and welcome back to the pd football podcast my
name is presh my name is darren and how are you
doing today i'm good i'm good how's everything
on your end i'm a bit tired from work but okay
yeah i'm well uh also busy busy from work uh
i did not finish the dune audiobook because not
yet i finished part two and i realized there
was a part three and i'm like oh shit so yeah
another eight hours of audiobook it's not bad
I'm looking forward to it. I'm not saying that
in a bad way. How does it compare to the movie
so far? A lot of unnecessary fluff in the book.
And I'm glad that the director cut it out and
streamlined the story. And yourself, have you
seen anything recently? No, I haven't really
been watching much outside of maybe a little
bit of football. some stand -up comedy. I saw
the new Bill Burr special. It was pretty funny.
Well, I don't know if it's new, but it's on Disney,
so I think it's like a year old or something.
It was funny. I enjoyed it. Yeah, that's pretty
much all I've watched so far. I mean, yeah, I
haven't had much time, honestly, on my end. So
I think the movie rundowns, the intros, I'll
leave that up to you until I can... Make time
in my schedule. I see, I see. Well, I don't really
have anything else to say right now, so let's
just get into it. Man City 2, Newcastle 1. And
City made one change to the team who beat Fulham
3 -0 with Marmouch in for Foden. The graphic
before the match said that City were in their
usual 4 -3 -3, but during the game I noticed
they were actually in a 4 -4 -2. I mean, a lot
of teams are... kind of out of position in a
4 -4 -2 these days, so a lot of the top teams.
But it was a very old -school left midfielder,
right midfielder, two sitting midfielders, and
two strikers. A big striker and a small striker.
Yeah, I mean... It was like the 1980s again.
1990s, old -school Arsene Wenger style. Yeah,
it was very... Odd for a Pep Guardiola team to
be doing this, but I was like, all right. I mean,
football is cyclical. Maybe it's like bringing
back old ideas, going back to a former time.
Traditional number nines are coming back. And
Eddie Howe made one change to the team that won
6 -1 versus Carabag with Jacob Ramsey in for
Harvey Barnes. Again, the graphics said that
Newcastle were in their usual 4 -3 -3, but during
the game, they were in more of a 4 -1 -4 -1.
Interestingly, with Gordon up top and Voldemort
as one of the tens, not the... other way around
uh and to not only as the lone pivot uh i mean
i guess gordon offers you a bit more on the transition
than voltemar so maybe it makes sense to have
him linking and gordon playing higher up sure
but uh okay we'll get to it but i okay I didn't
think Valtamato was needed. I think you needed
another midfielder facility. Yeah, that would
have made sense as well. But I think Eddie Howe
was probably thinking of the long ball as well.
I mean, Valtamato is probably the only option
they have for that. That's true. Okay, so in
the Carabao Cup games, we saw Newcastle pressing
high and aggressively. But their strategy this
time was to sit back and play on the counter.
Although they lost, I think this was a more effective
tactic than the cup games because it conserves
energy, but you do need to concentrate and be
disciplined. Yeah, I mean, that was surprising
on my end. I mean, it was good. A good sign from
Eddie Howe, I guess, if you're a Newcastle fan,
because the way they've been pressing in recent
weeks was part of the reason I predicted them
to get thrashed in my pre -match predictions.
But I think, like, they... Yeah, I mean, they
seem to focus more on defence. It shows they
can defend a bit, like... I mean, Eddie Howe
kind of lives and dies by his high press, so
I kind of was expecting Man City to just pick
them apart. And I guess they're really good between
the boxes, actually, for sitting deep, something
they don't do very often. So, I mean, Sandro
Tonali, I mean, he's probably, like, you know,
when he plays well, he's one of the best midfielders
in the league. I'd say so. I was really impressed
with their midfield more than anything else in
the way they stayed in the game, I guess, because
I honestly expected them to get blown away. Okay,
I disagree slightly because they kind of shot
themselves in the foot with that formation change.
Tonali was totally outrun in the midfield. He
was left alone a lot of times and like Mamouch
or Semenya would just be running straight at
him. I thought he did well to beat the Presto
quite a few times, actually. start a lot of Newcastle's
transitions, but I guess I didn't notice how
much he was getting overrun. Well, I don't blame
him. I blame Eddie Howe for not realizing and
bringing in another midfielder to help him out.
You know, it's not... If you're being overrun,
it's not your fault. I mean, he's not necessarily
the most mobile. That's not what he's game...
He's more of an in -position midfielder, in my
opinion. I guess his game stands out for what
he does in position. So this getting outrun in
midfield is what actually led to City's first
goal. Mahmood gets the ball in midfield and carries
it into the final third. And he just lays it
off to O 'Reilly, who absolutely whacked it in
the goal. 1 -0 to City. We just watched the highlights.
What did you think of that goal? I mean, Nico
O 'Reilly, he's looking good. Continues to look
good. I guess pushed up now, playing more, I
guess, closer to the opposition box than when
he first broke into the team. Well, he was getting
played at left -back. At left -back, now he's
a winger, yeah. So I'm saying his dynamics, I
like him. No, it's a very odd goal for Man City
to score. I guess it's still kind of the image
of the new Man City. It was a goal that you guys
would have scored in previous seasons. It was
a turnover and then very quick counter. Yeah,
the counter -pressing. It's still new to see
that from a Guardiola team. As soon as they get
the ball, their main focus is on... attacking
the goal directly as opposed to shifting the
opponent's structure but i thought they were
very good i thought they started very well first
15 minutes i felt like my prediction was on course
to become a reality you know they were totally
overrunning newcastle i agree with that um but
i also thought city's formation shift kind of
neutralized the threat of both harland and simeno
although they did combine later for a goal i
thought they both had poor games you know in
general Yeah, I think they're similar sorts of
players in terms of what they offer as strikers,
in my opinion. I think it's... Usually, if you
go with the striking two, at least in a 4 -4
-2 formation, one is a facilitator and one is
a finisher. So, I think they're both finishers.
So, at least the midfield with extra work to
do sometimes. Well, he wasn't the second. Mamusha's
the second. He was in the right wing. Yeah, I
mean, either way, I think the... space, he couldn't
fully operate to his, you know, best ability.
That's what I... Yeah, it's more, I think, a
thing of them occupying the same zones and them
trying to run off the last man a lot. I think
when you have two players who are doing that,
theoretically it can be okay for the midfield.
It gives them more options if they play... If
they play through the lines a lot, which Man
City are probably the best team in the league
at. But at the same time, I think maybe it's
just something where they're still picking up
on each other's movements. And a lot of times
they run into the same space. So, I mean, I think
it's something they will get right in time. Obviously,
it's Guardiola. And I think Haaland is a very
intelligent player, especially with his positioning.
So I think if anything, I think Haaland's game
will benefit Semenya's more than the opposite
way. Because I think Semenya still has a lot
to learn. in the Man City system. I think right
now his biggest addition to Man City would be
his end product. It gives him someone outside
of Haaland who brings goals, I guess, right now
because they were heavily reliant on him. But
if they're a strike partnership, I would see
Haaland, even though he's the best finisher in
the league, as being more of the facilitator
because I think he's more intelligent than Semenya
and he can pick up on that from a coaching perspective
at least. He did get an assist this game. Yeah,
it was a good cross as well. So Newcastle's best
opportunities came from set -piece situations.
Obviously, if you have guys like Trippier and
Tonali who have great delivery and eerily dominant
guys like Dan Byrne and Malik Chow, you're always
going to have a chance from set -pieces. But
this is what actually leads to their goal. A
corner is cleared and Lewis Hall takes a long
-range shot, which then takes a wicked deflection
off of Rodri to go into the goal. 1 -1. Yeah,
I mean... Really nothing to be said. Nothing
to be said. He just took a long shot, it deflected
and went in. A hopeful shot and he had the luck
on his side. Yeah, but I'm trying to show the
patterns in that most of their play came from
set pieces, even though... I thought they did
well to hold on to the ball and beat the Man
City press quite a few times, but I think when
they got to the final third, they were lacking
a lot. I agree with that, definitely. For City's
second goal, Haaland beats the offside trap and
puts in a nice hanging cross, which is nodded
home by O 'Reilly, who was unmarked in the area.
Trippier doing poorly for that because Trippier
really didn't even challenge him at all. Yeah,
2 -1 to City. I mean, yeah, Trippier has always
had that problem. Like, in possession, he can
be really good. Generally, when he... out of
possession he can be a bit of a liability you
know so i think uh the high press is he's one
player who's benefited off of it because i think
he he formally would have made most of his mistakes
in the opposition half so the center house could
cover him i think having dropped deep probably
now those mistakes would be more like detrimental
i guess leaving nicole o'reilly unmarked in the
box is a bit different to when you're pressing
up the pitch so i think Perhaps the new formation
doesn't suit him. I think he's very much a player
who benefits off of playing with the high press.
And he's a confidence player. So I think once
he starts making one wrong decision, he can generally
tend to have a bad game. I thought Nico O 'Reilly
was consistently getting the better of him throughout
the whole game, you know, almost. A very one
-sided battle on Man City's left, you know. The
person I did, I was impressed by was Anthony
Gordon. He gave Ruben Diaz a very hard time.
And in fact, Diaz was hooked at halftime for
Kuzhinov because he just couldn't deal with Gordon's
pace yeah I mean Gordon is troubling I think
he I don't know if it was last season or the
season before he also had a game where I think
him and Isak they completely just shredded Gabriel
and Saliba so he has that in his in his locker
if he can make it consistent I guess He could
hit the potential everyone's been speaking of
him. I mean, he's been spoken about as one of
the bright British players for a long time now,
the bright young British players. So I hope he
hits his potential. I like the way he plays.
He's very direct. He's a bit of a throwback in
a lot of ways. Do you think he makes it into
the World Cup team? Currently, it's hard to say.
I think he would make the bench. I can't see
a reason. Especially because he has pace. It
might come down to him or Marcus Rashford. Yeah,
that's what I'm thinking. It's only the two of
them that are really pacey. If you asked me,
I'd still prefer Rashford, but it's up in the
air. I just think Rashford's temperament and
that he's been in a lot of big moments before
and he's been able to, at least in some big games,
play well. Even if he's had a bad season I think
he's kind of pulled performances against Real
Madrid performances against when he was at Man
United against us against Man City so from an
individual standpoint I would go with Rashford
if it comes down to those two but I still think
knowing Thomas Tuchel they both will make the
squad somehow alright so in the second half the
team swapped roles in that City sat deep and
played on the counter and it was Newcastle that
were that was poking and prodding looking for
an equalizer Unfortunately for them, it never
really looked like they were going to score.
It was actually City who had more clear -cut
chances because Newcastle were committing so
many men forward. Semenya alone had three chances
to kill the game in the second half. I guess
this compliments to Donnarumma again from the
second half. Pulled off a couple of marvellous
saves. Nick Pope as well. Both goalkeepers were
in top form. So despite their chances, I thought
City were poor in the second half. Lots of misplaced
passes and careless play. The only player who
I think kept their composure was Gueye. And I
have to kind of tip my cap to Gueye. Not that
I was talking shit about him. All I said was,
I'm not sure how he would translate from a back
three to a back four. And he's done splendidly.
The last couple of games I've watched him, I
thought, wow, this guy... While the other City
players have been like all over the place, he's
been the one that's, you know. He's been the
rock. He's been the rock, yes. I totally agree
with that. On the other kind of the flip, not
of the same coin, but like on the other hand,
a guy I would say that had a very poor game.
Not poor, just a guy I think that looks awkward
all the time is Mateus Nunes. Just the way he
gets the ball, his body shape, everything about
him, I just think, oh. I don't like this guy.
He makes you feel insecure. Why insecure? Not
insecure. I mean, like, if you support Man City,
it's like you don't have a sense of security
in him being in the team. Sure, yes. He doesn't
fill you with confidence. I agree with that.
But, again, I don't support City. So, if I were
looking at City's weak points, I would target
Matthias Nunes on there. Matthias Nunes. Yeah,
I think, I mean, in fairness to him, he's being
moved all over the park, played out of position.
Well, he was an eight. And got shifted into a
right back. So it's not his natural position.
But again, I don't think he... It's more a question
of Man City signing him as an auxiliary player.
Because I don't think he gets into the midfield.
He's not good enough to get in. I don't think
they signed him as an auxiliary player. I think
they signed him as an 8. But Pep just found out
that he's just not good enough. And had to chuck
him in somewhere. He put him at right back and
he's done an alright job. Similar thing is happening
with Reinders, although Reinders is on the bench
instead of being played at right back. Nunez's
physicality, I think, is what gives him the edge
at starting at right back then, say a Reinders.
Yeah, I agree. I mean, there's not much else
to say. I mean, we know Pep has his own way of
doing things and he's usually right. One thing
I would, the final thing I want to say about
this game, because more or less all the action
happened in the first half and it was just kind
of boring in the second half. But I will say
Bernardo Silva gets a yellow card for tackle.
And then less than a minute later, he just runs
and jumps into Dan Byrne. And Dan Byrne falls
over. Bernardo Silva seems like one of those
players that he never gets sent off when he's
deserved to be sent off a lot of times. So there
was that. He should have gotten a second yellow.
And then Chucky kicks the ball away and doesn't
get a yellow card. And I thought that was very
odd that the two of them didn't get any. reprimand
they weren't reprimanded for doing that I was
like hmm I mean that just speaks more to the
standard of the refereeing in the Premier League
than Man City I guess yeah because it's happened
to them it's happened against them it's happened
to every team and against every team we were
speaking about the other week that they got robbed
I think they were supposed to get a penalty or
something like that. But like you said, it comes
and goes. It all balances out in the end. Yeah,
I think it's just every team goes through the
ups and downs. So yeah, any final things you
want to say about Man City 2, Newcastle 1? No,
I think I've said everything I need to say. I
think if you're a Newcastle fan, at least there's
more optimism now for the remainder of the season.
At least they've shown to some degree that they
can hold the defensive structure and at least
play out. It's the first game as well. So, I
mean, if Eddie Howe plans on playing this way
going forward, I think they'll finish the season
decently. All right. Moving on to Nottingham
Forest 0, Liverpool 1. And since Forest's last
Premier League match, Mario came in for Morato
and Igor Jesus came in for Lorenzo Luca. Florian
Wurz was injured in the warm -up, so Curtis Jones
was shifted to the 10, then Gravenberg came in
for the injured Wurz, and Eke Tike came in for
Chiesa. What injury did Wurz pick up? I don't
know. They just said something happened in the
warm -up. In fact, I'm not an expert on injuries,
so it really doesn't matter what happened. I
wouldn't know. No, I just thought it's kind of
annoying from a footballing perspective when
it's like a player is just getting into form
and then they get injured. Another note is that
Forrest played in the Europa qualifier last week
Thursday, in between their last match and this
match. I caught glimpses of this game, but you're
obviously going to give the rundown on this one.
So, Curtis Jones gave the ball away twice in
the first five minutes, and that kind of sets
the tone for the first half. I assume that Forrest
would sit deep and play on the counter, but they
actually came out and played attacking front
foot football. This, coupled with us constantly
giving the ball away, made Forest look very dangerous.
However, they couldn't take advantage of it.
Van Dijk and Konate were absolutely massive in,
you know, stopping their attack. So they had
brilliant build -up up until that, entering the
box, and then one of Konate or Van Dijk would
just put a stop to it and send them packing.
Well, that's... I mean, Van Dijk is... It can
be a one -man defense. I've seen my team be in
the position of trying to break him down. I mean,
if he's on it, he's comfortably the best defender
in the world. You can't begrudge Nottingham that.
So Forrest were just not linking up in the final
third. At halftime, they had 12 attempts to our
two, yet the score was still the same. And that's
a lot of domination. I didn't expect the score.
But it was like... Long range shots that just
went into the crowd. It wasn't on target. They
got to a point, they couldn't break you down,
then they just fired in the shot. Yeah, so it
wasn't 12 shots on target. It was just 12 shots.
12 a time, so... Yeah. McAllister, Ekotike and
Gravenberg were extremely loose and their touches
were very bad in the middle third. Ekotike dropping
back and then the two of them, you know, where
they were. In general, the theme that I'm picking
up from what you're saying is that you guys were
losing the ball a lot sloppy, generally. Jones
was, in fact, so bad that slots swapped him with
Sabotslai, and Jones went to right -back. Sabotslai
came into midfield. And this actually worked.
He's midfielder in the league. Yeah. I don't
know, because he's played the majority of the
season at right -back. So how would we... Well,
for me, it's between him and Rice. You can't
make an argument for him being the best midfielder
if he played like 70 % of the season at right
-back. Yeah, no, I get your argument. But when
he plays in midfield, for me, him and Rice are
the best two in the league. So when he did get
into midfield, we got a bit more control and
he was keeping the ball a bit more. So this was
still in the first half. At the beginning of
the second half, we still... you know, giving
the ball away. About 10 minutes into the second
half, I don't know what clicks or what happens,
but we start to wrestle back some control. And
that being said, Forrest was still getting chances,
even though we had more time on the ball. Were
they beating the press, or how were the chances
coming? On the counter, because we were pushed
up high. So then, was your pressing disjointed?
Was it easy for them to play through, or were
they just playing well? They were pressing the
life out of us. So every time we had the ball,
like two guys were on us or two guys were on
the man. The physical standard of the Premier
League, though, is crazy right now. I feel like
even the way, I mean, we'll talk about it later,
but the way Burnley pressed Chelsea was ridiculous
for a team that's in the relegation zone. The
standards are at a good level with the lower
teams. It's just the teams at the top are the
ones that are struggling at the moment. The commentator
said that against Wolves, Nottingham Forest had
35 shots without a goal. And against us at the
end of the game, it was 18 shots without a goal.
So 53 shots with no goal in the past two games.
Very poor return. Very Spurs -y of them. Okay.
No need for that. No need for that. There's a
section where you can talk shit about Spurs.
We haven't gotten to that yet. You just can't
help yourself. All right. So the next point I
want to say is that it's boring to say Salah
and Gakpo are shit. It's an automatic ball giveaway,
but they're not picking themselves, right? Slot
is seeing these guys drop stinker after stinker
and he still plays them. Basically, we're playing
with one hand tied behind our backs with two
players that are just not contributing. They're
becoming liabilities. Not becoming. They've been
liabilities for like the past 10 game weeks.
And a coach who just cannot see past him. Maybe
Salah finishes the season the way he started
the last one and you guys win the Champions League.
That's never been his forte. He's showing up
in big games. Tell me a game where... Okay, show
me a semi -final where he scored and show me
a final where he scored a non -penalty goal.
You can't. I know you were thinking about it,
but you can't because he's very poor in the big
games. And when I bring that up, people will
be like, oh, what about City? What about Man
United? What about Spurs? Blah, blah, blah. That's
in the league with very little pressure. In the
really big games where you need to, it's crunch
time. It's a semi -final of the Champions League.
It's maybe an unpopular thing to say, but the
only reason we got past Barcelona. in the Champions
League semi -final was because Salah wasn't playing.
And, well, yeah, that's it, because Salah wasn't
playing. If it had been Mane injured instead
of Salah, we would have lost that game. Facts,
in my opinion. Yeah, I mean, like, for me, it's
like it just depends. I could agree with that
argument, but I still think that... It's like
you're cutting the margins very fine because
there's only probably like a select group of
players who consistently perform in those games.
Okay, but what's Salah's reputation? Is he not
supposed to be one of those guys? No, but I'm
saying wouldn't that make the... Like I'm saying
it shouldn't necessarily affect... Football is
a week -to -week thing. Like I think if that's
the argument we're making, then we could say
that... What is it? Didier Drogba is a better
footballer than Thierry Henry. I think it's both.
You have to kind of stat pad against the small
teams, but show up against the big teams as well.
You don't necessarily have to score a hat -trick,
but, you know, impose yourself. You know what
I'm saying? Yeah, I mean, but I think in the
league, he has his best performances are against...
Burnley. No, I mean... Man Utd. Man Utd, Arsenal.
He's very good against us. Not Arsenal. I think...
His, like, his really big scores are mainly Man
United. Yeah. Yeah, but he scored quite a lot
against us. Sure, sure. I just don't think of
Arsenal as, like, happy hunting grounds for Salah,
in my mind. And, I mean, he's done well against
City. Chelsea, decently as well. Three goals.
So, I'm saying, I think... But, I literally,
I said this point that it's fine in the league.
He can show up in the league. What about the
semi -finals? No, but I'm saying then who would
necessarily... Mane did? Yeah, Mane and Firmino.
They both showed up. I'm not denying that. Divock
Origi. I'm saying to get to that position is
still important. I feel like the same thing could
have been said. That's why probably Arsenal didn't
win the Champions League. Henri was able to get
us to a certain point to be competitive in everything,
but maybe he needed players who could... One
more clutch. Yeah, like I think when Bergkamp
was injured, we didn't really have a clutch player
in those days, especially in the biggest moments.
So he was like a one -man team in the Champions
League for us. So it's like I'm saying I understand
your argument, but at the same time, I think
you can't project it onto Salah because his expectation
is not something that's necessarily on his own
shoulders. Like I think he came from Chelsea.
where he was written off, he went to Roma, built
himself up. He was generally good in... In the
league, he's been good in the big fixtures and
the small fixtures. Maybe he's struggled in the
Champions League, in the semifinals and the final,
but there's a lot of great players who would
fall into that bracket. All right, but what does
that have to do with performing against Nottingham
Forest on a random Sunday? No, I'm not saying
you're wrong. I'm saying that I don't think...
Look, he's had a good career, but time is up.
I agree with that. I just don't think it was
fair to say he's always been a liability when
just last year he won you the league. No, I didn't
say anything about the league. All I said was
the Champions League. That's all I criticized
him for. I mean, you can't really always win
the Champions League either because... Even someone
like KDB. We went to two finals, right? All I'm
judging him is based on those two finals. Did
he do anything in the semis? Did he do anything
in the finals? Well, I mean... In the opportunities
that he's had. That's all I'm comparing it with.
In the first season, though, his first season
with you guys, he had a very good... And he was
unfortunately injured by Ramos in the final when
he was probably the best player in the world
at the time. That was his second season. Oh,
second season. Yeah. I understand he got injured
in the final, but just talk about the semi -final
then. Didn't he do well? I mean, he did well
against Roma. He did. He did very well against
Roma, yeah. Alright, fine. What else? I'm just
saying, if you're cutting the margins, I would
say Salah goes in the same book as Thierry Henry,
so he's still one of the greats of the game.
But I can understand it's time to move him on.
I felt that about Henri in 06 as well. I felt
it was the right time when Bossa signed him.
Yeah, but unfortunately, I'm fighting against
a cult on Twitter. The Salah cult say he's in
a small drop of form. It's been months now. How
long has it been that he's been in a small drop
of form? Why are the standards so low for him?
Where it should be sky high based on wages, past
performance. uh you know all these things yeah
i get it i mean he's a big brand so i think that
like the way he listens he makes his money back
like with those sorts of players it's always
like okay you give them the weightless they make
you the money back in terms of endorsements well
since he's not okay okay yeah sorry it's not
necessarily a big knock to take but i can understand
like he is going to be moved on at the end of
the season hypothetically i think If everything
clicks, he's probably still maybe Ekitike, maybe
Isak. But for me, he's still the player that
can win you guys something in the remainder of
the season. Sure. I would think it's a combination
of Sabotslai and Wurz. Yes, I agree. Wurz finding
his creative bag and Sabotslai just being a man
-man who runs until his legs fall off. Those
are... The cornerstones of, I guess, Van Dijk
and Alisson. But in an attacking sense, I mean
the two of them. As far as the end product goes,
I feel like even if you could rely on Iketike
for goals, I still feel like he might not do
the right things all the time. But he still has
the ability, probably, when I've watched you
guys, he can create two or three clear -cut chances
in a game. In the Champions League, that's enough.
um okay so the thing is rio ngamoa comes on 20
minutes ago and he uh he just shows that shows
us what we've been missing did everything he
tried come off no but is he showing us that you
know actually trying things is how we you know
get things done you know why is it that a 17
year old or however old he is is the one that's
doing that It's a damn shame. Yeah, it is. I
mean, I think obviously there's things to be
handled off the pitch as well. I think a lot
of the squad probably has to be moved on, not
just Salah and Gakpo. But those are the biggest
culprits. If I don't know anything about football
and I'm watching those, I would immediately pick
them out as the culprits. let's be that maybe
slot is banking on the experience right now he's
like trying to see the season out stay in games
and let's hope that maybe even if they're not
playing well they can win you the game you know
that yeah yeah i really don't have anything else
to say i just wanted to say that it's it's slots
i firmly laid the blame at slots feet because
salah is not picking himself Gakpo is not picking
himself. It's Slot that's making these decisions,
and these decisions are not working out. So you
should try new things. The fact that he's not
trying new things is what's worrying. Earlier
in the season, we were losing, but he was trying
new things, trying ways to combat what was happening
to us. Now he's not trying with the wingers.
He's played the same wingers for the past. however
many games and it's been a disgrace yeah i agree
like uh in terms of i don't think it's good to
persist with something that's not working okay
then so the second half just kind of follows
the same pattern of like them attacking us attacking
it's uh not really anything happens and then
mcallister gets a goal ruled out because it hits
his arm and i was kind of fuming At the time,
I understand it's the rules that if it hits your
arm at any point, even unintentionally, it shouldn't
be a goal. It has to be chalked off. It has to
be chalked off, but I just thought it was very
unfortunate because he's turned around and it
hits him on the back and a bit on the arm, and
then it goes in. So it's really not his fault,
but it is what it is. Then he gets another opportunity
at a goal. Now, the big talking point that is
not talked about is that Ekotike is offside.
The big thing everyone is talking about is Van
Dijk is offside, which, I mean, excuse me, Van
Dijk is onside, which I agree with. But Ekotike
is influencing the play by being involved there,
which is, I just really think it's Lavapool at
it again. I mean, it's the refereeing committee
at it again. More than anything, because like
we said, we're probably going to discuss more
games where bad refereeing comes into the equation.
So it's not a specific team. Obviously, if it
happens to your team, you can feel there's a
bias. Well, it did. It happened to the team that
I'm not supporting, and I still feel like...
they got robbed yeah no but i mean like that's
this is speaking more to the the the pg mol more
than it's speaking to any specific team or they're
being a bias because so you don't think they're
keeping city in the title race by not not recording
bernardo and they're keeping us in the top four
race by you know allowing that i mean they could
definitely have an agenda -based narrative in
terms of but i wouldn't think that's something
that's new i would say that's something that
then has to be addressed because At different
points, I felt that, oh, the Seasons were going
against Arsenal last season. And then that's
obviously you're like, what is it? processing
it in the moment you're processing it as a fan
so it feels like oh okay this happened to me
so this is harsh and then it's like okay now
you can see Arsenal has maybe elevated their
status a bit and a lot more decisions are going
our way so you could be right but I think it
speaks more to the fact that the PGMOL is a corrupt
organization that cares more about platforming
their referees as celebrities than anything else.
Alright, anything else to say about this Nottingham
Forest Liverpool game? Not really. I mean, good
win for you guys. I still expect you guys to
make the top four. It's not going to happen with
us playing like the way we played yesterday.
I see your argument, but Arsenal have played
a lot worse and made the top four in the past.
it still is very possible I think you're coming
from the expectation where you're watching Liverpool
be one of the absolute best teams in the world
for like the last decade so naturally watching
them play at a level below as a Champions League
level team is probably something you're not used
to now but when I watch you guys you guys do
remind me of Arsenal and Chelsea in the past
it's a normal form normal level of performance
for a top four team you know I'm just so, I'm
comparing it to Klopp, so it's an unreal standard
to compare to. Especially in a moment of transition.
It's still a long way to go for the Liverpool
project in terms of, I think, the next upcoming
transfer market will dictate the future of the
project a lot. And whoever the coach is at the
time of that transfer market, I guess. Alright,
well, let's move on to Spurs 1, Arsenal 4. I
assume you're just going to do the majority of
the talking. So let me just make two quick points
and then you can take over. I just thought Spurs'
makeshift back five was not gelling at all. They
played Van de Ven, excuse me, Jed Spence on the
left, Van de Ven, Palinia, Dragozan, and Archie
Gray at fullback. I mean, in fairness to them,
they're going through one of the craziest injury
crises a team could go through. That is true.
But we have been mentioning how Archie Gray has
been messed around and played out of position.
And fullback, I think, should be his final straw.
I think he should leave Spurs the way he's been
treated. Yeah, he's not being treated well at
all. Go to, like, maybe Sunderland. Or Newcastle
and, like, you know... Somewhere where you'll
be respected. Yes. Really, it's... What I would
have done is played Jed Spence on the right,
Van de Ven on the left, and then played Archie
Gray as the deep... Like, the centre -centre
-back to dictate play, kind of. I mean, the only
thing maybe I could... see from Tottenham's perspective
was that it was Tudor's first game so maybe he
was just applying the dynamics that were already
there trying to go with what Thomas Frank already
does it's hard to say because in a lot of ways
when I watched Tudor at Juventus a lot of the
same mistakes came up even after one game so
it could be something like if you generally like
he tends to press you high and if he sits off
his mid block is terrible i think the distances
the players don't know where to go if he presses
high and gets it right his teams can be really
attractive i think that's maybe what People were
assuming he was going to bring to Juventus, coming
from Lazio as well. And people were hoping he'd
bring to Tottenham now. But I think if I was
Audrey Gray, honestly, in terms of... I would
like some guarantees. I don't think Tottenham's
a bad club to be at, in terms of right now, at
this point of his career, he has... Just hang
on. They bought Paulinho at this window to play
CDM. They have Basuma. Yeah, but I think Autry
Gray, in the midfield, he could be versatile
between 8 and 6. But I'm saying he's not getting
that opportunity. Yeah, so I think the main thing
for him would be he needs some guarantees from
Tottenham. What's going to happen in the off
-season? Who's coming in? What is his future?
From Tottenham's perspective, I just don't understand
it either. Why are you playing potentially one
of... A player who's been spoken about for a
while as one of the... the best young players
in the country why are you playing him at uh
like just like not letting him develop i guess
you're playing him all over the park you're over
playing him you're putting physical demands on
him that are kind of ridiculous the only thing
i will empathize with tudor though is that uh
fan defense seems very like it seems very terrible
one -on -one so i think being in a position where
you'd have to face a lot of one -on -one duels
maybe he thought that he's just gonna get done
the whole time because Every time someone came
to him in a one -on -one situation, even at centre
-back, he was completely getting done. No matter
who it was, whether it was Saka, Trossard, Madueke
when he came on. I think it was just not really...
I don't think Tudor knew much what to do with
the team from the first game. But I don't think
Van der Veen as a full -back is especially...
Well, he wasn't a full -back. He was a left -sided
centre -back. No, no, I'm saying like to what
you were saying. I think if... I can empathize
with Tudor a bit in that I think Autry Gray still
reads the game well. He's good at intercepting.
He's good at tackling. So I don't think Van der
Veen is good at that. Maybe that's what he was
looking at in terms of that's the option he had
with the injury crisis. That's fair. Okay, you
can go. What was the second point you wanted
to make? The second point is just... So it was
1 -1 at halftime. And I thought it was kind of
an uninspiring first half. But then Arsenal really
just... turn it on and become so aggressive and
press high in the second half and it leads to
so many chances uh scoreline aside they could
have just had any it could have been like it
was four but it could have been anywhere up until
like six seven eight that's already enough i
mean there were so many chances it's awesome
we're actually uh A little bit wasteful, in fact,
with the amount of chances they got. A lot of
the dynamics where the chances were created came
when Saka was breaking through the centre and
Eze was pushed onto the left, which again...
Is what you want. That's what I wanted. I just,
like, Eze makes things happen. But maybe it's
a thing of, like, in training, because, like,
you know when you're training, I don't know,
like, for people who've played football, if you're
training against someone and you train against
them every week, you begin to understand that,
okay, if this player improvises a lot, you expect
it, so you lay off. And maybe in training, players
stand off as they, and it becomes harder for
him to understand the dynamics when he hasn't
played in the system for as long as everyone
else. But I think for opposition players who
don't know him, who don't train with him, the
fact that he just does things on the cuff of
the moment that he like. interprets the game
in the moment he's he's he's very much an emotional
player not in a bad way like he goes with the
game state he reads the game state very well
so i think it's something where maybe like arteta
has to sacrifice a bit of control and just understand
that this guy on the left is is the best and
it frees saka up a lot through the center it
frees Saka up a lot to be able to crash the box
to be able to focus on shooting and assisting
more because Eze can do more of the build -up
play the dribbling the linking you know and to
be honest with you the people that have been
played at left wing Martinelli and Trossard haven't
filled me with a lot of confidence yeah no way
like just the I think the 10 or 15 minutes Eze
was on the left yesterday was like crazy i think
he might have created two or three clear -cut
chances i was like leave him there but then by
the end of the game he was back on the back through
the center sucker was back on the right so i
think maybe i'll tend to like something about
the defensive dynamics uh do you want to get
into individual moments or do you have any other
things you want to say about general gameplay
i mean the like the general gameplay i'd say
was like pretty much dominant from us like i
think The only problems I'd have were, again,
from our own errors. I think in the first half
we gave the ball away a bit sloppily. I think
Saliba made a few uncharacteristic errors. Gabriel
gave the ball away twice, I think. I was very
impressed with Timber, though. I think Timber
was probably the most consistent player throughout
the game. He kept making the right decisions,
kept covering for Gabriel, Saliba as well. I
was very impressed with Timber, and especially
for the second goal. I think Timber did something
in the game that I think he kind of took the
initiative. He kept playing the ball through
the centre a lot, and then the rest of the team
followed his cues. Like you said, by the second
half, we were attacking the centre of the pitch
consistently, and almost every time we had the
ball, we were creating a chance. So I want to
give a lot of credit to Timber for being able
to... I don't think it's something that comes
naturally to his game. It's something he's been
shy to do, but... No one else was making the
line -breaking passes, and I think he just decided
to do it once, decided to do it twice, and then
everyone followed suit, and it was flowing a
lot smoothly for the rest of the game. Well,
we spoke about this in the last game, that it
was Gabriel who took the initiative to do those
kinds of passes, and it's good to see that now
it's Timber, it's the rest of the team, it's
not just Gabriel that's doing that. Any other
things you want to say before we get into individual
moments? uh no i mean we can go into the individual
moments so for the first goal soccer i think
got lucky uh because he was like dribbling and
it bounced off the guy and yeah deflection deflected
into his part yes uh he puts in a good cross
and Eze just had far too much time on the ball.
He lets it, it bounces up and he still gets time
to hit it again. The Spurs players were just
not ball watching because I saw Dragus didn't
make a move but they were just too slow to react.
Yeah, he miscontrols it and then he has enough
time to finish it comfortably. It was a good
finish in the end but very, very poor marking
from Tottenham. Yes. Spurs' goal, Colomoni just
robs Declan Rice, who was just caught in two
mines. Yeah, the uncharacteristic bad mistake.
Yes. But, like I said, do you think it's a confidence
thing? With? Because, like, generally Declan
Rice would just get the ball and whack it out
of there. You know... I think maybe... He was
just caught in two mines. Or is that just a once
-off mistake, or am I reading too much into it?
No, I think... I think they probably, it seemed
like they were holding on to the ball more, playing
out more. So I think it might have been maybe
something that came from the coach. Like, I don't
think Tottenham are particularly in the best
form right now. So although it's like our biggest
personal game, in the current form, I think you're
still coming up against one of the worst teams
in the league. So I think in that sense, Arteta
was probably telling them. we can use this to
practice a bit more, like hold on to possession.
So I think Declan Rice was caught into two minds
where he would have usually, like you said, sent
it straight up. I think now he was trying to
break the press by himself or find the pass to
the central areas, which is good. I think it's
good. You have to practice in real game situations
as well. You're going to make errors. It's going
to happen. I think he had an incredible second
half, so he made up for it. It didn't affect
his confidence. And you don't expect Kola Mwani
to be, you know, to score. I mean, it was a good
finish. It was a good finish, yes. Now, I actually
switched over to my little Word document where
I make notes while I'm watching the game. So
I didn't see the goal. I just heard the back
of the net rifle. You know that sweet sound where
it just... Yeah, everyone knows the sound. What's
it called? Rifling. Yeah, the ball hitting the
net. Yeah, very nice sound. Yeah. Then Paulinho
left Jokres unmarked, and he takes a nice shot.
Vaccaro is just a shirtkeeper, so he lets it
go through, and that's essentially the winning
goal at 2 -1. I'm very frustrated because I took
Jokres out of my fantasy team. I just thought...
He dropped such a stinker against Wolves. I was
so furious. And I was like, this guy, if he drops
such a stinker against the worst team in the
league, what is he going to do against Spurs?
The second worst team in the league. I thought
it would be a much tighter game. But yeah, they
just gave him far too much space. I'm skipping
the third one for the moment just to also speak
about Jokers' second goal, the fourth goal. Again,
just far too much space. He cuts in. Excuse me,
not cuts in. Trossard plays him in. Yeah, he
gets played in and then he shoots again. Keeper
could have done better. Scores his second. The
third goal, nice interplay between Eze and Saka.
I think Saka dribbles plus one and gets a bit
lucky. Again, they got lucky because it was a
fortunate bounce, but Eze makes the best out
of the situation and scores again. Apparently,
games against Spurs are the only games where
he turns up. Because I've been looking at his
stats, right? It's like nothing, nothing, nothing.
Three goals against Spurs, nothing, nothing,
nothing. Two goals against Spurs, nothing. But
to be honest, he's also being moved around a
lot, played right, played centrally. We have
been discussing that Arteta hasn't given him
enough opportunities. I hope, I hope, I really
hope he saw that. This guy belongs on the left
in that game, and Saka belongs in the center.
Them together, I think we can finish the season
very strongly with those dynamics. Alright, is
there anything else you want to say about this
game before we turn the page? I mean, just from
a Tottenham perspective, like... I don't want
to bash them or anything too much. But it is
looking like they're getting dragged into the
relegation battle. So I think they have to get
some things right there. I mean, five points.
Teams have been pulled down from five points
at this stage before. I think West Ham and Nottingham
Forest look like they're capable of going on
a decent run right now. And Tottenham are looking
completely off it. So just a bit worried for
Tottenham. I don't want them to go down, honestly.
I would like the rivalry to be there. I'm sure
you wouldn't like Everton to go down. get relegated
maybe you would we've spoken about it yeah i
definitely don't want everton relegated like
we need somebody to dunk on yeah so i mean i
hope they in that sense they can figure it out
and get it right because i think in the last
at least since the turn of the year between them
and wolves it's a toss -up for who's been the
worst team in the league all right so now that
we're done with that we can move on to the miscellaneous
which is all the other games of the week uh aston
villa one leads one So Anton Stack scores a wonderful
free kick, catching the keeper out on the near
side. Wonderful free kick, yeah. Yeah, nothing
really to say about it. It was just a very good
free kick. It was a sensational goal, yeah. Then
Tammy Abrams scores from, it comes like, the
ball comes in and Ezri Konza gets a header. The
second ball, Tammy Abrams scores, a very good
header. I was talking shit about him when Villa
signed him. He's now scored in the FA Cup and
the league. So, you know. They got my face. Leeds
had more clear -cut chances and were unlucky
to only get a draw. Leeds are looking good, though.
They're playing well against everyone. Very good.
I wanted to mention this in a previous episode,
but what has changed with Daniel Farker's defense?
Because we know he's always been a good attacking
coach. It's just, I'm associating him with Norwich's
very poor defense, very naive defense. And then
he comes here with Leeds. i'm not saying leads
have the best defense they conceded four to arsenal
right yeah so they're not like super amazing
but like they were very tight they were yeah
i think i think he's been He's begun to incorporate
a mid -block in, which is something he didn't
use before. I think also at a championship level,
sometimes if you... We've seen this before, maybe
like with Maresca as well, where at Leicester
he was able to just press high the whole game.
And as long as you have the metrics, like the
coaching metrics, where you're comfortably ahead
of, I guess, everyone else in a coaching perspective,
you can... consistently apply the high press
and win every game but it's hard to come out
of that mindset into like oh I'm now in a league
where we're going to be the underdogs in almost
every game so you have to incorporate some of
a mid block like I think when you came in with
Norwich it was pretty evident that they were
going to get relegated from the first two or
three months even though they started I think
with like three wins in a row the minute they
lost they got thrashed and then you knew that
okay this high press It's not going to work in
the Premier League, not with these players, not
with this level of physicality. And I think he's
brushed up on that. Shows the experience of coaching.
Well, it just goes to show he's a good coach
because a good coach learns from what's happened
before and, you know, tries to combat that. Maybe
they're not necessarily successful. A similar
problem to the guy who was at Southampton, Hasenhutl.
He was very good in Germany, came here, struggled.
Maybe he comes back and does well. Who knows?
All right. Next is Brentford 0 Brighton 2. First
of all, I'm going to give some kudos to James
Milner for breaking the appearance record. Big
achievement. Yeah, big achievement. That being
said, the number of minutes, he's played like
14 ,000 less minutes than Gareth Barry. So he's
been coming on as a sub for like five minutes,
that kind of thing. Gareth Barry played until
his legs fell off. He was really in the game.
Right. And, like, the fact that the both of them
are ahead of Ryan Giggs, who, like, I felt like
he played forever. Yeah, that's Man United propaganda
at work. Yeah. Anyway, Cadioglu, the left back,
had a great shot. It comes off the bar and Diogo
Gomez scores the rebound. You know, nothing to
be said there. Then the Brentford defender makes
a mess of the clearance and Welbeck has a tap
-in. From the highlights, it looked like a balanced
game. It's a shame Brentford didn't even score
given the opportunities that they had. Yeah,
I mean, again, I rate Herzl very highly. I think
that's one of the most difficult grounds to go
to. I didn't watch the game, but he seems to
have the thing of being good in the big games.
He was good against Arsenal. I think he's turned
over Chelsea a couple of times. I know you don't
rate him, but I think that's like Brentford.
is one of the most difficult places to go, and
it's usually the coaching that wins you that
game. So I hope he gets it right. I like him.
I like him a lot. Okay. Then we have Chelsea
1, Burnley 1. I don't know who played the ball,
but it was an exquisite ball through the lines
to play in Neto. Caicedo, yes. He plays in Neto,
who squared it to Jaupedro, who scored a tap
-in, although it was more of a slide -in. because
he, like, slides in and, like, tackles the goalkeeper
somewhat. And, like, yeah. Then Wesley Fofana
is sent off for an awful challenge. He actually
gets a second yellow, which turned into a red,
but I really thought that... It should have been
a straight red. Because it was so, like, blatant
and deliberate. It was, yeah, a very poor challenge.
And Burnley scored with more or less the last
kick of the game from a James Ward -Prowse...
corner. Like I was saying with Newcastle, you
know, you have Trippier and Tonali with great
delivery. Ward -Prowse is one of the greatest
deliverers in the... Yeah, in the league. Maybe
the history of the league, even. He's really
that good at delivering a free kick. Yeah, I
mean, dead ball, that's his forte, right? And
then Zion Fleming hit his home from that. corner
yeah i mean uh like i said i was surprised with
just uh i guess if this game showed anything
even uh before chelsea went down to 10 men i
think it was it was so evenly contested that
it was like like i mean obviously you would expect
chelsea to have the better of it in terms of
chances but the way burnley pressed him the way
burnley kept forcing errors from Chelsea, forcing
errors from the centre -half, from someone like
Caicedo. He made the brilliant pass, but they
forced a lot of errors on him, and he's probably
one of the best midfielders in the world. I mean,
the standard of coaching in the Premier League,
the physicality, I think that's something that
the athleticism required is always something
that stands out, and I was really impressed with
Burnley for a team in the relegation zone. West
have no, Bournemouth no. Perhaps the most shocking
game of the weekend. We had two very chaotic
teams that couldn't blow a blow on each other.
That being said, both teams had chances. They
just couldn't finish. It was just a question
of being clinical and both of them failed the
question. No, not much to add there for me, I
think. I wish the best for Bournemouth because
I like Irola, but that's... All I can say about
that. I don't think he stays there beyond this
season. And I wish the best to West Ham for Jared
Bowen. Top, top lad. Love him so much. Palace
1, Wolves 0. So Wolves got a penalty and Arokodare
misses it. Not misses it, he gets saved by Dean
Henderson. It was a really poor penalty. Not
much to say. I mean, Wolves are gone anyway.
I guess, uh, Daedalus vibes till the end of the
season, you know? Hopefully, hopefully they derailed,
uh, Arteta's title charge. And that's the, what
we'll remember off them. Yeah, that, uh, we'll
see. I don't think so. I'm, I'm still pretty
sure we'll, we'll get over the line comfortably.
So, time will tell. So, Krejci gets a second
yellow for kicking the ball away, which now...
If Cherki didn't get a yellow for it, why did
Krejci get a yellow card for it, you know? We're
talking about the standards of refereeing. That's
a clear -cut example. And I figure he also got
booked against us for kicking the ball away when
Kolo Mahoney scored. Oh, I didn't see that, but
okay. I'm just trying to point out that the standards
of refereeing is not the same throughout the
league, and it's a shame. Evan Gasson taps in
a low cross and Palace win 1 -0. We were talking
about whether he'll be a good signing for Palace
based on... The early signs. No, not just what
I've seen on the pitch. From Palace forums, just
seeing what Palace fans have to say, they're
really impressed by him. I mean, I guess with
Crystal Palace, it's an awkward situation for
them. It's just like, get to the end of the season
and see where we are. because I think obviously
they can't really build around the coach so they'll
know where they are next season I don't think
they're going to get relegated I think probably
going to have a lot of games like that this season
where they peter out 1 -0 not really much to
play for I think yeah let's just I think from
their perspective they have to judge players
based on how they come in but I guess we'll only
know how he'll fit into Crystal Palace when we
know what the future of their coaching is going
to be because then we'll... see if he adapts
or fits into the ideology, you know. Well, he's
just on loan, so I don't know if he'll be there.
Oh, beyond the season. Yeah, I'm unsure about
that. Or it might have been like a two -year
loan. I don't know. That's what I'm saying. We'll
see. Next is Sunderland 1, Fulham 3. This was
another really shocking game. Because Sunderland
have been so good at the stadium. They have the
second -best home record in the league. Just
their defense, especially. has been quite resolute
so look watching them okay let's just get into
the goals right jimenez scores from a corner
and he was totally unmarked uh he was just left
how do you leave the opposing center forward
unmarked in your box uh from a corner that's
just negligence uh not what i would have expected
from rajee labrie uh you know who's been so good
at defensive work then brian brobby brings down
somebody in the area i don't know who it was
i just watched the highlights so it was just
a bit of a blur um jimenez scores the penalty
i'd really i'm not a fan of his like run up of
like you know oh jumping yeah jumping and like
being like herky jerky and then i feel like it
should be in one motion as soon as you start
moving you can't the bruno fernandez yes the
bruno fernandez uh you shouldn't be able to stop
at all uh you know yeah it does i mean like it
does put an unfair advantage in the hands of
the attacker you know yes it's uh i don't like
it at all because then by that if they're going
to allow that in my opinion then they should
allow the keeper to step off the line yes absolutely
yeah uh then Enzo Le Fay also scores a penalty
for Sunderland now. Somebody just got brought
down in the box. Nothing to say. And then for
the last thing, Iwobi scores on the counter.
Very good goal from the left -hand side. Gets
it across the keeper and 3 -1. I'm happy for
Alex Iwobi. Yeah, that's it. That's pretty much
it. I mean, a surprise result, but I think both
those teams, again, I think I'd put them in the
same boat as Crystal Palace. They're seeing the
season out for them. I think players also have
the World Cup in their mind, so we're going to
get a lot of chaotic games, I think, until the
end of the season. Do you have anything else
you want to say about this game or just any other
game before we wrap up? Nothing that comes to
mind specifically. I mean, again, just a player
that impressed me with his movement. I say it
all the time, but it's Val Pedro. I think Chelsea
didn't find him enough. He made a lot of good
runs, I think. Chelsea's midfield, again, needs
to be more like... Again, Caicedo made an exceptional
pass. I think he has the range. He needs to be
more, I guess, assured in his decision -making.
If he uses that range better, I think Chelsea
can come on a lot of levels and probably very
soon be challenging for a title, especially with
Enzo, Caicedo and Val Pedro. I think those three
players can get into any team in the league almost.
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