the transfer market, there's this new phenomenon, which is agents are now saying that their players have, Bournemouth and Brighton have been looking at them to try and increase the price of them for other,

Speaker 6 oh, well, you know,

Speaker 6 because they have this, you know, this laser-focused scouting system. So everybody, oh, what, they must be good if they're looking at them.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 6 I think they were linked with

Speaker 6 Brighton linked with some sort of random Ukrainian last week, and everyone starts to never heard of them and starts paying their attention to him. Yeah, what a find.

Speaker 6 Another sore loser, which probably points for him to being a success in the future, Iriola. I mean, it wasn't a loser, he drew, obviously, but he didn't look very happy after that one, did he?

Speaker 6 It got away from them. Mateta at the Olympics, he was a bit of a star man in that, wasn't he? So

Speaker 6 he's a really good player to watch,

Speaker 6 but he is one of those where

Speaker 6 it almost like defines his career: is he could score an absolute hatful and he can miss them too. And that's it.
And his teammates are well aware of this.

Speaker 6 I think that's possibly the point. Okay, let's do an advert for our league here.

Speaker 6 I think that when teams play in the style of how Crystal Palace and Bournemouth do, and I saw this at Brighton Newcastle, it's so relentless.

Speaker 6 And Seb will know this from being in the commentary box. It must be really hard because these players are just

Speaker 6 go from it from the start.

Speaker 6 And they're just throwing themselves around, and chances are created, and just and maybe we could do a pod where we watch a game from like 1997 or something and watch how games would just start off with like sort of nothing happening, and just you know, it's like people just lolling about

Speaker 1 thinking about

Speaker 1 chatting away.

Speaker 6 How's the missus?

Speaker 1 Yeah, she's all right,

Speaker 6 and then just off you go, and it is relentless.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 6 when two teams, their style of play is to do that, what happens is that

Speaker 6 it is not possible for the human being to play that long. And so often by the end of the game, is chaos.

Speaker 6 Now, that's terrible for someone like me that often has to file it full time because the last 20 minutes are just absolute bedlam.

Speaker 1 And that's what that game was.

Speaker 6 Brilliant, brilliant.

Speaker 4 Yeah. And

Speaker 4 sometimes you think it's on, you put it on accidentally on 1.5 speed. You're just like, this is going too fast.
Isn't it? Oliver Glasner confirmed Mark Gay will leave in the summer ahead of the game.

Speaker 4 And we did get to hear Jared Gillett's voice. I think we've heard it already.
And he stood by his decision.

Speaker 4 He went to the monitor and stood by his call, which is so rare that sort of it made me feel slightly euphoric.

Speaker 6 Supposedly, Mike Dean was celebrating this solid.

Speaker 1 He was. Yes.
He gave it like arms in the air. He was so happy.
Yeah, really.

Speaker 4 That's his Paul Merson, love bites, and everything. That's it.

Speaker 1 You know, there's been a VR VAR review, not overturned.

Speaker 4 Mike Dean, and he's like, Yeah,

Speaker 1 it's interesting because a few years ago, before Jared Gillette came over to England to work in the championship, Eclip did the rounds of him explaining some decision to play. It was just a

Speaker 1 compilation of his interactions with players during a game in the A-League. And everyone was pointing to this: you know, look at this brilliant Australian referee.
This is why England

Speaker 1 needs to import foreign referees because he's so much better than anything we have. But then he came to the championship and got promotion to the Premier League.

Speaker 1 And it would be fair to say he has made some extremely controversial decisions, got things wrong. He's also got a lot right.
I don't want to get stuck into him.

Speaker 1 He got this one right, but he's been a controversial video assistant. He's been a controversial ref.

Speaker 1 And I think proved positive that the grass is not always greener down under or on the other side or or wherever you like. You know, foreign referees are also fallible.

Speaker 4 I think he's pretty good as it goes.

Speaker 4 That's my complete Australian.

Speaker 1 Australia.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 Rob says, will this be the funniest season for Arsenal to finish second? Three points clear at the top. Another game this season where we say something like they wouldn't have won this last year.

Speaker 4 Fulham were good.

Speaker 4 They had chances. But said, it's another clean sheet.
It's another win for Arsenal. Their best start to a season defensively in their history.
Three goals conceded in 11 games, which is incredible.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I mean, I was going to say death by a thousand corners, but actually,

Speaker 5 Arteta made a really good point after the game. The way Arsenal play, they force so many set pieces.
They had quite a few poor corners during that match.

Speaker 5 Some of the deliveries, they were trying to mix things up, trying different things.

Speaker 5 I'd also heard somewhere, needs to be checked, that this season of players who have had more than three long throws in a match, Durian Timber has had the longest throw, right?

Speaker 1 But we haven't really seen Arsenal make use of that, for example.

Speaker 5 But they produce so many set pieces because of the way they play. They force teams back.
They even did it to Manchester City.

Speaker 5 They have a structure which really unnerves the opposition, which makes them think we can't engage them.

Speaker 5 I think in previous seasons they've had trouble against what people might say as a mid-block or a team that would be slightly higher up. They don't have that problem anymore.

Speaker 5 Their main issue is maybe trying to break down low blocks now, but

Speaker 5 because of players like Califiore, just watching him him during a match is fascinating. I mean, he is an incredible athlete, and he gets himself in positions players shouldn't be.

Speaker 5 There was a disallowed goal in this that would have been up there for one of the goals of the season.

Speaker 4 It was so good.

Speaker 5 Glorious moment, but you felt, I know he's offside. I don't know if I would have given it the big and at the time because I just felt he was offside.
And they had chances.

Speaker 5 Yokris had a couple of chances that he probably would have wanted to do better with.

Speaker 5 And Fulham didn't have a shot on target, even though they got themselves into areas.

Speaker 5 I'm getting a lot of feeling from Arsenal of Chelsea 04-05,

Speaker 5 seeing a lot of those teams.

Speaker 4 Sorry, for me and Barry, did Chelsea win the league in 04-05? I can possibly remember.

Speaker 5 In 04-05, Mourinho's first season, Chelsea conceded hardly any goals. They were really difficult to get through.
They nicked a lot of games 1-0.

Speaker 5 Their only defeat that season was a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City, which I think ironically an Elker scored in.

Speaker 5 When you come up against teams like that, it is tough because sometimes just one goal will do it. Now, Arsenal's main issue is,

Speaker 5 I still think in attacking areas and whether they create enough chances to put games out of sight.

Speaker 1 But as a base,

Speaker 5 they're in the strongest position they've been in for, well, you can say for 20 years, if I've got my maths right.

Speaker 4 Yeah, seventh goal from a corner this season. Gabrielle is so good.
I mean, in both boxes, isn't he? And also, Barry, they deserve some praise for how their new signings have integrated pretty well.

Speaker 4 You know, we look at Liverpool and we're saying it's hard for them. It's a new team.

Speaker 4 Whereas Arsenals, and they haven't changed as much, obviously, but they've just brought in an extra person here and there who look really good.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 4 you've got to have so much hope. I mean, I reckon it'd be panicked hope if you're an Arsenal fan.

Speaker 1 I think I'd be quite calm at the moment. I mean, there's so many things that could go wrong for them, and there's such a long way to go.

Speaker 1 When you've got that defensive base and you're not conceding goals, that's such a great foundation to have.

Speaker 1 So just scoring one is enough and Fulham gave them plenty to think about on Saturday evening, but they got the job done.

Speaker 1 Seb often talks about, you know, teams who want to stay up winning those three o'clock games on a Saturday that aren't on TV. They're the important ones.

Speaker 1 This was like one of those games, except it wasn't at three o'clock. It wasn't on TV.

Speaker 1 And Arsenal aren't trying to avoid a relegation. They're trying to win the league.
But it's a similar kind of thing. Just minimum of fuss,

Speaker 1 job done, and what's next for us. Most Arsenal fans of my acquaintance are not losing the run of themselves.
They're not getting too excited. But I think they are quietly...
confident.

Speaker 1 But they're bound to have a blip at some stage and arsenal. They may arsenal things up.
Who knows? They may.

Speaker 4 And Man City may capitalize, I guess.

Speaker 4 For the third season in his career, Erling Haaland has reached double figures in eight Premier League games, 11 in the league already, 23 for club and country this season.

Speaker 4 He scored twice against Everton. And what was interesting actually said, I don't know if you saw this, Mike Original match of the day kind of broke down defensively how Everton defended both goals.

Speaker 4 And he basically said they defended both goals absolutely perfectly.

Speaker 1 it's just early it's just early in Harland's really good I mean I would say absolutely perfectly because the end result but yeah I agree I

Speaker 5 feel like it's time to stop being shy about this I genuinely don't think there's been a striker like him that I can think of because he is one of those players where I look around I don't really see a weakness in him and the weak things that have been applied to him as weaknesses are actually more about the way Manchester City play.

Speaker 5 I've seen his link-up play.

Speaker 1 I think it's top class sometimes.

Speaker 5 He can actually run with the ball. He can dribble past players.
We don't get to see that too much, but I've seen him do it. He's amazing in the air.
He's so quick.

Speaker 5 His mentality is... You know, to tell another manager to stay humble, I think, is a level of mentality and arrogance and confidence in how you feel everything's going.

Speaker 5 When he was asked about how he was going to do when he arrived in the Premier League, he just said, well, I had confidence about that I was going to score the goals.

Speaker 5 He hit the ground running as a signing. Even though he was seen as a hot prospect still,

Speaker 5 he just took to the Premier League like it was nothing. He was bullying defenders.
He can deal with the physical side. I would like somebody to give me somebody who is similar to him.

Speaker 1 And don't say Matetta.

Speaker 5 And he's racked up enough seasons now to start to have this hyperbole because I think a lot's going to depend on, obviously, if he stays in Manchester City, what their future is regards to the charges, whenever that happens.

Speaker 5 If he stays in Manchester City and he's able to be there for a long time, I have absolutely no doubt he'll break Shearer's record. I just think we've never seen a striker like this in profile.

Speaker 5 Where his career ends up, let's see, in terms of number of goals and if he has an injury.

Speaker 1 But I can't think of anybody.

Speaker 5 I mean, help me out.

Speaker 1 I would compare him to Mateta insofar as he scored two goals here and should have got several more. Jordan Pickford

Speaker 1 sort of put a stop to his gallop, denied him at least two more, if not three.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I mean, he does, but they're also, like, aesthetically, he looks different. You know, he is, you know, like when he leaps for a header, you know, it does look like a comic.

Speaker 4 You know, it's like there's something quite incredible about him.

Speaker 4 Despurs, Villa, Villa 1-2-1. A game, John, where either side could have won this.
And it was settled by two brilliant Villa goals.

Speaker 4 You know, Thomas Frank afterwards was like, well, you know, I'd have said, yeah, go and have a shot. That's fine.
They were only shots on target. And the second goal.

Speaker 4 It's like one touch from Cash is beautiful. Two touches from Dinha are perfect.
And then three from Wendia. And it's in the net.
It's an amazing goal.

Speaker 6 Yeah, I mean,

Speaker 6 you would say on another day that pass of the weekend was Bruno Fernandez's, but Maticas's is out of the absolute, you know,

Speaker 6 if that's on a highlights reel of Zinodin Z Dan, you'd say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what that guy does. I mean, it was absolutely insane quality.
And Wendia, you know, showed his

Speaker 6 real quality. Yeah, Villa, Crisis Club Villa, I think one of the last times I was on his pod, it was, oh, it's all going wrong.
Dan was like, oh, you know,

Speaker 6 what if you know leaves, you know, and all this type of thing. And

Speaker 6 they have always had,

Speaker 6 despite

Speaker 6 some complaints from their fans about not being able to recruit, they've always had a good squad. They've always had a good manager.
They just needed to reset themselves a little bit.

Speaker 6 With Tottenham, it's an interesting question. It's one that I've seen raised a few places about how the Tottenham Stadium is too nice a place to play.

Speaker 6 And I believe this was raised at the press conference on Friday and Thomas Frank dealt with it in his usual diplomatic way is that it's nice when you go there and the opposition are like, oh, the dressing room's nice.

Speaker 6 And

Speaker 6 it is not the atmosphere of the ground because everyone's just too comfortable there. And it's, it's, you know,

Speaker 6 I went there the other week to Tottenham, Doncaster, went with some friends from up north and just did the

Speaker 6 whole fan thing because, you know, we sometimes do actually pay to go to football. Yeah, it was too nice.
You could sit and have a beer and a bagel, you know, and all this.

Speaker 6 And it was like, yeah, and it's not like Heart Lane, which used to have, when that went off, you know, was absolutely, you know, the crowd would get right on the opposition.

Speaker 6 Are these new stadiums, do they provide the colour that the Premier League sort of thrives off really? I'm not sure.

Speaker 4 How do you change it? I mean, what do you do? I mean, just sort of leave a dirty protest in the away dressing room. Like, how do we, you know, go fool John Beck and like make it boiling hot in winter?

Speaker 6 Like, how do they do the crazy gang thing where you've just got like this ghetto blast of pumping out? You know, um, yeah, that's an interesting thing. Yeah, uh, I'm not sure the dirty protest would.

Speaker 4 I mean, you just need to win five in a row at home, don't you? That's what you need to do and make it a fortune.

Speaker 6 Yeah, yeah, you do. And also,

Speaker 6 let's be fair to Tottenham in that they are missing something in the connection between the front players and midfield.

Speaker 6 It's Zavi Simmons, it's not quite working out just yet. They are missing James Madison who will miss him for most of the season.
They're missing Gulazevsky.

Speaker 6 Maybe when those players return or Kulazewski, whose return is mysterious, the Spurs might have a bit more of a spark, but they're a little bit boring to watch, but

Speaker 6 it could have gone to either team. Let's be fair about that.

Speaker 4 Yeah, a Morgan Rogers goal because Wendy has because I think about the thing about the Matty Cash pass is, you know, we spend so much time analysing football matches and we sort of forget, we don't talk about just the art of kicking a football.

Speaker 4 And, you know, Matty Cash,

Speaker 4 I mean, he's a perfectly decent Premier League right back, right? But like, if he can kick the ball that well, like these guys can really kick the ball well. It sounds like such a dumb,

Speaker 4 obvious bit of analysis, but God, they're good at kicking this. Like, and like, we should praise them.

Speaker 1 We've all kicked a ball.

Speaker 4 We've all tried to kick a ball with your laces like that. And that is something else, the way he's done that.
So well done, all these players for being good at kicking the ball.

Speaker 4 Now on Thursday, Aston Villa said the city's safety advisory group decided that fans of Maccabee Tel Aviv should not be permitted to attend the Europa League fixture on the 6th of November over safety concerns.

Speaker 4 West Midlands Police said it had classified the fixture as high risk based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including quote, violent clashes and hate crime offences between Ajax and Maccabee fans before a game in Amsterdam in November 2024.

Speaker 4 More than 60 people were arrested over the violence, which city officials described as a toxic combination of anti-semitism, hooliganism and anger. 10 of those arrests were Maccabee fans.

Speaker 4 The government has then since said they're doing everything in our power, not Football Weekly's powers, in the government's power, to overturn the ban.

Speaker 4 No one should be stopped from watching a football game simply because of who they are, a government spokesperson said.

Speaker 4 In a statement on their website, Villa said the club are in continuous dialogue with Maccabee Tel Aviv and the local authorities throughout this ongoing process with the safety of supporters attending the match and the safety of local residents at the forefront of any decision.

Speaker 4 It's become a political mess. Politicians on both sides of the debate, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition,

Speaker 4 both saying that Maccabee fans should go.

Speaker 4 From what I've read, and I've read a lot, my understanding, Barry, is that this isn't a debate about Israel's actions in Gaza. That is a separate one.

Speaker 4 And a debate about whether Maccabee or any other side from Israel club team should be playing in European competitions or the national team should be playing is a different debate.

Speaker 4 So then the debate should be: should Maccabee fans be allowed because of the hooligan element within their supporter base? That has nothing to do with their ethnicity.

Speaker 4 Fans are regularly banned from attending matches. So, do the actions of Maccabee fans in previous games warrant being banned from going to Villa?

Speaker 4 That seems to be the question to which I don't have the answer.

Speaker 1 I suppose you could argue that West Midlands Police could do more to facilitate these travelling fans than and make more of an effort rather than just decide to ban them.

Speaker 1 But they are working, as you say, on information they've got from Interpol about the past actions of these fans.

Speaker 1 What the problem, it seems to be, is the way it's been framed in the House of Commons by the Prime Minister, by the Leader of the Opposition, by Robert Jenrick, who came up with this recollection of his days going to the away end at Villa with his dad during the 80s, a time that was really toxic and unpleasant in English football.

Speaker 1 And he portrayed this racism and hooliganism of that time as, you know, just banter between chums. So that's nonsense.

Speaker 1 But Labour and the Tories have framed this as if the police are stopping Maccabee Tel Aviv fans from coming because they can't ensure their safety. That's extremely disingenuous.

Speaker 1 And it's difficult to imagine these people would have got involved at all if the team in question was just to pluck a random couple of teams out of thin air

Speaker 1 Fiorentina or Leisure Warsaw or whoever. It's purely because they come from Israel.
And they also said that banning a set of fans from attending a football match would set a dangerous precedent.

Speaker 1 But it wouldn't because it happens all the time.

Speaker 1 Hooligans. from European clubs are often banned from traveling.
And I don't see the harm in it.

Speaker 4 I Hello, we should point out there are others who agree with the government and the opposition's take that this is some form of discrimination.

Speaker 4 Barney Ronnie wrote a piece at the weekend disagreeing with the decision to ban at Maccabee Television Fans. You can find that on the Guardian website, and that'll do for part two.

Speaker 4 Part three, we'll begin at the Stadium of Light.

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Speaker 4 Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Sunderland 2 Wolves 0.
You were worried ahead of this game, Barry. Sunderland had quite a few injuries.
Nothing to worry about.

Speaker 4 Seventh after eight games, ten points from four home games.

Speaker 4 Some good football, a funny own goal, everything you want.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was quite a comfortable win for Sunderland in the end.

Speaker 1 I was worried because of a mounting injury mini crisis, but the players I was worried about were able to play in this game, so that was okay. One of them,

Speaker 1 Mukiele,

Speaker 1 scored an excellent goal, and Wolves did threaten to get back in the game. They had a few good chances.

Speaker 1 How Gomez, in particular, missed one,

Speaker 1 and Robin Roos made a good save from Manetsi. Sunderland finished the game

Speaker 1 panic-free because of the comedy-owned goal from Vladislav Kretsy, who diverted a hopeful cross past his own, hopefully wrong-footed goalkeeper.

Speaker 1 Worrying times for Wolves. I think

Speaker 1 is it Burnley they have next?

Speaker 4 Yeah, they play Burnley next in the league.

Speaker 5 Yeah, what time is that game?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 4 That can't be

Speaker 1 three o'clock on a Saturday about it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we're really getting into must-win territory for Wolves now, but this was another very impressive win for Sunderland in a game I thought they would possibly struggle in.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 what a job Regis LeBrie is doing up on Weirside.

Speaker 1 He doesn't seem to get the same amount of plaudits as

Speaker 1 Oliver Glasner and Andy Irol or even Fabian Herzler, but I think he's

Speaker 1 getting there. He will be soon.

Speaker 4 2 p.m. Sunday, by the way, which in many ways is the new 3 p.m.
Saturday.

Speaker 5 Oh, no. Am I doing that game?

Speaker 4 I don't have your your diary, Dev.

Speaker 4 John, you were at the Amex for Brighton 2, Newcastle 1.

Speaker 4 You got to experience the fun flicks of big old Voltamada and the eternal Danny Welbeck. Yeah.
Who is like from Cocoon? He's in Cocoon, isn't he? That's what he is.

Speaker 6 He is a much better player than he was as a 22-year-old that I used to watch at Old Trafford, who was prone to missing chances and could be quite frustrating.

Speaker 6 But he's one of football's good guys, isn't he? He's a really nice chap. Cast aside, I think his contract ran down at Watford, taken on by Brighton five years later.

Speaker 6 He is, I mean, this is it with Brighton. When you actually look at how young the rest of the players are in the team, apart from James Milner, of course, and Lewis Dunk, you've got this.

Speaker 6 They had the midfielder, Ballaba and Ayari, are playing against the Newcastle midfield, which is generally agreed is among the best, if not the best, in the Premier League when it when on song.

Speaker 6 Ballabra and Ayari took them apart, really. I mean, really, really good players.
But they get tired.

Speaker 6 And then it's like you've got the old guard holding the team together, Dunk at the back. And then Dunk and Voltimardo was a good clash.

Speaker 6 You know, Voltimard is great to watch.

Speaker 6 Go and watch him if you can. He's superb.
Such skills. And, you know, he just really lifts the fans.
He's great to watch. And then Danny Welbeck,

Speaker 6 that first goal, it's a beauty, isn't it? You know, just like

Speaker 6 people describe it as a dink. My match report described it as a dab.
He just sort of pokes at it, and it sort of.

Speaker 6 And then the second finish, you know, ball.

Speaker 6 It's a little unlucky because Dan Byrne puts in a fine tackle. He strokes it at home.
Words actually for another young player, Mintate, who actually was a Newcastle player.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it was a PSR sale, wasn't he?

Speaker 6 Yeah, he is so quick, so quick. And Dan Byrne had a pretty bad afternoon against him.
And yeah, you actually look at those PSR sales. Elliot Anderson, England regular.

Speaker 6 Minte is Brighton's, you know, they don't miss Mitoma when he's in the team because he is that outball. Brighton are great to watch.
They can be a little fragile because of the youth in the team.

Speaker 6 That's what will happen when you gamble so much, or not gamble, you play so much faith in young players.

Speaker 6 But they're another of those teams where it's warp speed stuff and at the end of the game, there's always too much stuff happening for someone in my profession.

Speaker 4 Yeah, just say, slow down, Minter. Yeah, the ball from Ayari to Viffa in the lead up to the Wellbeck goal is such a brilliant pass.

Speaker 4 And Brighton have already beaten Newcastle, Chelsea, and City this season, drawn with Spurs. So, you know,

Speaker 4 they have overcome a pretty tricky start to the season.

Speaker 6 Their only wins were over Champions League opposition, which shows you the ceiling that they've got and then the sort of selection. You know, it's interesting.

Speaker 6 He is an interesting manager.

Speaker 6 It's difficult to know where

Speaker 6 his ceiling is.

Speaker 4 Burnley, two leads, nil. I mean, the cross from Karl Walker of the first goal is great, but the second goal, Barry, is such a joy, isn't it?

Speaker 1 It's one of those goals where a player gets the ball in a pocket of space outside the penalty area, doesn't really know what to do next because he doesn't really have any options, and then decides, oh, I might as well just whack it, see what happens.

Speaker 1 And this is what happened to Loom Truma, truma player i must confess i wasn't too familiar with he wasn't closed down by the leeds defenders uh and had a look around well it's not not really much open on for me here and then just pinged a rocket into the top corner let's have that carl darlo and uh a wonderful goal um i said to you yesterday max In January, this game at Turf Moore Burnley Leeds in the championship was the worst game of football I have ever seen

Speaker 4 by some distance and this one was way better but it was still last on match of the day so make of that what you will but Leeds should have done better here they had way more shots way more touches in the opposition box all the stats were in their favour except the only stat that matters and they missed just missed too many chances uh nicholas says i listened to the premier league preview from last week i'm a burnley fan excited from some searing insight on the battle at the bottom we got the managers names rhyme you then had the audacity to call part three any other business god knows what that must be about um someone texted matt mcnelly got in touch to say mcgleash versus dal gleash in 2012 which isn't bad someone did text me on talk sport to say guardiola versus irayola love the fact that we missed that but did get steve tilson versus danny wilson in league one in 2009 uh we'll cover west hand brentford on wednesday's part after the champions league uh whilst recording sean dice has reached a verbal agreement.

Speaker 1 It's my job, I'll take it.

Speaker 4 That's a verbal agreement

Speaker 4 to be Forest's boss.

Speaker 6 I'm due to what I'm going to go to the Bournemouth game at the weekend. I mean,

Speaker 6 it's Bournemouth Forest. It just feels like I spend a lot of time listening to Sean Deich.
And I thought those days were over, but I thought he was headed back to the championship, but no.

Speaker 5 No. Max,

Speaker 5 John mentioned earlier about sort of being confused as a commentator.

Speaker 5 I think the game I'm doing tonight has really got my brain working because you have Nuno, who's in charge doing his first home game as West Ham manager.

Speaker 5 He's taking on Brentford, who he already played this season for his only win. It was against Brentford under Nuno in the opening game, which was Brentford's opening game of the season.

Speaker 5 And sometimes these,

Speaker 1 I feel like I've been here before.

Speaker 5 I've seen these two managers on the touchline.

Speaker 1 It's a different team.

Speaker 5 But then Nuno's second game, he lost to West Ham. So he's already played West Ham as a a manager this season.
He's already played Brentford as a manager this season.

Speaker 5 And now tonight, I don't even know how to begin with this one. I think I've written it down.

Speaker 1 Well, you've confused me already. That's the point.

Speaker 4 It's a sort of, you know, we've had a busy weekend. You can have one eye on that.
I mean, you probably need to really find more than one.

Speaker 4 Since you're commentating, but it might be a one-eye job for me. Well done to Reyes Cleary of Barnsley, who scored from 60 yards in their two order with Bradford.
Brilliant. Brilliant goal.

Speaker 4 I mean, absolutely perfect. Jim says, is Barry Aware, the head of FIFA and the entire 1966 England World Cup squad have donated to his half-marathon fundraiser?

Speaker 4 Yes, Gianni Mfantino, £2.50 plus 63p gift aid. And the team of 66 have donated £19.66p.

Speaker 4 And this one says, Max Rushton, 22 hours ago. Hi, everyone.
Max here. Barry's here too.
I can't stop the VAR chat, but I can donate the minimum amount.

Speaker 4 Annoyingly, it's much more than I was hoping to give. £2 plus 50p.
I'm yet to officially give you a donation.

Speaker 1 At one point on Saturday, Max, I was the leading fundraiser for next year's London Landmarks Half Marathon, and I have our listeners to thank for that. So

Speaker 1 it's a huge amount of pressure I'm under now. I went running on Saturday.
It was horrific.

Speaker 1 But thank you, everyone. I'm genuinely...
uh in awe of your generosity barry glendening just giving uh by the way i forgot to mention that a great ornament street uh children's Charity,

Speaker 1 very worthy cause.

Speaker 4 We didn't have time to get into the fact that in the WhatsApp group, John Bruin admitted he had never seen Jurassic Park.

Speaker 1 I mean, one of the stone cold classes

Speaker 4 of a generation.

Speaker 6 How old was I at the time? I was probably 17 or 18 when that came out. I mean, come on.

Speaker 1 I have a friend who's never seen Back to the Future.

Speaker 6 I saw that. Yeah, I've never seen Back to the Future

Speaker 6 two or three.

Speaker 1 Oh, they're very good.

Speaker 4 Oh, they're all well. Three struggles a little, but two is an absolute classic.
There is no time for this, Sebastian.

Speaker 1 What do you mean?

Speaker 4 It was a time of this is the this is the gold people like it was a time of reservoir dogs and bad lieutenant and all that wasn't it it was just just uh just just fade them down that'll do

Speaker 1 coventry played well coventry do well

Speaker 4 yeah we have no no time for any of this thanks barry thank you thank you sev thank you cheers john cheers football weekly is produced by joe grove our executive producer is danielle stevens we'll be back on wednesday

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.

Speaker 1 Hi folks, it's Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman.

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