And welcome back to PD Football. My name is Presh.
My name is Darren. And how are you doing today?
I'm good, I'm good. As good as can be, I guess.
How's everything on your end? I went to watch
a movie today with my brother. We've been going
to... So, okay, I know we have international
listeners, so let me provide some context. The
local theatre chain that I go to has these very
cheap... throwback movies so from the 90s 2000s
whatever can watch like a old school classic
yes so uh over the last couple of weeks they've
been showing the lord of the rings uh incredible
incredible trilogy of movies uh just an incredible
achievement You know, the craft and the dedication
put into that movie is just some of the best
stuff. Unfortunately, you know... If you've got
three weeks to set aside, you can watch it. Yes,
that's the thing. This movie was four hours,
15 minutes. This extended cut of Lord of the
Rings. So, not a bad four hours to spend. But
still, four hours is quite a bit. A long time
to sit in a movie chair. Yes, I peed like four
or five times. I have a serious problem. at the
movies i need to pee a lot but yeah aside from
that anything else you want to say before we
get into it no nothing much just a regular weekend
on my end oh yeah i was gonna say both of us
had like a busy weekend so it may not be as deep
a dive uh on the matches as you may want or we
may have done in the past but uh we're doing
our best we're doing our best we'll try to keep
it as thorough as we can yeah so first of all
leeds named an under excuse me excuse me We're
talking about Leeds 1, Man City. Leeds 0, Man
City 1. And Leeds named an unchanged side to
the one that drew with Aston Villa last week.
Man City made one change with Cherokee in for
Haaland and a change of shape into a... 4 -2
-2 -2 with a box midfield, which is probably
the first time we've covered a game with a box
midfield. This is kind of a specialty of the
Red Bull system, so I'm not sure if maybe Pep
Blinders brought it over and said, hey, let's
try this out. Could be that. It looked a bit
very similar to more of like a Deservey style
to me, though. It used to dominate in central
areas with the fullbacks providing the width.
So that's the general idea of it. I've seen it
at Liverpool a couple of times. But yeah, this
is the first time we're covering it, so I thought
I'd mention that. And leads were pressing, but
you know how there's certain pressing triggers?
So, for example, if a defender has a heavy touch,
that's an immediate pressing trigger. Like three
or four guys... Three or four closest guys should
be making a move to pressure him if he does something
like that. The defender does something like that.
But Leeds' press was kind of time -based. So
they pressed really hard the first five, ten
minutes. Then, like, the last five, ten minutes
of the first half. And it was man -to -man most
of the time. It wasn't really, like, triggered
by counter -pressing. Yes, yes, that's what I'm
saying. There were no triggers. It was just them
pressing really aggressively and really high.
A bit of, like, old -school football in a way.
Everyone runs after their own marker, you know.
Yeah, and City can't get out of their half, right?
That five to ten minutes, they would just stay
camped in their half. It was really... I mean,
Leeds have done this to quite a few teams recently,
so it's not something new, you know. I mean,
we've spoken about how far Daniel Farker seems
to have come along in his tactical development.
I'll mention that just now. Oh, actually, we
can mention it now, but we've been kind of contemplating
why Daniel Farker has become so defensively resolute
recently where his Norwich team were amiss, to
put it lightly. They finished like... A distant
20th when they were in the Premier League. I
mean, they started well. I think they won their
first three. Well, no. There was one season,
the season they went down. And, excuse me, their
first game was against us. And we beat them 3
-2. And they gave us like a very scary... They
had put in a decent show. Why am I thinking about
Leeds? No, I think you're thinking about Leeds.
That was the 4 -3. Yeah. Yes. We had a really
good game with them. And Bielsa was the... guy
in charge at the time but yeah why am i mentioning
this uh are you talking about daniel yes so i
realize he's playing with a back three which
you would say okay i haven't been watching enough
leads games to really for that to really get
into my skull but when i saw him playing with
a battery i'm like oh it all makes sense now
it's just it's not that they're really well drilled
it's just that there's an extra man that can
cover whenever if someone were to make a mistake
so that's why they look much more solid than
than previous seasons yeah i mean well it depends
i guess The fact that they're also generally,
I guess, in almost every game they play, they're
controlling some portion of it. Maybe that would
speak more to his coaching coming along. Like,
I mean, everyone can use a back three. Yeah,
that's the thing as well. There are coaches who
use a back three and are not defensively resolute.
So it does come back to Farker's coaching and
Farker learning. They are able to sustain pressure
a lot. I think even when we played them, it was
one of the more difficult games for the season.
So after that 5 -10 minutes, oh actually let
me say during that 5 -10 minutes, Leeds had,
or let me say Calvert -Lewin had two golden chances
very early on. That he was in space and he just
put it wide and was very frustrated. It was easier
to, one of those ones where some people would
say it was easier to score than miss. Easier
to score than miss. Yeah, just very frustrated
with him because we know how good he can be.
Yeah, I mean, he's a bit like Olivier Giroud
in a way. You know what he can do, but he doesn't
do it as much as you'd like him to, you know.
I was hoping they would score and that would
open City up more, you know, because City have
been playing very poorly. And I was hoping that,
you know, going one down, they would, you know,
dig deep and like play better football. Start
getting their patterns together. But yeah, Leeds.
didn't score or, you know, make use of their
pressure. So after that 5 -10 minutes, City get
like, they take more control of the game with
more possession, but are lacking creativity.
Every attack ends with a poor final pass. They're
not even getting to the shot. It's just them
playing around in midfield, passing, passing,
passing, attack breaks down, restart. Passing,
passing, passing, attack breaks down, restart.
Very frustrating to watch. this game i'm not
i'm not gonna lie this was a very bad game yeah
it wasn't uh it wasn't a good advertisement for
the premier league i guess you could also see
the tiredness in both players i guess lack of
risk taking but i think in the end uh what is
it i think man city were probably more focused
on just trying to get over the line right now
that's that's the most important thing I would
say Leeds are not really good at set pieces.
Their delivery was nowhere near the danger areas.
So every time they put in a cross from a corner,
it just went wildly off target. And I was like,
again, very frustrated because these are the
games you want to see City under the cosh, you
know? Yeah, at least do something. I mean, the
one thing I think... Not that I'm an Arsenal
fan that's preying on City's downfall, but I
want to see good attacking football, you know?
Yeah. Yeah, that's... Okay, sorry, you were saying
something. I just rudely cut you off. No, no,
no. No, you don't need to apologize. I'm just
saying that I think, what is it, with Man City
and even Arsenal to an extent now, they're both
teams that can, I guess, they lose control for
large portions in the game, whereas Arsenal can
defend better, so we don't give as many chances
away during those periods. But definitely, I
think without De Bruyne, without Rodri being
at his best, you can see that... City have to
control games in a different way. But the one
thing I'll give them generally is that when they
get control of a game, it's very hard for the
opposition to wrestle it back. Even if you can
create a couple of chances on the transition
against them, I think once they're in control
of the game, they at least keep hold of the ball
well enough to limit what the opposition does,
which is why I think it'll be very close and
I expect both teams to win most of their games.
Then Leeds are eventually opened up very near
to halftime. So, like I said, first 5 -10 minutes,
Leeds pressed. Last 5 -10 minutes of the half,
they also pressed. Now, City break that press,
get into midfield, and then Chirky plays an unbelievable
ball, which puts Aitnuri into space, Aitnuri
crosses, and Semenyo taps in. Reminiscent of
KDB a bit. That's not the comparison I was going
to make. The comparison I was actually going
to make was David Silva. He's the guy who would
make the pass before the pass. You know what
I'm saying? Yeah. He would put in Sterling or
Sane into space and then they would cross to
Aguero or, you know, whoever. You know, change
the names as you see fit. But I just remember
David Silva being the one who would, like, open
up a team and not get the credit because... Or
Bernardo, one of the Silvers. Yeah. In fact...
Okay, we just watched the highlights, re -watched
the highlights now. But during the match, I thought
that was Bernardo who played the ball. And I
was like, wow, Bernardo, he's doing it all on
his own. He's back on form. Yeah, but Ait Nuri
was the real architect of this goal. Chirky.
Excuse me. Chirky was the architect of the goal.
Ait Nuri was, I guess, his tool. i mean turkey
has that like he's always had that like i think
he's he's right now if there's any player in
the premier league who you know just needs a
moment to define the game it's him right now
like he can disappear for large portions of the
game but i didn't think five or ten minutes he
can swing the momentum i didn't think he had
a poor game aside from that like overall play
because let me not uh you know circle him out
like the entire man city team weren't having
a great game so to be like oh it was chucky chucky
chucky like i'm not blaming rodry rodry had a
good game yes okay yeah a few people had a good
game i don't want to let me say in an offensive
sense no one really had a good game yeah uh leeds
or man city because it was a moment of brilliance
you know that's all it took yeah Another thing
I want to point out is that Chucky stamped on
a lead player's leg and just got a talking to.
I'm not saying red card, but that's definitely
a yellow. At least some punishment. But then
again, if the Rift doesn't see it, unless it's
a 100 % red card challenge, I don't think they're
going to go back and change their decision very
often. But still, a stamp, that's not good play.
What so what? Fair play. That's a... Yeah, it
should be. Like, I think there should be certain
rules where, even for diving, for example, obviously,
like, I think context says, like, sometimes you
have to dive out of the way of a bad tackle,
which is different. But I think retrospective
action should be something that's more considered
in the game because I think it would get players
to consider what they're doing more as well when
it comes to trying to manipulate the ref or manipulate,
I guess, the narrative of the game through illegal
means, you know. alright then I want to say the
second half starts and again it follows that
same pattern Leeds come out pressing really high
really aggressively City just absorb the pressure
let it happen and then after that 5 -10 minutes
they gain control again and I thought Semenyo
had very little time on the ball and was poor
when he had it again I don't want to you know
single him out I want to say City's whole attack
was poor again it was a bad performance and they
won so it's it's like uh yeah if if that's a
bad performance i guess and you're still winning
there's not it's it's hard to criticize because
uh i guess unless it's a concept but the one
thing i'd agree with you on is that i would say
it's a pattern of them playing this way for like
a couple of weeks now and but again i think It
is conceivable that a team that can be that good
in attack can, at least till the end of the season,
chalk off enough results to win something. So
it depends. It could swing either way, I think,
as far as Man City is concerned. I think in the
Champions League it will affect them a lot because
I don't see them leaking this many chances and
getting to the final, especially on that side
of the draw. But in the Premier League, I think
both them and Arsenal, the vulnerability from
each side, I think it's going to go right down
to the wire, you know. All right. The big talking
point of this match in terms of the title race
was that there was a handball from Matthias Nunes
in the box. And his arm does make a, what's the
word, like a movement towards the ball. But first
of all, it was, okay, it was just blasted at
him extremely quickly. So he didn't have time
to move out of the way. And his arm was already
moving that way before the ball was kicked. So
to me, it's not a penalty, but a lot of people
have come out and said that, you know, it's the
city agenda. Once again, they're being propelled
to a Premier League title on the backs of referees.
I mean, we said it like last week. We say it
every week that it's the refs are bad. It's not
a specific team, you know. And there's no narrative
that the referees are trying to enforce. It's
just a PG. mol having shitty refs you know yeah
so in this case i think the correct uh decision
was made but uh you know to a lot of people it
was very controversial and again there's so many
like it's like what's the the discrepancy or
the transparency with the rules you know because
sometimes it's given sometimes it's not like
like we said before just let the var decide give
him a rule book he obeys it 100 percent tells
the ref what to do and then move on you know
it's not like you have to make it overly complicated
and make the ref like a significant part of the
game. The ref is just supposed to be the organizer
of the game. They're not supposed to be the coaches
or the players or someone who gets any more,
I guess, limelight than just being the referee,
you know. The last point I want to bring up in
regards to this game has nothing to do with football.
It has to do with the Muslim players were breaking
their fast for Ramadan. I believe this is called
Iftar. right yeah so during iftar the leeds fans
were booing the man city players who were eating
their whatever they eat i don't know i think
it's like a paste that like keeps you full or
like you know for high performing athletes to
like you know replenish their body so they don't
need to have like a full meal yeah a full course
meal in the middle of a game but uh i just thought
that was not classy yeah it's just uh it's very
disrespectful i mean we've seen like now it's
like it seems to be A theme and an unfortunate
theme that's arising in European football. Well,
there's three teams. Okay, let's be honest. Every
single fan base has idiots, right? Let's not
target certain teams, but I am about to target
certain teams. So Leeds, Chelsea and Millwall.
Those are the three where racist incidents always
pop up. And you would hope that the... I don't
know who it would be, but the relevant people
kind of try to make a stop. You know what I'm
saying? like uh which is kind of a shame you
know because i think uh especially in the case
of uh chelsea they're like one of the biggest
clubs in the world and they have a lot of black
fans you know yeah yeah so the i don't want to
call it islamophobia but that's why it's leaning
towards it's leaning towards that because because
the leeds fans were booing everything it's not
like they i mean it essentially is because how
how much of a big deal did uh i mean i haven't
seen it in the media i didn't even know about
it till you brought it up but i'm saying how
much of a big deal was made a couple years ago
when your fans disrespected the Queen which is
I mean everyone has their own political beliefs
you can understand where people are coming from
but at the same time I'm like oh okay if there's
something wrong with the Liverpool fans doing
that surely there should be something wrong with
the Leeds fans not respecting okay i think that's
way different but uh you know because like the
queen and the crown committed some heinous crimes
uh yeah no i'm not saying like i understand individual
uh islamic people have like done terrorism or
whatever but that doesn't reflect on no no i
know i i get where you're coming from i'm saying
that the liverpool fans could have been right
or wrong it doesn't matter it's islamophobic
in the sense that this issue is not even being
highlighted like i didn't hear about it maybe
you brought it up now but it's certainly not
like something that was like oh the Leeds fans
are doing this in the same way that oh the Liverpool
fans are booing the Queen are you saying like
the same amount of stink wasn't made in both
cases okay okay that makes more sense alright
is there anything else you want to say about
the game or surrounding the game or any notes
you just have I mean you know like I think I
would say the same thing about the Arsenal performance
later, but when you're in the title race, if
you play bad and win, I think at this stage of
the season, it's not a bad thing. I don't think
Man City fans should be too worried. I don't
think Leeds fans should be too worried. If they
watch their team play, they should definitely
think they're going to be safe this season, I
think. Out of all the teams in the bottom right
now, who are, you would say, more or less involved
in the relegation scrap? You'd say Leeds are
probably the safest. I'd say Leeds are the safest
in terms of the football they're playing. All
right, so let's move on then to Arsenal 2, Chelsea
1. Again, Arsenal unchanged from the team that
beat Spurs last week, so pretty much their full
-strength team. I know you would disagree and
say Yorker is out for... Havertz and maybe Hinkapy
out for Calafiori. Yeah, I mean, that would be
my first choice. But again, for the course of
the season, this would be the first choice. I
still think if Calafiori is available, he's been
injured most of the season, but if he's available,
I think he'll be there. Okay, so let's say this
is the best first team you have available. Yeah.
Chelsea made two changes to the team that drew
with Burnley. One was enforced with Mamadou Sarr
in for the suspended Wesley Fofana and Hato in
for Marlo Gusto. Marlo Gusto is obviously a right
-back, but he played at left -back for Burnley
and I'm assuming because Hato is naturally left
-footed, he would fit in better. Yeah, I think
they were thinking about the one -on -one defending.
Something is not Hato's strong point anyway.
I don't rate Hato. you know it's not just based
on this game over the past couple of games i've
watched him and he just obviously he's inexperienced
he's like 18 19 i think like again i've watched
him a little bit at eye accessible and i think
he has good technical traits i think he's just
been thrown into the deep end too early following
bad agent advice again okay it could be i have
no idea but i just thought every time malo gusto
is on the pitch he looks better than Yeah, I
mean, Malagusto's generally a good one -on -one
defender and he's good at inverting. So, I mean,
if those are the things you want... Like, again,
I guess it's like... what is the thing? It's
probably like the technical level from Hato is
probably what Rossini is looking at in terms
of building around. I think he's probably thinking
about the longevity of the team or the long -term
future of the left -back option. In which case,
I would say that I'd see Gusto as more of a right
-back or like an auxiliary who fills in when
either of them are injured. But again, for the
same reasons you mentioned earlier, I wouldn't
say he's an out -and -out left -back. Whether
Hato's the right choice or not, I think time
will tell. Well, it's because of Cucurella being
injured, you know, Hacho is not their preferred
left back. Yeah, I mean, Cucurella, I think,
yeah, he's probably... decent for me I still
think they can do better they can do better I
still think like in terms of Chelsea going up
another level he needs to be able to like at
least create more or become like become a certainty
defensively where it's like you know he's gonna
win almost all his duels or at least overlap
more something like Ben White who's like okay
if you know you know exactly what you're getting
out of him in a technical sense you know so it
supports the structure more but I guess you know
I like Kato from what I've seen in terms of when
I've seen him play at Ajax. I don't know if he
will be the same at Chelsea, but I would say
right now Chelsea don't have anything to lose
by making him the lift -back option for the long
run. So both teams were working hard off the
ball to pressurise the other team, but it's Arsenal's
press that was way more effective at getting
Chelsea to be... Again, we pressed off like what
we said about Leeds going man -to -man. In this
game, we pressed off of triggers a lot. So it
was like, okay, the minute someone had a loose
touch, we're on them. Especially Sanchez, who
had a few, let's say, scary moments. Yeah, I
mean, it was a very uneasy game for a Chelsea
fan from your goalkeeper, you know. I mean, if
you were a Chelsea fan, having a goalkeeper that's
that uneasy would make you very insecure every
time he had the ball, you know. On the other
hand, Arsenal were breaking Chelsea's press,
but every time they broke the press and had space
to get into the final third, the attack fizzled
out, which was a shame. Chelsea, when they were
in possession, were in the back three, with Hato
as the left -sided centre -back, and Rhys James
was pushed all the way up to offer more width.
Yeah, and I guess use his crossing and his passing
way in the middle. Yes. As a consequence, I thought
Chelsea's left -hand side was very... Passive.
Passive. But, you know, just the way Rosinho
set them up, I don't think they could have done
more. I thought, like, obviously we were using
hindsight here. I thought Chelsea were pretty
well set up in terms of they troubled us more
than I thought they would and they contained
us more than I thought they would as well. I
mean, at the end of the day, it came down to
set pieces from both teams. In a lot of ways,
I think... We're going to see a lot of elite
games going forward in the Premier League I think
decided by the set play because tactically teams
and technically teams become so close you like
split the margins usually through set plays it
becomes I guess the things by which the fine
margins are decided you know. Speaking of which,
you just mentioned that set plays decided it.
Arsenal's goal, or their first goal, comes from
a corner. Honestly, I think it was a poor delivery.
Totally over hit. But Gabriel is able to get
to it and header it back into the danger zone.
And Saliba finishes it off with the help of a
Chelsea defender. I'm not sure. I think it was
Sarr. It was Sarr. I think it was Sarr, but he
headers it onto Sarr and then it goes inside.
So, good goal. Like I said, Saka over -hit it,
but it's good that they can, what's the word,
like, you know, change in the moment. You know
what I'm saying? Yeah. Then, for certain portions,
Arsenal were defending in the mid -block. They
let Chelsea come at them and then, when they
were in the middle, just get at them. Very nervous.
I think the performance became a bit emotional.
skew passes, Zubamendi losing the ball a lot,
trying to dribble, trying to pass back. So I
think, you know, like Zubamendi is very weird.
Like I think he's maybe... getting used to the
the the intensity of the premier league in terms
of duels like it's probably something he's not
used to but there's like minutes in the game
periods in the game where he he does so well
in terms of breaking the press in terms of controlling
the game that'll be like just extend this to
like a 90 minute game and we have no problems
but when he makes mistakes just they're very
they make you very uneasy because they can be
like mistakes yeah like practically an assist
to the opposition striker all right uh just a
quick side note do you think it's possibly because
arteta hasn't rotated him enough yeah i think
i think he could be possibly being overplayed
in terms of uh it's hard to say i think at the
end of the day when we look at a lot of sixes
they generally absorb minutes more than other
players so it's it's it's not necessarily something
that's I could say you could pin on Arteta or
Zubamendi, I think. No matter where he went,
if he had come to you guys, I think he was going
to have the same, like... No, it's just something
that we've been speaking about pretty much every
week, that it's like, oh, Zubamendi's playing
again? Yeah, I would understand. Like, I would
give Nogard a game. Like, I get you. But I think,
like, right now, we're not controlling games
in a way where it's like we can afford to bench
him because he still creates a lot going forward.
He's still our best press breaker, our best line
breaker in terms of passing. as well so it's
like it's hard to get like to conceivably replace
him when the margins are so fine if no god has
a poor game then he doesn't offer you anything
it's uh we we lose the game where super mindy
can have a bad game and 10 minutes he can still
facilitate enough play generate enough play for
you to to do something you know okay so your
career is he's in the penalty box and i think
it's uh chalaba who gets the ball off him and
then jokers clearly dives and i thought that
should have been he should have been booked for
a dive because that was really blatant yeah yeah
but at the same time this is what i'm saying
you have to go like i think diving like that
should be something that you could go back retrospectively
and say give this player three match ban because
like what's the like how many times a player's
gonna do it you know and it's like where's the
Where do you draw the line as a defender now?
I mean, you know, it's something that I guess
we've seen some of the greatest players of previous
generations do. So it became normalized. But
at the same time, I'm not against diving to avoid
a heavy challenge if a defender comes to bash
you. That's different. Diving to gain an advantage
or treat is list. It's very weird because that
happens more than people diving out of the way
of a challenge So Declan rice is committing a
penalty offense in holding the Chelsea player
like with both hands and a second penalty offense
Because it hits his elbow while making a jerking
motion. Yeah, I've been a penalty so two different
Whatever you want to give the PGM always speaking
about it against speaking about it for us not
for Man City. Hmm You know, it's not a specific
team. Every team is going to get decisions against
them. but justice is served because Rhys James
or Hinkapie scores so it was given as a Hinkapie
own goal but yeah you said you didn't feel I
mean I saw a swing in the ball it's hard to tell
I guess to me like the ball was swinging already
going into the net and Hinkapie kind of misses
the ball and goes straight so I thought there
was a Rhys James Olympico I think the the PDMOL
are going to get the cricket hawkeye to just
bring more attention on themselves in situations
like this I'll trade Jordan he's his head yeah
and speaking of which Rhys James had a really
excellent game Rhys James I would say was probably
the best player on the field both going forward
and defensively he just you know very influential
in this game and then in the second half I would
say there was kind of a role reversal it was
Chelsea who looked more dangerous with corners
and they were getting more corners too you know
I mean Like, I think in a weird way, all three
of the last games between Arsenal and Chelsea
have had a similar theme. You know, I think Rosinha
mentioned it in his post -match conference. Arteta
also mentioned it, that all three games were
like a game of two halves with a momentum swung.
And I guess our defence just kind of won it for
us. I would say Arsenal's best player for me
was Saliba. Saliba put in a great performance.
So I think having him back, if he plays like
that till the end of the season. and he scored
yeah and he scored as well so i think that that
would be huge but we also lost declan rice which
might be even huger. What do you mean you lost
Ekman Rice? He walked off with an injury so it
looks like a hamstring. I don't know how bad
it will be hopefully. That would look too bad
to me. I didn't think like oh Rice is out for
a few weeks now. I didn't either but from what
I've been seeing on social media is that it might
be more serious. Is it confirmed or is it just
people speculating? Speculation but you never
know. I'm just hypothesizing myself. Because
I swear there was a game like earlier this season
where Rice got fucked up and we're like oh Rice
is out for a few weeks and then the next game
week next game week he's back in pumping oaks
yeah I would hope so because I would say that
like yeah if he's injured for four or five games
I mean I still think we could get through them
but if he picks up like a one or two month injury
where he has to get back into the rhythm for
us I think we don't have a replacement for him
Rice not players that will break up play and
carry the ball as much as him I don't think we
have a is there no backup Backup eight. We potentially
could put Myles Lewis -Skelly in the eight. That
would be my most probable internal solution,
unless you could move Odegaard there, who's not
as good, not anywhere close to as good as Rice.
Who is Rice's backup? That's the thing. I think
it usually is Waineri used to play there sometimes
in the ten or the eight. He's at Marseille now.
You can't say a 16 -year -old is the backup to
Rice. Yeah, but for the last half of last season
and the first half of this season, he was the
one who filled in. Odegaard moved to the 8, he
came in the 10. Rice would fill in as the backup
for the 6. I think sometimes the option in theory
for me would be Miles because that's the only
one I could see. Why hasn't he been playing as
much this season? Do you think? I mean, when
he's played, he hasn't played well. But again,
it's just a thing. Maybe something, I don't know,
he's just out of form. Players can have a season
where they're out of form, especially at that
age. But when I've seen him, he hasn't been good.
So I think that's why he hasn't been given a
chance in the starting lineup. But to me, that's
on a slot logic, right? Yeah. Slot won't play
you. Slot will play you one game. If you have
a bad game, he won't play you. But how are you
supposed to build up form if you don't get...
game time, you know? Yeah, I think, but again,
we haven't really needed him this season because
at left back, Hincape has been better than him
defensively and Rice has been like our best player
of the season by a country mile. So I don't think
Rice has been movable as far as the number eight
is concerned. I mean, the couple times I've seen
Rice rotated, I think it was just like a makeshift
midfield. Sometimes people from the academy would
come in. Sometimes Nogard would fill in the eight.
Zubamendi six, Zubamendi eight, Nogard six. So
it's hard to say. I think we don't have a Rice
replacement, though, because I don't think we
have another player that can do what Rice does.
Then nearly everyone in the attacking sense had
a bad game. But I want to highlight Palmer, who
had very little influence if he doesn't score
or assist. Like, very Salah -like in that side.
Salah won't do anything unless he's scoring or
assisting. He won't beat a man. He won't put
somebody into space. Those kinds of things. And
the other one I want to highlight is Saka, who
really struggled against Hato. And Hato was poor.
So, you know, what does that say about Saka?
And the reason I'm highlighting the two of them
is because they're supposed to be the star players
for either side. And neither of them had a good
game. Yeah, I mean, just like Man City, I don't
think... Like, Arsenal played one of the best
teams in the league. We played badly and we still
won. I think Saka, what, this is like third or
fourth game back from injury. Oh, my God. No,
I'm not making an excuse. I'm just saying that
I think the level of other players... Not just
you, but every time Saka has a bad game, Arsenal
fans are like, he's just coming back from injury
or he's still carrying an injury. Because he
hardly has a bad game. Yeah, but when... That's
what I'm saying. When he does have a bad game,
there's always all these excuses. He literally
only has a bad game when something off the field
is pertinent to affecting his performance, like
he had an injury. But if you're injured and you're
carrying a knock, I don't think you should be
playing. Yeah, then you could blame the coach,
but I don't think that Saka's the one to blame
here. I'm not blaming him. I'm just pointing
out that in this game, him and Palmer... you
know opposing sides both didn't do enough yeah
yeah i agree in that specific game but i think
uh he's been good recently like when he came
back from injury i think he's facilitate a lot
of play the last couple of games even the ones
we drew he was our best player i guess the team
was less under underperforming alongside rice
obviously i'm just taking rice as nominally being
the best player in almost every game we play
now because that's what it is you know but uh
i mean i think the thing is like with palmer
you could make that You could ascertain that
as being a general trait of his. I don't think
with Saka you could say that because Saka has
probably had one or two spells in his career
where he's been out of form and hasn't affected
play. But I will say he really struggled to beat
his man in this game. And that man was Hato.
So then I want to say Timber scores. Did you
see that goal? Yeah. I just thought... sanchez
was way too weak on coming to claim the cross
yes so that's why tim has scored not i mean tim
has scored because he's good at head ring i mean
chelsea didn't prevent it because sanchez wasn't
strong enough or you know i mean in a lot of
games this in a lot of ways sorry this game showed
the the importance of how much difference a top
-class goalkeeper can have as opposed to an average
goalkeeper, you know? Because I would say Raya
won us the game in the end. I don't know about
that, but very soon after, Neto gets two yellow
cards in quick succession. Very, very poor mentality.
Very poor decision -making. He even forgot that
he got one. Bruh. This guy, it's... I was kind
of frustrated with Neto. Because at that moment,
it's 2 -1 to Arsenal. The game is still very
much in the balance. You can come back. You can
do something here, right? But going down to 10
men, I thought, okay, Neto, you've ruined the
game for your team. Because now we'll speak about
it. Just he didn't really ruin the game because
there were still chances on either side. But
yes, getting a red card unnecessarily, it's...
This is the ninth red card that Chelsea have
gotten this season in all competitions. I mean,
you can always say what would have happened if
they had stayed at 11. But then the other thing
I've noticed about Chelsea, which is probably
a mentality thing right now, is that they seem
to get better when they go down to 10 men. So
you can say that, oh, if he had stayed on the
pitch and they played that way, they might have
won the game. But sometimes they need something
to trigger them, to motivate them to play better.
I don't think they would have played that way.
If they hadn't gone down to 10 men, I think Arsenal
would have controlled the game until the very
end. Right. I'm just, in a general sense, if
a team goes one down, it's bad. That's what I'm
trying to point out. And Neto, it's not as if,
though, he made a bad challenge and tried to
pull out of it. It's two very cynical yellow
cards, because one for mouthing off to the ref,
one for blatant poor tackle on Martinelli, just
killing the counter -attack, which is... pure
yellow card if i've ever seen it i mean again
i mean and probably if we can critique anything
about this it's the it's that uh the amount of
red cards the discipline in chelsea squad probably
comes back to validating like buying into a lot
of players egos like i mean we've been speaking
about this for a long time before we started
the podcast but the transfer policy is just atrocious
it's like You can't sign players based on Twitter
hype. Sign all the best, best in inverted commas,
young players in the world. Expect to put them
all in the same team, give them crazy salaries,
and now they're all just like, I'm the main guy.
Who's going to be the main guy? Well, that's
actually, I'm going to disagree with you on one
point. They don't have crazy salaries. Bowley
gave them like, like Man United will give a crazy
salary, like 200k and up. These guys are like
on 150 and... No, but I'm saying these are teenagers,
though. These are not like early 20s. These are
not players who've proved anything. I mean, what
is Bino Gittins doing on 100k a week, honestly?
Sure, sure, sure. Okay. I thought the lap was
really awful. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Did you
see the quote from Todd Bowley this week? No,
I didn't. He said, my recruiting manager left
me. So it was up to me and I had no idea what
I was doing, but... If Man City wanted Cucurella,
then I wanted Cucurella. And that's why we bought
him. That's possibly the most hilarious transfer.
Because then what is the vision? Yeah, it's just
whoever wants somebody, that's mine now. Which
makes sense. Like, I mean, if you look in terms
of, if you consider probably that Thomas Tuchel
walked away as soon as he saw them coming in,
and he's one of the best minds in the game. So
he probably could see that. This board has no
understanding of football. The fact that they
made him take a hiatus to find himself in India
and stuff, it's a separate issue, but... I don't
remember that. What happened there? Thomas Tuchel,
when he quit the Chelsea job, he said he went
to a deep depression because he really got close
to the squad, and then he went to India, he was
meditating and stuff, found himself, came back
to the game. At Bayern Munich. I've never heard
this. But I think he saw how dizzy Todd Bowley
was and he's like, there's no way I'm working
under this guy. Yeah. Alright, anyway, back to
the match. I really thought De Lappe was awful.
We've spoken about this every time we cover Chelsea,
but I'm just like, hey, De Lappe is awful, right?
Which, that's not a new thought. I just think,
at Ipswich, he had a specific role. Be the bully.
But now when I'm seeing him at Chelsea, when
he comes up against really physical centre -backs,
he can't do anything. So what's the point of
you if your main thing... isn't working then
what do you have yeah again if if uh going back
if there's anything i'll give your curious credit
for now is that he's learning to use his physicality
and facilitate play a lot better so the lab should
be doing that if he can see that uh i think he
still has the mindset of someone who thinks he
can be the main player in chelsea though just
like he was at ipswich so it seems to be as if
he's more focused on give me the ball and I'll
finish it than like, oh, let me use my body to
facilitate play for the other attackers, which
is the way it should be, given that he's not
the best player at Chelsea, you know. Okay, cool.
The last thing I want to mention about this game
is that the crowd were way better. I mentioned
in previous games that, especially the Liverpool
game, the crowd went quiet and they were very
like agitated. But this game, they were really
behind Arsenal. They were chanting, they were
singing up until, you know, even if it was 1
-1 the crowd was still way behind them and like
I feel that's a big positive a positive but I'm
saying a thing that we as as you know watchers
from outside don't put enough stock in fully
appreciate yeah we don't appreciate that a player
that's feeling down they start singing your song
and suddenly you feel you know like way better
and more confident and you know I mean yeah it
just depends you know I've also heard Real Madrid
fans argue that the toxicity of their stadium
is what keeps the high standards up. Yeah, they
boo the players that are doing badly. So, I don't
know, to each their own. I haven't been in one
of these big... Though I would agree with you,
I don't agree with the Real Madrid approach.
I haven't been to one of these big European arenas,
so I haven't experienced it myself, so I can't
speak. But again, that's the Spanish approach,
and Spain in the modern... Context has dominated
the game. Cool. To each their own, like you said.
Okay, so I'm done with that. Do you have anything
you want to mention about Arsenal 2, Chelsea
1 before we end? Oh, I mean, if anything, I was
just a bit disappointed with Eze when he did
play because he played so well in the last game.
But I don't think it's anything personal. I think
it's just momentum thing. again i want to see
him on the left still i'd like i think he he
would be way better on the left he can afford
to make more mistakes and take more risks than
being centrally where if he loses the ball it's
directly against us you know so we don't like
i think we're still struggling on the left and
i just hope at some point as it gets played as
as the main choice at left wing at least till
the end of the season you know especially with
the amount of plague your curious is facilitating
now i think just having someone who could spring
off the back would simplify the game a lot but
hey we'll see all right so moving on we have
our miscellaneous section where i want to look
at the other premier league results but usually
we would have watched highlights of the game
unfortunately we watched the liverpool game i
did watch that but aside from that the rest i
didn't watch so we're in a bit of a time crunch
today so we didn't have time to watch the highlights
so we're just going to go through the results
and like just one minute you know, thoughts,
right? Wolves to Aston Villa, no. I mean, Wolves
have picked up form all too late. The great escape.
You don't think the great escape is going to
happen? It could happen, but I mean, they'd have
to win all nine games. It would be very... I
haven't done the maths, but it's probably...
Even then, if they win all nine games, it's still
very difficult for them. But I would hope. for
the sake of having some sort of narrative like
that. That would be hilarious. I'm not going
to lie to you. Just randomly against Arsenal
one day, they're like, hey, we should stay in
the Premier League. We should turn it on. And
then they win everything else. And then everyone
actually looks at Arsenal like, hey, you guys
got a point against Wolves. Fair enough. This
Wolves super team, you made it out alive. Yeah.
On the other hand, Aston Villa losing again.
I assume they're out of the title race. I hate
to say that. I told you this was good. They're
going to finish fifth or sixth. You actually
said they're not in a title race to begin with.
So, yeah, it's a shame for Aston Villa. Apparently,
Emery didn't shake hands again. He's always been
a sore loser, you know, even at Arsenal. That's
very poor. You know, I understand you, you're
a winner, you're competitive, blah, blah, blah,
but come on, man, you know, just have some professionalism,
have some sporting integrity. Yeah, I mean, I
think he also, a couple of seasons ago, I mean,
when he was at us, not a couple of seasons ago,
when we lost one of the games to Man United,
I think, and then he was just talking rubbish
about the way Solskjaer plays and stuff, which
also, I think he's always kind of been like that.
But again, he's someone who can turn you into
a Champions League level team. And then I think
if you want to go further, Aston Villa will have
to move on from him. Bournemouth won, Sunderland
won. Any thoughts? I mean, kind of what I expected
in this game, honestly. Both very unpredictable.
I thought Bournemouth would score more. I'm really
looking at them every week and I'm like, they
could score three goals. That's how chaotic and
so... you know, attacking they are. They could
end up 3 -3 every week. I mean, he's like, Iriola's
probably, like, I guess since Bielsa left, he's
taken that spot of, oh, we'll just go at everyone.
So 1 -1, a bit of a shock, but not a bad result
for either team, I don't think. Neither of them
are in relegation problem. Neither of them have,
like, bigger ambitions. I guess they might have,
but I'm saying for this season. It's just about
closing out the season for them, you know. Yeah,
so nothing really to be said there. Liverpool
5, West Ham 2. And I was really frustrated with
this performance, right? First things first,
three set -piece goals, which is... Were they
ethical set plays? Nope, not at all. You guys
are copying Arsenal. We're copying Arsenal. We're
putting a man in front of the goalkeeper and
then scoring. But to be honest, I know Slott
talks a lot of rubbish and stuff in your opinion,
which I agree with. The stuff you've highlighted
has been nonsensical from his part. But the one
thing I'd agree with him on is that the margins
in the Premier League are becoming so fine. I
don't think this is necessarily a theme that's
going to go away. I think the defending, the
athleticism of teams is so good. I think we're
going to see a lot of... games in the future
in the next decade that are that hinge on set
pieces which is probably not a good thing it's
going to start to resemble an american sport
but they should have never allowed the american
owners in now i don't have a problem with arsenal
winning the league right i have a problem with
arteta So if they got rid of Arteta and got a
new manager and won, I wouldn't complain. But
honestly, I think whoever's going to win the
league right now is going to have to win it the
same way. Well, let me repeat, right? I don't
have a problem with Arteta. Excuse me. I don't
have a problem with Arsenal. I do have a problem
with Arteta. Why is that? Because he's a defensive
manager. And I don't like having a defensive
manager win the league. Because what does that
say about our league? But again, I think it's
just... Like he's played attacking football two
seasons ago. And I liked it. I was, in fact,
I was like, yeah, Arsenal should win the league
when they were, they were like such a pleasure
to watch at a point. I don't know if it was like
three, four years ago. This is, yeah, in 22,
23 and 23, 24, both those seasons, we played
very openly. We attacked everyone, pressed high
every game. But I think it's not necessarily
like something that's come specifically from
Arteta. I mean, if you look just even at Luis
Enrique last season, And PS3 targeted a lot of
throw -ins, a lot of set plays. I think generally
it's the way the game's going. And the game is
becoming more direct. I think you guys in the
past, like obviously you have Pep Guardiola.
He kind of is on his own. He stands on his own
as like someone who's consistently able to evolutionize
the game. But a lot of the ways you guys were
able to keep up with them is concentrating on
the margins. I think you guys... were like more
focused on direct play. And a lot of that was
set plays. A lot of that was long balls. And
I think Arteta's list philosophizes that, if
that's a word. But he's put it into an ideology
where it's like, oh, okay, we might as well target
these things because these are the margins where
we can win games that are tight. And in the Premier
League... Right now, it seems like almost every
game is going to be on a knife's edge at some
point. Well, we're saying Arteta and Slott, but
the real people who should get credit is Nicholas
Jover and whoever the fuck Liverpool's new...
I mean, in a lot of ways, from what I understand,
this whole blueprint of playing can be traced
back to Brentford. Brentford were the team that,
like Thomas Frank, I think all their set -piece
coaches have gone everywhere now. So it's like,
I think something of... Which is why I expected
Thomas Frank to succeed at Tottenham, because
I see that a lot of his ideas are being used
and translated. Whether they were his ideas or
Jouvet's ideas when they worked together, who
knows? But those ideas were being, I guess, transmitted
in a successful way. So last thing I'll say about
this Liverpool game, conceding two... and scoring
three set pieces that's a bad sign to me uh we
should be i'm not against set pieces if you can
score set pieces why not what i dislike is when
all your attacking play is geared towards set
pieces instead of open play and if we get a set
piece then sure why not try score from there
i think like If there's anything that I think
will happen though in the positive realm is that
just like when football was like if you look
at the early 2000s when Mourinho, Rafa Benitez,
Vincente Del Bosque came along and were dominating
the game defensive football became like the archetype
that most coaches followed to get success and
then you'd maybe have a player like Wenger who
the game a coach like Wenger who the game passed
on where he was Considered the person playing
the most attractive football getting to that
state the next evolution will definitely be attacking
So I think if there's anything that that's positive
that will come out of this I think people fear
-mongering about the state of the game about
the state of individuals I think individuals
will get better because if defenses get more
resolute you're gonna need players to think more
you're gonna need more your malls and Pedris
I think your mall being a throwback in a lot
of sense or old -school Brazilian talent and
still being able to rise to the top of the game
right now. And Pedri being more like an Iniesta
or Xavi sort of player being able to get back
to the top of the game. I think those are the
sorts of players that will now come about more
and more because of defences being as good as
they are. Just a quick note on that. It is interesting
that a lot of international trophies are won
by strong defence and playing on the counter.
And Spain won the Euros with just attacking play.
Yeah, Spain have won all their trophies with
attacking play. But again, A lot of it goes down
to Guardiola. I think it's hard to understand.
I think we can't fully conceive of it because
we're living through it. It's like one of those
things when we look back in maybe 10 to 15 years,
we'll realize how truly impactful Guardiola was,
you know, and how some of the things he did,
not saying nobody can do them, but it requires
a very high degree of... talent for football,
for football philosophy, for developing systems
and understanding man management, being able
to, I guess, be a leader of people, a leader
of men. I don't think people have fully realized
how much of what Guardiola has done probably
is just never been done and might never be done
again. I don't want to say will never because
I'm always optimistic, but... Almost every season
he evolves his game, and I don't think that can
be said of any other coach in the history of,
at least as long as I've watched football, you
know. So let's move on to Newcastle 2, Everton
3. Any thoughts? I didn't watch much of this
game, but I think, yeah, again, Newcastle, what
do you say? Eddie Howell lives and dies by his
high press. It's easy enough to pick apart when
he's going full intensity. The same things you
said about Leeds, kind of. I guess they just
play with the back four. They go man -to -man.
They don't have any triggers. If you beat the
first line, it's kind of easy to play through
them a bit, you know. So I have literally nothing
to say. I don't even hear about this game, anything
about it. There's just one Newcastle fan I follow
that says Eddie Howe out. That's all I've seen
about it. But that guy doesn't seem to be very
knowledgeable about football. I follow him for
other reasons. I wouldn't say they should get
rid of Eddie Howe, though. I think that would
be... But I mean, he's been there for like, what,
three, four years now? Yeah, I mean, but at the
same time, it's like, what is he working with?
Like, I understand, like, I'm the one who's probably
more than anyone pointed out that he's a stubborn
coach who lives and dies by his high press. But
at the same time, you're getting all your players
sold. They're not signing the players you want.
It's hard to know whether he's working under
conditions that are the best for him in terms
of squad building, you know, in terms of what
he wants. You would think that the coach would
be involved with the squad planning, right? yeah
so I don't know maybe he's not making himself
heard enough or I don't know what the case is
but yeah it's it's a shame that it's come like
this because Eddie Howe is a very talented coach
yeah he is and I think I think it could still
be a thing of Newcastle if they lose him and
all the off the pitch issues get exposed more
than we know what's going on. It could end up
getting a lot worse for them, you know. All right.
Burn me three, Brentford four. I didn't watch
this game. I don't have much to say, but congratulations
to Brentford. So I didn't watch this either,
but it was on at the same time as the Liverpool
game and I was kind of checking on my phone.
Brentford were 3 -0 up at a point. Damn, they
got the win though. Yeah. So it was Burnley 3,
Brentford 4 and Burnley scored a stoppage time
equaliser and VAR overturned it. So a 4 -4 draw
would have been an instant Premier League classic.
I think both Burnley and Wolves have seemed to
pick up form all too late. Yeah, it's a shame.
Brighton 2, Nottingham Forest 1. Yeah, I mean,
I think... I saw the highlights of this game.
Good goal from Gibbs White. I think Brighton
also scored two crackers. Yeah, like, I don't
know. I think pretty much the same as the Bournemouth
game. I think both teams are just... Well, Nottingham
Forest, I think they're in the relegation battle,
yeah. But I think Brighton, you know, I think
they're just closing out their season now. Fulham
2, Spurs 1. Well, I mean... What do we say about
Tottenham? They're actually looking like they
might get relegated right now. I thought it was
kind of a joke. Like, oh, Spurs are getting relegated.
I looked at the table. They're like three points
off it, you know? Yeah, and I've been like watching,
like not watching the games, but I've been like
seeing the highlights, seeing the match stats
and shit. From what I realized, like in the last
couple of, like they got completely outplayed
by Fulham. They got, it's strange how they were
doing well in the Champions League, but I'm sure
Atletico is going to smash them. But it's just
the... I don't know. I wouldn't even, like, I
don't want Tottenham to get relegated, as I said.
You want your rivals there. But right now, it's
looking like they might be the most expensive
team to probably ever get relegated, right? Probably.
Man United 2, Crystal Palace 1. I mean, yeah,
I heard Man United got outplayed and snuck over
the line in the end. So not much to be said there.
I guess the same. qualms you were bringing up
with Carrick persist so we'll see I think for
them also just get to the end of the season it's
going to be hard to not give him the job I think
again he's going to definitely get them back
in the Champions League now it looks like so
It's still a battle. I think they still could
go on a bad runner form, but I think all of the
teams that are in the Champions League race are
not looking the best. So I expect them on the
balance of it to probably get over the line.
But I'm kind of agreeing with you on the fact
that I wouldn't give him the job personally,
but I don't see how he doesn't get the job with
the pressure on from the fans and the board just
being as emotional as they have been. So my cousin,
who's a Man United fan, sent me a message saying,
Title charge question mark. To which I said,
are you actually watching these games? Carrick,
he's been outplayed in every game. He's just
been getting good results by, you know, tenacity.
The quality of the individuals. Bruno Fernandes
has been sensational. Just playing players in
their proper positions. gives them like a big
bump up from what they were doing under amaram
secondly they have a lot of good players so beating
a crystal palace who got a red card is not you
know and who've lost their two best players yeah
If you actually watch... Well, three, because
Mateta's not even playing now, right? But they
have Strand Larsson, so it's not like... Losing,
like, an 8 out of 10 player and getting a 7 out
of 10 player is not the biggest. Maybe those
are too high, but... But, I mean, they lost...
You get my point. They lost... Well, I mean,
if you consider the last two seasons, they've
lost four players who probably... They lost Olisse.
Olisse, Eze, Gueye. And Mateta, who... And they're
going to lose Watton and they're going to lose
Munoz. Yeah, so it's, I mean, you know, nothing
that Man United should necessarily be saying
that, oh, but at the same time, it's like, you
know, you understand where they're coming from.
in in respects to results like they were losing
they lost 18 games last season so yeah i'm just
anything's an improvement right now i'm praying
to the lord actually i'm praying to sergium ratliff
please give him the job yeah it'll be good for
us hilarious dude like they went through it with
salsha and they're doing it again where like
interim comes in does an okay job gets a few
good results doesn't play well uh relies on individual
quality and then you know yeah hopes everything
else will fall into place yes so i think we're
done with that our last segment for today is
the round of 16 draw also i just like want one
or two minutes on each match even less if you
can because we kind of over time now we over
one hour so psg versus chelsea i mean you know
i think Like Chelsea, some people would say they
might have a psychological itch, but I think
PSG will get through it comfortably right now.
So all I've been hearing about PSG is that they
fucked up by selling Donnarumma to Man City.
Their replacement Chevalier has been benched
for the last three months in favor of their backup
keeper. So they've been having a lot of games
where the keeper has been... pretty poor but
did they up if he didn't want to stay i think
they didn't want to pay his wages or something
like that which is crazy if you're psg to be
like we do we can't afford these wages after
this one knew the champions yeah but whatever
the case is uh apparently they're in a bad position
uh chelsea i wouldn't say i'm the most commanding
position either So I think this will be a good
draw, a good fixture. So maybe like over the
two legs, like 4 -3 to PSG. I think PSG will
win it comfortably because I think they'll get
into a rhythm or form now. Okay, Newcastle versus
Barcelona. I think Barcelona are going to thrash
them. Newcastle are in a very bad place at the
moment. Barcelona are looking very good. So I
have to agree with you. At current moment, it
looks like probably 3 -0 Barcelona over the two
legs. Then we have Galatasaray versus Liverpool.
I'll let you do this one. So we caught a hiding
from Galatasaray a few months ago in the group
stages. So I'm not confident. But I will say
getting in this new set -piece coach that's...
We actually have seven set piece goals now this
season. Yeah, you guys have more than us this
season. And it only started like a few weeks
ago since that new person came in. So whoever
that person is, they're doing a very good job.
Good recruitment from the board. So, you know,
hopefully the increased threat from the set pieces
and the increased defensive awareness at set
pieces, defending set pieces, I think will go
a long way to helping. But yeah, maybe I think
we might squeak through. Not like 5 -0. Not uncomfortable,
but... Yeah, like 2 -1 maybe. Oh, yeah. Or like
a 4 -3. I feel like there's going to be a lot
of goals. Oh, yeah. I'll probably go with Liverpool
get through like 5 -3 or something. I was going
to say 2 -1 and we get a bullshit penalty that
Salah converts and we just get past them. All
right. Atletico Madrid versus Spurs. I think
Atletico are going to walk all over them, honestly.
Again, I haven't watched too much of Atletico
this season. I did watch them... against What,
in the Champions League, right? Yeah. Against,
was it Brugge? I don't know who they played,
but whatever. Oh, Brugge, yes, the qualifier.
Yeah, so I watched them last week, so that's
all I have. I don't have, like, you know, a full
season worth of opinions on them. But just the,
you know, in the, like, the fact that they're
generally a team that, right, like, I mean, obviously
they've struggled in finals against Real Madrid,
but they generally rise to this occasion in the
Champions League. They always, like, I think
in the last 10 years or so, So in the last 10
times they've qualified, I think seven times
they've made the quarterfinals. So I would expect
them to more or less be there again. So I think
they're going to destroy Tottenham. I think it's
not even going to be close. Real Madrid versus
Man City. The yearly tie at this point. Thoughts?
I think that's probably the closest one. Very
hard to predict. I think right now I'm favoring
Man City. I'm not... If you're basing it on which
team looks more threatening, which team is playing
the better football, it's Manchester City comfortably.
But we know Real Madrid in the Champions League
and we know them in the big games. So this one
I'm thinking could go all the way right to extra
time. It could swing either way. I'm favouring
Man City. I give them the edge. I'm basing this
totally on the playoff that Real Madrid went
through with Benfica. And I think City are going
to destroy them. They were so poor. Alba Loa
is out of his depth. Mbappe is just not doing
enough. And he was injured in one of those games.
I just think I agree with you to some extent.
analyzing it at the surface level but those Madrid
players in big games I think this is not Madrid
of like you know I'm talking more specifically
about Vinicius and Mbappe I think if Man City
give them the chances they've been giving other
teams I think they could also score three or
four comfortably we're just gonna have to disagree
on that I think City are gonna pump them 4 -0
maybe Bodo, Glimpfer, Sporting, Lisbon. I think
probably can't go anyway. This one's a tough
one. I think Bodo, like obviously they're riding
on a lot of momentum, high on confidence, but
something in me is saying Sporting is going to
get through. I mean, they're doing well in the
league. I think they're running away with the
league. No, Porto is running away with the league,
sorry. But I have a feeling Sporting will get
through. I don't know why. So I truly have no
opinion on this. I did watch Bodo Glimt in the
playoff, but I haven't seen one game of Sporting
this season, so I can't comment on this at all.
You know, may the best team win. That being said,
this looks like a very Europa League tie. And
I mean, at the end of the day, I'm thinking,
is this going to come down to both these teams?
want to sit deep. So who's going to take the
initiative and is that going to play into the
other team's hands or not? Atalanta versus Bayern
Munich. Oh, I would love Atalanta to turn them
over, but I don't see it happening. I think Bayern
will get through comfortably. I think Bayern
are a bunch of frauds and Atalanta are going
to expose them. But I think Bayern might make
it through by like one goal. I think they'll
edge it in the end. Like a 5 -4 or something.
Just make it through and then you'll see the
chinks in Bayern's armour. When they play? You
guys? I have no idea. They'll play you guys.
Okay, I'll just show you the graphic I'm looking
at. This isn't the road to the final. This is
just showing the fixtures. So I have no idea
who plays who next. Yeah, I think the road to
the final did have you guys coming up against
Bayern, I think, if you both get through. Okay,
well, I'm glad. I do not like Bayern. I think
Kompany is a very overrated manager. So you think
you guys can turn them over if it came about?
Man, this is the one team, I think. Bodo Glimt
will fuck us up. Bayern Munich on the other hand,
I'd love to get them. I'd love it. Yes, and then
our final match of the round, Bayer Leverkusen
versus Arsenal. I mean, I heard people saying
Ten Hag has a good record against Arsenal, but...
Oh, Ten Hag is not the coach of Leverkusen. Oh,
he's not anymore. He was sacked within like four
weeks. Oh yes, he was sacked within like very,
very early on. But I don't know why someone was
tweeting that last night though, so... But I
think Arsenal win comfortably though. I don't
see us having any problems navigating that tie.
Leverkusen have just lost too many players. Frampong,
Wurz, Puevels, I don't know. Those are just the
two. The only problem with Arsenal is that we
have the easy run. A team that has the easy run
usually doesn't win. Do you think perhaps complacency?
Like you think, oh, it's so easy. The thing is,
I think it would be easy and we'd get through
both those ties. And the nice thing after that
is that I think we'd play, for me, Barcelona
are the best team in the world. I think we'd
play them after that. So it's the ultimate test.
If we get through that, I'd have every confidence
that we can win it. But I expect us to fall at
the feet of Barcelona. Any other notes or anything
you want to say about, frankly, anything? No,
not really. I mean, I think we have some fixtures
coming up this week. Just looking forward to
those. Alright. Well, thank you for listening.
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