**Man Utd's mentality, why Spurs will be fine & Newcastle aura — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/man-utd-mentality-spurs-fine-newcastle-aura/

Analysis of Man Utd's mentality, Spurs' outlook, and Newcastle's transformation in the Premier League by Tifo Football.

## Key Takeaways

- Man Utd showed strong mentality to overcome early setbacks and secure a convincing win.
- Spurs face questions about their squad mentality and consistency this season.
- Newcastle's quick rise is attributed to effective management and a strong team aura.
- Traditional winger roles are making a comeback in Premier League tactics.
- Community interaction via Discord and Rondo enriches the podcast experience.

## What the video covers

- Manchester United secured a 5-2 win over Ipswich Town, highlighting their improved mentality and attacking prowess despite some vulnerabilities.
- Discussion on the impact of Bruno Fernandes' hat trick and the significance of United's first five-goal game since 2021.
- Examination of Spurs' current mentality and squad challenges, with uncertainty about their resilience this season.
- Insight into Newcastle's rapid transformation under new management and the positive aura surrounding the club.
- Analysis of Liverpool's tactical adjustments and the return of the traditional winger role in the Premier League.
- Consideration of Liam Dilap's potential to establish himself and grow at Nottingham Forest.
- Brief discussion on Manchester City vs Crystal Palace, including a historical fact about Crystal Palace.
- Engagement with the audience through Discord and Rondo segments, encouraging community participation.
- Exploration of controversial handball rules and their impact on game outcomes.
- Preview of upcoming podcast episodes and live streams covering major Premier League fixtures.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
2. 03:50 Community Engagement and Discord Mention
3. 08:07 Discussion on Handball Rule Controversy
4. 12:28 Manchester United vs Ipswich Town Analysis
5. 16:39 Spurs' Mentality and Squad Assessment
6. 20:35 Newcastle's Transformation and Aura
7. 25:05 Liverpool's Tactical Changes and Winger Role
8. 29:40 Liam Dilap and Nottingham Forest Prospects
9. 34:19 Manchester City vs Crystal Palace and Historical Note
10. 37:47 Upcoming Episodes and Podcast Wrap-up

Answers

## Questions about this video

What was the main reason behind Manchester United's win against Ipswich Town?

Manchester United's win was largely attributed to their strong mentality to overcome early setbacks, combined with a hat trick from Bruno Fernandes and effective attacking play.

Why is there uncertainty about Spurs' mentality this season?

The podcast discusses doubts regarding Spurs' squad mentality and consistency, suggesting that their resilience and ability to handle challenges remain unclear.

How has Newcastle United transformed recently according to the podcast?

Newcastle's transformation is credited to effective management under Matias Yisler, creating a positive team aura and rapid improvement in performance.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:03

Speaker A

Hello and welcome to the TFO Football Podcast. I'm Joe Divine, and today I'm delighted to be joined by Ruben Pinder.

00:12

Speaker A

Hello Joe. All right, buddy. How's it going? Very well, thank you. We've got Colin Miller here.

00:16

Speaker A

Hello Joe. Hello there. And we're joined by Tom Harris. Hello. Now, what did—oh, plus Steve Hank's here.

00:22

Speaker A

Hello. There he is. Now, what did we talk about on today's episode? Well, Manchester United overcame the Tractor Boys Ipswich Town to get their first points on the board. We try and contextualize this a bit a little bit, and we look at

00:36

Speaker A

what Ipswich can offer in the league this season. The Tigers did another morning. They came for tea again.

00:44

Speaker A

[laughter] There was a bear. There was a fair bit of talk about tigers in the middle. And did you know I went to a zoo the other day? Did I tell—did I tell everyone which zoo?

00:52

Speaker A

I went to Hartford Shazoo. I think you did this bit last week. Did I? Yeah.

00:56

Speaker A

Did they do the Hartford Shazoo? I think that was just a conversation. Just a conversation.

00:59

Speaker A

We didn't—we didn't commodify that particular—would you like to now? Yeah, why not?

01:03

Speaker A

It's a lovely zoo. I saw a tiger there. Were the tigers happy and now a small enclosure?

01:09

Speaker A

It was eating a large chunk of meat, and I saw—I was with a small child, and the small child said, "Oh, it's pulled a bone out of the meat." And I said, "Well, safety first." You know.

01:23

Speaker A

Anyway, Hartford Shazoo, lovely spot. There's a huge animatronic dinosaur area as well, and I squeezed myself—imagine this—I squeezed myself into a tiny children's train to go around, and I got sprayed by an animatronic dinosaur, so

01:38

Speaker A

everything was fine. Anyway, the tigers came to tea. That's right. Oh yes. But what was that beloved children's book metaphor for? That's going to be completely lost on many people, isn't it? Anyway, this took a

01:51

Speaker A

turn. We talked about Hull. Then we played a Rondo. Can Reuben achieve an untainted second victory this time around? Stick around for the Rondo to find out. Afterwards, we moved on to Spurs and mentality. Do they have any?

02:05

Speaker A

Unsure. Although we are sure that Julian Alvarez doesn't want to join Arsenal because he called Nico to tell him, [laughter] which is just such a funny thing to hear. Newcastle's transformation, that's happened very quickly, hasn't it?

02:20

Speaker A

Or at least we think so. Under the aura farming Matias Yisler. Ah, he looks like he gives good hugs, right, Steve?

02:26

Speaker A

Although he did a little chest banging, didn't he? Some lovely bit of chest banging. More transformation in the Premier League, this time at Liverpool with Antonio Areola. And we talk about the return of the traditional winger.

02:36

Speaker A

And then we speak about Liam Dilap. Can Liam Dilap establish roots and grow at Nottingham Forest? Right, Steve? Oh, that's—that one's bad. Steve, I was going to go for tricky, but no.

02:47

Speaker A

Tricky, tricky, tricky one. Everything I omitted from the Liam Dilap chat that I'll throw in now. Quite nice that, obviously, I mentioned his part in the goal or the move that led to the penalty. Nice that it came from a

03:00

Speaker A

throw-in, you know, right? Yeah, because it's like his dad, right? Yeah. No, I like that as well. And then we end on talking a little bit about Manchester City and Crystal Palace.

03:09

Speaker A

That game I learned a fun historical fact that Crystal Palace was a real palace.

03:14

Speaker A

Yeah. No, not a palace, but it was a real building that burned down. We read an article from a London Fire website. That bit's very good. Now, there we go.

03:23

Speaker A

We're back on Thursday as well. I'm joined by John, JJ, and JPB, all the Jays. There's Rondo analysis out on Saturday this week. On Sunday, we're live streaming again after Arsenal Chelsea. Oh, that's a big one, isn't it?

03:35

Speaker A

We've got Jack rejoining us for that episode on Sunday as well, so that will be good. And oh, by the way, if you're watching us on YouTube, please subscribe. And if you're listening to us on any other platform, please

03:49

Speaker A

subscribe and leave a comment. You know, anything else we could ask them to do?

03:53

Speaker A

Discord. Yeah. Oh, they can join the Discord if they want. I got—oh, I should have said I got the Rondo.

03:59

Speaker A

I got the Rondo today. I forgot to write down the name of the person. I got the Rondo today from the Discord. And that person was—oh yes, that was JSG26.

04:09

Speaker A

Thanks for your Rondo, JSG. [music] [music] Well, where else to begin, of course, than with Manchester United 5-2 Ipswich Town. A Bruno Fernandez hat trick helped turn this game into an ultimately comfortable win. Well, eventually for Man United after they

04:35

Speaker A

went behind in the first half. It was far from a perfect performance, I think it's worth saying, but it's the first time United have scored five goals in a game since 2021. How about that? Now, Michael Carrick said after the game, the

04:47

Speaker A

biggest thing today was the mentality of the boys to overcome setbacks. The mentality and the stubbornness really pleased me, which I think Reuben was probably very important given that they lost their opening game to Hull.

05:00

Speaker A

Although, as it transpires, Hull are going to win the league. Yeah, they were going to win—going to win the league. But maybe, you know, as we say, there were elements of this performance that

05:10

Speaker A

weren't great, but it was—it's, I think regardless, it's nice to have a 5-2 emphatic win after losing to Hull.

05:17

Speaker A

Yeah. I still have my concerns, but yeah, when Ipswich took the lead, you start to worry.

05:25

Speaker A

Or, you know, the opposite for many fans who quite enjoy Manchester United doing badly, but particularly because they hadn't really created any chances to that point, which was the same as the whole game.

05:34

Speaker A

Yeah. And they just looked really vulnerable, and then the momentum of the game seemed to be helped by that slightly weird Harry Maguire own goal handball decision, right?

05:43

Speaker A

But yeah, once they kind of settled, having even the scoring, they looked really good in moments, especially attacking big spaces as the profiles of attackers that they have really like to do.

05:57

Speaker A

And Bruno Fernandez, when he plays like that, they've always got a chance.

06:02

Speaker A

But it could have been very different had they not kind of arrested that, if they hadn't equalized so quickly and Ipswich had been able to have a 1-0 lead for a bit longer. You wonder how panic might

06:15

Speaker A

have set in. Because the performance against Hull was really, really poor.

06:20

Speaker A

But no, it was a good attacking performance in the end, like you say.

06:24

Speaker A

Well, this is also why I started with the quote about mentality, because you often hear footballers saying it doesn't matter how you score them, you just have to get some goals and then it helps reset you mentally. The reason I

06:35

Speaker A

started with that is because I thought they were incredibly fortunate for some of their goals. I mean, the first one we mentioned there, the one that helped them equalize so quickly, there was a very unfortunate defensive slip which

06:47

Speaker A

resulted in the opening. No, there was still a fair amount to do and it was a good goal, but that was what really ultimately created the opportunity.

06:54

Speaker A

And wasn't it really early on? Was it at nil-nil when Ennis ran through 1 v 1 and Lloris made that save? So, like, you know, fine margins.

07:02

Speaker A

There was that goal you mentioned already, which technically by the rules shouldn't be disallowed, but I think you can't find someone that doesn't think they should probably change that rule.

07:11

Speaker A

I don't know. It's one of those rules where every time they tweak the handball rule, it kind of sounds more logical on paper and then in practice it just outrages everybody. Do you think it's handball?

07:21

Speaker A

Yes. Okay. His arms are like on his chest. I think it's not handball, but I think if it's a goal immediately, then it's handball.

07:27

Speaker A

Wait, this is the worst rule in football, right? No, the goal's fine to stand by the rules. But the reason it's the worst rule is because whether it—

07:39

Speaker A

event. Now, [clears throat] that's insane, right? So instead of like if the player scores the goal, it's a hand ball. If he doesn't score the goal or if he passes and somebody else scores, it's not. Is that But isn't don't we want more common

07:52

Speaker A

sense? So like they've used that wording because they don't want somebody to um handle handle the ball and then immediately score having benefited from that hand ball. Right. But the and and this is like a um an annoying

08:07

Speaker A

implementation of that rule. But generally I think you can kind of I don't I don't want to see that goal disallowed really. But I think the wording of why it has stood obviously jars with people.

08:19

Speaker A

But I think I think the reason that that rule exists and it's bad is that a defender can just sort of clear it into somebody's hand and they can score straight away. Right. and that that is ruled out, but that's

08:30

Speaker A

as a result of the defender rather than the attacking player, right? But it's it's a V decision, right? Because it's V as in it's a black and white decision if that ball was either going in from Meguire or it's going wide and that's

08:41

Speaker A

ultimately how you you end up with the outcome. Now, I said it's the worst drill in football. I think it is based on the reasons in which it's in place. I think it's very helpful if you're a V

08:50

Speaker A

official or or the onfield referee who can sort of just lean on that. But I don't think that's that's necessarily a good way of determining justice. I don't I mean like handball will never will be. There'll always be a

09:01

Speaker A

bit of argument either way. But I think with that making it black and white based on something that happens after I just find that quite strange because when you when you say it's been given because Maguire's shot was bad

09:12

Speaker A

whereas if his shot was better it wouldn't have been given. That's when you start to think it feels ridiculous.

09:18

Speaker A

I think I'm not sure it was a shot. I think it might be. It's definitely a shot. Was it a shot?

09:22

Speaker A

Yeah, but it's just a terrible one. I think I think he's quite a big problem actually. You saw like we mentioned Eniso's run really early on that Lman saved that one v one.

09:32

Speaker A

With the midfield that United uh fielded uh Mayu and Tielemans both excellent players in their own right. the combination. It's not the most athletic uh double pivot pairing and that combined with I don't know how they've ended up another season with Meguire

09:47

Speaker A

starting at the back, but in a very in a much more endto- end transitional league having that lack of uh acceleration in those central areas leaves them really really vulnerable because like at Villa Tielemans was played a bit further forward and kind of

10:07

Speaker A

not not as um prolific with goals and assists, but kind of similar to like how Bruno Fernandez kind of plays with like a really solid base of normally it would be Anana and Kamar maybe behind him and now he's being asked to do um deeper

10:21

Speaker A

buildup stuff, but also is playing like you know when they lose the ball he's having to stop those those counterattacks and that wasn't what he had to do at Villa. Um, so while they've replaced Casemiro with a better passer

10:34

Speaker A

and and a faster, more athletic player somehow. Yes, it's a low bar. He's not as tall and strong, maybe.

10:39

Speaker A

It's a low bar, but he can he can still move more than Casemiro can.

10:43

Speaker A

He can, but he's still slow. Sure. Um, it's very weird though cuz he wears the same number as well. So when you watch it on TV at a distance, it looks like the same guy.

10:50

Speaker A

Um, but yeah, so those are my concerns with United despite the fact that yes, I'm sure the fans watching this episode are screaming, "But we won five." Well, indeed they did. I will say the other goal that I thought was a bit

11:01

Speaker A

fortunate was the fourth goal. It was Bruno Fernandez's Wii which was the result of like [laughter] two or three incredible deflections and it just fell to his feet. It was the kind of goal that would be scored against me in a video game, you know,

11:14

Speaker A

like that with that feeling of, oh, this is typical. And talking about a video game finish, the imbuo miss from the the Rashford cross, which you you have to watch it several times to sort of see how it

11:25

Speaker A

didn't go in. But look, I mean, I I think I think Ruben's concerns are right, but I think that team selection yesterday was sort of by design. Like there was no Andre Santos and there obviously Carlos Bleber is isn't fit yet and that

11:36

Speaker A

that'll change the dynamic. But I think I think with Michael Carrick especially, he's a from a tactical point of view, he I think he kind of like look at home switch, you know, we can take these risks and we'll still score goals, which

11:46

Speaker A

is obviously what happened. um the physicality issues are there, but I kind of want to go back to that quote you brought up about him bringing bring up the mentality and how players responded because I think that's quite important

11:56

Speaker A

to how his position is as Manchester United's coach, his temperament of he obviously went through a lot as a player. He understands what the club have gone through as a coach as well, but he always tones things down.

12:07

Speaker A

Certainly publicly, I think he'll he'll have a different message to the players after the whole defeat. But I I think he's he's very much a guy that will in press conferences when he's talking to the media, he'll be quite boring. He

12:17

Speaker A

won't generate any noise. He'll settle things down. He'll make sure that Manchester United don't get too high or too low off the back of any individual results. And even I think you know after that defeat at Hall Manchester United

12:28

Speaker A

were obviously very poor in that game. They looked like they just weren't weren't ready. They weren't conditioned well enough physically. But I think that his you look at the reaction in the media and it's and it was almost like

12:38

Speaker A

Manchester United are they in crisis kind of talk. Yeah. Whereas I think that's that's why he's so important because of the club that they are and the media that they generate. It's just very important for him to internally

12:48

Speaker A

dial that down a bit. And I think that's what he's done. And I think the players they've signed as well kind of speak to that. Like they're all relatively low profile players. I think in general in that context there's no there's no

12:59

Speaker A

superstars being signed. The transfer fees have been dialed in quite a bit by United too. So I think it's more a case of let's try to keep things levelheaded because there just hasn't been enough of that in fact any of it for quite a while

13:10

Speaker A

in United's recent history. I think that was out of everything which happened under Ruben Amarim that was maybe one of the biggest things that after any defeat he would come out with this quote that just seemed to make things so much

13:21

Speaker A

worse. I think from an external point of view like this is the worst thing that has ever happened.

13:26

Speaker A

Yeah. It's like you're you're the worst players. Am I the worst manager? They might be the worst players. Are you the worst fan?

13:31

Speaker A

I think I'm the worst manager. It's just that sort of stuff that sort of stuff is really damaging when you're Did you see that clip of Ruben Aarim in uh where was it? It was after United played Milan in preseason and he walked

13:43

Speaker A

past some United journalists who he's obviously like familiar with from his time there and he he was like, "Oh, your job must be a lot more boring now." He's like, "Yes, [laughter] and that's the point you're making, right? Carrick's

13:53

Speaker A

doing that intentionally." Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And I did say this other season that Yeah. Manchester United will probably be better in European competition this year because the type of team they'll be playing will leave that space as Ruben

14:06

Speaker A

mentioned and I think if you give Manchester United space and time to to play into and to play vertically they're probably one of the best teams in Europe right if you don't give them that space they've gone they've

14:17

Speaker A

what Burma was so good at at Brenford so he's he's a big space player Rashford's kind of suits that more as well well I mean I was going to ask I was going to ask you Tom um because

14:26

Speaker A

something we talked after the whole game was the question of whether or not Man United have been quote found out. You know, Michael Carrick had the benefit of recovering from everything that you know was happening under Amarim last season,

14:39

Speaker A

but also unshackling Man United in an attacking sense a little bit and catching teams by surprise. They obviously performed very well and then there was a long summer where Premier League coaches were able to spend a little bit more time looking at Man

14:50

Speaker A

United and seeing what they were doing. Uh John John suggested obviously it's far too early from last week to say whether this is just the case or not with Hull but based on the way that Hull played against Manchester United there

15:01

Speaker A

there was that question have they been found out a little bit. Did you see anything from the IPS switch game which which made you think the same or you know can we can we learn anything about Man United's chances for the rest of the

15:12

Speaker A

season from this game? Yeah. Yes and no. I I think with with the whole game you know there is a blueprint there. If you want to kind of frustrate Manchester United, you can sit deep. You can squeeze a space in between

15:22

Speaker A

the lines. You won't allow Fernandez to get on the ball. You were stopping Burma from making those runs. All of those things, fine. But I think in the Premier League, not a lot of teams are going to want to do that. Um, and I think

15:34

Speaker A

someone's just hammering. I think it's a Man United fan. They're saying, "Stop, stop telling them about the plan." Anyway, they've stopped now, Tom.

15:42

Speaker A

Stopped. Okay. [laughter] Yeah. Not a lot of teams in the Premier League going to want to do that. And I think IPSWitch are a good example, right? Because if you look at how they recruited in the summer, they bought

15:51

Speaker A

players in to be able to play this kind of snappy aggressive out of possession shape. They they kind of were in a bit of the mid block. They were looking to press high. They got midfielders in Luc and Florentino Luis who was who was on

16:04

Speaker A

the bench today. Marcelino Nunez was very energetic as well. The two wingers, I think you've got Ma who was up and down, very snappy. Uh Fatawu had that moment where he got away for the opening goal. Enciso moments of magic. Even

16:17

Speaker A

right at the end he he was the one who nipped in and kind of won the ball for the second goal.

16:21

Speaker A

Emerson can run the channels. So they've got players and they've built a team to kind of survive in that more kind of end to end frenetic game. And even though they did have the opportunity to go to Old Trafford and maybe sit back a little

16:31

Speaker A

bit, they didn't want to do that. I think they wanted to prove that they can, you know, they can compete. And I think to be fair that first half it was a statement from itswitch. I think a lot

16:39

Speaker A

of people would have come away from that thinking maybe they're a bit better than we thought, you know, we maybe give them credit for. So, I can understand why O'Neal did that. But then I think it started to unravel a little bit and

16:49

Speaker A

maybe they should have retreated a little bit after that. Then it unraveled a lot.

16:52

Speaker A

It unraveled a lot. It really did. I think the rain kind of really added to that kind of feeling of catastrophe. But yeah, it's it's one of those where United are in this position where they can, you know, most teams aren't going

17:02

Speaker A

to want to see the initiative in the Premier League. So, they can they can make the most of that, I think.

17:07

Speaker A

Yeah. Um so yeah um play like hull but who's going to want to do that really weekend 28% I think Chelsea on the bas I I think there's also one of those score lines one of maybe many so far in

17:23

Speaker A

the Premier League that disguise a deeper truth about the game. There we go. Now, the one of those deeper truths, uh, although it's not that deep, uh, is that Yeti, who you mentioned, uh, absolutely, uh, skinned Luke Shaw for

17:35

Speaker A

that first toast, had him on toast. And I thought everything about I I felt a bit sorry for Luke Shaw in that moment.

17:41

Speaker A

And I thought everything about that move reminded me of that thing that Gary Neville said just before he retired, which was, do you remember who was skinning Gary Neville in that game when it was? It was, was it January 2011?

17:53

Speaker A

Jerome Thomas. Jerome West Brom. There you go. Well, maybe so maybe not and not to uh to criticize [laughter] but maybe this is a similar moment you know will people remember it wasn't like it's Cristiano Ronaldo or something it's

18:05

Speaker A

like but I don't know I felt as though Fatawa was able to create separation from him far too easily and then Luke Shaw I think a bit of poor decision-m to then get dragged back in in the way that

18:16

Speaker A

he did at the speed that he did and then immediately beaten again which is like here's a physical mismatch too. I feel like everything went wrong and we know that they were interested in looking for left backs earlier in the window. We we

18:28

Speaker A

saw that there were reports linking them to Lewis Hall. Do they need to sign a left back before the window closes?

18:33

Speaker A

Yeah, I mean they have a couple of right-footed fullbacks who can play there, but I always when you have a an inverted winger ahead of them, I always think that kind of um can make your attacking shape too narrow and is can be

18:47

Speaker A

quite unhelpful. Um, it's not really, we should say it's not a slight on Shaw.

18:51

Speaker A

Like I I think it's unsurprising that he is at this level now given I don't think anyone would have expected Shaw and Rashford to be the left sideed.

18:59

Speaker A

It reminded me I realized this yesterday when I saw them like linking up on the left wing together. That that left side would have started for United exactly 10 years ago under Jose and even maybe the season before that.

19:11

Speaker A

Um although that was when Shaw was injured but you know same whatever. Uh so yes, I think they do need a left back. Um I don't know who that will be because um Yisticler had to was like kind of put on the spot by Peter

19:24

Speaker A

Schmeichel in some post game or touchline yeah interview and uh Schmeichel mentioned the the Lewis Hall link. So then Ya had to kind of laugh and say no chance. So now Newcastle can't sell him because they make their manager look stupid if they

19:37

Speaker A

do. Yeah. I don't know. Does anyone else think that they definitely need one? Definitely don't need one. They'll be fine overreacting.

19:43

Speaker A

I think that they will bring one in. Um, but it might be like a loan deal situation or or a player who's more of a prospect to provide a bit of backup. I think I think it is interesting you

19:54

Speaker A

mentioned the Rashford stuff because they obviously do have a chemistry those two players um in an attacking sense in a defensive sense. I think they are exposed quite a bit.

20:01

Speaker A

They've also got chemistry in a defensive sense to not do it. Not not the right one to guess.

20:06

Speaker A

But I think yeah, I mean I I think for a fullback you do need defensive support sometimes from the players that are ahead of you. And I don't think Luke Shaw got that a lot against Switch. And I think that would be an issue. I mean,

20:16

Speaker A

we've we've mentioned United's physicality, maybe Luke Shaw's physicality as well. You're not you don't want him on one-on ones quite a lot. I have seen the the Barcelona left back Alejandro Valde mentioned as as a potential loan deal. I I don't know if

20:28

Speaker A

that's going to happen. Has he fallen out of favor at Barca? I I think there's I think there's kind of like an understanding, isn't there, that he um that he might not get the first 10 minutes that he wants for them now?

20:38

Speaker A

And he he also and and Bald had quite a good relationship with Marcus Rashford at Barcelona obviously last year. So, I think that that could make sense. Um, but yeah, it's um he he sort of he's sort of a guy that could be fine for

20:51

Speaker A

Barcelona in La Liga, but maybe in Champions League they they do rotate a little bit as well.

20:56

Speaker A

Like Nelson when he was at Barcelona. Exactly. Is it Canelo who's starting? Can Espart I believe started the season a little bit but he can sort of play everywhere.

21:08

Speaker A

Barcelona's players especially under Hansy Flick they they tend to to move them about quite a lot of position.

21:12

Speaker A

Feels like Barcelona signal cano every single [laughter] I don't think so major I mean at the World Cup remember when he kind of played left back for Morocco and turned into this unbelievable defender I think he was making kind of 10 plus clearances

21:26

Speaker A

per game some big tackles whether he's a kind of temporary solution I'm not sure um he's also someone lacking physicality though I would say at this stage of his career it seemed like he might leave in the summer as well and then

21:36

Speaker A

didn't so they should sign a left footed left back they should sign a left- footed left back. Okay, there we a little bit uh a little bit precient there throwing forward to our conversation about same-sided wingers that we'll come to

21:49

Speaker A

later. Before we do that though, uh let's talk about uh well, not specifically about Coventry nil one hull, but Colin, you wanted to talk about Hull uh because there's been, as we've seen here, there's been a second mauling in the Premier League, a vicious

22:03

Speaker A

mauling, and this time Frank Lampard got it, you know, and Hull City are second in the pre. No, it's a lovely story so far, isn't it? And I I mean to patronize them when I say it that way. It's a

22:13

Speaker A

lovely story, [laughter] but you think it's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Um in terms of tiger conservation stories, it is [laughter] it's probably it's probably right up there.

22:23

Speaker A

Can they be conserved for another year in the Premier League? Tigers. Yeah. They've earned their stripes.

22:30

Speaker A

Something like that. That's good. Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Don't pull their tail because of the children's book. You know that one? No, but seriously, they did get mowled by Come to the tea party with the tiger.

22:41

Speaker A

Anyway, you have to talk to us. It is one of the better children's books. Um certainly certainly in my upbringing, it was it was inspirational, but my mom hated that story when I was a kid, but we had it on a cassette in the

22:51

Speaker A

car. The tiger that came to tea. Yeah, I think she hated the narration or something. I can't remember why.

22:55

Speaker A

The the ending kind of made it all fall apart a little bit. It could have been brought together a little bit nicer.

22:59

Speaker A

What happens at the end? I think they just they just go out for tea as a family.

23:02

Speaker A

Do they kill the tiger? Is it is the what's the tiger a metaphor for in the story? Is it I don't know. I'm just It's usually a good somebody say something. It was a metaphor for likeism or something.

23:12

Speaker A

[laughter] The tiger that came to tea tiger metaphor. Okay. Uh now of course I should tell you that this is the Google AI you know for the carat.

23:23

Speaker A

Uh while author Judith Kerr maintained that the tiger who came to tea is simply a silly bedtime story about a hungry animal. Literary critics and readers have proposed slashdecided I'm saying several striking metaphors. Now here's one [laughter] [snorts]

23:44

Speaker A

that happened uh quicker than usual. [laughter] Wow. Something got cut. [laughter] Something was cut there. Anyway, it was about what's next. Oh yes. Hull. [laughter] We didn't even start talking about Hull because of the T because of the tiger

24:05

Speaker A

mauling. Now that's right. Um, tell us about Tell [laughter] us about Hull. Conor Connor. GOD DAMN IT.

24:14

Speaker A

[laughter] Keep getting his name wrong. I've known [snorts] you for years. All right, let's do this again. Let's do this again.

24:21

Speaker A

Something was cut there. Uh, we didn't even start talking about Hull yet. [laughter] Colin, tell us about tell us about um this Tiger Mauling.

24:32

Speaker A

Yeah, so H City made have made a strong start to the season, Jim. They've won their first two games, but most notably, they've done it by keeping two clean sheets.

24:39

Speaker A

Yeah. No goals conceded. No goals conceded. Zero. And when you look at that number last year, uh Co City conceded 66 goals in the Championship season. Now, that was the 20th uh worst defense in the Championship. But what's even more

24:52

Speaker A

striking is that their xG against was much worse. Really? It should have been like 81 82 which was the second from worst defense in the championship by chances conceded.

25:02

Speaker A

And so this is given that they still got promoted they must have had remember how they got promoted.

25:07

Speaker A

How did they get promoted? To do with the Southampton. Oh yeah, that was Hull. I forgot about that.

25:11

Speaker A

They benefited from that. Right. Yeah. So they um so they thought well we are probably you know we probably do need to tighten it up at the back. They actually did this during the playoff final against Middlesbrough which they they

25:21

Speaker A

also won with a clean sheet was that they moved to a back five and it was assumed that that was going to be like a kind of oneoff. This is to get a promotion and then we're going to you

25:30

Speaker A

sort of revisit things in the season and during preseason they went back to a back four.

25:34

Speaker A

Yeah. Which kind of threw Manchester United off because after Manchester United got beat by Hall. Bruno Fernandez came out after the match. We just weren't expecting them to to set up like this because they'd played with back four all

25:44

Speaker A

all summer and we just weren't ready for it. They didn't get the time and space that they thought they would get on the ball. Man United were completely thrown.

25:49

Speaker A

I think that played into that opening day defeat quite a lot and they didn't react to that of course, but Hull had that game plan and they were they were so so ruthless with it, right? Like they were they were so dogmatic with their

26:00

Speaker A

approach to the United game and with the Coventry game too that you sort of think Coventry a fellow promoted side. It's a different dynamic. You're not going to have the same maybe intensity that you would have for that opening day that

26:11

Speaker A

first game back. You're playing one of the best teams in the league. This is more of a these are the games that are going to determine whether Hall stay up or not. The games against teams who are also promoted or who might be battling

26:20

Speaker A

against relegation, but they had exactly the same setup. They went with the back five and they didn't really concede very many big chances. I think um I think the sort of the stats against them were similar to the United game and that there was

26:30

Speaker A

they gave up a lot of possession. They gave up a lot of half chances, but because of that that defense they had and their unwillingness to move out at all, it just didn't allow Coventry any space. Now I think I think Coventry are

26:42

Speaker A

an interesting opposition in this case cuz obviously they are a better team in the sense that they won the league last year. They've obviously invested quite heavily too albeit maybe they've got more to bring in but Frank Lampard maybe

26:53

Speaker A

the criticism that he would have had. Is it this is all well and good playing the way Coventry did in the championship but when you get promotion do you need to then adapt because you're not the protagonist in games anymore. You're

27:04

Speaker A

always going to be the underdog or you will be in 90 95% of your matches. That is why I think teams that come up through the playoffs have tended I don't know if the uh numbers back this up. I'm

27:14

Speaker A

sure Duncan could tell us but anecdotally teams who come up through the playoffs I find tend to be better at adapting to Premier League football.

27:22

Speaker A

That's interesting. Um than the ones that uh piss the league like you know when Norris used to come up every season playing lovely passing football and then just come bottom. Yeah, Palace came up in like sixth, scraped into the playoffs, played the most

27:35

Speaker A

horrible football to watch for that first season, and then grew from there. That's I think that's an interesting point. And also, I love the way you spat Duncan's name out the side of your mouth. You know, [laughter] Duncan.

27:44

Speaker A

No, I love Duncan. [snorts] Duncan Alexander. No, we love Duncan. No, I know. I just I just like the way Tom's boss boss.

27:52

Speaker A

That's true. He's your line manager, right? He is. Duncan Dun. [laughter] Anyway, that is classic Lampard, though, isn't it? Good in the Championship, bad in the Premier League. Uh, I think so. I think I think there's an element that I think

28:02

Speaker A

I think with Frank Lampard, I don't want to talk too much about Coventry as this conversation about Hull, but Frank Lampard is a very very good coach and a very good a very good manager at getting the club together, right? And getting

28:11

Speaker A

that sort of feelgood spirit, but when the going's good, he's great. I think that when that dynamic changes a little bit, then there's questions. But I think for Hull, what this is why it's so interesting because they've literally

28:21

Speaker A

just completely changed their setup and the way they play because they're in the Premier League. They've just done a complete like what leads did last year. Yeah.

28:29

Speaker A

Yeah. I think so. I I think this is I think this is possibly more striking in the sense that this feels more dogmatic.

28:34

Speaker A

This feels more, you know, we have total humility in these games and we're just going to we're going to set up like this and it's up to you to break us down. Again, their goal was a counterattacking goal in this

28:43

Speaker A

game rather than a set piece, but that's obviously going to be the sort of template that they're going to have this season. Louis Coyle and Ryan Giles who um or Giles sort of I should say um have been two players who pretty much spent

28:54

Speaker A

their entire career in the NFL in the championship. I think Jileles had had a bit of with Luton in the Premier League a couple of years ago, but they offer so much energy and they're perfect for that wing back system. It is a wing back

29:05

Speaker A

system, but they they play slightly deeper, I think. But those roles are so important when you're playing that formation. Obviously, Ollie McBurnernney, again, not somebody who you associate as being a sort of natural Premier League level player, but he can

29:16

Speaker A

do it. But, but that role of just running a lot and making making players uncomfortable, of being a total dick, right? It's perfect. just constantly complaining to the referee, right? That that energy is actually those are the unseen things

29:31

Speaker A

that you can't really measure through like data is actually quite importantly underrate his quality as a footballer, don't they? Because of all the kind of like aggression that comes with it or associate kind of assume that he's just a bit of a clogger, but like

29:45

Speaker A

in the United game, I didn't watch the um commentary at Hull, but in the United game, he had some really nice dribbles and um was just constant nuisance, wasn't he?

29:53

Speaker A

have also spent fairly big on some new defenders, right? Like Nobel Mendy was like 20 minutes.

29:58

Speaker A

Yeah. So, he he was a club record signing at the time and he was a club record seal for Ry Vico. Um and this is proving to be a lovely segue into the Rondo by But [laughter] you got you got my interest. But they I

30:12

Speaker A

mean he was um he was excellent against United, but he again he was he was brought in. He made mistakes last year.

30:18

Speaker A

He got sent off twice. He's quite a raw defender. But when you're in a back three, those kind of that kind of rawness can be covered because you've always got players around you. It's just about closing space and blocking shots.

30:27

Speaker A

And Holler are very very good at that. Look, the one caveat to all this is that I think now opposition teams are going to get wise to this sooner rather than later. They're going to figure out, you know, we need to find a way around this

30:38

Speaker A

where we know what they're going to do. Is this going to be inflexible? And it could fall apart from there. But look, let's not play this down. Everyone everyone saying, "Oh, we're going to get relegated. We're going to finish bottom.

30:48

Speaker A

They've won two games. That's as many as Southampton did a couple of years ago and they still got 36 games to go.

30:53

Speaker A

They're one short of Sheffield United from the season before that. So teams can come up and just really struggle and they're not. So I think that's important.

30:59

Speaker A

Yeah, I think Colin mentioned it, but they are a fascinating kind of data case study as well because they have massively overperformed at each end since the start of last season. So if you look at the expected goal numbers,

31:10

Speaker A

uh the quality of chances they've conceded, they've been expected to concede around 85.6 goals. So 86 goals, they've only conceded 66. So that's an overperformance of nearly 20 which is almost double the overperformance of any team in that in that time. So obviously

31:24

Speaker A

that's good goalkeeping. Solakis I think is seems to be another good signing in the goalkeeper. He was pretty good against commentary.

31:29

Speaker A

It's divine intervention presumably as well. [laughter] And then going the other way as well.

31:33

Speaker A

I'm not talking about myself just to be clear although I could intervene if I wanted to.

31:38

Speaker A

But going the other way as well they've um they've scored around 10 goals more than expected. So they're finishing really well going the other way. So, it's a case of yeah, they're uh, you know, they're in a kind of hot streak at

31:49

Speaker A

the moment. It's how they got into the Premier League. That's how they started in the Premier League, but then how long can it actually go on for? [snorts] Either that or they've got a really a deep um [laughter]

32:01

Speaker A

the word I'm trying what's the what's the word I'm trying to find here? Is Oh, yes. Either that or they've got a a large stock of Felix Felicus. You know what I'm saying? Potter Potterheads out there. Hey, pots. any other pop any pop

32:14

Speaker A

like a lucky spell thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, uh that's the end of the uh the first bit there. Let's have a break now and when we come back we'll play Rondo.

32:27

Speaker A

Yes. [screaming] What a delightful break. Oh, I should have said before the break though. I should have said before I was going to make an excellent point about Hull. I'll make it so quickly.

32:35

Speaker A

Watch this. Now they've got Villa coming up. Chelsea, Newcastle, Everton, Fulham, Brenford. They're going to play all the other Premier League teams, just FYI, [snorts] twice.

32:45

Speaker A

Throwing forward to to to a future part of this show, we're going to talk about Newcastle a little bit later. And something I think interesting about that team is uh or how well they've played so far against the specific type of

32:56

Speaker A

opposition that they've played. Uh you know, whereas when they come up against maybe teams who are a little smaller than them, maybe they'll have to play differently. The nice thing about being Hull is that it's only ever one way,

33:06

Speaker A

isn't it? They play against Coventry, another promoted team, who are a bigger, better team than they are. So, I like the notion that you can just Yeah, you could just approach it in exactly the same way every time. No need to change

33:16

Speaker A

anything up. Now, [snorts] let's play a Rondo. Here we go. I've I've sort of mentioned already, I've broken the silence over today's Rondo already. What I'm looking for in today's Rondo is as follows. I'm looking for each Premier

33:29

Speaker A

League team's record signing. Each Premier League team's record signing. We should say sorry to before they get going we should say at some point on the show we have on Discord and elsewhere about the last Rondo of these type of

33:41

Speaker A

shows. Oh yeah it's a good point. It's a good point Steve because what happened wasn't it what happened was that Reuben the baby boy Pinda who and I'll revive his nickname just for today because he acted like a baby last

33:53

Speaker A

week didn't he [laughter] like a big baby. We had we had Jack on a debutant Jack and I forgot it's my fault too.

34:00

Speaker A

I'll put my hands up. I forgot to give Jack his debut tons grace. When the referee gives you a penalty that you think is soft, do you complain? No.

34:07

Speaker A

When the referee gives you hay, do you you make hay? Is [laughter] that is that how hay works?

34:12

Speaker A

When the referee gives you sunshine, you make Anyway, Reuben Reuben revealed over lunch afterwards that he did notice, but he seized the victory anyway.

34:20

Speaker A

You know what? Do you know why though? Because I would I would have said, "No, no, you get a David Thomas Grace." But I had instinctively already said the correct answer for the team that he was looking for. So,

34:29

Speaker A

sure. You know, so even more even more cynical seasoning, I would say on that on that basis. I'd already given him the answer, so therefore I stole it back.

34:36

Speaker A

Anyway, of course that's rescended. Of course it is. Ka's been crying all week about it, saying, "I'm the only one who's won two Rondos. You've got your chance today. There's no debits here." Okay, you can strike with no fear,

34:48

Speaker A

Reuben. Okay, I'm less confident on this subject. As you're thinking about it, each Premier League team's record signing, I'll remind the audience that here's how the Rondo works. I ask that question, we go around in a circle, we get correct

34:58

Speaker A

answers. If I get incorrect answers, the answerer is ejected from a rondo. If I hear an answer that's already been given, which is a huge problem in these parts, active listening. Okay, that person is also ejected. And the final

35:13

Speaker A

person standing is named Rondo Del Rey. Now, let's begin with you, Colin. Alexander Isac at Liverpool.

35:23

Speaker A

Well, Alexander Ezak at Liverpool obviously is a correct answer, and I like the way that you frame that. I would like club as well as player. Okay, Tom.

35:31

Speaker A

Yeah, this is tough. Um, I'll go Elliot Anderson, Manchester City. Elliot Anderson for Manchester City is the correct answer. Of course, €135 million euros I've got here.

35:40

Speaker A

I was genuinely trying to think of who's who theirs would be and his name did not end. [laughter] Reuben. Now, normally you're very, very good at least you've got Palace in here.

35:50

Speaker A

Yeah, I know that one. Um, I'm [clears throat] going to save it though. Morgan Rogers at Chelsea.

35:56

Speaker A

Yeah, that's a good one. Morgan €138 million. I think he might be the biggest name on the list. He is. Yeah. Okay.

36:03

Speaker A

Colin, I think I know the Palace one. Steal it. Thieve it from underneath him.

36:08

Speaker A

I I'm 90% sure I don't want to get it wrong, but I'm going to go for it because of Reuben's antics last week. I think I I [laughter] use it up. Is it Jorgen Strand?

36:19

Speaker A

Yeah. 49.7 million. Well done. You took his legs out from under him. Lovely job.

36:25

Speaker A

What are you You're on the internet there. What are you doing on the internet?

36:27

Speaker A

Looking at a list of Premier League teams. Is that okay? I don't know that that's allowed. I think that's any information. I think I don't I think that's very God. This guy really wants to cheat.

36:37

Speaker A

It's not cheating to look at a list. It is cheating to look at anything.

36:41

Speaker A

Anything. Okay. Well, I've closed my laptop now. Okay, Tom. Oh, for this team, I'm stuck between two, but I think Sandra Tali is Tottenham's record signing.

36:50

Speaker A

That is true. Sandra Tali is Tottenham's. Also, something I only noticed today. Tottenham now the final alphabetical team in the Premier League because all the W teams are gone.

36:59

Speaker A

Yeah, we need to we need to get that back. We got to get some W teams back up for sure. Okay, Ruben, over to you.

37:04

Speaker A

God, you can't even think of any Premier League teams. Declan Rice. There you go. That that that that was a good one. That was a good one. Okay, Colin.

37:14

Speaker A

Uh this has gone back quite a bit, but Paul Pogb Manchester United. Yeah, one of the older ones on the list.

37:18

Speaker A

Paul Pog 105 million euros. Correct. 10 10 years ago that weird that they haven't. Anyway, hopefully I was listening to Colin. Is it Nobel Meny at Whole City?

37:28

Speaker A

Noel Meny. There you go. I'm surprised you didn't start with the Whole City one.

37:32

Speaker A

Yeah, I I thought maybe they they'd resigned since then. I knew a month ago.

37:35

Speaker A

No, no, it was true. Thank [laughter] you Ruben. Liam Dap at Nottingham Forest. Yes, Liam Dap is the new Nottingham Forest signing. 52.5 million euros record signing. Money well spent Colin.

37:50

Speaker A

[sighs and gasps] Oh, it's getting hard. It's getting hard now. I think uh Sangaria Brenford Madi Sangari is the record signing. 48 million. Well done. Now quite a lot of them have have obviously been from from this summer as well. So that's good.

38:06

Speaker A

Tom, yeah, I'm in trouble now. Um would you like a clue? If if that's allowed.

38:12

Speaker A

You know all of these teams and players. How did I fall for that? Um, every every week. [laughter] Oh, I'm going to have to go for one I'm not sure of now. I will go for Sunderland and I will go for

38:26

Speaker A

Enzo Lefay. It's not Enzo Lefay. It's Oh, no. I'm not supposed to say who it is. I'm not supposed to say who it is. Okay, I won't say. But I'm sorry, Tom. You're out of the rondo. Right, Ruben, over to you.

38:38

Speaker A

Just trying to mentally go through the teams that we've done because I have been actively listening.

38:43

Speaker A

Yeah. Well, there are 10 teams remaining, I can tell you. Okay, you've been through half of them.

38:47

Speaker A

Yep. Um Oh, he's not making enough noises. Can I have Mhm. at Newcastle United?

39:01

Speaker A

Yes. Is it Nico Gonzalez? No, it's not. I literally went for the most recent guy I could think of.

39:10

Speaker A

It's not. You're out. Oh god. Am I going to kick myself when I Yeah, probably. Yeah. Uh, okay. Colin, if you can get this correct, you will be named Rondo Del Rey.

39:22

Speaker A

I'm not 100% sure anymore. Okay, I'm going to go to Aston Villa. Yeah, I think it might be Nicholas Jackson.

39:32

Speaker A

Has that happened? Yes, it has, hasn't it? I mean, well, has it happened? How's that? How's that news desk?

39:40

Speaker A

According to transfer marked, it had not happened at the time when I looked at their record signings cuz I remember that fee being 65 million.

39:49

Speaker A

Yeah, he sign he has signed. He has. Okay. Okay. In which case transfer Mark simply for for whatever reason has not updated. I had here Johan Manzambi for60 million but but Nicholas was 65 million. Yeah. Okay. In which

40:02

Speaker A

case congratulations Colin. Uh is that higher or lower than 60 million? Do the conversion. £65 million. It's definitely higher.

40:09

Speaker A

Oh yeah, sorry. [laughter] I'm clutching this drawer. As a man who frequently goes to away days in Europe, I would expect you to know that by now. But anyway, now let's clap for Colin. Yes. Well done, Colin.

40:19

Speaker A

Well done. Second win for Colin of the season. A second win. A second Rondo win.

40:24

Speaker A

It's a second win for now. More than Reuben. Look at that. Two out of two out of two.

40:28

Speaker A

Two out of two as well. Very impressive. Kai's lost some that he's been on. So that I would say that means you're currently leading in the leaderboard.

40:34

Speaker A

How about that? Now, the Sunderland player that you could you could have had was Hhabib Diara.

40:39

Speaker A

I never would have got that. €31 million. The Newcastle player was Alexander Ezak. Really?

40:45

Speaker A

77 million. That was the biggest one. Yeah, it was. Uh Bournemouth was Evan Nielson. You could have had any guesses for Brighton and her albian routter junior routter.

40:54

Speaker A

It was until they signed Luca Vuskovic top the top of center. How could I forget that this this summer 54 million euros? Uh, Coventry was Caleb Urreni.

41:06

Speaker A

I don't know how 27 million euros. Everton's is the oldest on on this list. Guily Sigson still 49.4 million. That's like what's that 10 11 years ago. Uh, Fulham. Uh, there's you could have had two names for Fulham. Kevin you could have had or

41:25

Speaker A

Gonzalo Garcia. They bought both of them for€4 million. Uh, I I thought about Gonzalo Garcia.

41:31

Speaker A

Yeah, I thought about him. Yeah. And then I just didn't go with him. Well, Ipsswich and Leadeds both were players that were signed in the summer.

41:38

Speaker A

One of them mentioned already, Julio. Yeah. 30.5 million euros. And then for Leeds, Trafford, goalkeeper. Yeah, I think it's the only goalkeeper on our list.

41:45

Speaker A

Have you noticed that James Trafford is one of many goalkeepers now sporting this weird top-not, it's not weird, but it's strange that they've all done it at the same time. It's like little ponytail. Um, David Ry doing it very Beckham when he joined

42:00

Speaker A

Madrid. It's pretty fashion though, isn't it? I feel like we went past that sort of It's a bit coy like lads get your haircut, you know.

42:06

Speaker A

Yeah. How about that? Well, there we go. That was the Rondo. Congratulations to Colin, who's obviously the best at the Rondo and better than everyone else who's played it and certainly better than all the people in this room.

42:16

Speaker A

Yeah, there we go. Okay, now let us move on to discuss Tottenham Hotspur nil to Newcastle United. Yes, that's right. The Sandro Tanali derby ended in Newcastle's favor as gold Ferdinand derby. The Les Ferdinand Derby. Yeah, the the

42:35

Speaker A

Steven Carr. The Steven Carby, what a shout [laughter] that is. The Steven KBY ended uh in Newcastle's favor as goals from Anthony Langanger and Johan Whistler, both in my fantasy team. Thank you very much. Uh continued with an impressive

42:50

Speaker A

start to the season uh for the much changed Magpies. Right, Steve? Now for Tottenham, that's two losses from two, the inverse of Collins score to start the season, although they were largely fine in the game and panic is far from

43:02

Speaker A

needed. I've added that bit there just as a sort of tone setter because I feel somewhat, you know, we discussed earlier the notion that immediately after Man United lost to Hull, which was pretty bad on the uping day of the season that

43:13

Speaker A

there were crisis talks everywhere. I feel as though for Spurs crisis talks perhaps not so much needed after this game, but let's see. Maybe other people will have different opinions. Now, this was Roberto Deserby's summary of the game. He said, "You can't buy mentality

43:27

Speaker A

in the transfer market." What do you think he means by that, Colin? Well, I don't know. But you you is that not one of the qualities that you assess in a player?

43:36

Speaker A

Isn't that why their mentality of what they will bring to the club? Is that why they bought Andy Robertson?

43:41

Speaker A

I thought so. Connor Gallagher. It's certainly what Chelsea said they were doing with Jordan Henderson and Danny Wellbeck. You know, experience mentality. I don't know. It is strange.

43:50

Speaker A

I think perhaps what he maybe it's one of those lost in translation quotes like maybe what what he means is you can't buy mentality as an abstract concept and place it onto a pre-existing team.

43:59

Speaker A

But is that not what he as a coach as well is kind of hyped up to bring to players? Like his intensity and how much like he believes in his players and coaches them and makes them better than

44:11

Speaker A

what they are like that's I think I think with Deserby there's there's a little bit of a myth but some of that is based on reality as well. It is that comment that he can't buy mentality. How are the players who have come in and how

44:25

Speaker A

are the players that are playing, how are they going to feel about that? I talked about Michael Carrick earlier playing things down. This kind of feels like a comment that just sort of I mean it might be a distraction, but if

44:34

Speaker A

you're a player, I don't think I'd be very happy hearing that. Spurs Spurs managers do this a lot though, don't they? It feels like a very It's not quite as explosive as that famous Antonio Conte rant where he like

44:44

Speaker A

just destroyed the club, [laughter] but it is a little bit like one could infer from this comment that he's saying uh my talents and some new signings are not enough to transform the culture of this club where they are so used to

45:02

Speaker A

losing. You know, Jack Pitbrook wrote uh last season about it sounds so obvious, but like they need to get out of the habit of losing back to back 17th place finishes. It's like a few nice new players doesn't change that kind of familiarity

45:16

Speaker A

of um that kind of intangible head goes down when you're when you're a goal down kind of thing, which is his job to fix, but he's not been there very long. So, no. Fair enough. Well, I mean, I thought

45:26

Speaker A

uh Tom, I thought Spurs were rubbish against Brenford in that first game. I thought this was quite a different game though despite what the score line suggests. So what do you think?

45:34

Speaker A

No, I agree with that. I was just going to say on the last point, it's kind of without precedent really, isn't it? That a team who avoid relegation twice narrowly can then spend that amount of money. So it is quite an interesting

45:44

Speaker A

kind of psychological thing to see and maybe that's what kind of Derby is getting at.

45:48

Speaker A

But yeah, no, I thought they were a lot better this game. Um I think Derby did say afterwards that they created the better chances. Obviously he would say that, but I do think that there were moments where they built up really

45:57

Speaker A

nicely. I thought with Van Deerven back in the team, the back line looked a little bit more stable.

46:02

Speaker A

Fontan, font clear. And um yeah, I think Van Fake Dutch people in the comments might tell you that that's wrong. Don't listen to them.

46:10

Speaker A

They're not really Dutch. Okay, how am I saying his font? But what about von von?

46:17

Speaker A

Oh, von von [laughter] like like imagine your Dracula saying vanel sing and then say vona. Okay.

46:25

Speaker A

And that's again D don't listen to Dutch people. They are lying. Well, he I think [laughter] quite a good game. Um I thought there was a really nice move early on when um Matty's tail drawn quite a good save out

46:38

Speaker A

the goalkeeper. He kind of cut inside and curled it towards the top corner and that all came from Spurs doing as they want to do under Deserby baiting the Newcastle press. Yeah.

46:46

Speaker A

Got the ball out to Van Hecker. He kind of played a really nice pass through lines into Malmush who had dropped. They didn't have that last weekend at Brenford. Moosh turns find Matty's tail and then off he goes and that was a good

46:56

Speaker A

chance and they had quite a few moments where yeah Van Hecker was able to find those passes forward. Um so you know again I kind of said this last week um I think they were better this week and I

47:07

Speaker A

think they will continue to get better but I do think you know you can talk about tactics but that mentality thing is is definitely a big issue and it's something that they're going to need a big win pretty soon I think to to start

47:19

Speaker A

to get over that to be honest. I think I mean we've sort of touched on this notion of um Spurs maybe being fine or not already. I do think this conversation becomes about definitions really. I talked to to uh our friend

47:31

Speaker A

friend of the podcast producer Nathan Clark from the from the extra inch podcast the other day and I was in WhatsApp and I said oh watching the game I think spurs will be fine and he said I don't think they will and then it just

47:42

Speaker A

turned out we had different definitions of fine. My definition of fine, finishing 60. Well, [laughter] it's not being relegated for a start, is not being in the same situation you were in last season, is finishing in the top 10 and

47:54

Speaker A

sort of looking as though you've put that problem of losing every home game behind you from on the basis of watching the performance against Newcastle. I think that is the case. His point was that you can't spend 400 million pounds

48:07

Speaker A

or whatever and not finish in the top six. But my question to that, which I will ask the room now, is just hypothetically, if we gave Fulham 400 million pounds to spend in one summer all at once and and then we said just

48:19

Speaker A

just lobb those players on top of your pre-existing squad, would we expect them to finish in the top six? I'm not sure that that we would. So, I wonder if uh you know, the point I'm making is are

48:29

Speaker A

Spurs starting from a position further back than we maybe are giving them credit for or or or or not. What do you think Colin?

48:35

Speaker A

Okay. Um, I'm gonna tie this into a point that I want to make [laughter] on on Tottenham running for office Tottenham as as were they where are they as a club? Like what club are they? What are their ambitions? Right? You know,

48:48

Speaker A

we talk about are they do they want to qualify for the Champions League? Do they want to maybe just push for European sport? Would that be quite a good season? Um, where are they? And what I want to say on this is where are

48:58

Speaker A

Tottenham because Tottenham are not a club who are the who are going to attract the very very best players, right? They're just not. Manchester City might be, Liverpool might be, Chelsea, Manchester United. They're all naturally above Tottenham in the pecking order for

49:13

Speaker A

signings. Okay, so we can look at the players Tottenham bring in and we can be like, well, they are good players. Of course they are. But what sort of players are they? They're not the players that Brenford or Brighton or

49:25

Speaker A

even Bournemouth would be signing. And I think the reason for that is that they have a market. They have like their own market. They always go externally. They have a scouting network and sort of player data models and everything else

49:35

Speaker A

that that we've talked about at length, which is kind of like ahead of of others, right? So that's how they continually reinvent themselves. So Tottenham don't shop in that market, okay? And they don't really shop in the market where the very elite players go

49:48

Speaker A

either. So where does that leave them? Everyone knows Tottenham have a lot of money. They're a very rich club and everyone now knows that they're willing to spend that money this year. So, it almost feels like they're going into the

49:58

Speaker A

players they attract are neither really here nor there in the sense that they're not up and cominging stars. They don't they don't really provide an environment where those players can just sort of immediately come into and be okay

50:08

Speaker A

because the structure and the culture is already there and we talked a little about that about that already. But they're also not going to be able to buy the players that they would absolutely love to sign because they're slightly

50:19

Speaker A

out of reach. Okay. I feel like Sandra Tanali is maybe the exception to this because but simply because other big teams were also interested in him but he is a little older.

50:27

Speaker A

So so this this is this is interesting though because ahead of the season every Newcastle have lost Tanali and Gordon and Bruno game and they lost last year but the kind of counterargument to that is well yeah that's true and Newcastle

50:39

Speaker A

actually may be in a similar position to Tottenham but all those players wanted to leave Newcastle. They didn't see themselves as being there for a couple of years. you as a as a coach and as a club environment, you don't want players

50:48

Speaker A

there who maybe kind of think I don't really care if I move on somewhere else.

50:52

Speaker A

I feel like that might be a case with a lot of these Tottenham players at the minute that I think Sandro Tali kind of ultimately wants to go back to to Italy.

51:00

Speaker A

I think he's actually come out and said that as recently as this summer that that's kind of like his long-term ambition. He's a very good player in the right structure and environment and he he corrects an issue that Tottenham had

51:10

Speaker A

last season, but I'm not necessarily sure that when you when you spend 100 million player points on a player like that, what motivation does he have to make a point, right? Because he doesn't really have to prove himself because he's already been

51:22

Speaker A

kind of proved by the fee and that fee can also weigh him down. He's obviously being paid a lot of money. He's in he's in the best league in the world, but at a club who there's really no

51:32

Speaker A

expectations for winning trophies or even challenging for the top three or four like that. I think that's established that's kind of out of reach.

51:38

Speaker A

So, what is his ambition, right? What's motivating him, right? And this is this is the sort of one it should be to drag them back up.

51:44

Speaker A

Yeah. But this but this but this is like the one or two% that is missing from a club like Tottenham. And we've seen it like Tottenham are Tottenham have have a bigger budget and a bigger scope than West Ham did before them and even

51:55

Speaker A

Everton that five or six years ago where they spend loads and loads of money but they don't really ever seem to get any better.

52:00

Speaker A

Yeah. Yeah. Because they're not treading water. Yeah. Because they're not shopping in either of those two markets.

52:05

Speaker A

Everton's a great comparison. They were the best of the rest for ages. You know when they had like they took Walcott and I from Arsenal and they would maybe nab Ashley Williams from Swansea and to bolster their defense and Schneiderland from

52:17

Speaker A

Southampton. But it would they would just stay the same and exactly and it's like these are all good players individually and and there might be some sort of cohesion between them but ultimately there's no thread that is strong enough to kind of maintain itself

52:29

Speaker A

and when you're look if you were to put Tottenham in say La Liga or Serie they would be in one of the top positions because they're one of the richest clubs but in the Premier League they're not.

52:38

Speaker A

So you can spend all this money and not necessarily be be successful and you can struggle game to game. And this is why I struggled in the Rondo because fees just keep going up but the quality of the

52:47

Speaker A

player doesn't. So it's just recency bias really. Right. Right. Right. You're looking for the best player but actually no it's just the most recent. And by the way, this this sort of idea was slightly inspired by somebody half I think half

52:58

Speaker A

jokingly um last season whenever West Ham were getting relegated and they were like well as a sort of character club in the Premier League there's not really a need for a West Ham anymore because Tottenham have kind of taken the

53:08

Speaker A

position of West Ham right being like this sort of disaffected fan base and a new stadium with all these shiny things but none of it really works.

53:16

Speaker A

I kind of think that's where Tottenham are at the minute. I actually deserve did a really good job motivating them to stay up last year, but it kind of feels like oh there's this big sigh of relief.

53:24

Speaker A

Oh, now we're spending a lot of money again, but sort of like what what is the next step? And it's so difficult to achieve that. So whenever we talked about the record fear at Brenford, it's like why did Tottenham not sign? Why did

53:34

Speaker A

man? It's like well for him he's motivated to go into Brenford into a structure where he can hit the ground running prove himself. There's not massive talk around him. There's not a massive fee around him and he can sort

53:44

Speaker A

of go about his business quietly. You can make mistakes at Brenford or or Brighton or Bournemouth and not get the amplification that you do even at a Tottenham, right?

53:52

Speaker A

So that that is why it's difficult. So we can blame them for maybe not being successful or having a pretty dodgy transfer record, but I think it's because they operate within conditions which make it really difficult to get

54:03

Speaker A

that right. [clears throat] Yeah. Okay. So no, Fulham would not finish in the top six if they spent four.

54:08

Speaker A

No. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I I would say also, you know, a longwinded way of saying that it were a disappointing weekend for Spurs fans obviously, but it was I'm sure it was they were hugely cheered by um by David Ornstein on TNT saying I

54:23

Speaker A

don't know if you guys saw this clip where he's talking about Julian Alvarez and he says that Julian Alvarez called Met doesn't want to come [laughter] which I [snorts] think is really funny mainly because I imagine Steve's face

54:36

Speaker A

when I heard that clip. Imagine calling a manager and saying like, "Yeah, I don't want to come. Thank thanks for your interest, but I'm not I'm not interested." That was my favorite moment of the weekend. [snorts] There you go.

54:46

Speaker A

And I'm sure Spurs fans enjoyed that as well. So, it's not all bad, Spurs fans.

54:50

Speaker A

Now, what about Newcastle? Very interesting and exciting start to the season uh for for for Newcastle. Uh Anthony Langanger, Yan Whistler, very good for a second game. Non Nico Gonzalez also had his debut helped set up that first goal. Um we we sort of

55:07

Speaker A

mentioned this idea before Tom that Newcastle so far fantastic against Liverpool you know fantastic against Spurs off the back of a summer uh with presumably a very low mood on the basis of the fact that you have all these key

55:19

Speaker A

players that have that have left and people really weren't expecting that much from them added to the fact that you know I didn't even know who Matias Yisler was. I feel like people didn't know who this guy was before he arrived

55:29

Speaker A

so no one really knew what to expect and it's been um I would say a pleasant surprise. Uh however, we talked before about the idea that so far they've played very well against two bigger teams, arguably bigger, um who, you

55:44

Speaker A

know, teams who will want to take the initiative within games. I'm very curious to see what this Newcastle side will look like against teams who don't want to take the initiative, who maybe sit in a in a lower block. What do you

55:55

Speaker A

think? I think that is I mean that's been the problem at Newcastle for a while now. I think even under Eddie how there were issues that I think because of the culture around Newcastle, the fan base, the kind of the idea of how they want to

56:06

Speaker A

play, they always have to be aggressive, right? That was the problem under Eddie how I think is that when they were able to attack spaces and counterattack and and be kind of play in your face football, they were really good at it.

56:18

Speaker A

When they had to break down a little bit of a lower block, they kind of ran out of energy a lot of the times. I think I mentioned it last week as well. There was a Sunderland home game last season.

56:27

Speaker A

they, you know, started really brightly, couldn't take their chances, and then just ran out of steam and and Sunderland picked them off on the break. Brenford did that to them as well last season.

56:36

Speaker A

So, that is absolutely the the problem and absolutely the thing that we're going to have to wait and see about. I I think Nico Gonzalez is a good signing in that regard. I think um obviously he's got the physicality as we've seen, but I

56:47

Speaker A

think he is pretty good on the ball. He's not going to replicate Bruno Gimmear, I don't think, in terms of that tempo setting ability, but he is going to be able to thread the ball through, look out to the wings and that kind of

56:57

Speaker A

thing. But yeah, I I think they are so well suited to playing on the break with the speed that they have. It's how do they slow it down when they need to? And I think that's where the the kind of I

57:08

Speaker A

say depth because they have lost a lot of players. They don't have as much depth, I think, as they would have hoped at this point, but they do have a few other profiles on the bench. You know, Nick Voltoard can come in. They got a

57:17

Speaker A

nice range of strikers, haven't they? Like, whis and that all do kind of different things.

57:22

Speaker A

Exactly. And I think that's what they'll be looking towards. But Yiselled, I mean, again, only two games early, but we heard a lot of good things about him when he arrived. A lot of coaches seem to respect him. And I think the things

57:32

Speaker A

we've seen so far, obviously again two transitional performances, but Liam Thmer wrote a good piece on the Athletic this morning about a kind of ploy that they used when they um Anthony Alanga would tuck in, Nico Gonzalez would get

57:42

Speaker A

on the ball and as soon as that happened, Alanga in the full back on and then a long ball over the top and that worked a couple of times worked for the first goal. So there were clearly ideas

57:51

Speaker A

there. Um but yeah, that is going to be the issue, isn't it? I think it's a much better fit for Nico Gonzalez having watched him kind of not do great at City.

57:58

Speaker A

I mean, I thought he did okay at City. I I think I I don't really know what happened there to be honest. I feel like Guardiola and Moresca just didn't fancy it. Um and he just didn't really get a

58:08

Speaker A

fair chance because I think one of City's big problems was again being hit on the transition and he is a big that's why they kind of it was a little bit of an emergency time was it?

58:16

Speaker A

Yeah. And I think it was unfair for example to play Mark Gayy ahead of him in the opening weekend last season. But well [laughter] I think unfair on Nico Gonzalez because I don't think he's done anything wrong. I think he spoke very

58:28

Speaker A

well about City as well before he left the club. He wanted to be there, wanted to fight for his place. Every time he played, he played well. He scored a good winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final last year. I think he's a very, very

58:37

Speaker A

useful player and I think he's somebody who will kind of grow in everybody's kind of minds over the next couple of weeks because people will realize that he is a good player and City didn't really get the best out.

58:46

Speaker A

Seems a great signing in in the context of losing to Bruno Gimme kind of he has traits of either of those players. Um, and next to Lewis Miley, who now has a bigger opportunity to impress cuz less competition.

59:01

Speaker A

Well, speaking of replacing figures who were already there with new characteristics, Matias Yeler, pretty cool. He's got aura.

59:09

Speaker A

He's got aura. And I feel as though Eddiehow, okay, good coach. You know, he outsourced his aura to his assistant manager though. And that guy brought he brought diary of a CEO aura, right? No, that's exactly correct.

59:23

Speaker A

Whereas Matias, he did a chest butt with one of his players when they were substituted off.

59:28

Speaker A

That entire video, I'm not sure it's the same clip, but there's like a is it postgame celebration where he's doing like a different player and the the dap with Yan Whistler is just unreal, right? It reminds me of the thing that

59:44

Speaker A

people always used to say about Jose Mourinho at Porto and at Chelsea that he was he was young enough that he sort of instinctively understood the players because he was really only one generation removed from them. Uh versus

59:56

Speaker A

managers who are maybe two or in some in Roy Hodgson's case three or four generations removed from the players who could never possibly hope to understand who were already 60 when they were born.

60:05

Speaker A

You know, well, you never lose it. You know, you never lose understanding. But no, he he seems like he just seems cool.

60:12

Speaker A

I'm one over. He's got he's got a decent CV as well, right? Like he won he won stuff in Saudi Arabia, which you know, a league like a lot that a lot of people, myself included, kind of like to deride as

60:24

Speaker A

being not very competitive, but um he won stuff in Saudi with a team that wasn't um the one that Ronaldo's on or the one that Ben's at Benzema's at. Um, so you know, positive signs for Newcastle. Also, like with with all of

60:38

Speaker A

their star players leaving, Bruno Gimmera, Sandra Tali, Isak, Gordon. Yeah. All of them gone, there is now like a kind of reset expectation.

60:48

Speaker A

There was a vacuum for personality as well. And he's he's just plunged right into it, hasn't he? Well, I'm curious to see what else will happen. Let's take another advertisement break. Speaking of aura.

61:00

Speaker A

Yes, we're back from the break. There we go. What a lovely break that was. Now, let's speed through a couple more games before we finish up today. Liverpool two to Nottingham Forest. Now, Liverpool avoided defeat late on for the second

61:13

Speaker A

successive game as Victor Munoz scored a late equalizer to deny Oliver Glazner's Nottingham Forest a first victory of the season. Now, on balance, Liverpool were perhaps a bit unfortunate in the game with a couple of decisions, but they

61:26

Speaker A

gave up over 2xG to Forest. one obviously a big chunk of that coming from a penalty. Uh in another not totally convincing performance uh Antonio Areola after the game said I think we have to blame the first half.

61:40

Speaker A

In the first half we were being passive without the ball leaving a lot of distance. In the second half we were much more intense much quicker on the ball uh with more of a sense of urgency.

61:50

Speaker A

Now it's taking uh Liverpool a little while to adapt to what Areola wants. We we we know that so far. We also know that Bradley Barka is going to be arriving. I assume he will start in their next game at the weekend. I don't

62:03

Speaker A

don't know. Um we know also that Areola said he wants his wingers to be game changers. Do you think on the basis of what you have seen of Liverpool so far this season? What you know about Areola.

62:13

Speaker A

Does Bradley Barka help with that sense of uh of intensity? I I've never really thought of him as like hugely an out of possession player. Um but uh I don't know. Or or do you think this is just

62:24

Speaker A

just going to take never lose the ball? That's true. Yeah. Or is it just going to take a little bit of time for his ideas to to bed in?

62:30

Speaker A

Yeah, I speak more generally because I didn't actually get to see the game on the weekend, but more generally, you know, I was I went to quite a few the first 10 games that he um managed at Bournemouth. Uh it took all of those 10

62:42

Speaker A

games for him to finally get his first win. And you could kind of see the ideas slowly kind of betting in and you know, the pressing sequences were getting a little bit better game by game until eventually it kind of clicked. I think

62:53

Speaker A

at Liverpool they're nearly there but it's it's has gone a little bit quicker than it did at Bournemouth in terms of the understanding in terms of you know being able to generate opportunities and that partly is because they do have

63:04

Speaker A

you know game changers as Zola himself mentioned I think you've got Florians you've got Alexander Ezak they not been in the greatest form but they are still can flick a switch and and and turn it on and I think that's the idea with Barka

63:16

Speaker A

obviously somebody with a lot of speed I remember actually going back to his Ryano team he used to have a kind of a winger on on the right who would drift inside and be a little bit more of a

63:24

Speaker A

playmaker and then a winger on the left Alvaro Garcia who is a little bit more of an up and down straight line runner and I think maybe that's what they're going for with with Barakola. I I think they do lose something though with if if

63:35

Speaker A

Gakpo goes because I do think Gakpo covers a lot of positions. I think he chops inside and shoots very well even though some people get a little bit frustrated with that. He can come up with moments as he did in that first

63:45

Speaker A

week against Newcastle. He played on the right in this game as well and he created two of Liverpool's better chances with with right-sided right footed crosses from the right which uh we mentioned earlier but is something that feels as though it's from a hark

63:58

Speaker A

and gone era maybe is coming back. Liam Th said he expected to come back this season.

64:03

Speaker A

Yeah, maybe it briefly came back with Savio actually at Man City. He he played quite well left footer and left but I've yeah off the top of my head I've not seen too much of it. But yeah, I do

64:12

Speaker A

think it's a risk gakpo for barka if that happens because obviously he's incredibly fast. That is his probably his main attribute. Very skillful in and around the area and can finish very well. But you know also just as we were saying

64:24

Speaker A

with Newcastle, if he he is not as good as Gako is maybe coming inside and shooting and kind of changing the game with moments of magic from distance when he's up against a low block, then it does make them a little bit moreed

64:36

Speaker A

one-dimensional in that aspect. But he's clearly, I'd say, a more talented kind of player when it comes to beating a man, but not maybe as versatile as someone like Gak or maybe as much as a finisher, we think, as well.

64:47

Speaker A

Yeah, he's more more of a dribbler, isn't he? And the the the missing ingredient sometimes has been um finish, I guess.

64:53

Speaker A

But so do we expect Bararker to play on the right then or the left? Cuz Victor Munoz prefers left as well, right?

64:59

Speaker A

I don't know. I I we we've talked about this before and and I I feel as though no one knows. Yeah, I think I think the expectation is M will be on the right more more often than not.

65:10

Speaker A

That's where his goal came from, right? Yeah. I mean, he he also he's quite a a fun player. Um he's far from the finished product. I kind of am slightly surprised he's starting for Liverpool.

65:20

Speaker A

Um but I because I don't think I don't think he's at that level. I don't think he's ready. I think this might be a little too soon, but he does make things happen. Obviously, that was a lovely turn and finish against Yeah. Yeah. And

65:30

Speaker A

obviously won against Newcastle as well in the opening day. Yeah. The Liverpool stuff is weird though, isn't it? because um when you bring in Barco and the money you're spending him he has to start has to start V has to start because of the

65:42

Speaker A

status that they have and I do think it is an issue because Liverpool for years and years and years especially in the Jurgen Klopp years right that they were they always had this sort of [snorts] planning ahead they they their

65:54

Speaker A

recruitment was so spot on it was done at reasonable price points it it felt very sustainable whereas the past I would I would say maybe two years if not more has almost the reversal of that every year they seem to be losing

66:07

Speaker A

players who contributed in a lowkey way like I think even Louis Diaz yeah well Louis was was was a huge loss but even Dorman Nunes right who was really derided actually came up with some pretty big moments for somebody who

66:19

Speaker A

wasn't starting games I know it's all affected that role as well is really important exactly really important squad players Curtis Jones was was another squad player who I think is a bit of a loss who's not really going to be replaced

66:30

Speaker A

and they seem to continually be trying to catch up in multiple places and they're not ahead of the game anymore and then they kind of overspend on players and this is one of the things that last year whenever Liverpool didn't

66:41

Speaker A

go for Bararka whenever there were links one of the reasons that Liverpool gave was well you know we want to have a pathway for Rio and Gamoa to get more minutes now Rio and Gamoa from what I've seen of him looks like a really bright

66:51

Speaker A

young player who who does again make things happen but he he does need that and I'm kind of thinking that's a direct clash and you're not he's not going to be first choice there at all right um I

67:01

Speaker A

don't know I'm just kind of think they've got so many holes in that squad and the holes aren't an attack, but the balance of attack just feels feels wrong. It feels like they're trying to shoehorn too many players in and trying

67:13

Speaker A

to force form and force connections that aren't necessarily natural. Like I think they've got enough quality to be kind of okay as in like have a similar season to last year, but I just I'm not really sure in terms of the wider picture and

67:27

Speaker A

the longer term. I don't think it bows overly well. We're speaking of um wingers who play on their strong side as it were. Ishma and I'm not trying to fast forward the conversation or sell him to Liverpool or sell him to Liverpool, but they there

67:40

Speaker A

have been links. Um supposedly it's not it's not close to being done, but Ishmaan has deleted all Crystal Palace content from his Instagram page.

67:49

Speaker A

Really? Yeah. You know, when you know when players throw tantrums like that to try and force a move. Um, so we'll see what happens there. But he's been playing kind of as like a narrow rightsided forward for Palace, but before that at

68:00

Speaker A

Marseilles and Watford played as like a proper winger and he always scores against Liverpool. Um, but I wonder if they would like given the business that they've done in the last couple of years whether Liverpool would or the fans

68:13

Speaker A

would would think it's not glamorous enough for that. Yeah, it's too reasonable. He's too functional. He's too good. It makes too much sense potentially. So I think also looking back at pre previous years and connecting them to this one, Connor

68:25

Speaker A

O'Neil wrote something interesting in the Athletic about Liverpool which was to say a vulnerability against long balls and difficulties unpicking low blocks ultimately cost predecessor Anna slot his job at the end of last season and ran into those same problems again

68:41

Speaker A

Nottingham Forest on Saturday. So, it's not just, I think, you know, adapting over time and having the right players and, you know, the squad learning how Andy Uriola wants to do things with his pressing sequences and all these

68:51

Speaker A

different patterns. It's also that there are, you know, Liverpool had problems last year that they also still need to solve with that same squad. So, it'll be interesting to see uh how those problems and those solutions pan out over the

69:02

Speaker A

course of the next few weeks. Um on the other side of the field, Nottingham Forest, this was a first point of the season for Forest after they lost to Leads of course uh on the opening uh in the opening weekend. Clanser still

69:13

Speaker A

getting his squad squad in place. There could be a couple more arrivals. Um although Liam Dap did come on as a substitute. We mentioned his name in the Rondo earlier. Colin, the 23-year-old moved to the City ground in a deal worth

69:26

Speaker A

an initial 45 million to Chelsea with another 5 million in potential add-ons. Oliver Glasnner said, "I am convinced that he is the perfect player for us." Which I'm kind of convinced by as a statement. What do you think?

69:38

Speaker A

If you're a player, if you're laying the lap and you hear that, you're bloody right. I am. You know, he he's obviously had a difficult year, a very very difficult year. I saw him when he's playing for Chelsea. I just didn't just

69:50

Speaker A

doesn't look like a Premier League footballer, right? But that fee that that big fee that Forest has paid is based on what he did at IPS. And we rewind 12 months, Manchester United wanted him. A lot of other clubs were

70:01

Speaker A

interested in him as well because of what he brings, because of the profile that he brings and it was just an extra bit of context. It was a great market opportunity given his release clause was like 30 odd

70:12

Speaker A

mil. Yeah. Ex. Yeah. That that that is so it seemed like good value for money.

70:15

Speaker A

Yeah. And he so he brought goals for I think he scored 12 goals in in a lowscoring team in that Premier League year, but he also brings a lot more to the table.

70:22

Speaker A

Goals aren't really what he's about. even for the nodding force equalizer the the penalty decision it came from the endap sort of quick thinking from a throw in to release the full back in behind he's obviously a player with with

70:32

Speaker A

pretty high football intelligence I think um and I think he he is somebody that needs a bit of confidence the noise around forest hasn't been particularly high this summer obviously they lost Elliot Anderson um brought in Glasnner early I think really the only other

70:45

Speaker A

signing apart from the lap that's a real first team player was was Diamande obviously they brought in Schliger from RB lip but he was a free agent so there hasn't been a lot of changes.

70:54

Speaker A

Um, so there's a settle team there. And again, there Daniel Munoz now wing back.

70:58

Speaker A

Yeah, I think I mean I think those signings are reasonable are are reasonable and sort of sensible. And then you sort of see that they've retained Morgan Gibbs White who I thought was really really good against Liverpool um as a really high level

71:09

Speaker A

player. So yeah, I I kind of think they'll be completely fine. I think they're they're probably looking at it, okay, it's a slightly slow start, but I think they probably think we can get top half. I mean, they'll be completely fine until Glasna

71:20

Speaker A

demands very expensive signings in January. Marinaki sacks but but do you but do you know all about Glasgner is that whenever they do get into a groove?

71:27

Speaker A

Yeah, they can really they can really get that momentum. And on the striker point like Jean Philipe Mateta didn't look like a Premier League striker before Glasgner either and then he turned into a really good player and has now taken a a big

71:38

Speaker A

dip. So yeah um I think Liam Dap suits uh that team well. I think the problem at Chelsea especially on Moresco was that they were too like ball dominant for Dilap to really do his thing. like at IPS he was a bit of a battering ram

71:50

Speaker A

kind of charging into big spaces helping his team get up the pitch and at Chelsea they were trying to find him in small pockets in the box um which wasn't really his thing so that's a good signing um I hope they go down.

72:02

Speaker A

Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Nice. I was just going to say do you think it is a little bit of a recreation of that Palace front three and that you've got Endoy who's somebody who's kind of is Melisaralike the winger guy

72:15

Speaker A

the kind of functional inside forward. You've got white and someone like that and then Mata and really similar profile. The one position that is slightly confusing to me at the moment which you might be able to tell me more about is James Macki playing as

72:31

Speaker A

one of the eights. He played alongside in this game. I thought they were very good.

72:36

Speaker A

Yeah. I mean I didn't I I didn't watch it um in full so I'm I'm not sure but they were very good.

72:42

Speaker A

I believe [snorts] you but I believe Tom Moore. I always thought of Maki as more like a kind of floaty 10. Maybe just his small stature is confusing me. But do you think he can play that role?

72:51

Speaker A

Yeah, I mean again with a palace comparison, maybe a bit of a commada kind of role where he's a bit of a floater. He's he's good on the ball, but he's also kind of underrated in terms of his strength and out of possession

73:01

Speaker A

application, I think. So, I think that's the idea there. Um, but I always like it when someone compares someone I don't know to someone I don't know. [laughter] I just go it sounds right. Speaking of Dilap, actually, he he he made a really

73:14

Speaker A

important contribution to the move that led to the penalty um with a really nice touch to keep the ball in play and then you win a throw in and then take it really quickly for Nico Williams who, you know, got to the ball first and then

73:30

Speaker A

took a touch and went down. It was one of those penalties that didn't feel like a penalty.

73:34

Speaker A

There was the Allison one, right? I don't think it's He had his shot. If you had if you've had your shot, the shot was miles wide. It wasn't.

73:41

Speaker A

Yeah, I think if you've had your shot, it doesn't count. You They should The goalkeeper should be allowed to punch you in the face. If not, then it should be fine.

73:47

Speaker A

Like on FIFA 98. So, but if he had um not shot with that touch and just kind of like lifted it and then was taken down, the move's still going on. So, that's Well, as we know from what happened with

73:59

Speaker A

Harry Maguire, football is arbitrary and decisions that, you know, don't have to line up, do they? Anyway, speaking of arbitrary, Crystal Palace won for Manchester City. Wish we won.

74:10

Speaker A

War Manchester City. That's true. You wish you won. Manchester City here fractured the fragile Crystal Palace.

74:16

Speaker A

Right, Steve? Defense. A very insensitive joke about a building that burnt down. But yeah.

74:21

Speaker A

Is it? What? What? What? 19th century. Let it go. [laughter] I don't get it. Oh, was it a Was Crystal Palace a real building?

74:27

Speaker A

Yeah. Was it? Yeah. [laughter] Did it burn down? Yeah. Was it made of crystal?

74:32

Speaker A

Yeah. It was a big glass thing that The great exhibition of 1830 something was there. The world. Have a quick Let's have a quick read about this. The Crystal Palace Fire is that it of 1936.

74:43

Speaker A

No. Yeah. 19. Okay, here we go. Let's read Let's read this now. We're on Londonfire.gov.uk.

74:50

Speaker A

If there's a website you can trust about fires in London, it's that one. The Crystal Palace fire in 1936, one of London's greatest attractions, caught fire and was burned down. Now visit Crystal Palace today and there are only hints of what you would have found

75:07

Speaker A

there a 100red years ago. At the north end you'll see sphinxes, steps, pillars, terraces and arches. What you won't see is the actual Crystal Palace. I didn't know it was a real place. The actual Crystal Palace that gave the area its

75:20

Speaker A

name, fame, train station, football team, and focal point. Wow, this looks like a really interesting page. I'm going to And there's some beautiful black and white photos on here. People should read this article, by the way, on London-fire.gov.uk.

75:35

Speaker A

Crystal Crystal Palace fire 1936. What about that? But Steve's description was um accurate. They did This is the Crystal Palace.

75:45

Speaker A

Yeah. So, yeah. So, that's um Wow. in what is now just Crystal Palace Park without that building there.

75:50

Speaker A

Right. How about that? There you go. Anyway, you learn something new every day, don't you? What were we talking about? Oh, yes. We're saying they fractured the fragile Crystal Palace defense four times. That's Manchester City to build some mini momentum under

76:02

Speaker A

Enzo Moresca. Uh much like against Everton, Palace carved out opportunities but did not take them leading leaving leaving them winless so far in the league. How about that? Uh well, I get you know what? I'm going to ask you a

76:16

Speaker A

quick Palace question first. Um because well, and I'm going to couch it. I'm going to say something in the watch.

76:22

Speaker A

You'll understand. Here it goes. I understand. Okay. Um the question, the overarching question is have Palace's performance has been better than the two defeats in a row imply. Uh but um but what I'm going to say is uh do you think

76:37

Speaker A

after two games of losing that they're going to get relegated? [laughter] They just do you know what there's a real relegate feel as well there.

76:46

Speaker A

Do you know what I mean by that? The feeling of relegating. However, we thought we were going to go down.

76:51

Speaker A

Did you know there was a fire in 2024? We started the season terribly. Didn't win until late October, I think.

76:57

Speaker A

That's right. And then won the FA Cup in 2025 in the same season. So So you think you'll win the Champions League?

77:03

Speaker A

Well, the Europa League. The Europa League. Um and then we'll be in the Champions League and the Championship.

77:07

Speaker A

Oh, yeah. You're in the Europa League, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. Booked my travel to Leon yesterday.

77:12

Speaker A

[laughter] That will be really nice. In the John texted derby. Yeah. Um, but no, we we've also been linked with central midfielder, uh, Yurian Timber's twin brother, Quentyn Timber, which obviously leads us to have an incredible chant to answer your actual question of

77:28

Speaker A

we're going down, but signing Timber. Yeah. No, speaking about how good Hull have been earlier, you got to be scared, haven't you?

77:39

Speaker A

Which have already won a game. Commentary is They'll be You've got to find three teams that are worse than you. And that's the real scary thing here, isn't it? Cuz who were the who were the other ones?

77:47

Speaker A

Well, like we spoke with Jack about Fulham last week, didn't we? But Oh god, I know.

77:51

Speaker A

We we we've probably looked a bit worse than them. We still got work to do, but like so yes, we we could go down this season, especially with all of those extra European games.

78:00

Speaker A

Yeah, but Spurs Spurs haven't got any wins yet. Loads of teams are undercooked and it's very unpredictable. And like uh Matt wrote in the Athletic, we did have some chances in both of these games before conceding. But really

78:13

Speaker A

early on in the City game, Walton fizzed this incredible pass to Enkettia and Enetia is not um S or Mateta and like the front three of Pino and Ketier and Strand Lson just doesn't quite feel up to the level that would have made more

78:28

Speaker A

of those chances last season with Sara Mata in good form. But this might be the front three that we have to play for a while, right? Um, did you think about spending €7 million on Martinelli?

78:39

Speaker A

Well, you see, we'd already spent like 50 odd on Stan Lson in January, having spent 35 on Brennan Johnson and then swapped him for Dwight McNeel.

78:46

Speaker A

Well, Spurs, who are 20th, having not scored any goals yet and conceded five, they've spent £400 million. Is there a reason that you can't do that?

78:54

Speaker A

Yeah, we don't have it. Got it. Understood. Understood. But there's been a lot of change like you know Laqua leaving Dassasi's coming in on loan. There's another defender coming in on loan who's 18 years old left footed from Atlanta forgotten his name.

79:08

Speaker A

Uh one of those Chad Riad has done his ACL again. So we need a new left footed defender. JD Campbell will probably move. Richards has been playing in the middle. He's played on the right before.

79:18

Speaker A

We've got a new right wing back as Munoz is off to Forest. So much change. I like that there's still teams in the Premier League that can buy players whose names you can just forget at the, you know,

79:27

Speaker A

because you don't you've never heard them before. I'll remember it for next time. My laptop just died.

79:31

Speaker A

Yeah. So, all right. So, you're getting relegated, maybe. Yeah. What odds would you put on it?

79:37

Speaker A

Three, four to one. Oh god, that's quite Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not a betting man.

79:44

Speaker A

after. Now, I wasn't planning on this in in the uh in the um the podcast, but uh I'd love to know after two games who we think the relegated [laughter] teams will be. Tom, relegated teams.

79:54

Speaker A

Oh, wow. Um yeah, I worry about Fulham to be honest. Um I like what they're trying now.

80:01

Speaker A

Yeah. Well, you can see from the script. Yeah, boys have been. Um he suits Fulham, doesn't he?

80:06

Speaker A

Yeah, he does. Yeah. See, [laughter] go on. But you're going down. Um, I think you you might be going down as well. Uh, and then yeah, Everton.

80:15

Speaker A

I'm I'm going to go No, I'm going to go Hull. I don't I don't think Hull can continue to do.

80:20

Speaker A

Yeah, get Hull. God, they're being too nice. The data guy going with that the numbers will catch up with them at some point.

80:26

Speaker A

Take Yeah. Okay, that's fine. What do you think Colin? I think it could be all three promoter clubs, right?

80:31

Speaker A

I hope so. But I do think Fil Fam and Palace are probably the two that you can see getting tracked. But Fulham are going to finish in the top half, guys. There's nothing to worry But I think with with both of those clubs,

80:42

Speaker A

they could easily change their head coach within the next 2 to 3 months and bring in players in January and things change. I think that's likely with the pro on the basis of Fulham's transfer window. I just don't think you can

80:54

Speaker A

change the coach after two or three months because they've bought all the players that you want. I mean, I feel like they're locked in to Alvaro.

81:03

Speaker A

I think I think any Premier League club will will panic midway through a season if if results are bad. And it's that's been the one trend.

81:10

Speaker A

Okay. I do fear for them a little bit. Let's see just quickly on Man City, Tom.

81:14

Speaker A

Uh they won the game with 72% possession on that was on Friday. I think the only other team, so we're speaking before the Arsenal game, but the only other team over the weekend to win a game with more

81:24

Speaker A

possession was Man United. And as we've discussed, that was kind of a weird game. um in this shifting new tactical landscape. It does seem early doors that Enza is going to stick to uh to to the kind of Pep Guardiola consensus as

81:39

Speaker A

opposed to maybe trying to embrace chaos like a lot of these other managers are doing.

81:43

Speaker A

Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I think that that is the kind of manager he is, but I'd also say that City do have players to do it to do both. I think when they're playing against a low

81:51

Speaker A

block, dominating the ball, there's Ryan Chery, there's Phil Fodden in kind of tight spaces. You can bring Kovacic or Rico Lewis in if you want to do that.

81:58

Speaker A

But then if you want to play more transition football, you've got Kusenov at the back with a bit more pace. You've got Semeno and O'Reilly. You know, maybe Gako comes into that. Harland can play both. You know, he can

82:07

Speaker A

kind of be the striker in the middle of a kind of congested area or he can lead a counterattack. So, I think yeah, horses courses a little bit and um but I thought I thought they looked really good. Um I think there was an

82:18

Speaker A

interesting kind of little bit that Moresca seemed to do with Guardial kind of playing him as a number 10 pushing him up and he was alongside Cherky which I thought worked pretty well.

82:26

Speaker A

That's mental, isn't it? He was like a center back signed for 70 odd million pounds. Plays at left back sometimes.

82:32

Speaker A

Play as number 10. Yeah. Not really. O'Reilly played as a right-sided central midfielder as well. Yeah, he was there.

82:38

Speaker A

It's ridiculous how how they play. There's a lot of stuff going on. Um so many lefties on the pitch as well. I noticed I don't know if that matters. But no lucies though. Hey, lefty loosey, righty tighty. Yeah,

82:51

Speaker A

you know, Harland scored the an identical Harland scores the same goal against us every single season. It's that cross that he kind of like backs into and lets the header loop over the keeper.

83:05

Speaker A

Anyway, that's the end of the that's the end of the podcast, I'm pretty sure.

83:08

Speaker A

Have we missed anything, Steve? No. Oh, Fulham watch. No, we watched Fulham just a second ago there. These guys said some horrible about them and I set them straight now. Uh Colin Miller, thank you.

83:17

Speaker A

Thank you. Tom Harris, thank you. Thank you. Ruben Pender, thank Thank you. We will be back on Thursday with John JJ and Jack Pitbrook. All the Jay's are there. There's a ring for analysis this week on Saturday. I'm getting a text

83:29

Speaker A

from Domino's. What do they say? [laughter] They say, "Bank holiday treat. Any size pizza for £9.99 when you buy any side." Well, get out of it, Domino's. I'm at work. Maybe later.

83:39

Speaker A

You are going to do that. [laughter] And uh what is I don't know. I've lost my place. See you later.

83:46

Speaker A

Oh, Steve. Thanks to Steve. Yeah. Bye. [laughter] See you later. [music]

Topics: Manchester United Bruno Fernandes Ipswich Town Spurs Newcastle United Premier League Football tactics Liam Dilap Crystal Palace Football podcast


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