Chelsea Into the FA Cup Final

22:26Not necessarily, but a bulk of them. And when you talk about coaching as well, you're talking about defensively coaching because obviously there's the attacking side as well. Anything. The shape of the team, the shape of the attacking side of the game. you know I don't think anybody Mbappe's had a good season in terms of his individual brilliance and going past people but you can't build a team around him because he's never in the position probably the coach wants him to be there's times when they've got the ball at the back and you think where's Mbappe he's over there or he's over it so other players have to oh I have to fill in for him and go into the centre forward position that's not coach they'd want him to you know I'm watching the game I'm thinking Rudi's just got the ball he's good at getting in between the two centre on the half turn make the run you'll get in five times out six or seven but he doesn't want to do that enough.

23:08When Alonso was struggling at the end, there was a quote come out, I'm not sure exactly what player it was from, but it was snuck out somewhere from management or agents saying, that's not how we do it here. We've been successful in the past by allowing teams' possession. And that's history. Are you saying that's how you're going to be successful in five years, 10 years, 15 and 20 as the game evolves? No. And that is the problem, is the allowance of too much of power to players. And it's such a shame because I think we were all really looking forward to watching a transition with Xabi Alonso. And it was so frustrating to watch him just almost bury his head in his hands every week during the weekend at the weekend because he was fighting players, the big players.

23:55He was fighting management. He was fighting Vinicius Jr. And his management team, oh, he's not getting enough minutes because he's not doing enough. So it's so frustrating. and you're right, they turned up in the Champions League and they showed a little bit of metal, but they got and they are getting this season what they deserve, Real Madrid. Absolutely nothing. How did your lot lose to them, Nader, mate?

24:15Craig Burley:What's that, sorry? How did your lot lose to them? Yeah, that was a big surprise. I don't know what you're talking about. I've always been a Bayern Munich fan. But just going back to Nedam's point when he said, are all the players like that? Right. Well, no, they're not all like that, but they will become like that. Yeah, talk to me about how that affects the dressing room. Talk to me about how it affects the dressing room. So someone like Halson comes in from Bournemouth, I'm sure he was coached by Uriel. and does a good job and knew what he was meant to do. He comes in and probably not a lot of coaching goes on, or they've tried to coach and the other players go, no, we don't want anything to do with that.

24:42So he starts to join in with that sort of culture. And that's the dangerous thing, that those senior players or those more influential players will start to get the ones who do want to learn and do want to be coached into the wrong attitude. So to fix it, you have to get rid of personnel.

24:55Craig Burley:Absolutely. But you can't get rid of in Bappe. Go to PSG. PSG. Here we go back to PSG. For years, they were never, ever going to challenge, or they were challenging but never quite got through into the Champions League because they went through the route of we're going to get star players. They're going to run the club and we just get a manager who sort of coaxes them into some sort of formation. They had the Corford Champions League final with Bayern. But that apart. So they never really played as a unit, as a team. They get rid of those players. Yes. Luis Enrique comes in and says, we can't play with these players.

25:29We can't win things with these players. They go, they sell them, some retire, whatever it happens, and then they get a structure, then they get younger players who want to work and want to be coached and want to do the right things. Their recruitment is better. Their young players coming through the system are better. And now they've got a much better culture at PSG than they had before, and they're winning things. But Real Madrid, they won't accept that because Mbappe won't go. And I'm not suggesting Kylian Mbappe should go. But what Enrique did, as Robbo said, was he got the cupboard open and he emptied it.

26:01and he said we're going to do it a different way. Real Madrid and the president there, they're just going to go and try and sign what they perceive as the best players and tell somebody to get on with it. And that's their model. But what we're saying is that model, you've had success before, but in the modern game as it evolves, is that going to be good enough? Just having a sprinkling of superstars, particularly when they sign Erling Haaland from Man City.

26:27Craig Burley:I don't know why you're looking at me. just a reminder that La Liga continues live and exclusive on ESPN plus taking a look at three of the big games coming up next weekend Villarreal against Atletico Madrid also sooner against Barcelona and it's Espanol against Real Madrid stay with us more to come from Wembley after the break

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27:49Craig Burley:Welcome back. We're live here at Wembley after Chelsea defeated Leeds by one goal to nil. Let's get some reaction. We're here from US international Brendan Aronson in the moment. But first, Chelsea's Trevor Chalibot. What was Callum McFarlane's message to you players going into today's game? Just enjoy playing football. Just get back to enjoying it. We know the level that we've shown already this season. and it's not about dwelling on the past. We know we're all good players, so we've got to trust in our abilities, feel confident and go out there and trust ourselves and grow together. Enzo's goal, Chelsea's first goal for almost 300 minutes.

28:26Just how important is Enzo for this team? Yeah, it's very important. Enzo's a player that gives his all. He gives his all, he runs hard, he works for the team and it's a credit to him and obviously it's the way we created that goal for him. It's a team goal, you know, and we'll credit him for getting in the back post and finishing it. Brendan had such good momentum going into today. Where did Leeds United fall short? I think we started a bit slow, which stinks. I think that we didn't play our best that we know we can in the first half, but that's football. I think they also came out really well.

29:00They were aggressive. They made it uncomfortable for us to build out and didn't really let us get into the game. Of course, we had our chance in the first half. Of course, myself, to be honest, I thought it was a goal. I thought I couldn't have done much better. But, yeah, it was a great save. And second half, I thought we came out. We had a little bit of formation change in the second half. And we knew that we needed to be even better in the second half, and we did that, I think. Are you one of those players who watch that chance back and think what you could have done differently in that moment?

29:28I mean, I think I've already watched it like three times already on my phone. But, yeah, I mean, I always want to get better. I always want to, you know, see how I can, you know, get better at my finishing. I work on it a lot. So I'll watch it back. I know in that moment of time I was confident over the ball and I knew where I wanted to put it and I put it in the right spot, but sometimes you've got to put your hands up to the goalkeeper.

29:49Craig Burley:Boyce was speaking at half-time. They said, look, couldn't stretch it much better. It was just a good save, one of those things. One second. He said, I put it in the right spot. I mean, he wasn't really in the right spot because if he'd been in the right spot, he'd been a little bit further over, he wouldn't have saved it. It was a good save. It was a good save. He didn't quite get it in the corner. He had lots of time. It was a great little ball around the corner by Calvert-Lewin. one of the things he did do right, and he made a good run. But once you get in that position, you're hoping he's going to score.

30:14Craig Burley:Enzo, of course, scoring the winning goal. Will he be here at the start of next season? Will he be at Chelsea for the start of next season? And how hard should they fight to keep him? He doesn't know himself. If you listen to his previous interviews, international breaks, I'm going to focus on this and then we'll see. I think he'll be here. Do you? Yeah, I do, to be honest. I quite like the fact that for him as a captain, he's gone, he scored the winning goal at Wembley. He's kind of given the fans what they wanted to see, some level of connection, some level of effort and so on. So I think he will be there at the end of, I saw it at the start of the next season.

30:43Whether or not, you know, that ends up being like a really long-term thing, I'm not sure of. Obviously, there's that interest in Real Madrid, but a Real Madrid position where they can just go and pick and choose whoever they want. Right. Possibly not. But I think he stays for at least a year more, and he seems like he's enjoying himself if you listen to those celebrations. Well, he is now because your mate Liam's not. Listen, he's had quite a few good moments for Chelsea, but scoring a winner at Wembley to take a team to the final, So I think that's a big deal. I think he probably looked at it when he had that suspension and thought, do you know what?

31:12I'm just going to sit back, stay at home, let them go and play the two games, and let this just unravel. Right. And then I can just go on with it into the summer and see. Because it was ridiculous. But rather than make a song and dance about it, just let it go. Because I think he knew, I'm going to play the long game here. And the long game wasn't a very long game. because Liam Rossini went pretty quickly. And he showed what a quality player he is and what a ridiculous decision it was from the manager in the club to suspend a player, particularly for the City game, which was just nonsensical.

31:48Craig Burley:Well, action elsewhere in England, of course, as we're getting to the dramatic part of the season in the championship. Teams looking for a place in the playoff and indeed looking for automatic promotion. Coventry are your champions. Stay with us. Smalls here. If you're heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, you're taking a risk most people don't think about until it's too late. Summer colds can turn into sinus infections that last weeks, ruining your perfect vacation getaway. And when you're traveling, finding a doctor and a pharmacy, it's stressful. That's why I ordered a medical emergency kit.

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34:15Craig Burley:I think lots of Chelsea fans will say the performance today was very different to the one that was served up five days ago at Brighton in terms of intensity. Why was that? Yeah, I don't know. I haven't even, if I'm being honest, we haven't even debriefed or reflected on the Brighton game. It's been obviously a lot of change. So all our focus has been on just making sure that we're prepared in the best way we can be to face a really good side. So I wouldn't want to comment on that.

34:45Craig Burley:There you go. Everyone's happy. They're in the final. Goodness gracious me. Obviously looking ahead to Manchester. What's this been for the rest of Chelsea's season, Robbo? Obviously, they're not going to make it to the Champions League. No. They've still got to grind out results. They've still got to perform. They've now got to try and build on this performance. I think it's important that they play well up until the cup final because you can't just switch it on and off like a tap. And Chelsea have proved that in previous weeks. So they've got to make the most of this result. They've got to play well in the next three or four games and then put some sort of performance in against Manchester City.

35:19And they've got every chance of getting something out of the game. We have this really tedious scenario that I tried to discuss with Kay on the show a couple of weeks ago. If Aston Villa finish fifth and win the Europa League, there'll be a sixth place. Oh, OK. But if Aston Villa finish fourth and win the Europa League at one, it'll go out to... So it'll be quite a scrap for sixth in the end. If they were to finish fifth, which is where they are now, and win the Europa League, it would go to sixth. But that's the only scenario, I believe, that will make that happen. So from Chelsea's perspective, you can't chuck the towel in just yet because there is still possibly an opportunity.

36:04Craig Burley:Robbo was giving us some tips on cutting the grass. It was quite interesting earlier, Robbo, because of your green fingers. Or green thumb, of course. Well, they do. They brush the grass first just to build it up, just to get the spikes up, and then they cut it. And then they cut it. And these sort of services was what you were playing back in the day, Robbo? No, we were talking about, in the commentary, we were talking about Chelsea versus Leeds in the 1970 Cup run at Wembley. Yes. And the pitch, I think they'd done the Horse of the Year show on the Wembley pitch the year before. And it was just, they put sand on it, there was mud on it.

36:34Oh, it was a terrible pitch. And that's the sort of pitches we played on every week. Was it a bit disappointing, obviously, Man City yesterday, the travel and all the times you've been there? Chelsea did not fulfil their allocation today. No, that's true. But Naeem's saying they haven't sold out Stamford Bridge this season I mean that's I don't know, someone's saying we've been to a lot of finals recently and that's the problem with coming to Wembley for the semi-finals because spectators are bored with it because they come here year after year after year Man City's fans come here year after year and it's a massive expense for them when you used to play at neutral grounds the atmosphere was so much better, they didn't have to travel so far because it was in the middle of the country if it was a south versus north team or if it was two northern teams, they'd play up north.

37:17And it had a much better atmosphere. I think they've spoiled it by bringing the semi-final. Look around at this stadium they've built. That's why. The FA are trying to pay for this stadium. And it's very difficult to fill it out unless it is the cup final.

37:31Craig Burley:Last word to you on for the whole show, Nadam. How would you like to use those last words? Take us home. I cannot possibly do this justice. So to you, Dan Thomas, please take us away. Well, we've seen two semi-finals here at Wembley. They won't live long in the memory, either of them, but neither do our show. So basically that fits in quite nicely, doesn't it? Be sure to check out Extra Time, which is available over on YouTube. And coming up next, we've got college softball, number two, Alabama, against number nine, Tennessee, next.

38:04Craig Burley:Welcome in to the latest edition of Extra Time. We're here at Wembley, of course, been here for the weekend. I tell you what, you see golf course, Craig, in London. Very much so. happy, friendly, chatting to everybody. You left me in my room. I've been in my room for a day and a half on my own. I messaged you again, what time are you going to the stadium? He's like, oh, I'm already here. Yeah, I was. Exciting, nothing to do. No, I was keen. I realise you've got some mates, haven't you? I didn't think you had any mates. It goes a bit David Brent. It's like, oh, John, your wife left, you let. Oh, yeah, I forgot she has.

38:30Craig Burley:Yeah, that's what it was. Contrary to reports, I have actually lots of friends. Are you really? And you're not one of them. No, no, that's good. It's been interesting. Acquaintances, I think. And then we saw Robbo. Did you see everybody? I was fed up with people hugging me. Honestly, I was just, it was embarrassing. You sat there going, Dave, Dave. I thought somebody was going, oh, signing autographs, hugs, cuddles. Who did you sign autographs for? Oh, you weren't there. I didn't see that. Meanwhile, Robbo, first thing that he comes in and say, had a nice swim in my heated pool this morning. Wasn't it Robbo showing off, flexing about your pool?

39:04I was actually talking to John Chapman and you overheard what I said.

39:07Craig Burley:Yeah, certainly. We discuss our gardens and what we do in our gardens. And, Nadam, you're obviously just very popular in general here, it seems. Apparently so. For Nadam, how do you feel about the prospect of a domestic treble in your city ways? Percentage chance they'll do it? I don't think it's high. I don't think it's that high. You got one done. Well, I didn't do any of it, but, yeah, they did get one done, yeah. The FA Cup, considering they've lost the last two, I can't see it being three. So I think they'll find a way to win that one. But the league itself, I think having to watch another side on Arsenal potentially do what they're doing with the fixtures that they have so if he asked you uh who was going to win the league which i think he may have done yesterday don't remember it that's man city i told you that's what i wanted that's what i wanted but i said what's the percentage chance i'm gonna give it 30 30 30 do the treble craig burley the treble uh 50 50.

40:00okay 66 wow

40:02Craig Burley:I think they're going to win the FA Cup, but I think it might be a struggle in the league. If Chelsea win the FA Cup but fail to qualify for the Champions League, would that be considered a successful season? Overall, absolutely not. But to be able to lift silverware, especially here, the home of football, the FA Cup itself with the history that he has. Robbo said, nice bookend. World Cup. Club of FA Cup. I didn't say that. That was me. Yeah, I don't think he can win a FA Cup. I assume Chelsea would book. See, that's the thing. He doesn't listen, does he? No, he does listen. He chooses just not to hear.

40:34It's going to end one ear and out the other. I said it anyway. No. Onoship want Champions League. Yes. Yeah. They want Champions League. The fans, I mean, I'm sure they do want Champions League. It's a bonus, though, isn't it? Yeah, thank you. It's fans and players. You've got to lift the trophy. They get more excitement. The fans will get more excitement for lifting the trophy than being in the Champions League next season.

40:53Craig Burley:Sorry, so another question for Nade and Robbo. Sorry. That's all right. City have been in the FA Cup final four years in a row and only won once. Oh. So which is worse? Losing the FA Cup... Hang on, hang on. Only one once so far. Are they saying they're losing the next one? Just let me finish this. Okay, cool. Carry on. So which is worse? Losing three FA Cup finals in a row or finish second in the Premier League four years in a row? I'm so confused. This is the fourth one now, so they'll be playing against Chelsea. Is he assuming that they've lost that one already? What they're saying, is it worse to lose four finals or come second in four leagues?

41:26Craig Burley:It's worse to be Arsenal or City, I suppose, is what the insinuation is. I think City have lifted enough silverware across the last few years to be able to overcome some disappointments at Wembley. I think the nature of losing the one to Manchester United obviously stings, but then the year before they won the treble by a beat for Manchester United at Wembley, so I think City will be all right. He was talking to you, two days in a row, two days in a row watching the game, he sat at the end, right? Yeah. In front were the British broadcasters. Yeah. Two days in a row he's been in the ear of the person in front of him.

41:59Craig Burley:So who was today? Beckford, Joe Hart yesterday? Yesterday it was Joe Hart, today it was Jermaine Beckford. Jermaine Beckford of ESPN. He does a little bit of work for us, but I'm sure he wanted to watch the game. Jermaine Beckford of ESPN. A guy piping away at him from behind, you can see him on his eyes going, yeah, yeah, yeah. Was he concentrating on the game? No. For Robbo, if Chelsea win the FA Cup, Man City win the Premier League and Arsenal are out from the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, how would you rate Arteta's season compared to Chelsea's behind the scene chaos? Well, Arteta has obviously done a very good job so far, but if they don't win anything, he's partly to blame for their collapse because he's over emotional.

42:34I think he said some of the wrong things in the press. I think he made some bad decisions on the pitch in recent weeks and he's played some negative football. So some of those, if they don't win anything, some of that will be down to him and he'll

42:47Craig Burley:be blamed. Craig, does the Wembley pitch play as slowly in person as it appears on the television?

42:55I don't think so. No. No? I mean, they watered it. OK. They watered it before the game, and I think they watered it again at half-time. I think it was just the nature of the two games. Right. And I also think the camera position is very high, which makes the ball go around the pitch a lot slower. That's what it makes it look. The higher the camera, the slower the game looks.

43:18Craig Burley:Nadev, do you want to see Enzo Fernandes to City next season?

43:24That's a good question. Yeah, because you get a really good suntan in Manchester rather than Madrid, wouldn't you? Well, I mean... Umbrellas and fishing chips. I mean... Oh, God. Yeah, yeah. If he's not too concerned about weather, yeah, I'd absolutely love to see him. Yeah, you'd have him? Yeah, I'd have him, yeah. I get a feeling he is concerned a little bit about weather. Yes. I can't think why. It's liquid sunshine in Manchester. Nothing to worry about there. That's very true, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So you'd have him at City? I'd absolutely have him at City. The Chelsea's captain, yeah, absolutely I would.

43:50Craig Burley:Perfect. Final question, best post-game meal? Craig had pizza, didn't you, Craig? How was that? Well, I got laid down. I got a bad rap. Somebody led me down a garden path. A pizza came out in the restaurant last night and somebody over there said, oh, that looks good. Right. Which wasn't me, by the way. No, it was one of the bosses. Not on this occasion. And I stupidly took the bait and I went, I'll have a pizza. Yeah. The second one. But you still ate it. This is my thing with pizza. As bad as it is, you still eat it. You still ate the whole thing. Yeah, that's because... What you don't know, before the show today, I actually ran the London Marathon.

44:33I was here in London today, so I needed that kind of...

44:36Craig Burley:How can anyone run a marathon under two hours, by the way? That is crazy. Well, you're talking about Eden, don't you? I know Eden, but that's just... Mine was 156. Really? Yes. Did somebody break the world record today? Yeah, the world record's breaking. They ran under two hours a marathon. And it's hot as well today. Well, clearly conditions were good. Oh, there you are. God, this just felt like a marathon. Good, that's done. ESPNFC, of course, will be back on your stream tomorrow. Thank you very much for joining us. Our attention turns, of course, those Champions League semifinals, Bayern against PSG and Arsenal against Atleti.

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