And welcome back to the PD Football Podcast.
My name is Presh. My name is Darren. And how
are you doing today? Okay, I'm tired. I mean,
I guess we say that every time, but I'm good.
I'm feeling good today. We should mention when
we're not tired. Yeah, I mean, you said you've
been feeling a bit sick. How are you now? Recovering.
That's good, that's good. My voice isn't the
best, so I do apologize to the listeners for...
some raspy noises, but it is what it is. What's
been up? I mean, you're the movie guy. What have
you been watching recently? Interestingly, absolutely
nothing. Just been busy with work, like I mentioned,
but yeah, just going on walks. Oh, nice, nice.
Getting active. Well, not really, because I was
sick, so I didn't want to like... overexert myself
so just a nice little walk down the road that's
for some sunlight yeah that was it uh and yourself
uh how are you doing yeah i'm okay i'm uh i'm
feeling good uh in terms of outside of work fatigue
but yeah other than that i'm good i had uh just
had a busy week at work i've been out a couple
times this week had some friends come visit so
pretty good very interesting all right so let's
start with west ham one man united one And the
game may have ended in a draw, but you know who
won? The hair guy. His little scam is going to
go on for another couple of months at least.
People keep telling me that it's for charity,
but I actually looked into it. He has a link
for other people to donate. He hasn't donated
any money himself, but he plans to donate the
hair to charity, right? all the money he's making
from selling t -shirts doing cameos and accepting
gambling sponsorships is going straight to his
pocket he is fundraising off man united's misery
that's why i keep saying he's not a proper fan
he's just an attention seeker yeah once it gets
better he's gone or i guess he's hoping for the
downfall of the club for his own personal benefit
well he just wants him to win four in a row stop
four in a row stop uh you know I mean, that's
how he's going to keep his little scam going.
And then, you know, Paddy Power doesn't advert
with him, you know, 10 years down the road from
now. That's how I also feel about AFTV. I feel
like they really just... Since the start, they
were always like hoping like... Are they like
a leech on the Arsenal fan base, would you say?
Yeah, I would say that they kind of hope for
the worst. A lot of social media people though,
not to... Criticized because we're in the same
space now, but I'm saying like a lot of personalities
were specifically rage baiting I guess That's
the angle. Well, we need to I don't know if certain
people are age bashing I really think certain
people have like really just awful opinions and
it's not them trying to rage bait. It's just
they're just that dumb Yeah, I mean either way
I think what I mean by rage baiting is they're
hoping for moments that they can clip. Hmm to
social media, which is kind of, a lot of times
you're hoping your team doesn't do well, which
doesn't make sense. It doesn't sit right with
me either. At current moment, it's happening
in the Liverpool fan base because some people
want slot out. And for slot to be out, he needs
to lose games. So they, you know, want us to
lose games to get him out. Yeah, I mean, that's
what, I can't understand the feeling. I can't
say I understand the feeling, but I understand
the feeling of like, oh, if you've lost hope
in a manager. Anyway, so United were unchanged
from their win against Spurs, right? I don't
have anything to mention in terms of that. As
for West Ham, they had Potts, who was a CDM,
come in for Callum Wilson, who was a striker.
Well, he was playing as a second striker, and
this pushed Mateus Fernandes from the 8 to the
10, right? Yeah. In terms of structure... West
Ham defended in a low block to frustrate United,
and we've been predicting for weeks that the
real challenge for Carrick won't be an Arsenal
or a Man City. It would be a team like this who
sit deep. And given that, what do you think?
If you would give him a rating, A, B, C, D, E?
I'd still put him in the it's hard to say bracket.
You don't really know. I can't say that I watched
enough of him at Middlesbrough to say that. I've
seen his coaching on a week -to -week basis.
It's really hard to say. Anyone who wins four,
he's undefeated in five games. You could say
he failed the first test that was outside of
a team that attacked him and gave him space.
There's many angles to look at it. I think we're
in the dark about Carrick. would you want to
give the job to someone like that what's the
chance of a benefit you know last week not last
week earlier this week my cousin guest hosted
on the pod you weren't sure he said he would
he said he would give character the job which
uh again i told him in that episode that he was
being way too hasty but uh yeah i mean i guess
a lot of people are hoping that You know, they
could have a similar effect to Arteta in that
their teams become competitive with the rookie
manager. But I don't know. It depends which way
you want to look. Like, I think... Okay, I don't
think anyone was thinking about Arteta. I think
they just saw four wins and they thought, oh...
No, but I mean, I think a lot of the rookie managers
per se being given jobs... So you wouldn't think
about Guardiola? I don't but I think Guardiola
is like definitively recognized as the best like
I don't think anyone talks of like oh but he
came in without any CV yeah I mean at Barcelona
but I don't I don't like think that straight
after that people were employing rookie coaches
because I don't think like I think at that time
the people still the ceiling of that team was
so high people assumed it couldn't it couldn't
be reached I guess I guess uh given this I was
not impressed by United's pressing again I mentioned
this in the game versus Arsenal, but they looked
like a bunch of headless chickens just running
around. But I think pressing is... The one thing
I can empathize with Carrick on, I think, is
that pressing takes a while to coach. I don't
think you can coach an entire team to press in
a system in, like, one month or two months. All
right, but just the basics, right? You're supposed
to press as a team so that when the opposition
player makes a mistake, there are a couple of
players... who can take advantage of that situation.
If you're pressing with one man, they can easily
bypass that quote -unquote press by just passing
it around the man. You know what I'm saying?
I mean, I think it's also a squad that's been,
like, chopped and trained in terms of cultures
and ideologies in the last couple of seasons.
Like, from Ten Hag to MLM now, they're going
to Carrick. And is Carrick going to be permanent?
Solskjaer before that? I think, like, everyone
is... All four of those coaches have a different
approach to out -of -possession play. I don't
think there's any consistency. Okay, I understand
the point you're making, but these guys are professionals.
I'm talking about the players. The players are
professionals. You can't say, oh, I was brought
in for this one system. You have to adapt. No,
I'm talking more about Carrick. I think it's
so hard to say, to judge him, based off of players
that aren't his, the squad he hasn't assembled.
I just think that's ridiculous. No manager can
just pick, except for Arteta, pick the entirety
of the squad. Nobody's given that much time.
He hasn't been able to get rid of players that
he doesn't like either. I don't think it's fair
to say from a coaching perspective, at least
from how I understand coaching, that it wouldn't
be... I think he's still done well. Like four
out of five games, it's hard to criticize him
if he does get the job. I think Man United, what
do they have to lose? Is there a guarantee on
someone coming in and making them better immediately?
Or aren't they going to have to give anyone time?
Has Carrick done anything to get the job? No.
Has he done anything once he's had the job to
say that he shouldn't be given a chance? I don't
think so. Let me just say this stuff here and
then we'll get back to that, right? Another thing
I wasn't impressed with is United's build -up
structure. Without space to run into, they looked
like they were out of ideas. They created very
little as a team and they were relying on Bruno
Fernandes to do something amazing. But he himself
didn't look on it. So, you know, the rest of
the team had no ideas. Yeah, I mean, I guess
it just depends on the angle you're looking at
it. What do Man United want? I haven't watched...
all five games but i haven't seen them as being
like they've definitely been better than they
were so i wouldn't give him the job based on
like my personal preferences but we were saying
you know the arsenal mansoni game uh all they
have to do is sit deep attack on the counter
which is precisely what they did they uh you
know uh hit the ball to the channels the wingers
picked it up caught got in and they scored Yeah,
but I think even if they had hypothetically,
like the only way he was going to be able to
play the game and win any other way is if he
had a squad that could compete with those teams.
Yes, but I'm saying, I feel like you must see
my point. I'm trying to say that he has no other
plan if it's not pre -set out for him, right?
There's a specific way you know how to play against
Arsenal. You know how to play against Man City.
But breaking down a team that sits deep against
you, that requires ingenuity. That requires...
I get where you're coming from. I'm just saying
it's too early to judge whether he can do that.
I would point out that there's two games, both
Fulham and West Ham. And in both cases, they
got very lucky with the last kick of the game.
Cesco scored, which changed the look of the result.
Yeah, no, I get where you're coming from. I'm
just saying it's like hard to say. He's still
in the dark for me. Like my opinions on Michael
Carrick, I don't know. Like I wouldn't blame
them for giving him the job. It would be in line
with what's happening in football. But at the
same time, it's like, which way do they want
to go? How many managers are they going to have
to pay out of big money contracts? That's the
other thing. Maybe they're looking at like, okay,
do we give Carrick a chance? The same expectations.
If he gets us back into the Champions League,
can you not give him the job, is my question.
I think he would accept that. So would the fans,
but it just depends. I think you absolutely can.
Look, you did a good job, but you don't have
the qualities we need for the long run. So, sorry.
Bye. But by the general consensus, if he gets
in the top four, I think he's going to get the
job. Why do you keep saying general consensus?
You're the one who always says you don't care
about the general consensus. No, I don't care
about it. So if I'm the director of football
at Man United, why should I take... I said I
don't want him to get the job as a Man United
fan, if I was a Man United fan. I'm saying I
think he is going to get the job based off of
how football, in recent history, how many general
jobs. Because I think... Just results -based.
It's going to be results -based and the fact
of the fans peddling it on social media. That's
kind of what's happened many times in the past.
Whether it's right or not is a different question.
I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying I think
it's going to happen. I can only think of two
times it's worked, and that's Guardiola and Zidane.
Yeah, but it's happening a lot. So I think it's
not like necessarily former players. But I think
people are giving young coaches a try on their
first or second job, hoping that if they're inspired
by Guardiola, they'll be able to achieve something
similar. In terms of individual players, I was
really not impressed with Ahmad. Because he couldn't
take advantage of the 1v1 scenarios that he found
himself in. I mean, I've always thought he's
like a winger who thrives in space. He's never
really, like, if the spaces are closed, I don't
think he's the most effective. His passing range
is not the best either, in my opinion. So United's
best moments came from set pieces, although they
didn't take advantage of this. The only positive
thing I can say is that United take ethical set
pieces. They don't leave a player in front of
the keeper to block him off, like the technique
that Arsenal has pioneered, the unethical set
piece. Ethics are relative to everyone's... On
personal opinion. All right. In my opinion, it's
an unethical set piece. And I'm glad it wasn't.
I mean, excuse me. United are taking ethical
set pieces. So I wish they did score, but unfortunately
they didn't. I'm glad you find our set pieces
unethical. And I hope we keep continuing to score
from them. All right. For West Ham's goal, Duf
clears the ball. Luke Shaw lets the ball bounce,
which allows Jared Bowen in, who takes it wide.
No United player goes to meet him. I believe
it should have been Martinez who should have.
You know, he was the closest person to the thing.
Bowen then squares it to Suchek who scores. So
it was only one ball over the top to undo United's
whole defence. Yeah, I mean, bad defending, sloppy
defending. They switched off. West Ham took advantage
of it. Really, nothing more to say. I don't think
it was anything spectacular. Anything that stood
out particularly except the defending, which
I think you've already mentioned. So then United's
goal comes because you can't absorb pressure
the whole game. West Ham just finally lost concentration
after 90 minutes of defending. It was a good
finish by Seska. I don't know if he meant it.
It was a very unorthodox finish, but nevertheless,
a goal is a goal and they gained a point. Whatever
his name is gets to grow his hair. Okay, let's
move on to Sunderland versus Liverpool. Sunderland
0, Liverpool 1. So Sunderland made one change
from their game against Arsenal. The left wing,
N 'Golo, came in for Talby. It's unclear to me
why this happened. I don't watch enough of Sunderland
to know if this was tactical or he's just giving
the new signing a run out. Nevertheless, they
defended in a mid -block and worked extremely
hard to press us and not give us time on the
ball. But as the game went on, they couldn't
maintain the level of pressure because obviously
after time you get tired. So Liverpool swapped
the full -backs. So Sabotsai went out due to
a red card and Kirk has to managing his minutes.
In came Endo, who I must say is a defensive midfielder
playing a right -back. after however many people
got injured. Robertson had left back. One thing
I want to point out is that Calvin Ramsey still
can't get a game. Yeah, you were telling me about
him the other day. So earlier, like the previous
episode we did this week, I made a mistake. I
said Ramsey left on loan. That's not the case
because I just saw him on the bench and I was
like, oh. He's still here. Yeah. So Slott said.
Quote, in general, if you don't win a game, the
players who aren't playing become the best players
in the squad. That's the same everywhere in the
world. This is an example of that as well. I
just want to protect all my players. I've chosen
other players until now. That's also what I'm
going to do tomorrow. And truly, it's a disgrace
how Calvin Ramsey's been treated. Because what's
the point of having him here if he's just going
to be... Outcasted. Literally, he's an outcast,
bruh. he's paya khan i'm not sure i'm not sure
what's happened there but uh i mean hopefully
he finds a new club or something soon if that
he deserves it because it's like just the way
stock has been treating him it's it's uh truly
uh i'm not happy yeah i didn't even know this
guy was i didn't even know he really existed
until you told me about it and i you know i said
you he signed about four or five years ago 2022
i was right four years ago please that's crazy
okay Yeah, in the January window as well. So
it's literally... So it goes back to the Klopp
days. Yeah. And, yeah, Klopp didn't give him
a chance either. Maybe he's just very bad in
training. Yeah, but if he's bad, sell him. Loan
him out. Do something. Just... How can you treat
him like this? He's 22 years old. I wonder why
they signed him then. Because we needed a backup
to train. But did they sign him without watching
him? Or did they... I... To my knowledge, he
was good in the Scottish League. Oh, okay. Which,
you know, you don't know how that translates
to the English. To the Premier League, yeah.
Yeah, obviously. So, yeah. The person I was very
impressed by is Mukieli. Once again, a few weeks
ago, I said I really wanted him at Liverpool.
Again, he put in some excellent crosses and he
was defensively resolute this game. So, tip my
cap to him. Hopefully, for you guys, maybe you
guys do end up signing him. He's a right back
that can also play center back so very useful
right Salah and Gakpo passengers as usual Get
the ball immediately lose the ball Don't do anything
with the ball when you're taking a shot You're
so slow at setting up the shot that two or three
defenders get in front of you to block the shot
Can't take on a man so I'm not sure maybe slot
is This is the season he finally gets rid of
them in the off -season, hopefully. Yeah, we
need to get rid of them. But Slot also has to
go. Just his comments, the way he's operating.
The way he's carrying himself. It's just, again,
a disgrace. There's nothing else to say about
him. I mean, we'll see what the Liverpool board
thinks, ultimately. It's them who decide. I just
kept wondering, okay, the only positive that
I can find... about Gakpo is that he's tall.
We spoke about this, right? He offers aerial
threat. Yes. So if he's tall, Ekotike is tall,
we should be crossing in from our right to make
use of those two guys, right? Yeah. Endo at right
back didn't cross. Salah cannot cross from unless
he does a traveller. We're missing a lot without
like Frimpong or maybe even Sabotslai. loading
across from uh yeah the delivery right yes we're
losing so much because that that's a great avenue
towards goals yeah i mean especially with the
with i guess the consistency of those those guys
and winning headers especially akitika it makes
sense to just swing in as many crosses as maybe
not just like cross and hope but like I just
see so many situations where it's like, put in
the cross, you know, there's many in the area,
let's... I've noticed he makes runs a lot, but
then I guess you guys are a bit more like patient
with the ball sometimes. Patient, that's a...
Not in a... It depends how you perceive it, but
not in a good way, but... Patient means too slow.
Yeah. Basically. So, yeah. We ourselves... took
some unethical corners and in fact we scored
from an unethical corner so uh it's a nice shame
don't say nice it's a damn shame we should stop
that or never mind that like you said about arsenal
it's not your fault that nobody's stopping it
right yeah the the rule makers should step in
and make a rule that you can't block off the
keeper because that's uh you know this is very
unethical right But, okay, you know, like, as
I said, they pressed us early on, early doors,
and then later on they couldn't maintain the
press. About, I would say, around halftime, Wurtz
becomes much more influential in the game because
he's not, you know, so pressed. He has a little
bit more space to operate. So it's dictating
the tempo. Yes, he started dictating. Now, unfortunately,
it's not good enough. To have a few touches where
you look good and, like, you know, play a few
nice passes, that's cool. But we need line -breaking
passes. We need killer, you know, like... Killer
instinct. I mean, he missed a few chances he
should have scored. Yes, he missed two. But the
thing is, he generated those chances himself.
Yeah, exactly. So, you know, like, there's two
sides to that, those ones there. But I'm just
talking about his playmaking. He was brought
in as a playmaker. Right? He hasn't played make
to the level that I would like. I think he probably
is still developing in the sense of the physicality
of the league. Not that that's an excuse, but
I think with that type of player too, because
he's coming from achieving such a high level
of output, to do it in a consistent level in
the league with more physicality, I think it's
more case of him. He's still so young, so it's
not like... He's a player who's in his prime
or anywhere close to his prime. He still has
two or three years to go before he gets to his
prime. So it's like you can't blame a player
for their price tag. Maybe blame the club. They
got him at the wrong time, perhaps. But I don't
think the team should be centered around him
yet. He doesn't have necessarily the... He doesn't
take the responsibility the way someone like
maybe Eketike does. Even if he misses his chances,
he still has the confidence to keep playing.
So I think... It doesn't make sense to center
the team around him, but I understand why Slot
is kind of doing it and being patient with him,
even if there's other reasons you're critical
of Slot. I think specifically with Vert, I understand
the patience because you probably have one of
the best players in the world as soon as he hits
that physical level. But for now, I'm comparing
him, and this is a bad comparison. Not bad as
in it's an unfair comparison. I'm saying... The
comparison is good, but it's bad that you're
being compared to Morgan Gibbs -White. He's another
guy I feel like... I like Gibbs -White, but...
I know you like Gibbs -White, but I'm saying
I don't rate him at all. Yeah, you've told me.
He looks busy without actually doing anything.
I disagree, but yeah, that's a different debate.
Wurtz is doing something similar. Wurtz is looking
busy without actually... impacting the game in,
you know, tangible ways and that's very frustrating
to me. I think as a neutral, I don't know, like
I can observe it and be a bit more patient with
Wurz. I didn't watch too many games of him at
Leverkusen, but I did watch like enough to say
that the way he's able to dictate play, there's
very few players in the world who can do it.
So I don't think it makes sense to necessarily
try go out and say that okay you should reduce
his minutes because we've seen those sorts of
players you kind of need to let them develop
with their flaws I mean Jose Mourinho thought
KDB wasn't good enough shipped him out within
two seasons of playing consistently he made a
lot of mistakes at Wolfsburg but his output was
always high I don't think he was ready yet but
then when he hit his prime years and came back
to Man City he was the best player in the league
I don't think It's hard to say if anyone's going
to be on KDB's level, but I think Virts has that
same ability to affect and control games, to
just making something out of nothing. It's more
about how you platform him. Okay, I thought Endo
was pretty good. I don't rate Endo as a player.
I think he's a shin kicker. He just goes and,
you know, late tackles. He's there for the vibes.
There too. This is the problem. He's become a
meme within the Liverpool fan base. So anytime
you speak negatively about him, they're not talking
about on -pitch performance. They think about
all the memes and stuff and how much fun they're
having with the memes. Listen, he's not a good
player, but he had a good game last night at
right back. That's all I can say. Unfortunately,
he got injured very badly. I don't know what
happened. It's one of those that, like, I'm not
an expert at injury, so I can't say, like, oh,
this happened or whatever, but it looked really
bad. He had to get stretched off, so. Hope he's
okay. Yeah. Speedy recovery. Somebody posted
this in the Lowepool subreddit this morning about
squad shooting, meaning we have the most amount
of shots on target, but our percentage of goals
from that is very low. So one of the reasons,
I assume, is we're taking a lot of long shots.
Probably, yeah. I mean, a lot of the times that
arises when people are facing consistent low
blocks, a player's in desperation, the answer
is to just hammer in long shots. I would say
if you can't break down a low block, then you
just shoot. But teams who can break down a low
block, they don't just willy -nilly shoot. Yeah.
All the time. Yeah, you guys have the capability.
It's probably just a thing of immaturity. Like
I said, desperation. Players are just, okay,
let's take the shot. So there's that. The other
thing I want to bring up is a lot of our shots
get blocked. Yeah. And I have to look at Gakpo
and Salah because Gakpo takes ages and ages to
set up. So then they just become very predictable.
Yes, he's predictable before that. But if you
take a long to set up, obviously people are going
to... see okay you're aiming there let me put
my foot in the way of that yeah that's just common
sense it's it's very frustrating watching Gakpo
and Salah and to be fair Gakpo had a not a good
game but like a five out of ten game which is
like the best he's played in weeks so I don't
know what to say about this team at the moment
we won but from an unethical corner and we couldn't
break down Sunderland but that is That is one
of the most difficult grounds in the league,
though. Sure. But didn't Arsenal beat them 3
-0? Not at the same level, but didn't they beat
them 3 -0 the other day? Yeah, I mean, I understand
where you're coming from. I'm just saying that
home ground is a little bit different. Not that
I disagree with the things you said. I don't
think you guys were good enough. Alright. It
is one of the hardest games in the Premier League
this season, Sunderland away, for me. So those
are the only two we're going to go do like a
deep dive into. The rest of the games, we're
just going to kind of just talk through them
quickly. You know, if that's all right. So Spurs
won Newcastle 2. For Newcastle's first goal,
Malik Chow headers the ball at the keeper who
saves it. Chow then scores the rebound because
there's like three Spurs players all surrounding
him that were ball watching. It was very... If
you're a Spurs fan, you must be very frustrated
as well because I don't know what that was. That
was... They just watched it happen. Yeah, I mean...
Didn't do anything. It was like kind of... What
is it? Amateurish defending. That's the word
I was looking for. So for Spurs goal, a cross
comes from the corner. Pape Matassar wins the
initial header and sends it back into the area
where Archie Gray converts. I mean, good for
Autry Gray. I like Autry Gray. So I hope the
best for him on a personal level. You know, you
can say that Newcastle should have won the initial
header, but I thought there was very little that
they could have done to prevent that goal. Prevent
that goal, yeah. I mean, the ball just didn't
fall in the right place either, you know. So
then Newcastle scored the winner because Spurs'
defensive line wasn't straight. Gordon plays
it into the space. Dragoson should have been
occupying and Jacob Ramsey pokes the goal home.
So yeah, based on the highlights, it seems like
this was a fair result. Yeah, I mean... You also
watched the highlights. Yeah, based on the highlights,
it was a fair result. Based on Spurs fans' reaction,
it was a fair result. So in the wake of that,
Thomas Frank has been sacked. Yeah. Your thoughts?
I mean, it was coming. I guess we've been discussing
for like the past couple episodes when would
it happen. Well, off camera, we've been discussing
it for a long time. When exactly would be the
tipping point for the Tottenham board? I guess
at least the new board, if anything, seems to
be slightly more patient than Daniel Levy. But
whether it's... It can't be the wrong decision.
I mean, they're in a relegation battle for real
now. It's like West Ham's picked up form. What
is it? Three points off West Ham. So it was coming.
I think Thomas Frank, I'm disappointed from a
personal perspective because I thought he was
going to do well. Not disappointed, but surprised.
So I did think he was going to do well coming
into the job. But yeah, it's so you can blame
Spurs. I want to put my hands up and say I got
it massively wrong. I thought Thomas Frank would
be amazing at Spurs. I thought at least a top
four charge. And the way things have gone so
poorly. They beat PSG and they beat, I think,
Man City in the... What is it called? No, they
drew to Man City in the league. Oh, okay, yes.
But very on those two results, I thought, wow,
okay. Frank has something cooking. It's only
been a few weeks and he's got them. going you
know what can he do over the rest of the season
and uh turns out not much turns out he wasn't
going to be given the time but uh who knows maybe
he he's the type of coach that can turn a small
club into a decent into like a a european level
team but struggles to make the jump any further
but we'll see we'll see good luck to thomas frank
in his future endeavors though yeah definitely
chelsea 2 leads 2. So I watched the first half
of this match before I switched over to the United
game. Me too. Palmer was being extremely selfish
and Estavao had a horrible first half. Other
than that, it was all Chelsea and they were unlucky
to be only 1 -0 up. I only watched highlights
of the second half and Leeds gave away a silly
penalty. The defender literally just pushed Jau
Pedro over, which is the exact same thing that
happened last week. I don't think you weren't
here for that episode. Same thing happened. They
just pushed him. Fall over, penalty. Of course.
Maybe you could say, okay, it was like a little
bit soft, but yeah. That's the bottom line. Palmer
converts it, and I'm still seeing Chelsea shot
after shot, you know, threatening their goal.
Coming wave after wave of attack. Yes, and then
Caicedo gives away another silly penalty, or
he gives a silly penalty away too. Right? Nemecha
converts it. And then Leeds score what can only
be described as a messy goal. Not Lionel. But,
like, there was, like, things were just like
at sixes and sevens. Yeah, it was just, like,
one of the sloppiest goals you can imagine. Yeah,
but the real controversy comes in because there
was a handball in the build -up to the goal.
And the VAR didn't overturn it. They said it
was an accidental handball, which is something
I've never heard of in an attacking context before.
So in my opinion, Chelsea were robbed. Yeah,
I would agree with that. I saw the handball.
I don't know why they didn't... I don't know
what their classification is, but... Like, if
it's... Yeah, I just... I have no idea either.
It's a terrible decision, but I think the Premier
League, they really need to sort out the refereeing
problems for the best, like... funded league
in the world. They have poor referees and I think
controversies where when I've watched other leagues,
even a couple games in the French League or Champions
League, the VAR is a lot more efficient. It's
like they trust the VAR more and I think the
Premier League needs to adopt that, if anything.
Alright, any other things you want to say about
Chelsea? No, I mean just João Pedro looking good
again. How long does he keep it going? One of
my favorite players when he's playing like this.
So from a football fan perspective, I hope he
keeps it going. Everton won Bournemouth 2. So
Ray -Anne, Bournemouth's new signing, tried to
dribble out from the box. But the Everton player
got in front of him and Ray -Anne gave away a
penalty. So very silly, very naive. Yeah, Elliman
Ndiaye converts the penalty. And then all the
efforts were coming from Everton, but they just
couldn't convert. They weren't... clinical at
all they've been good for a little while now
Everton yeah but they had quite a few chances
I was really not shocked but like you would think
Bournemouth would have more chances than Everton
yeah given how they're playing yeah and in the
second half Ryan makes up for it by giving makes
up for giving the penalty away by scoring a towering
header from a true fair cross right then a well
-worked set -piece routine sees Kruppi junior
score uh later on in the game everton go down
to 10 men when jake o 'brien brings down adly
and gets a red card a straight red card yeah
i didn't watch this game so i'm just going off
of what you're saying but i've watched everton
recently everton have looked good so long may
long may it continue if you're everton fan i
guess for you you don't want everton they lost
this game oh no i mean in footballing terms okay
like i think they're playing really well like
you said they're creating chances i don't think
the loss should affect them too much i think
they're in a good place or they'll be okay then
nottingham forest zero wolves zero so all the
highlights were forest chances but none of them
were clear cut it was just long shots and set
piece situations and i mean this sounds like
a one of those games That being said, Sean Dyche
has been sacked. Sean Dyche has been sacked?
Yes, 1 o 'clock this morning. Damn, okay, I didn't
get that news yet. Thoughts? I mean... I guess
it's... Like, what do you do? I don't know. The
Nottingham Forest owner just seems to be a bit
trigger -happy with the... I don't think so.
No, I mean, I can understand it. The Forests
are three points ahead. clear off the relegation
zone. Only three points. That's very... Yeah,
no, I mean, I get the decision. I'm just saying
that it's hard to see what is the expectation
of Nottingham Forest. It's like, why did Nuno
get sacked in the first place? Apparently, Nuno
had a personal altercation with him. Oh, and
then it was unworkable after that. Yeah, so it
doesn't have anything to do with Nuno's football
or... There was just a personal problem between
the two of them. We'll see what happens. As far
as Sean Dyche is concerned, I like him as a personality.
He's one of those coaches. I don't really like
his football, but I enjoy having him in the league.
I hate his football. I think he's a championship
manager. I don't think he's good enough for the
Premier League. He's proven that multiple times.
He's been relegated multiple times. uh so yeah
yeah i just i like him as a person he's entertaining
that's pretty much all i have to say on that
okay aston villa one brighton zero back to winning
ways it came from a hintlewood own goal which
came from a corner late on but based on highlights
it was an even game maybe even slightly leaning
towards brighton so this isn't a fair result
but villa are very clinical Yeah, I mean, Villa
have probably been, in terms of the chances they've
created in relation to the points they have,
they've probably been the most efficient team
in the league. Well, again, we had this discussion
about XG, right? And a lot of people are saying
Villa are overperforming their XG. So at some
point, it's going to regress to the mean, which
I keep having to explain that that's not how
XG works, right? xg is an indicator of how clinical
you are so if you're over performing xg by like
five even more than that it means you're extremely
clinical that doesn't mean that at some point
you've got to stop being clinical but i guess
the interpretation of that would be based off
of they're taking a lot of like they aren't creating
a lot of chances they've had a high percentage
of like Low x3 goals. I don't think it's more
like a critique of them being clinical. They
are efficient I think it's more critique of how
long can you rely on? Because it's like at a
stage a lot of the goals that were scoring the
winning ones were specifically high I mean low
x3 goals. It's like is that a sustainable way
of playing for a title charge? I don't think
so. That's that's what I'm saying. What if you
like supremely talented at long range goals?
Yeah, I don't think it's sustainable though because
then if Morgan Rodgers gets injured hypothetically,
how do they fill that gap if the entire system
is based off creating gaps for him to shoot long?
Then they're going to drop off form because there's
no other person that can shoot like Morgan Rodgers
except Tielemans in that team. He was also injured.
Yeah, sure. I'm just pointing out that I just
don't think it's the criticism. aimed at Villa
for being clinical is not fair. It's not fair,
but at the same time, I mean, if you look at...
And their results have proven that they're, you
know, in the mix, you know, they're not falling
away. Yeah, but I mean, if you look at Arsenal
or Man City, I guess, like, it's more of that
their X -League is more in line with the chances
they've scored. So it would probably mean that,
what is it? I can actually just check now. Yeah,
you can double check that. But I'm pretty sure
it would be closer to their actually being in
line with the amount of chances they've created,
right? So Arsenal, this is for the season now,
25 games. Their XG is 50 .49. So they quote -unquote
should have scored roughly 50 goals. they've
scored 49. So they're slightly underperforming
XG. City, their XG is 51 .15 and they've scored
54. So they're slightly overperforming XG. Yeah,
so then that's what I was saying. It's like those
would include long range and a consistency of
like high quality chances that those players
would take anyway. Aston Villa are lacking the
angle where they're creating high quality chances,
which is the same. Which was the same with Unai
Emery at Arsenal. So I think however those chances
come, it's a thing I don't necessarily think
he's worked on or he's necessarily improved on.
Because even if you look at his severe teams,
for example, they would rely a lot on exceptional
goals. For example, that's why they could...
in moments where it relied on individual brilliance
or a player, they could win the Europa League.
A crazy amount of goals were scored from outside
the box, last -minute goals where players go
on a dribble. And if you compare it to where
he finished in the league, his consistency in
the league, I don't think he creates enough.
So I think you're right, it's an unfair critique.
But if people were critiquing the angle that
they're only creating... or scoring from a majority
of the high X lead chances and they're not creating
enough of like good goal scoring opportunities.
I think that critique is also valid. Fair enough.
But looking at the table, I think they've done
a good job. So, you know, it's been 25 games.
It's not like it's only like 5 to 10. Yeah, I'm
just saying it's very dependent like on Tillemans
and Rodgers. All right. Our next game is Crystal
Palace 2, Burnley 3. So for Palace's first goal,
Wharton lifts a gorgeous ball over the top, which
Strand -Larsen runs onto and finishes. New signing,
fitting in very well. Very well, yeah. I rate
Strand -Larsen. For their second goal, Jefferson
Lerma puts in a cross, and Strand -Larsen does
a glancing header to score. So two goals, I think
on debut. Yeah, good news. Good for Strand -Larsen.
Good for Crystal Palace. Then Hannibal scores
from a nice long range shot. It's not really
long range. It was just outside the box. But
yeah. Outside of the box score. Yes. This is
for Burnley. Now it's 2 -1 to Palace. But Burnley
just scored. Yes. Then Jadon Anthony beats the
keeper at the near side. Very cheeky shot. But
it worked out. Kudos. Kudos, yes. The third goal
was a Jefferson Lerma own goal from a corner,
which... Unfortunate. Very unfortunate, nothing
you can do about that. But all of these goals
happened in the first half. Second half, just
very boring. There's a lot of games like that.
Moving on to which, Man City 3, Fulham 0. I didn't
watch this game, but I did see the highlights
and my brother gave me the rundown. Man City
looked good again, as expected. I did expect
them to win this game comfortably though. So
like the Chelsea game, I watched the first half
of this before switching over to the Liverpool
game. And all the goals came in the first half.
Semenyo gets a lucky ricochet from across to
score the opener. Did you see that? Yeah, I did.
I saw the highlights. yes Semenyo doing fantastically
well to settle in yes like i said uh top signing
uh these chances that Harland is missing at the
moment due to like whatever you want to say like
low confidence or like uh whatever it may be
whatever it is Semenyo will come in and slot
those away and he has so far Yeah, I mean, it's
a good signing. Obviously, it was evident at
Bournemouth that he was that type of player.
Like you said, if I have any question marks around
him, it's still his ability to go past players
and progress the ball without the team doing
it for him. But he has one of the best teams
at doing it for him if Schurke's in there. So
right now, in attack, Mancet, you're looking
very good. Everything's clicking. Then we have
some great interplay on the counter, and O 'Reilly
doubles the lead. promise a menu uh what's it
through ball yeah i mean nicole riley also i
like him a lot like one of probably the most
adaptable players in the league in the sense
of he can be a top level player in almost any
position across the midfield or back line so
i was going to say he played in midfield which
is a little bit unorthodox but apparently he
was a revelation. I heard he played quite a bit
in midfield in the under -21s, so I think he's...
Well, I believe he was a midfielder and then
Pep just chucked him in at full -back. Like,
sometimes that's how you develop players in terms
of, like, OK, maybe his defensive dynamics weren't
up to speed, so put him into a situation where
he has to defend more and then the team can benefit
off his in -possession play and he can develop
with the team as he goes along, you know. Then,
later on, after a high turnover, Haaland has
an excellent finish through the legs of the Fulham
defender to score. Yeah, I mean, good goal. Two
goals in two games. He's back. He's back, as
they say. I just took him on my fantasy team
to bring in Palmer. Palmer, Jokeres, and Gabriel.
Yeah, I mean... I know you don't rate Yokere's,
but I really feel like Yokere's gonna go sicko
mode. No, no, it's not that I don't rate him.
I'm a bit skeptical with a bit of his technical
qualities, but I'll be very happy to be proved
wrong. Let's say that. And in the last couple
of games, he's looked really good. So I hope
the best for him. If he does go sick or more,
then we're going to... I mean, I think we're
going to win the league either way. But our chances
in the Champions League definitely improve if
he goes sick or more. Yes, I heard Havertz is
injured again as well. Just, yeah, I heard just
two games. Just two games. So I think it was
just a knock on the muscle or something. Those
ones happened. Just tenderness. Thankfully, it's
not a recurrence of anything serious. So there
were barely any highlights from the second half.
So if this is, I want to know, you probably can't
tell me, but if the listeners want to chime in
at all, please write in. Is this another example
of City fading late into the game or because
they didn't need to do anything? That's why they
kind of laid off. Yeah, I mean, I think generally
from what I've read from the Man City analysts,
or online has been that they've struggled in
the second half to replicate their first half.
Literally, they need to put the game to bed in
the first half. They've lost a lot of games in
the second half as well. I think there was a
stat that said if the season was based on the
first half alone, they'd be like 12 points clear,
which is, yeah, they've got to find a way to
defend for the whole game. Do you have anything
else you want to bring up? Nothing per se. I
mean, I guess the managerial merry -go -round
continues even after the transfer season or off
-season during the on -season. So, I mean, De
Zerbi is available now. Your number one or your
favorite. He didn't leave Marseille. He still
at Marseille. No, no, no. He was sacked today.
Oh. Oh, wow. He was sacked today. Wow, wow, wow.
So, he's available. Slugs. It's over for you,
buddy. I'm suspecting he gets the Tottenham job.
Yeah. I'm suspecting. Which would be good to
have him back in the Premier League. I would
love it. I would love it. And his first game
would be against Arsenal, so we'd thrash him,
but I'm sure you would think differently. Deserbe
coming in to save the league. I would love it.
Yes. Yes. Arteta, that fucking terrorist playing
defensive football. Deserbe, the hero that we
need with a cape on his back. Flying in to save
the league. Oh, the storyline. I love it. Let's
see. Let's see. I think we beat them comfortably
no matter who's there. All right. Well, thank
you for listening. Please remember to rate. I
mean, I guess we'll include the next two Arsenal
games in the next episode because... Well, we'll
see. Well, I'll give a rundown from the Arsenal
perspective. All right. Cool. So, thank you for
listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe.
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