Chelsea Hit Rock Bottom

28:31Good man, Luis. Thank you very much. As Craig mentioned, tomorrow it's Barcelona against Salto Vigo where the league leaders have the chance to go nine points clear at the top of La Liga.

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29:59Speaking of Manchester City, of course, on Wednesday, they have the chance to go level on points with Arsenal at the top of the table. if they win by more than three goals, then they will go top on a goal difference. Steve, it's the first time you've been on since the City-Arsenal game. You take a look at the run-ins, obviously. You could argue that both of these teams could win out here, considering the opponents. Who's going to win the league? Well, I prefer Arsenal's run-in, honestly. I think Arsenal has the easier run-in. How do you prefer them? How they're playing? Well, I think... They were a bit better at the weekend.

30:32Well, they were. You know, at the end of the day, a couple of bounces here or there they actually could have gotten a point out again which would have been huge but they didn't so that's why I think City are just slight favourites I prefer Arsenal's run in and if you want to be positive it was a bit of miles better performance from Arsenal against City at the weekend so that would be the only positive but it absolutely is flip-flop This is Man City's delusion. Why did it take Stevie to go? Why did it take them to the game at City where it was such a pressurised game because of the way they had been playing?

31:14Why did it take them to get to that game to realise they've been playing within themselves? I honestly think it's because Man City were always going to go forward and so they had more space to open and play. You know, teams have been really... Bournemouth played against them. They had space against Bournemouth. They never played. And the front four have been absolutely garbage as well. They haven't created anything. They haven't scored goals. I mean, again, every weekend now, the front four that start for Arsenal, by the end of the game, it's a different front four. Yeah. I mean, it's one thing to have a big squad, but it tells you how bad things are when every single game you're changing the front four.

31:59So there's their real problem. and I just think that because it was way more open and because it was a big game, Arsenal were always going to turn up for this game. Any chance that City don't turn up tomorrow against Burnley, Frank? I don't think so. I think Guardiola has the recipe of how to carry on and get better and better. He knows, he's been there and some players are still there to show the past to the new ones and to explain how it works. at City to finish the job. And it's why. And they are in a positive mood, I would say, with the mojo which works for them. I think they're going to be very hard to stop.

32:41That would be very, very incredible to see them not getting the three points against Burnley. If they don't get the three points, we can say Arsenal is going to go there and get it back and get the mojo back and win it. But I don't see that coming. I mean my city knows too much how to finish the job And we'll be looking back at that game of course on the next edition of ESPN FC. Be sure to tune in

33:12Right then bottom of the table we saw West Ham pick up a point and we yesterday in that thrilling Nil-nil draw against Crystal Palace. They don't care. They are too clear of Spurs who are going down. Spurs? Not necessarily, but they've got this huge game at Wolves. I think if they lose that, yeah, because then they've got to go to Villa and Leeds is a tough game. Who the hell knows? What would they call Chelsea at the moment? A tough game? Three points. No, I'm not writing their obituary yet, Spurs, but I would say, and I said last week, I think if they lose at Wolves, which is really incomprehensible, If you lose at Wolves the way they are, you deserve to go down.

33:56Comprehensible? Huh? Comprehensible? What did I say? Incomprehensible. Same thing. But you were you meant. Who? Stephen, who's going down? Give me percentages actually, come on. I think it's 50-50. Between who? All three. West Ham and both. Hey Don! There wasn't even another team there. I don't see Forrester in it at all. Forrester is two horse racing. I think so, I. I think this is 100 % between West Ham and Spurs. 50-50-50. It's very tough. Although West Ham have got two points on them, I think it's really 50-50. Right. Tossier coin completely. Simple as that. Yeah. Frank, who have you got going down?

34:40Looking at the game that they have to play, West Ham are the hardest task for me to keep up. and I think I would give a little chance to Spurs to stay up, but yeah, it's 50-50. And I agree with the guy, Forrest, I think they're going to deal with that and they're going to be okay. Good man. Thank you very much, Frank. Frank, of course, back with us on Extra Time. As always, you can check that out over on our YouTube channel.

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35:58Let's head back to the big game on Tuesday in La Liga. Real Madrid, of course, beating Alves by two goals to one. Joining us now, Alex Kirkland. The big talking point, Alex, has got to be the reception from the fans at the final whistle. Yeah, and lots of questions for Alvaro Arbelo in his post-match news conference just now on Vinicius Junior in particular, Dan. I think four or five questions on Vinny. Of course, he was one of the players whistled in particular by the fans. Mbappé was one of the other ones, but Vinny in particular. Vinicius scoring a goal, and we saw his kind of almost apologetic gesture to the fans after scoring the goal, kind of saying sorry for what's happened this season.

36:35Arbeloa asked about that, and he said, look, it's not the first time Vinny's been whistled. He's brave. He never hides. He always turns up. He's carried the team at times. And he said, look, you know, he's turned those whistles into applause before. And he did it again today. Also questions about Jude Bellingham. Quite interesting this. Bellingham substituted early in this game. I think before an hour had gone. Didn't look best pleased, I have to say, about it, Jude. There was a bit of a chat between Arbeloa and Jude on the bench. Arbeloa kind of explaining that decision. He was asked about that in his news conference.

37:03He said, look, you know, Bellingham, he's coming back from injuries. The 90 minutes against Bayern were the first 90 he's played for a long time. We need to look after him. Got another game, of course, away at Betis on Friday. He said, I told you exactly that. We had to sort of look after him with the games coming up in mind as well. But yeah, the big focus, no question, was on Vinny and those whistles. Why in particular considering Vinny's score today, Alex? It seems kind of a strange juxtaposition in the fact they want him to turn up in these sort of games. He does, he scores, yet he gets the brunt of the whistles even after he scores.

37:35Yeah, I think it's a bit of what we were talking about earlier, Dan, about him and Mbappe. The frustration in particular with them is because they're so good, because they're so important. because it feels like with players like that in your team, you know, arguably the best forward in the world in Mbappé, a Ballon d 'Or contender in the last couple of years in Vinicius Junior, you should be doing better. You should be winning things. Like I say, it's that frustration of knowing how good they are and knowing the team isn't delivering as a result that sees those players, I think, in particular, singled out by the fans.

38:00Because, yeah, in many ways, you can't argue, certainly with Mbappé's goal-scoring record this season. Vinny's had a more up-and-down season, but he's certainly, I think, been better in the second half of the season under Arboloha, no question. And yeah, there was some applause for Vinny as the game went on after the goal. Also Mbappe, by the way, it's worth saying, he was the first player off the pitch at the full-time whistle. When the whistle went, he took his shirt off. He gave it to Alaves coach Kiki Sanchez Flores. He said afterwards he'd been asked for Mbappe's shirt by a family member straight down the tunnel.

38:29As the other players were out on the pitch, you know, taking the applause or the not so much of the applause from the fans, Mbappe headed straight down the tunnel. Real Madrid won but the fact that it was tight at the end they conceded late on that late Alaves goal really kind of soured the atmosphere a little bit and despite the win it theoretically keeps them in the title race like I say when the final whistle went the reaction from the crowd wasn't good and it wasn't great from Bappe either Alex, good man thank you very much much appreciated Real Madrid just want this season to be over and done with don't they?

38:59Meanwhile, happier faces in San Sebastian this was yesterday Stevie, you were talking about the fans how much they appreciated this. They were in the stadium for the victory and then they could line the streets here. Obviously, they couldn't during COVID. Well, I said, not only did they get to go to the game and celebrate, but they actually get to do the... This is all part of it as well. You know, just because the game's over on whatever day it is, Saturday, Wednesday, whatever, you still get the second day, which they never got. The Sunday. A real soon-standing action against Kent Saffer. It's LJ against our fifth game.

39:30And, of course, Barca have the chance to go back to nine clear at the top as they take on Celta Vigo.

39:38Wrexham still looking to push for a place in the playoffs in the championship. They were taking on Oxford, and it would just be one goal that would see the visitors get the victory and keep that hope alive. Josh Windas with the winner. Yeah, a nice powerful shot, low and hard. Pookie, but not quite sure where it's gone. Too late to get across to that bottom corner. The Wrexham get the win. They sit in sixth, hole dropping points today, meaning it's still very much all to play for. And Kay cannot be happy with the way Borough have completely free-falled as they move down to fifth in the table. Speaking of free-fall, Leicester City relegated from the championship, of course, the side who, against all the odds to win the Premier League, now find themselves in the third tier of English football next season.

40:32I said that in a very serious voice. Yes. Well, it's... That's it. That brings us to the end of today's show. Frank will be back for Extra Time. More Chelsea questions coming up next.

40:48Welcome to the latest edition of Extra Time. Frank Le Boeuf. How could Chelsea go from winning the Club World Cup to going seventh and not even beating Brighton? Well, you know, the explanation was today, you know, and it's really expressive today with no commitment whatsoever from the players. Yeah, you did something great for the World Cup. And you all know what I think and what Craig and Stevie think about that competition. But that was a great game that they played against Paris Saint-Germain, where we are so far away from there. And I remember seeing Chelsea against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, the first leg.

41:33And I said, well, for an hour, they did very well. But since then, they disappeared. They absolutely disappeared. The second leg was a disaster. They lost everything. The willingness of doing great, the pride of fighting for a club and their fans. And it's why I'm upset with everybody, but especially the players. I mean, you can have a bad game, you can have two bad games, but they are beating records right now. And I read something in the graphic that he wasn't like that since 1912. It's a long time ago. It's a real long time ago. Even Stevie wasn't born anymore. I love the end of that. I love the end of that tweet.

42:16Not even beating Brighton as if they are some bunch of doubles. Brighton up to sixth in the table. Why did Rosinia Craig stop his passing of the notes when the game was already done? He stopped that now, didn't he, after his criticism? Yeah. That's his legacy, really, isn't it? Passing notes and the huddle around the ball. The huddle around the ball and then the press conference after that with the players just wanted to respect the ball. You know. It kind of all went a bit wrong. The notes have... If you really believe in notes, right? If that's what you believe in, even when people like me, you know, those ridicule you.

42:47Stick with your notes. Stick with it. If that's what you believe in, but he's obviously going, oh, I'm getting a bit of stick for that little lift. Frank, would you accept the Chelsea job if they called you tomorrow? I think you'll do better. That's the low part. Well, I don't know if I would do better, but my concern, I would love to do that. I would love to go and talk to the players. But I'm not even sure how you have to talk to those players right now if you have to go straight forward and say, you know what, guys, you are all crap. So we're going to start working and we're going to do better than that because you are the shame of the club right now and it's unacceptable but I'm gonna know maybe Stevie has the answer if it's the right way to go to make sure the players react but I don't see the other way I'm don't see it Stevie how do you talk to these players if you're hired tomorrow we got to figure out what's going to work well that it's thinking your finger in the face what what would work in your opinion with this group of players well I think I I think right now it's absolutely 100 % about are you going to continue to embarrass yourself in the club, your family, you bring everything into it that you think is going to make a difference.

44:07And the gloves are off by the way. There's no sentiment and feeling sorry and treating this guy this way and this guy the other way. It's right out the bat. You're shaming everyone. You're shaming yourself and more importantly yourself. So number one, every single one of you, Do the job you're asked to do and if everybody does that then we've got a chance You just know they're having conversations tonight. Oh at Chelsea. Is he gonna be behind the scenes? He's gonna be here tomorrow. What the hell they're gonna do right they are Frank Chelsea fans are demanding blue coat out. They make the decisions.

44:40Do you think the owners of Chelsea need to go?

44:48I don't think so. I think they have the right to accept the fact that they were wrong, that they went too much into what they wanted to achieve and they can go a little bit backwards and accept the fact that football is more complicated than that and that if you decide to bring back leaders experienced players which is not what you are investing for right now maybe the club would get better but that's the only way that you can survive and you will survive but if they keep and on getting on keeping being stubborn in that matter they're gonna draw with the club and it's unacceptable so they have to react now but this this he'll have yeah but it still have something to do because they have the money because it can be good for that but they have to change their mindset it's their ego in it they got to get rid of their ego and do what's the owners yes they think they found this new way of working well it's going to be the big contracts to young players you know the at the end of the day Chelsea and everybody else you need to win the Premier League and the Champions League and all those things you need money right and these people got money.

46:04Now if they can get their ego out the road and step aside and let people with experience in the football business make the decisions and they can supply the finance and all the other things that go along with it but the fact that they know nothing about it and jump straight in, you've got to realize eventually you don't know what you're doing and if your ego won't let you then this will just continue. That's enough for Chelsea. I tell you, Dan, I can tell you something. Yes, Frank. Sorry. In the first leg in Paris, I met Mr. Eqbali. He's the nicest guy ever. Oh, Frank, come on. And I talked to him.

46:45You just said he should sell the club. No, no, no. I don't know Mr. Bolli. I don't know Mr. Bolli and everything. But I met Mr. Eqbali and I talked to him. And the first thing he said to me, he said, are you happy with us now? And I said, well, he's getting better, but keep on doing it. Wow, my God. I mean, a ton of evidence was great. Frank, you've been on this show for the last two years saying they need to bring experience in, yet they keep signing a new player. And you face to face, you have a chance to say that. He's been kissing Nick Bali. You call it, Frank. That's a shame. You had the chance to stand up to the owner.

47:18No, no, no. You're not right. Last summer, last summer, Chelsea won a time zone. They went to the Champions League. No, Frank. They beat some good teams. So it was getting a little bit better. It was getting a little bit better. Now you go back to where we are and where we were. So I told him that, but the guy, I'm sure he's clever enough and smart enough to change his mind. And Stevie was talking about ego. I think it's more about, you know, rethinking the football. And we can help him. I can help him. And some other people can help him because we love the club. Craig, I'm not sure how this works.

48:00As ESPN FC's resident headbutt expert, did you headbutt a lot of people in your time? No. No, I didn't think you did. I've never headbutted anybody. How would you rate Gabrielle's on Harland on a scale of one to ten? I think Stevie and I have often explained what a Scottish headbutt is. Yes. Is it Malky? A Malky. There's two. There's a Malky. Okay. It's a Glasgow kiss, they call it, but it's a Malky. And then if you really want the extra flavour on top, you can have a severe Malky. Okay. You don't want a severe Malky. You don't even want the Malky The Malky's like, bosh, not good But if you're getting a severe Malky That's somebody lining you up Right, okay The Gabrielle's wasn't It can't even be a Malky, can it?

48:44No, but he put, no It was more a push It wasn't even a Malky It was more a push Jack had tried to defend it yesterday He said it wasn't a red It wasn't a red What? Not a red Stephen Seriously? I don't think you're allowed to push your head into somebody like that But he was lucky You can't send them off of that. Really, Stevie? Ah, it's nothing. You both say no red card? No, that was nothing. That's not a headbutt. I mean, Gilles Dupardieu in a movie explains how it works and how to headbutt somebody. It starts from the pecs. You go there. You cannot push, but it was nothing. I mean, he barely touched him.

49:26You can't give a red card for that. You know, I mean, it's a big boy. by the letter of the law you're right that's what we got to judge it by the letter of the law it was really stupid it didn't know it did it was he pressed it then he pushed it yeah exactly it was just it was utterly stupid it's like it's like carmavinga getting sent off by the letter of the law he gets he should be saying that's what the law is there for yeah but there are certain laws there's going to be a little bit of leeway in the pulling of the hair the slight pulling of the hair by Martinez on Calvert-Lewin. It's a letter of the law scenario.

50:01Wow. But anyway, I'm surprised that was a debate. Did you have a debate about it yesterday? We should go to the hockey rule. Sorry again? Go to the what, sorry? We should go to the hockey rule. People will stop fighting because they knew nobody's going to interfere. Many, many people in football, especially, they will stop pretending fighting because they knew that nobody will interfere. That would be great to see that once. Take the helmets off. Is Harry Kane a better number nine than Rooney? Oh, I just hate these scenarios. Oh, no. Let's talk about fighting again. Well, I just don't like these questions that are different eras and different players.

50:44Harry Kane is a brilliant player at the moment. Well, he has been for a while. The way he played for Bayern again the other night, he was just fully conference. Even when he's dropping short. Come on, he's got a great record. he's a good but really was a great putter just just don't like these questions yeah

51:03yeah both of them would be great in any team at any time very sensible steve thank you very much the president of real social hand joaquim apirabe has revealed that ai told him not to appoint pellegrino materazzo as head coach early in the season should he have ever admitted that why would ask how do you how do you get i don't know all this don't how how do you use that too so you could just go into jack gpt should i hire matter so right and then it drops it gives you a drop down and then it'll give you yeah exactly yeah i've seen that yeah so he would say that at like a siri thing yeah uh well he would do it to chat chat yeah i don't know how you do it yes and and so you would take you you would take your cue from that yeah exactly stevie do you used have you used it?

51:54AI? What have you asked it?

52:02What did you ask?

52:06I was asking the price of air conditioning. No. Packet of chips. I think I was asking the price of tickets for petrol, gas. Oh, it was for a concert. The price of tickets for a concert. How was the concert you went on Sunday by the way. Oh, it wasn't bad. Yeah, it was all right. Yeah, it was good. Well, you went to it was like a sphere copy, so it was the Connecticut sphere. Yeah, Connecticut sphere, yeah. But it was good. It was good. Yeah. You lasted the whole show? Yeah. Elnith had a couple of dozies in it. Yeah, yeah. Of course. Frank, are you a regular user of ChatGPT? No, I'm pretty much against because it pollutes a lot and especially for BACs and things that we see on the social networks.

52:54It's a big pollution for the world. So I try to really be cautious about using it. And I never ask for anything about, in particular, should Dan Thomas stay the young car man? No, I never. So if you go on your search engine, right? Right. My phone is Safari, right? Right, congratulations. No, no. And I type something in and I get a drop down. Is that chat? No. No. So you can ask. But it's not Gemini. So it's not like a search. You can have Gemini in it. It's not like a search. It's a specific like Stevie. What prices should I expect to pay for this? Yeah, well, Antionap. Yes. And then it will search.

53:36It will search the whole incident and then give you an answer. So if you could, you could type in, for example, why do I keep coughing all the time? Yeah. And it will give you a very... That'll be Pete. That'll be Pete. His friend never told the truth. I bet it was EI. problem. Okay. Frank, honestly, has it got nothing to do with the actors? I'm assuming you're in the actors guild.

54:00No, I'm not because I'm not in America. Yeah, I'm not in America. The actors guild and all the actors were complaining because AI has taken over the jobs. So I thought that's where Frank was coming from. This is such a hub conversation. That's where I thought Frank was coming from. Oh, how you spend your days? Frank, the number on your kit, was it important or have any significant meaning for you? I cough again, chat. Yeah, that was very important. I mean, the first one was the number five when I played because of the position. But after, for the World Cup in 98, they asked me and at first I was ready to get the number 13 because that was a lucky number for me.

54:41And because they pushed too much, I said, no, I'm going to change it and I'm going to get the number 18. That was my son's date of birth. And yeah, it's an important number. And I still do in my signature, I still put the number 18. Oh, that's my son's date of birth as well, Frank. Lovely. I should have had that number. Frank got me changed his. I did me. I got 13 in the World Cup. And you didn't want 13? The first thing I said was, I don't want that. And the guy went, too late. Tough. And then you missed that big chance against Europe. There you go. Let your country down. It shows you where I stood in the pecking order.

55:14Too late, it's on top. What about for Liverpool? It changed every time you played? Like you didn't have a specific number? No, eventually I had four. Four was your number? Yeah. Yeah, it matters that it's your number. Okay. What about you? What? What? What number were you? When I first started? I don't know. In general. No, shut up. So, you should have known better. 24. 24 when you played for Chelsea. At the start. Yep. Then 12. Okay. Halved? Rub a dub No, eight Eight at Celtic And did you choose eight? They gave it to me Paul McStay had just retired He was number eight And then six at Derby Why didn't you have eight at Derby?

55:59It was already taken Actually when I first went to Derby it was 33 Because all the numbers I signed half which was And then when you left Derby it was not even a number It was minus 457 Dallas Cowboys Can I say something Dan? Of course you can, Frank. Last Tuesday, I was with Jamie Redknapp in London for a commercial. And first, he wants to say hi to Stevie. And I tell you, I never had anybody talking about Stevie Nichols and the greatness of Stevie Nichols, you know, being able to play in any position at Liverpool. So not only have you been kissing Nick Barley's backside, you're now kissing Stevie's.

56:41What a night. Carry on Frank. But Jamie told me how great you were as a player and as a mate, because I think he played a little bit with you. He said that, is that correct? He did, yeah. And he recognized you as one of the best players he has ever played with. And if you'd like parts of that memorabilia, it is available. Macca's the same, Macca loves you, that generation loves you Stevie. It's nice isn't it? Nice, nice. Aw, grandad. Craig. I'm alright with that. Not more questions. What, I've got to read them haven't I? It's Pete, he doesn't want to go home. No, he's just going home, coughing all over his family.

57:31No wonder we're all out here. Cough wasn't yours. Dallas Cowboys re-signed former soccer player. And he's got a sauna to get rid of it. Newly built Sora in his house. I don't know what that's all about. Hurry up. It's like a couple of red lights in a room. Dallas Cowboys resigned former soccer player Brandon Aubrey making him the highest paid kicker in NFL history. It was his wife who implored him to attempt a football career after his soccer days ended. Did any of you ever entertain the idea of becoming an NFL kicker? He's getting four years, $28 million contract. Your son was a kicker. He was a kicker, yeah.

58:05You must have tried it.

58:10Not using a tee, I didn't. Oh, okay. I was the golfer. He would be smashing it over and I had to go and get the ball. But there must have been a time where you had a little go. Not really. No? No. No? I did it once and I hurt my thigh. I thought it tore my thigh muscle. That was the end of that.

58:31Final question. Stevie, if you add mince to a salad, is it still a salad? No. Stevie on a diet? No. It was quite, I didn't recognise that smell when I walked in and saw you today. It's a mince, is it not a mince, a mince beef salad? No. I mean nobody'd ever do that. No, exactly. How is the diet going? Alright. Yeah. How many have you dropped? And I don't mean, I mean. Six pounds? Yep. Good man Stevie, well done. Oh you'll have that back on in no time. Well done, don't listen to me. Eventually I'll probably won't be doing the best for me. He told me, he said, I've laid off the beer, so get us home the whole night, first thing I do.

59:07Send him a picture of a beer. Send him a picture of a beer. Of course he did. Send him a picture of a lot of it. Toxic. Toxic. You know, toxic, very toxic, Craig. Just don't like to see other people getting on. Thank you for your support. And their battle for healthiness. That is it. Me and Craig are off to London. Stevie will be here, of course. You said that as if you're getting dragged. Hold the way. I don't know. I'm with Craig. I'm with Toxic Craig. I feel like Bill. We're travelling individually. That's it. Whatever. ASNFC returns to screens tomorrow.

59:51911, where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide? At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm Juju Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.