City Slip Up at Spurs (Again)

2 Feb 2026 · 59 min · 24 chapters

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ESPN FC Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title

City Slip Up at Spurs (Again)

Episode Description In this episode, the FC crew reflects on Tottenham's second-half comeback to secure a draw against Manchester City, who continue to drop points in the Premier League title race. Additionally, the panel discusses Manchester United's thrilling win over Fulham, and Sid Lowe provides insights on Real Madrid's victory over Rayo Vallecano.

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Key Takeaways

Manchester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur

  • Match Overview: City led 2-0 at halftime but Spurs mounted a strong comeback in the second half, leveling the score with two goals from Dominic Solanke.
  • First Half Dominance:
  • Man City controlled the first half, showcasing intensity and energy.
  • Erling Haaland missed a goal, which was notable amid City's dominance.
  • Second Half Resurgence:
  • Tottenham changed tactics, becoming more aggressive.
  • Solanke's controversial first goal raised questions about a foul on Mark Gahey, which VAR did not rule out.
  • Panel Insights:
  • Stevie Nichol emphasized City's lack of response in the second half and praised Spurs for their bravery.
  • Don Hutchison echoed sentiments about Spurs being overly cautious initially.
  • Shaka Hislop criticized City for their psychological softness, contrasting with Arsenal's performance against Leeds.

Manchester United vs. Fulham

  • Match Summary: United took a 2-0 lead but Fulham equalized 2-2 before United snatched a late winner.
  • Key Players:
  • Casemiro and Mateus Cunha scored early for United.
  • Fulham's goals came from Raul Jimenez (penalty) and Kevin’s last-minute equalizer.
  • Performance Analysis:
  • Don Hutchison praised Michael Carrick’s impact on the team, suggesting United are returning to form.
  • Stevie Nichol pointed out defensive vulnerabilities in United's lineup, citing Harry Maguire's lack of pace.

Real Madrid vs. Rayo Vallecano

  • Match Result: Real Madrid managed a 2-1 win despite a challenging match, with Jude Bellingham leaving due to injury.
  • Game Highlights:
  • Vinny Jr. opened the scoring, followed by a Rayo equalizer.
  • Kylian Mbappe scored the winning penalty during injury time.
  • Sid Lowe's Insights:
  • Criticized Madrid’s overall performance, stating they were outplayed in the second half.
  • Highlighted the importance of fans' support despite their frustrations.

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Discussion Points

  • Var Controversy: A significant discussion arose around VAR's decision-making, especially regarding Solanke's first goal not being ruled out for a foul. Panel members expressed disbelief at the VAR's focus on offside rather than a clear foul.
  • Premier League Title Race:
  • City is now six points behind Arsenal, leading to discussions on their chances of catching up.
  • Don Hutchison rated City’s chances at 90-10 against Arsenal, while Shaka was less optimistic but still acknowledged City's potential.
  • Top Four Race: The panel debated which teams would secure top spots, with Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool vying for positions, amid concerns about defensive capabilities.
  • Player Performances:
  • Discussion on the need for better service to Erling Haaland amidst his struggles.
  • Praise for Tottenham's Xavi Simons and Manchester United's Ahmad and Casemiro for their performances.

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Conclusion This episode of ESPN FC highlighted the dynamics of the Premier League, with Manchester City’s struggles and United’s resurgence being central themes. The panel engaged in a lively analysis of VAR's impact on the game, player performance critiques, and predictions for the ongoing season. The discussions provided comprehensive insights into the current state of top football leagues and teams.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Match Overview: Spurs vs. Man City

0:45 to 2:12

Analysis of Tottenham's comeback against Manchester City in a thrilling match.

“Everything pretty much went Manchester City's way in the first half.”

Evaluating Tottenham's Performance

2:12 to 3:38

Discussion about Spurs' tactical shift and bravery in the second half.

“2-0, I thought, there's no way this team's going to come back.”

Man City's Struggles Unveiled

3:38 to 5:26

Exploring Manchester City's unexpected second-half decline against Spurs.

“I mean, I totally agree with Stevie where that first Dominic Solanke goal should have been chalked off, in my opinion, because he boots the back of Mark Gahy's calf.”

Erling Haaland's Diminished Impact

5:26 to 10:40

Analyzing Erling Haaland's recent performances and the lack of service he is receiving.

“while Donald Ruma conceded too, he was easily City's best player in the second 45.”

Title Race Analysis: City vs. Arsenal

10:40 to 11:58

Discussion on the current title race between Manchester City and Arsenal.

“I think it affects Haaland in terms of the balls that he gets early to his feet or in behind.”

Referee Decisions and VAR Controversies

11:58 to 13:49

Controversy surrounding the officiating of Solanke's first goal for Spurs.

“Xhaka, is that how you're seeing it too?”

VAR Controversy on Solanke's Goal

14:02 to 16:08

Discussion on the controversial VAR decision regarding Solanke's goal and foul review.

“and why the VAR was checking for an offside and not for a foul.”

Manchester United vs Fulham Overview

17:07 to 22:41

A recap of the thrilling Manchester United vs Fulham match, highlighting key moments and player performances.

“Manchester United hosted Fulham in what turned out to be a five-goal thriller at Old Trafford.”

Top Four Race Analysis

22:41 to 25:59

Analyzing the current standing of Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool in the race for the top four.

“I said, I'm not sure about this goalkeeper.”

Real Madrid's Struggle Against Rayo Vallecano

28:55 to 30:09

Discussion on Real Madrid's challenging match and key moments.

“Just eight minutes in, there was bad news for Real Madrid as Jude Bellingham pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury.”
Show all 24 chapters

Reactions to Real Madrid's Performance

30:12 to 31:35

Insights from Sid Lowe on the team's performance and fan reactions.

“as they're just one point behind the Catalan club.”

Analysis of Real Madrid's Second Half

31:36 to 32:35

A breakdown of Real Madrid's second half performance and tactical issues.

“And the reaction in Spain has been, and I'm pretty sure will be, over the next 12 or 24 hours, that this is a Real Madrid team that still needs a huge amount of work doing to it.”

Fans' Influence on Team Dynamics

32:35 to 33:52

Discussion on the impact of fan support and criticism on the players.

“but they're down to 10 men, and then all of a sudden you see nine minutes go up.”

Upcoming Challenges for Real Madrid

33:52 to 35:39

Exploration of the challenges Real Madrid will face without Bellingham.

“And while it is true that, of course, there was a determination from the fans from Madrid to keep going in those last seven or eight minutes, but it really wasn't the case of them being carried along by the fans.”

Arbeloa's Tactical Considerations

35:39 to 38:22

Analysis of Arbeloa's decisions and structure for the team moving forward.

“You know, Master Twana all of a sudden gets a game but then he's in love and you change it.”

Sid Lowe's Insights on Team Development

38:22 to 39:05

Final thoughts on how Real Madrid can improve in upcoming weeks.

“Well, if they come up with a structure without Bellingham, then when he comes back, what do they do again?”

David Moyes Celebrates Equalizer

40:51 to 42:00

Discussion about David Moyes' reaction to a last-minute goal by Everton.

“and Beto came off the bench to score a 97th minute equaliser which gave the Toffees a point.”

Celebrating Moyes: A Yellow Card Controversy

42:00 to 44:21

Discussion on the controversial yellow card given to David Moyes for celebrating a goal.

“See, that would have only got me a yellow as well.”

Introduction to Extra Time Segment

44:21 to 44:38

Transition into the Extra Time segment with hosts and banter.

“but there's one more highlight coming your way, and it's called Extra Time.”

City's Title Race Draw: Implications and VAR Questions

44:38 to 47:18

Analyzing Manchester City's draw and discussing VAR's role in their title race.

“I'm Alexis Noudis here hanging out with Stevie, Shaq and Don Hutchison.”

Dominic Solanke and Transfer Speculations

47:18 to 52:14

Debate surrounding Dominic Solanke's performance and Liverpool's transfer decisions.

“but when you look at that one, there's only one outcome, it's a foul.”

VAR Technology: Offside Controversies and Celebrations

52:14 to 56:01

Discussion on the impact of VAR technology on football and goal celebrations.

“Oh, no, because it's not just the week, though.”

Debating the Impact of VAR on Celebrations

56:01 to 57:59

The hosts discuss whether VAR technology diminishes the joy of scoring in football.

“Liverpool's best player so far this season.”

Referee Decisions and the Evolution of the Game

58:00 to 59:18

The conversation shifts to how referee decisions and VAR have changed the game over the years.

“It's a whole lot quicker than it once was.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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0:34Hello everyone and welcome into our ESPN FC studios for the latest edition of the show. I'm Alexis Younes alongside Stevie Nichol and Shaka Hislop. We're going to kick things off in the Premier League because it was a busy day as Tottenham hosted Manchester City in quite the enticing fixture. And it was really a tale of two halves. Everything pretty much went Manchester City's way in the first half. apart from a rare Erling Haaland miss on goal, but City still found themselves 2-0 up. And then Thomas Frank's men came out renewed in the second half, and Tottenham fought their way back to level things through.

1:10Two goals from Dominic Solanke, although there was a bit of controversy in his first goal as he appeared to foul Mark Gahey in the process. But in the end, both had to share the points. Here's a look at the top half of the Premier League standings then. So Arsenal will be very, very happy after that result as Manchester City fall further behind. They are now six points behind the Gunners in this title race. All right, let's welcome in the third member of our team here, Don Hutchison. But Stevie, let me start with you on this one because I mean, props to Spurs, but how on earth did City blow this?

1:46You know, somebody at halftime must have gone in with a big syringe and sucked the life out of City, went across into the Tottenham dressing room and filed it into them because in the first half, there was absolutely nothing but a swarm of Man City with the desire, the energy, the intensity and completely walked all over Spurs. And at halftime, I thought the game was done. 2-0, I thought, there's no way this team's going to come back. But in the second half, it was a complete role reversal. All of a sudden, Spurs were on the front foot. and it just shows, if this is not a wake-up call for Thomas Frank, because in the first half he tried to sit tight in a shape when they didn't have the ball, which is fine, but eventually you have to go step forward and make a challenge and win the ball.

2:36They didn't. All they did was keep in shape, move from side to side, but never actually got the ball. Second half was the complete opposite. Good shape, the desire was there, the first man went, everybody went in behind, and all of a sudden, Man City couldn't breathe. And actually, at the end of the game, they held on for the point. Yeah, Don, I mean, I hate to sound like a cliche, but it really was a tale of two halves, wasn't it? Yeah, Stevie's nailed it. Tottenham weren't brave enough in the first half. They looked actually petrified to play against Man City today. I thought they feared the worst.

3:10They weren't brave enough to try and step onto them. Their home form was horrendous, so probably that was in the back of their mind. And everything, the negative thoughts then come in, and think, oh, it's Man City, it's Guardiola, come to town, we better go defensive. Spurs are not that team. They've never been that team throughout their recent history. They've always been a team that like to entertain. They like to try and get on the front foot. It's easy to play when you're 2-0 down because the shackles can't come off. And you have to give them credit because, as Stevie said, they were dead and buried in the first half.

3:38I mean, I totally agree with Stevie where that first Dominic Solanke goal should have been chalked off, in my opinion, because he boots the back of Mark Gahy's calf. So I thought they were lucky on that one. But I would give Spurs a lot of credit for showing more bravery, showing more quality. Conor Gallagher was impressive second half. His energy was infectious. And the crowd and the players fed off that. As soon as they got the game back to 2-1, like many of the games this weekend, Spurs had a fighting chance. Jack, how do you see it? Listen, I guess we have to give Spurs credit for their second half performance and get themselves back in the game.

4:13But I thought the bigger story is Man City and their implosion. this was a cruise of a first 45 i mean when you think of man city in the first half you thought of big performances from turkey from simenio from rodri um gay he who's positioning again uh outstanding um we barely seen donnarumma in the first 45 harlan a little bit disappointing he had opportunities and as i mentioned during the highlight which i would have put my mortgage on on him finishing but didn't but it was an absolute cruise and then all of a sudden the first goal scores or Solanke scores his first goal and and I guess it's it's unanimous that was a foul I'm not sure I'm not sure why VR spent as much time as as they do looking for offside it was a foul I I cannot explain that and nor will I try to start but from then they just it felt like City were about to implode.

5:13And I said as much watching the second half, that what are the chances that Spurs get themselves back in this game? And then as the second half went on, truth be told, while Donald Ruma conceded too, he was easily City's best player in the second 45. I cannot think of anybody else, for all the praise that I just put on the other, the other names that I just called, I I cannot think of a single incident in the second half that any Manchester City player covered themselves in any kind of glory. And that speaks to a soft underside to this Manchester City. Psychologically, you see what Arsenal do yesterday to Leeds.

5:57And this is your response against a team as poor as Homes as Spurs are. I am far more critical of Manchester City than I am of Spurs. Great for Spurs. Let's see what they're doing in response going forward. If they build on this, I will put my hands up and say I got that wrong. But as of right now, I'm still unconvinced by them, at least. I think we need to give Xavi Simmons a little bit of love. About time. I think we've given him enough stick on this show, and I know I have, that he hasn't produced anything. But today, you know, he didn't score, and, you know, he didn't play a worldy pass, but his tenacity and his energy and just everything that he was trying to do, in my opinion, was a big part of the reason why, particularly in the second half, Spurs went on the front foot.

6:48Because every single time he got the ball, he wanted to do something. He wanted to go forward. He was looking for a pass. So I think today, if you're a Spurs fan, hopefully you've seen what he can bring. and if he can consistently bring what he did today in the coming weeks, then Tottenham will be on the rise. The other part of that is he's the only player from Spurs who is looking to get on the ball. And I'll be honest, as that second half developed, I was amazed at exactly how much of Spurs' play went through Xavi Simmonds. Whether it was on the left or the right, he got himself in position.

7:23Nobody else in the right of Spurs seemed to go looking for the ball. Well, we're looking for the ball, regardless. Xavi Simons is the only one who did it and did wonderfully well in that second half. Well, Don, I want to throw the chat back to Manchester City, but specifically about Erling Haaland, because we talk about that chance that we saw. Xhaka said he would be willing to put his mortgage that he would have absolutely scored. But if we look at the stats right now, he's got one shot on goal in his last six games, which is not the Erling Haaland that entertained us in the early half of the season.

7:54So, alarm bells? 100 % I've seen him live in Bodo and I watched him live when you're sitting watching and doing a commentary on a game you can watch a TV screen but when you're there you've got a great view of what's going on off the ball and I was watching him and he was frustrated he's been frustrated for a while I don't get the sense that he's enjoying playing in this man's city side I know he's prolific I know he's amazing but the lack of balls and the lack of service into him I mean in the papers the last couple of weeks down in England it's been rumored that he might be on the move to Real Madrid and I could half see it because with Vinny Jr.

8:30and Mbappe and the service he would get there he'd hit ridiculous numbers he's a phenomenal player but any centre forward will tell you you have to service them Man City play not just today but in general they play the ball down the right hand side they play down the left hand side they come back through the middle they go side to side a little bit like Arsenal at times when we're critical of them at no point they really bang any balls into Erlen Harlan's feet or play balls down the side. When he first came into the country, I remember a game, I don't know if it was Davey or his first couple of games when they played West Ham away and he scored a hat-trick and it was all little cute balls down the side using his pace and using the running ability that he's got.

9:07He's great in the air, so why wouldn't you put more crosses in? That's a mystery. I just watch his body language. I just think he's getting so frustrated because we've talked forever about after games, oh, he's only had ten touches. He's only had six touches and he's still scoring in goals. At some point, I think if you have limited touches on the ball, it's going to have a knock-on effect in your final number. And I think that's what we're seeing. He's getting one chance a game. He should have scored it, fair enough. He had two against Bodo, difficult chances. But the players in and around him, I mean, Phil Foden today, he came on for three minutes of the game.

9:42I mean, when the game's sitting at 2-2, and you need some creativity, and someone that's going to give Erlen Harden a chance or two, to give Phil Foden three minutes, I thought that was a mistake. I think Pep's got a problem here because there's no question that if you give Haaland the ball early in that little bit of space or in those little gaps then he's going to produce. Yes, he should have scored. Just a guy that's not quite sure right now. But I think a lot of it might have to do with Cherky. As good as Cherky's looked in patches in games and as delightful as he is to watch he takes too many touches.

10:23And so that's not good for Haaland because that kills his space. As soon as he takes two and three and four touches, the defense gets together, gets tight, and those gaps are not there. And for a team that doesn't put the ball in the box, how else is Haaland going to get all these chances? So as good as Shearke is to watch at times, I think it affects Haaland in terms of the balls that he gets early to his feet or in behind. Well, you know, we can't have Don on the show without asking you, Don, for some percentages. So Manchester City now six points behind Arsenal. So percentage wise, what are we feeling about their chances of being able to catch the Gunners?

11:05Oh, Alexis, we've had some fun with this and it was 50-50 about three months ago. Then it went to about 60-40. The last one I give you was 70-30. I am like 90-10. Oh. I just, you can't trust this man's city side. You can't. I was, you know, I was working on the Arsenal game yesterday and they're going away to Leeds. They beat them 4-0 and it was like, could have been six. And they were like, clean sheet. They churn out clean sheets. I've never known, and Stevie might correct me, I've never known a team that's won the title that has two midfield players right back. Now, O 'Reilly went to left back in the second half and Nunes, who's a midfield player by trade, played at right back.

11:41So you've got two midfield players playing at fullbacks. I've never known a team win the Premier League or any division out there in Europe where you've got two midfield players playing at fullbacks. You can't trust them. They don't do clean sheets. So Arsenal now in a brilliant position, I would say 90-10, it's all theirs. 90-10 to Arsenal then. Xhaka, is that how you're seeing it too? I'll say, first of all, I don't see anybody catching Arsenal. Not that I'm going to put it at 100%. I'm not going to put it at 100%. I mean, quite clearly, there's a lot of football still to be played. So there's a chance that somehow City turn around the form that we've seen and kind of how, as I said, it's soft on the side that they've displayed.

12:25I still think, I would still say, I would still say maybe 70-30 at best, 75-25 probably is a bulk right in terms of the odds. But again, you see the inconsistency of City. You see the inconsistency of the chasing pack. You see what Arsenal do. And we may criticize Arsenal about set pieces and a lot of their play. But you don't see them regularly, let me say, dropping points to teams that they should be beating and beating convincingly, as you saw last week. As you saw yesterday, excuse me. And that's the difference right now. I think there's a lot more drop points in cities closing 14 games than there are in Arsenal's.

13:09And so as a result, I just don't think Arsenal can... I don't think City can run Arsenal down. Stevie, what did you make of Don's percentages? 90-10, he has it now. Maybe a little harsh. Ooh, harsh on City. Yeah, 89-11. What?

13:30I was like, where are we going with this? Yeah, Arsenal's winning the league. I think what Xhaki said, absolutely spot on. Manchester City are going to drop more points between now and the end of the season than Arsenal are. And Arsenal are six points clear. That means Arsenal wins the league. Easy as. Easy as. Straightforward. All right, well, I want to go back to a moment in the game that we've been talking about quite a bit, and that was the fact that you guys all said this was a foul on Mark Gehi that led to Dominic Solanke's first goal and why the VAR was checking for an offside and not for a foul.

14:06Well, the Premier League match centre has released a statement saying that the referee's call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR with the challenge by Solanke on Gay deemed not to be a foul as Solanke played the ball. The goal accreditation panel has adjudged the goal to be a Solanke goal. So they checked for a foul and said no. Absolute garbage. How can you possibly sit and watch that replay and not say that's not a foul? and supposedly there's more than one person, there's a panel. Yeah, I way stick your head in a bucket. Don, your head's not in a bucket. So do you agree with Stevie, though?

14:48100%. I mean, I'm not a fan of the phrase, Alexis, but anywhere else on the pitch, it's a foul. And how can you look at this when you've got the privilege of looking at it in slow motion and not come up with Solanke kicks the back of Gahey's calf? I mean, have a look at it. I mean, we can watch this. We can slow it down. You see the chop. You see the skill. Great skill. Gehi comes into shot. He kicks him in the calf. How do you not spot that? I've got no idea. This is the perfect angle, isn't it? So, I'm not at all even sure that Solanke kicks the ball. And if he does make minimal contact with the ball, it's straight to the back of Gehi.

15:32so how you excuse that let me also put it this way if this were Tim and this were a striker about to shoot and Gahey did that through Solanke's back of Solanke's leg and it went out nobody's given a corner for that that's a penalty all day long so I just find sometimes the match center or whoever it is, PJMOL, just have to say you got that wrong We got it wrong. Got it wrong. And leave it like that. Because nobody's falling for whatever that excuse was. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back.

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17:13Manchester United hosted Fulham in what turned out to be a five-goal thriller at Old Trafford. Everything was going the Red Devils' way as they found themselves 2-0 up, thanks to goals from Casemiro and his fellow Brazilian Mateus Cunha. However, Fulham thought they pulled one back through Jorge Cuenca, who got a goal, but it was disallowed. And then Raul Jimenez was able to convert a penalty as Fulham were able to pull one back. And then in the first minute of injury time, Kevin managed to level things for Fulham. But Benjamin Chesco, who came off of the bench for Michael Carrick's men, managed to get the winner as United take all three points.

17:52Don, let me come to you first. As Xhaka just said, Manchester United, three in a row and looking very, I think he's used two verys. Very, very good. Whisper it, Alexis, but United are back. United are back. Oh, my goodness. They were amazing. Oh, boy. Are you not entertained? No, they were amazing. Exactly. Three wins on the spin. The three wins on the spin, the boy in Insta is two wins away from getting his hair cut. Finally. What a turnaround. You've tried Van Gaal. You've tried Amarim. You've tried Jose. You've tried all these winners. Michael Carrick's been in charge about 14, 15 days, and he's put the spirit back into Man United.

18:34He's putting players in the right positions. They're playing with quality. They're playing with excitement. I thought Fulham, to be fair, they were pretty good second half, but Ahmad was amazing today. I thought Kobi Menuh in the middle of the park, excellent. Bruno, excellent. They're a forward-thinking team all of a sudden. They're not just slow and pedestrian. Casemiro, superb. I think the job that he's done in the short term, Michael Carrick, has been outstanding. Stevie, I think you're going to bring me back down to earth slightly now because as Don said amazing, you said not amazing. No, not yet.

19:04Not yet. I think there's absolutely no question that Michael Carrick, in the 14 days that he's been there, has absolutely worked a miracle. I mean, the difference in this side to when Amarim was in charge. What's been the biggest difference to you? Well, there's a freedom about the way they play the game. I mean, going forward, I mean, I agree with Don. I mean, Ahmad gave Robinson heart attacks today. I mean, every time he ran out, it looked as though he was going to just take the mickey at him. And Cunha with a fantastic goal. And Buena's a danger. He finds space when they're on the counter attack.

19:45And we know how good Bruno Fernandes is. So, listen, going forward, they just... They're like a breath of pressure going forward. However, they've still got problems through the middle. You know, teams can get at that back four-two easily still. And, unfortunately, as good as Harry Maguire was against City and Arsenal, when there's any space around Harry, he doesn't have the legs to get close to anybody. And you saw how late he was with a penalty. You know, people talking about Harry Maguire should go to the World Cup. I mean, calm down. You know, Harry's OK when it's when it's there's a good shape and it's all nice and tight and there's not a lot of space.

20:26But when the when the rest of his teammates are going forward and the way that they're going forward under Carrick means that Harry Maguire is going to be under a lot of pressure. Because when they do turn the ball over and Fulham got at them quite a lot today. I think particularly in the first half, they were wasteful with the opportunities they had in the attacking third. but yeah, going forward Man United, breath of fresh air but they still got problems defensively through the middle of the park and that back line. And Shaka, you pointed out those very problems because you said how is Raul Jimenez just allowed to run right into the box like that?

21:02Of the back of Dalo and to Stevie's point while you could criticize Maguire and his lack of pace I don't think that's come as anything of a secret you've got Dalo out on that right-hand side one responsibility is Raul Jimenez who he just allows to drift in behind him and Maguire now has to try and make up that space. And I just thought, I thought I was really poor from Dalo in particular. I know Maguire will get criticized for it, but I thought I was really poor on Dalo. For me, I thought Fulham were much better in the second half. I thought they sat deep and allowed Manchester United possession and position in the first half.

21:38And as the game started to run away from them, now in the second half, they've got to start to press a little bit higher up, put Manchester United under a bit more pressure. And we're rewarded for it. And lucky not to be coming away from Old Trafford with at least a point. But for that, that's Sesco finish. But even to that point, and I mentioned it during the highlights, Sesco hit the crossbar with his first touch. I think that would have made it 3-0 and certainly the game would have been over. So to Fulham's credit, they dragged themselves back into this game. But I think the bigger story here is Manchester United.

22:10It's one thing about being motivated to play against Arsenal and Manchester City. it's another at home to Fulham. And we all said as good as results as those two were, it's what you do with those results that counts. Manchester United dropped points here. We would be critical, and rightly so. And I thought the finish to this after Fulham come back kind of speaks to some of the freedom, but also some of the energy that this Manchester United have found under Michael Carrick. Can I apologise to the goalies union checker? We welcome that. I criticised a couple of weeks ago. I said, I'm not sure about this goalkeeper.

22:50Lamonts. Lamonts. No, he's been good. But today, he had two big saves. He had a great save at 0-0. A reflex save. And then he had one in the second half as well. So, yeah. I apologise to the goalkeeper's union. I will forward your message, Stephen. It will be well received. Do you remember his first name, Stevie? How to pronounce his first name? Who? Lamonts? No. Lam. Lam. All right, in the race for top four, Don, we've got Manchester United currently in fourth, Chelsea in fifth, and then Liverpool in sixth. Who gets your pick? Who gets that top four spot? Well, it'll be top five because the coefficient's strong and it's more or less done.

23:32There's no one else in Europe that's going to outperform the Premier League side. So it will be top five that gets it. So I think in that straight fight, I think you're looking at Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool. I think Villa might have a little wobble. Bad loss for them today. They might have a little wobble. I think they've got enough to finish in the top three. So the three sides that I mentioned, they're going for two places. So it's all on between the three. Did Nancy answer any question at all? Who's getting left out, Dan? Yeah.

24:04I mean, United should make it on the probability that they've got no other games to play for. I mean, it's like Antonio Conte winning the league with Napoli last year with no European football. Man U have got no games. They just play every single Saturday or every week. So you're getting six days rest after every game. So just going off piece slightly, I'll come to the answer in a minute. It just goes to show how bad of a manager Amarim was to not play the players in the right system, not to see that Ahmad's not a wing-back, how to see that Bruno Fernandes is not a number eight, not to see that Kobe Main, who's a number eight, and Bruno Fernandes is a number 10.

24:40I think you're looking odds-wise, I think percentages-wise, I think you're looking a straight fight between Man U and Liverpool. So, 50-50. 50-50. Don, just give us one. So, Liverpool miss out. That's what you're saying. I can't trust Liverpool. All right. So, Liverpool miss out in Don's eyes. I'm not sure, though. He said he was going to answer the question. We waited all last time. We got another 50-50. I'm going to sit on defence here. I write on defence. I know he's feeling about Liverpool there. He can't trust Liverpool. I think Manchester United finishing top five. I then think it comes down to a fight between Liverpool and Chelsea.

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25:18Right now I'm leaning Liverpool with one huge caveat. That caveat being Florian Virts continues to be as good as we've seen him over recent weeks. If he's anything like early season Florian Virts, Liverpool miss out. If Florian Virts continues to be as good as we've seen him over 2026, I think Liverpool will sneak in. The only downside to that is we will not hear the end of it from Jan Fjord. No, we won't. He will be incessant. That's the downside. The biggest I told you so is. But Florian Virch has made Liverpool tick over recent weeks. He continues that. I think Liverpool is sneaking in fifth.

25:57I think Jürgen Klinsmann will also get on our case. Has Shaka actually answered the question there, Alexis? He did. Has he answered the question there, Shaka? No, I said Liverpool will get to the top five as long as Florian Vuce continues being as good as he is. So Chelsea missed out for you? Chelsea missed out. There we go. Stevie? I'm going with Chelsea as well. Okay. Yeah, I think mind you, the fact that they've got one game a week is absolutely huge. So I think they'll make it. And, you know, right now it's tough to choose between Liverpool and Chelsea. Are you going with your heart? But I'm going to go with Eketiki and the resurgence of Vuce.

26:38and think that Liverpool can't defend as badly as they have done all season for the rest of the season. So I'm afraid I think Chelsea miss out. Things are looking up. Canate scored. Big man. Well done. The big man. Well done. All right. Well, there's plenty more talk about the Premier League's weekend results on the next edition of the Gab and Jewels show. A fresh episode drops on Monday.

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29:01Just eight minutes in, there was bad news for Real Madrid as Jude Bellingham pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury. He had to be replaced. Then Vinny Jr. gave Real Madrid the lead, but Jorge de Frutos managed to equalize for Rayo Vallecano, but then Rayo went down to 10 men as Cis was sent off. Kylian Mbappe got a penalty and managed to convert it 10 minutes into injury time as Rayo ended up this game with just nine men. Let's hear from Arbeloa after the game, voiced by Stevie Nichols. It was a victory that the players put a lot of energy and heart into. It was a victory that obviously required the help of the fans.

29:45And without that support, it surely wouldn't have happened.

29:51As I've been saying here for many days, we have many things to work on. It's time to work, to improve. With these next few weeks, where we won't have a midweek match, we'll try to get the team working and moving in the direction we want. All right, well, here's a look at the top half of the La Liga standings. As I say, Real Madrid keep pace with their rivals, Barcelona, as they're just one point behind the Catalan club. Let's welcome in our Sid Lowe, who, as usual, was present at this game. Sid, a lot to talk about in this game. Real Madrid got the job done, the three points, pero sufriendo, as we hear so much in Spain.

30:32So what's going to be the reaction to this performance? I think the reaction to the performance was that they got away with it, that this was a really, really poor performance from Real Madrid, in my opinion. I thought they went for a spell in the second half where Rayo Valle kind of with a better side. It was very interesting seeing Rayo kind of shift through phases, a phase in the first half where they were hoping to sit deep, rob the ball and run. And in the second half, they started to use the ball. And Madrid really and truly couldn't get to that ball very often. They had a couple of chances, Madrid, as you say, that opportunity for Mbappé.

31:02I think, by the way, the answer to Shaq's question about what's the goalkeeper doing, I think there's a moment in which he realises, hang on, if I commit a foul here, I'm off. And he just gets out the way. I don't want anything to do with this. I am keeping well out of here. I'm not running the risk of him diving over me and getting me a red card or him bumping into me and getting a red card. And then, of course, once they went down to 10 men, it was much, much harder for Ryan. And Madrid, I felt, were slightly chaotic when they chased the game. But as Alvaro Abloa says, at least he'll feel that there was a degree of heart and a degree of soul and a degree of attitude about them.

31:34But really and truly, it wasn't a good performance. And the reaction in Spain has been, and I'm pretty sure will be, over the next 12 or 24 hours, that this is a Real Madrid team that still needs a huge amount of work doing to it. Xhaka, when Sid said that the feeling is that Real Madrid got away with this, you nodded very much in agreement. Absolutely. And I think the entire Bernabeu feels exactly the same. I think the players would probably feel exactly the same. Because to Sid's point, while Real Madrid were better in the first half, in the second half, Valle Canna were the better of the two teams.

32:05Real could not get anything going. And to Abelhoa's post-game press conference, where he's talking about the importance of the fans. They were whistling almost from the first whistle. They were whistling from the first whistle pretty much to the last. In the second half, it was well justified because Real couldn't get going. They were the second-best team by a long way. And in the end, and I'll be honest, even at 1-1, and Vallecano had the better of the second half, but they're down to 10 men, and then all of a sudden you see nine minutes go up. on the board extra time and you just get the feeling i'm not quite sure where the nine minutes came from other than the sending off to cease you just got the feeling that yeah this real magenta somehow going to snatch this at the very last minute and it's going to feel a whole lot different than it is but given how the fans have kind of shifted their i want to say negative focus to the team, poor Xavi Alonso, this performance, even though the result may feel differently, I don't think this performance changes the fans' minds in that regard.

33:15Yes, just to pick up on what Xhaka is saying about the fans, because Arbeloa spoke about them after in the press conference, and he sounded very complimentary of them. But as Xhaka said, they were whistling Vinny Jr. from the start. They were whistling during the game as well. You can tell that they're not 100 % happy with what they're still seeing from the club. What did you make of them? Yeah, as you say, not 100%. I think that percentage is way, way under 100. It really is. And it was interesting, actually, our postgame, because I think his message was he was trying to say the right things, but so little of what he said really convinced.

33:48And he talked about how, had it not been for the fans, we wouldn't have found a way back into this. And, you know, kind of expressing that idea that we've seen so many times in the Champions League, you know, those big comebacks from Real Madrid, there's a moment in which the whole kind of place comes alight and there's this roar that carries Real Madrid forward. And while it is true that, of course, there was a determination from the fans from Madrid to keep going in those last seven or eight minutes, but it really wasn't the case of them being carried along by the fans. I completely agree with Xhaka.

34:13But the immense majority of the game, there was frustration showed rather than support. And yes, there was a little bit of, come on, come on, let's go and do this in those last ten minutes. It really wasn't particularly convincing. And I thought actually that in the end, the way that Real Madrid won it, and I should point this out, by the way, when the board went up with nine minutes on it I was at the Bernabeu sitting with Alex Kirkland and the two of us kind of looked at each other and we said so how do you think they're going to get the winning goal? And we decided it was either going to be a Gonzalo Garcia header or a Kylian Mbappé penalty and it turned out to be the latter of the two options.

34:43Oh man, I'm going to start asking you for lots of numbers too. Stevie? You know, Abel Loa is just coming out and trying to see the right thing. Forget actually what happened. I need to make sure that I'm showing that the players played with heart because last week they didn't have any. And of course, as Sid said again, we couldn't have done it without the fans. Give me a break. I mean, the best thing that can happen for them, as he said, is to have a couple of weeks because the more games they have now, it's just another opportunity for the fans to turn up and get on the back. So the fact that they've got a couple of weeks that will be calm is going to be fantastic.

35:23And hopefully in that couple of weeks, or below will figure out how to get some sort of system going because it's just chaos. You know, a couple of weeks ago it was Val Verde at right back. Today it's Camavinga at left back. Bellingham's out now. You know, Master Twana all of a sudden gets a game but then he's in love and you change it. Are they good? I mean, it's just, you're just not sure what's going to happen anymore. So, yeah, the best thing for them is no games for a couple of weeks or certainly no midweek games, so he can just take the air out of the ball and just breathe. Yes, as Stevie said, Arbeloa with a couple of things to ponder now.

36:04And one of those things is how they managed to cope without Jude Bellingham because he did pull up with what looked like a hamstring injury. But what's the latest on his injury? Well, Arbeloa said after the game that they didn't yet know the extent of that injury. I think as you both rightly said there in the studio, When a player pulls up like that, it's a hamstring tear. So if you take from that the basis that even if it's only a one or one and a half centimetre tear, we're talking about at least three, maybe four weeks out. So the likelihood these won't be there. And it's very interesting what you say, Alexis, about the idea of what do they do without Duke Bellingham.

36:40And I think there is a broader question, which is just what do they do? Full stop. So you've got this two weeks now in which Arbalo has to work on the team. I think we all know that he's had 18, 19 days where essentially what he's been trying to do has been focusing, if you like, on the happiness of the player. If you like, the kind of the environment around the team, the group dynamics. But now he's got two weeks to do actual work and the actual work on the team structure. So in terms of things like the fitness levels, which the club had been briefing against Xavi Alonso, it must be said, that the team wasn't physically fit.

37:10But there also needs to be some sort of structure put in place. And there was something that Arbeloa said today. Now, I don't know if this will get picked up on in the next few days. I certainly hope so, but I thought it was really, really significant. He was asked about putting Gonzalo García on the pitch and putting him on the right wing. And his answer, and I don't have the exact text in front of me now, but his answer was essentially to say, well, yeah, he's better through the middle. We want him in the area. And that didn't happen. And we need to think about where the players are best. And we talked about it in the dressing room afterwards, that people weren't in the right place.

37:40So you're in this situation. Now, I know it's a crazy situation where you're chasing the victory and you end up effectively with five men up front. But when you've got five men up front, why Gonzalo García, who's a number nine, is out on the right wing? Why you've got people like Rodrigo and Brahim sort of playing in slightly deeper positions? Because there isn't really a sense of a structure. So these two weeks that they've got to work on, I think emotionally, as Stevie was rightly pointing out, I think will be significant because they can work away from the pressure of having a test every three days, having the fans on their back.

38:10They can just get on with the work and they can do that work with a degree of continuity because they're not playing. You know, they've got six days before every game. The other thing I think is they can have some time to think about an actual structure. Now, here's the question, as you say, what they do about Bellingham. Well, if they come up with a structure without Bellingham, then when he comes back, what do they do again? Because they're confronted by the same situation again. And bear in mind that when Bellingham went off today, they made a change which also involved a change of structure.

38:38it wasn't just right Bellingham's injured someone replaces Bellingham it was a replacement for Bellingham Brahim coming on then it was Vinicius who'd been playing on the left going up front with Mbappe and then post game Arbeloa said well Vinicius is much better on the left when he's running at people which is where he'd returned to in the second half and so you've got to find some sort of structure within which all these players can fit and to your question what do you do with Bellingham right now you don't do anything but in four weeks time you've got that question to answer. All right, Sid Loa, thank you very much.

39:07We'll let you enjoy your fancy laugh there. And as you heard from Sid Arbeloa with a couple of questions that he will need to answer, but he has a week before he has to go back out on the pitch with his players on Sunday. Valencia will be hosting Real Madrid that game on ESPN plus at 2 30 PM Eastern time. I like things my way, my coffee, my schedule and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC. It's injected under your skin, subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space, on my time.

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40:33Try MaintainX for free. Control the daily operations of your business and transform your maintenance program. Go to maintainx.com slash sports. That's maintain and the letter x dot com slash sports. All right, well, yesterday, Everton played Brighton, and Beto came off the bench to score a 97th minute equaliser which gave the Toffees a point. David Moyes found himself on the pitch to celebrate. I'm going to buy you a card and this is what he has to say. Get booked for that. Imagine booking for celebrating. Eh? Who wants to see managers getting booked for celebrating? You know what I mean? I mean I don't think I'd have danced down if the goal was in the 55th minute if you know what I mean but you know it means they've got nothing about them at all no thoughts about what football means or what it means to the managers without absolutely just saying no you just can't step outside that line and I'm going to book you f***ing sad isn't it f***ing sad You know what I mean?

41:51I'm still shaking my head. You know what I mean? Would you do it again? I bloody will do it again. Actually, I think if I had been a bit more mobile, I might have done a knee slide. You know what I mean? But I don't know. See, that would have only got me a yellow as well. So I might as well run the whole hob. Aw, Moyse, never change, never change. Gotta love a Scotsword. And I agree. Nobody wants to see a manager get yellow. No, I mean... They're celebrating. Officials... Officials are strange people anyway. Because who'd want to be one? And the fact that they give him a yellow card for that tells you that they have no feeling for the game.

42:34I'll tell you what, what a leap though. Let's be fair. You were proud. I'd probably need a trampoline to get that out. Can you jump that high though, Stevie? If you give it a go, look at that. Look at that. Go on, get it. Go on, Stevie. Give us a new slide. Go on, Stevie. Give us a joke. I can jump. Give us a joke. I'm going to hit my head on the ceiling up there. Oh. Hey! That was without a trampoline. That was well done. I'll tell you what. That was well done. I'm scared of heights as well. Are you a bit winded now? I got a bit fluttery there. He's a bit winded now. Don, don't you agree with us?

43:09Come on. Don't give him a yellow for that. Oh, it's terrible. I mean, if David Moyes is getting a yellow card there for that sort of little jump that he'd done, I mean, the knees need some oiling. Let's put it that way. If he's getting a yellow card for that, Arteta should have a 20-match ban how many times he steps out of his little zone. It's so sad. I mean, just, it's the last knockings of a game. It's like the famous Jose Mourinho celebration for Porto, I think it was at Old Trafford, where he went sprint. These are like iconic moments. It's like there's a fourth official really going to say to David Moyes, don't step out that zone.

43:44Otherwise, you'll get a yellow card. And do you know what? I loved the interview after the game. I hope he does do it again. I hope he does it every single time Everton score a last-minute winner or a last-minute equaliser. Just keep doing it because it's good for the game. Yeah, the opportunities will be slim, though, to be fair. I tell you what, those match officials would hate to see a Diego Simeone come in. Let me tell you, there would be a lot of cards there. All right, well, plenty more football content coming your way on ESPN FC. Remember, we are here seven days awake, and maybe if you tune in, you'll get to see Stevie jump a bit more.

44:20All right, that's it for this highlight-driven show, but there's one more highlight coming your way, and it's called Extra Time. We'll see you there.

44:38Welcome into Extra Time. I'm Alexis Noudis here hanging out with Stevie, Shaq and Don Hutchison. Stevie's throwing his trash my way. But it's all right, no problem. You started tidying up, so I thought I helped you. I was tidying up. I was trying to help you. Look at that. Do you see the treatments I get? Dan would never get this treatment. You're trying to help, Shaq, yeah. Right. You're trying to help by chucking it my way. You get it flung back in your face. I was lovingly putting it away, Stevie. All right, let's get to the first question, which Shaq is about, or Stevie. Stevie, how heavy a blow is this draw for Manchester City in the title race?

45:09What did you say? 89 %? 89-11. For percentages wise. Yeah, I just... I think we all kind of figured that City weren't really going to be pushing Arsenal as hard as the neutrals would like. And I guess this result, it confirms that they're not good enough to push Arsenal to the end of the season. Because it kind of looks to me and smells as though it could be done. The other truth is, when your goalkeeper is your mind, you match nearly every week. And let's be honest, Gunnarumma has been City's best player for a long time. Not just today, but over the course of certainly the last few weeks. That just says to me that, yeah, you're not going to win the title.

45:56All right, we'll leave it at that. Next question, to the boys. How does VAR only check the possible offside and not the foul? Surely they're advised to check the whole passage of play before passing their decision to the referee, right? Well, I think we talked about that on the show, and the Match Center has said that they did check for that foul on Mark Gay from Dominic Solanke, but eventually awarded it as a goal to Dominic Solanke. But, Don, the people are not having that.

46:27And nor should they. I think it's probably got to a point now where, and it might sound a little bit crazy, they might need another body in there because it's like they're getting so bogged down trying to find or trying to look at the first one, which was the offside, which is right to look at. Of course, that takes President if he was offside. But once that's cleared, then surely when Tottenham score a goal and it's not a play in the game card, but it's one of them when the goal goes in, you know it's gone in a little bit scruffy and a little bit awkward. So your eyes would be drawn to how Solanke finished that one.

47:00and then you look at it and you might need one or two angles, certainly by the time the third and fourth come in and you're sitting there, you have to spot that Solanke's kicked the back of Gerhie's calf. You have to. How do you give them an out? How do you make an excuse? Some situations are difficult and some calls are subjective, but when you look at that one, there's only one outcome, it's a foul. Can I just... I slightly disagree with Donny. In that, I don't think they need another body. No, they don't. To add somebody else in there, another layer, we were watching the game, and you could tell after five seconds that that's a fault, right?

47:42But so often, and not just this incident, but time and time again, they show up on goal for five minutes while those watching the game and watching the replays that the TV, television, studios offer us can see it after one goal. but they have to look at it 64 times. We don't need another person there to make it 68. We really don't. Well, let's be honest. Shaq, can I just say... If the panel... Can I just say, instead of having a body in there... Go on, Stevie, sorry. So if it's called a panel, that means it's more than one person, right? Yeah, there's more than one person. Let's say there's two.

48:21Let's say there's two. So there's actually two guys in the VAR, and you've got two on the panel, and the four of them said it was all right. So having another body in there wouldn't make any difference. Can I just say, don't have another ref body in there, have a football body in there. It needs someone that's played the game. Not for the laws of the game, not for the rules, but a football person that's been in that situation before who can spot it. I was like, Don is trying to get another job. Don's trying to get another job. Don, there's only so many games. Is your contact up? That's what I did.

48:57That's what I heard there. Listen, Dans is trying to secure his children for life, right? No, I'm not. Next question. Does Dominic Solanke have money in the bank to win king of the pitch? I'm assuming there's a little scorpion goal today. No, no, no. Who's our king of the pitch still? Oh, Dembele. I think the last time I did it, we gave it to Vandervan, didn't we? For his amazing run. That was ages ago. Eons ago. I haven't done a king of the pitch in a while. I was thinking the last time I did it, it was Van Der Ven. And we booted off my boy Rahul, the goalkeeper, Shaka. That's how long you said you've been here?

49:33So now it's Dembele. Where are you swanning off doing? I've been swanning off doing Football America's Shaka. You should be in the booth. You should be in the VR booth. Swanning off doing Football America. Anyway, never mind your gallivanting. Solanke, if he is put up against the reigning champion and Usman Dembele right now, he won't win. I can say right now. I need to see this Dembele vote. No? It's a fluke. Yes, TV hates them. TV hates flukes. TV hates them. I don't hate them. He's not going to win. You can't turn a fluke into something else and make it, what is it, king of the what? King of the pitch.

50:14That's TV just forgetting our segment, no problem. How is there not a goal mentioned in that? King of the pitch could mean anything. If somebody said to you, what's the king of the pitch? You'd be like, well, you wouldn't know it's a goal. What would you name it then? You wouldn't know it was a goal. What would you name it? King of the goals. Then you know exactly what it is. All right, petition to rebrand. We're going to have to take it up with our bosses and our producers. Sounds like Stevie's looking for another job. Sounds like Stevie's up for a new job. Well, if somebody says, what is king of the goals?

50:47There's no confusion. King of the goals. King of the pitch is like, well, what does that mean? The best pitch? No. Come on, Mike. Change your mic. Come on. Producer Mike, Steve. Taking the gold. The elder has spoken. We must listen. Yeah, yeah. Producer Mike says they're going to take another. Hey, less to the elder, by the way. What? Less to the elder. Exactly. To the elder at the moment. They're going to pick the rules just fine, producer Mike. But Stevie has a point. It could mean anything. Stevie does not have a point. It could mean a great defender that does a brilliant clearance off the line.

51:23That's like saying... The man of the match? That's like saying... King of the goals, who has the best goalpost? That's where we're going to go next. King of the goals. It's fine as is. I like King of the goals. Or goal king. Goal king. Right? What if it's a... What if it's a... If it's a female? Quite complicated. What if it's a female? We should be adding girls on there. So then we can't have goal king. Goal king slash queen. Monarchy of goals. There you go.

52:00That means a king or a queen. How about goal goat? Goal goat? Goal goat. Goal person. See, you said goal person. Goal person. You can't just go person. Of course you can. How about just goal of the week? Oh, no, because it's not just the week, though. All right, we're going to continue talking about this off-camera. But let's move on. Stevie, do you still not rate Lissandro Martinez? If so, why? And thoughts on Martinez and Maguire's centre-back pairing? Well, no, because he's too rash. He plays with passion. Like the good old days. I cannot deny that. He plays with passion, absolutely. But there's always a mistake.

52:44But unfortunately, that passion sometimes puts him in positions and makes him make challenges when he shouldn't. and then and then more to the point staying on your feet and not over committing that would be the best way to describe he over commits and of course the classic when you're five foot nine and you're playing against the center forward who's six foot four guess what you're at a big disadvantage so I like LeSantre Martin me too I like it for Manchester United let me never put that let me say that yeah to Stevie's point I don't think he will ever be you know considered one of the best to in his position but in a team that lacks leadership and to use your word alexis passion i think lisandra martinez brings out and that's what united need here and i i like that here here here here i agree all right what you didn't answer about what you feel about his pairing with um his sense about pairing with harry mcguire not a fan it's It's working.

53:43It's working. Again, look, I said it on the show, right? If Manchester United are playing against Man City and Arsenal and they're keeping it tight and they're defending deep, then the two of them are great. Because they both want to win balls, they both can win balls, they both love a challenge, and there's not a lot of space around them. But when a game opens up, neither the two of them has outstanding pace and so anything in behind them they're at the game so as a partnership I kind of like a I like a mix you know somebody with the brains and somebody else with it with the physicality and the pace all right that's what I prefer we'll leave that one next question Eketike looks like the real deal and ticks every box.

54:40Should Liverpool minimise their losses and sell Alexander Isak in the summer and invest that money to buy a backup to Eketike and fill some other positions? Don, you're not having that. Wow, I mean, you have to feel sorry for Isak. I mean, he's sitting there with a fractured foot. I mean, it'd be very harsh. I did say when they signed them both though, I would have pulled out the Isak deal and put all my money and broke a British transfer record for Julian Alvarez. I think an Alvarez and an Eketike with Verts would be phenomenal. Because I go back to it, would you sign two Harry Canes? Would you sign two Ollenhaalens?

55:18So for Liverpool it might be a problem unless the system changes. but I think the question is very harsh when you're sitting there and you've seen him play like three or four games and now he's got a fractured foot. It's too early. Zach? Who's going to buy his Zach in the summer? For more than what Liverpool paid for him. I'm not sure there's a market for him so Slott has just got to find a way to accommodate the two and to be honest I thought Eketike started the season the better of the two but somehow he kept finding himself on the bench. I didn't understand that. So credit to Eke Tike. Let's see what happens when Isaac is fully fit because Eke Tike is, along with Virg, Liverpool's best player so far this season.

56:04Stevie agrees. All right, final question. Is the use of VAR technology on spotting players that are half an inch offside sucking the life out of football? No, it's fine. No. Come on. Be offside, be offside. Get it done quickly. and your semi-automatic VR does that. Move on. If he's offside, he's offside. Half an inch. Do you know the one... You're the one... The one... Four an inch. There's a load of... Half an inch, though. I feel like half an inch is pardonable. He's offside. There's a load of quotes, right? Yeah. That are used for VAR and all kinds of others and anything to do with VAR. And they're just cliches that people throw out.

56:44It's like the one that annoys me the most. Mm. Well, nobody celebrates when they score anymore because they've got to wait for it. What's a lot of garbage? You get two celebrations. As soon as the ball hits the net, everybody goes like that. Yes! But the second one is never as passionate as the first. Yes, it is. And organic, as Gav Markazi says. It's never as organic as the first. Not only does the team that scored get an opportunity to celebrate, sometimes the opposition who've lost a goal, they get to celebrate when it's cancelled. So the celebration's going all over the job. You've got a guy who scored celebrating, then it goes to VAR, then it's disallowed, and then the home fans get to celebrate.

57:26So you love that. So how does VAR stop people celebrating? Don't get it.

57:35I mean, Stevie makes a valid point, but the game was in a better place, I think, 10 years ago. Game's gone. When we just accept the referee's decisions. I don't know. I think it just should be simplified. It should be mistaken identity. Offsides are offsides. They're factual. Just try and limit how much VAR gets involved in the game. To be fair, to Don's point, listen, the game has also moved on. It's a whole lot quicker than it once was. And referee mistakes have a far bigger impact now. Now, you could say, oh, it was better, you know, 10 years ago and everybody said, oh, it's fine. Nobody's complaining then.

58:15but let's assume you miss out on Champions League football for that offside, for a missed offside and all of a sudden your club is... Well, that happened last year, Shaq. Was that? That happened last year, I think. Was it not Villa? Was it not Villa in Old Trafford? When Villa had a really bad decision against them? So it's still happening. I don't know. Which costs... Yeah, but you're minimising it. Yeah, but you're minimising that. But to my point, and all of a sudden... Minimise. Minimise, what did I say? No, you said minimise. It's minimizing. It's minimalized. I said minimalize. But you're saying wrong.

58:49It's minimalizing. And I said minimize. There's no minimalizing. There is minimalizing. Hold on, get my dictionary here. There's minimal, which goes to minimalize. There's minimum, which goes to minimize. And what we meant was minimize. How we end up here? How this is a talking point? All right. We're gonna leave it at that and we're gonna go look at the grammar books. No we're not. We don't need to know. It's two words. You can use them both. Oh for the same thing? Yeah that's how English works. I don't know English is the hardest language which is why we're here failing at it. Alright but we talk a lot more English over on ESPN FC.

59:32Make sure to join us seven days a week where we never minimize our coverage of the beautiful game.

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From the publisher

The FC crew reflect on Spurs 2nd half comeback to snatch a point from Manchester City, who drop more points in the Premier League title race. Plus, the panel look back at wild Manchester United's win over Fulham that saw United lose a 2 goal lead & then score in stoppage time to grab all 3 points. And, Sid Lowe joins the guys to discuss Real Madrid's win over Rayo Vallecano.
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