Has Arne Lost the Plot?

27:36Why would he change all that? Why would he throw that all out to come in here? That's the way he works as a manager. And, you know, it really drives me nuts sometimes when we hear this and a new manager comes in and players don't like it. It's something you have to get used to as a player. managers come and go and I'll go back we go back to it they're in a much better footing now than they were at this time last year now Barcelona last year looked as if they were a lot stronger I'll give you that but if this is rippling through more senior players then Alonso's going to have to deal with this pretty quickly and there might be a case where Vinicius Junior goes right everybody coming with me lads and they all stand back and say no you're on your own in this one maybe they're all going to come and support him.

28:32There's no guarantee that's going to happen. I think what we do know, though, is there'll be no apology for leaving Vinicius Junior on the bench this weekend when they play Valencia. And I imagine that's what he's going to do. No, absolutely not. No apology, that is. We'll see what he does when it comes to the team selection. But how does this whole situation end, Gustavo? What's the thinking of Vinny's camp as a solution to this situation? What do they want to happen?

28:57very very hard to say because actually we're i think that basically we're talking about people management that's people management i think that xavi alonso is a very young manager he's still learning let's see at this new profession for him he was a brilliant player i think that he's a brilliant tactician i think that he can become one of the best managers in the next years, but I think that he's still learning how to manage people, how to deal with the egos that there are in the locker room of Real Madrid, as Craig said. So from Vini's sides, from Vini's camp, what is really boring at Vini and his staff is that they don't understand why Vini is losing so many minutes comparing to last season because they understand that Vini's performance this season has been good, have been good enough to say, well, why are you taking me off?

29:58If you check the maths of Real Madrid this month, Vini was phenomenal against Juventus, against Getafe, and against Barcelona. He's really playing well. And one more thing that they say, that they talk to me, there is no player on the bench who's saying, like, man, I'm playing much better than you. I'm having performance much better than you. So, Vini's staff, they don't understand why Vini is losing so many minutes with Xabi Alonso. The solution, Kale, I think that both Xabi and Vini should talk one-on-one clearly to understand really what each one thinks and try to resolve things because Real Madrid is above everybody there.

30:51Real Madrid is above Vini, Real Madrid is above Xabi Alonso. Real Madrid is the most important thing there. So I think that they should talk, try to see what they can do. But the solution, real, I think that no one knows. It should be, it should come from Xabi, maybe. My God, it's a mess and let's be honest I know Gustavo's close to it but he's a big baby, isn't he? Vinicius Junior he's a big baby here I mean, the whole Ballon d 'Or thing and Real Madrid were classless in that Ballon d 'Or thing So do you think even if he is unhappy is that the way to go about it? Let me give you an opposite here about Vinicius Camp and Vinicius not been happy about minutes that's a different manager different manager, different views benched him at the start of the season has been taking him off that's the manager's choice let me give you a reverse here to this way of thinking Vinicius camp I'm not happy that Alonso's taking Vinicius off and he's losing minutes what did Vinicius juniors camp say last year when one of the most successful and highly regarded managers in world football was under pressure at Real Madrid and he was having to give Vinicius juniors a kick up the backside during the game and saying, if you don't start running, I'm going to take you off.

32:10What was the camp saying then? Were the camp apologising to Carlo Ancelotti, who was getting it in the neck from everybody? Because Barcelona were flying, they couldn't win a game. Mbappe was on his own. Vinicius Junior wasn't playing well. Rorigo wasn't playing well. Vinicius Junior wasn't working hard or working hard enough. And that's factual because Ancelotti was public about it And his press conference, yeah, I told him. I told him if he didn't start working harder, he was coming off. So you can't have it both ways. You cannot have it both ways. And that's the way that he seems to want it.

32:47I think he has to knuckle down and roll his sleeves up and take it on the chin, this is for Nitsis, this is, and get on with it. Do these situations ever end well, though, Shaka? No, they don't. I think at this point it's deteriorated to the point, and certainly publicly. Because at least back in the day, when you had a disagreement with a manager or anybody else, everything was dealt with indoors. We deal with it in the locker room or wherever else it is, and it sorts itself out. But to have it spill out and play out as publicly as certainly this is, with everything at stake for Real Madrid, but certainly for Vinicius as a player who is not lost in me, He's got 20 or 21 months left on this contract.

33:33You've got a manager who's come in, a manager new to management, yes, but knows this football club, knows the politics of this football club, as well as anybody else, who's just come in and certainly, so far results-wise, has turned things around. So there's... I don't see a situation where either backs down or either feels they need to back down or make any kind of compromise or extend any kind of olive branch. And as a result, I just don't see how this is mended in any meaningful way. It's a real shame because we, when we were doing the game at the weekend, we said this is going to take up the headlines for a few days or whatever.

34:21This is what people are going to be talking about. And here we are. And it's a shame because he's a great player. he's such a talented player. I love watching him play. And he wears his heart on his sleeve. And I get that. I understand that. It's who he is. It's what makes him the player he is, is that passion. And sometimes you've just got to try and control it a little bit, which he seems to have a lot of difficulty with. And listen, I don't... I wouldn't necessarily criticise that because that's how some people are. But after the event, you've really got to take some stock. But it's a shame that we're talking about it.

34:55But I go back to the point from the weekend. when the manager is trying to bring people on, to have fresh legs and then freshen up the midfield as well and basically shut up shop, who else was he going to take off? When Rodrigo was coming on, who else was he going to take off? Braham Diaz had just come on and was playing follow-forward. Kylian Mbappe, the star man, was still on. there was only one player unless he was subbing off the sub in Braham Diaz or taking Kelly and Mbappe off before Vinicius he was the only candidate in the front line to come off for Virigo it was a no brainer so it's not like you know it's not like he had two other choices that were definite to be taken off he was the guy at that point it was quite an easy decision from Xabi Alonso I thought he looks to be having a bit of fun now though He's not carrying it too much.

35:55Vinny Jr., he's been having fun at a Halloween party with his girlfriend. What can you tell us about these pictures, Gustavo? Oh, boy. Well, that's Vinny. That's Vinny. This one is Vinny Sius Jr. Andra Militão was also in the party. Andra, Kenno, Rodrigo, they had their own Halloween parties. Well, they had to make the party yesterday because today they trained. tomorrow we have the morning training press conference with Thiago Alonso and then they play Saturday against Valencia so that's what can I say well if he really wants to annoy Thiago Alonso he should turn up to training tomorrow wearing that well if he is left out at the weekend we'll probably be hearing from Gustavo once again to get the reaction to all of that.

36:46Gustavo thank you so much for joining us. We'll see what happens this weekend with Vinny Jr. And of course, you can stay up to date with everything that's going on in La Liga on ESPN+. They are taking on Valencia, Real Madrid. We're also going to see Atleti against Sevilla and Barcelona up against Elche on Sunday.

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38:44This is a new pattern of play in the Premier League. And I'll let you know in a minute why we're talking about this. 19 % of goals have come from corner kicks this season, which is the highest such percentage on record since 06-07. It's an average of 2.7 goals per game this season, which is the lowest since the 14-15 season. And the average ball in play percentage of 54.8 % is the lowest such percentage on record since 2015-2016. Pep Guardiola has had a few things to say about set-piece mania in the Premier League. He said, every manager does what they believe. I want to score from free kicks and corners.

39:23I'm not naive to that. I want it. But I spend my time on what we have to do to play better, attack better, and create chances to score goals. Gab Marcotti is here to join us now to talk about this. Does Pep have a point here? Or is he trying to blame these other teams for using these? I thought you said Gab was here to talk about it. Gab's here to talk about it. Well, there we go. I want to know what you think about what Pep said here. He's saying that he believes that basically the Premier League has gone back to an era of set pieces. Is he having a go at the likes of Arsenal here, who are ahead of them in the table right now and having a lot of success?

40:02Well, there's been a lot of... There's been a lot of... Yeah, I mean, set-pieces have always been part of the game and you've always tried to be the best you can at it. Every manager has. No manager has ever said, let's have a bad set-piece. So every manager has wanted it. Some have gone about it a little bit more methodically, certainly in recent years. I noticed a lot of long throws this season are coming in and a lot of people challenging for second balls and whatnot. I don't know. I don't know what the stats say, but it is what it is. You've still got to win football games. You've got to rack up the most points you can.

40:39Nothing's changed. The team at the top of the league at the end of the year were the team with the most points, regardless of how they got it. My thing is, I really don't like to see managers talking about other teams and how they approach a game. And listen, it's all well and good for Pep Guardiola to kind of speak about how he goes about business with Manchester City, but not everybody in the league can have an Erling Haaland. And let's be honest, without Erling Allen sitting this season, Manchester City would be nowhere near the top, even though they're well behind Arsenal at this point. So I really don't agree with that sentiment.

41:15Now, everybody else is trying to keep up with the Manchester City's, the Arsenal's, the Liverpool's or whoever, and have to do that on a far smaller budget and have to pay close attention to things like set pieces in an effort to close that gap. Not everybody can go out and spend the kind of money that you show Liverpool spend this summer. Not everybody, as I say, can buy an Erling Haaland. So I find that sentiment. And while he didn't mention Arsenal by name in his statement, you kind of wonder about Arsenal. But the truth is, while Arsenal are absolutely fantastic about set pieces, and we've said a lot about that as well, Arsenal are a very good footballing team, and you see that.

41:54Now, the fact that they have two centre-backs and the deliveries from Saka and Rice, etc., that has the numbers looking the way that they do, is not to be faulted and certainly shouldn't be scorned in the way that Pep Guardiola seems to be doing in this statement. Is it a dig at Arsenal for you, Gab?

42:16I think he knows what he's doing. He's not just talking. He knows why he's being asked a question. He knows that, I think, was it Arsenal had scored three goals or five goals from open play in the Premier League this season. and yet they're right up there. I think it was 16 in total, something like that. So he can choose how he answers the question. He answers it a certain way. And I think he answered it in a way where he was true to himself. And then if people want to have a dig, that's fine. But I think Pep realizes, I think most people watch the game realize, that, as Shaka said, Arsenal can be a good footballing side.

42:52I don't think they've necessarily been a brilliant one over the last three or four weeks, But that's also because, let's face it, their best playmaker, Martin Udegaard, hasn't been there. Bukayo Saka coming back from injury. I don't think we've seen vintage Bukayo just yet, even though he scored the other night. So I think all that Arteta is doing is trying to gain any advantage you can. And set pieces are a big part of that because they're good at it. Ultimately, you only have a finite amount of time on the training pitch. and if you choose to work on set pieces, it's necessarily to the detriment of something else.

43:34But make no mistake about it, Arsenal do both things really, really well. Yeah, Shaq just said that. I mean, if you want it to be set pieces, they can do it. If you want to fight, they can do it. If you want to be physical, they can do it. Arsenal, this is. And if you want to play football, they can do it. Now, they haven't won anything yet in terms of the Premier League, but they're on a good pathway at the moment. I'm going to throw a name out to you to see if it means anything what? I'm just interested James French anybody? no, you've got me beat ok he is Manchester City's set-piece coach and guess when they brought him in 2025 start of this season so I'm presuming the current Manchester City manager has some sort of say in this otherwise they're just bringing staff members in because Pep Linders has gone in there, former Liverpool manager went to manage at Leipzig, went to manage I think in Austria, was a disaster he's in there, former Liverpool coach and they brought a set piece coach or another set piece coach in in the summer so what the hell is he talking about?

44:49They're working on set pieces, otherwise they're paying a guy for nothing it's just other teams have been better at it and if set pieces are not important it's more important to play football why are you bringing this guy in? I don't know, it's a very hypocritical gab

45:07not you I don't think it's a hypocrite I think partly it's an arms race because when we talk about set piece coaching we're not just talking about somebody designing patterns and you go and put a block on him and you run here and whatever we're also talking about how do you defend set pieces is how do you prepare specifically for certain people? The number of times, for example, the other day with the throw-ins, when the throw-in comes in, you know it's going to go to the near post. How do you defend that? You study tape, you see what different variations are there. So I think it's both ends, but you're absolutely right.

45:45And I think even before James French came in, I'm pretty sure Manchester City had a set-piece coach before that as well. I think the question, though, is, you know, you guys know, when these teams are playing in Europe, they're only going to get maybe three hours on the training pitch all week. And the question is, how much time do you devote to set pieces? And how efficient are you with it? But, yeah, no, there's no question. Manchester City also spend time on set pieces. Maybe not as much as Arsenal. maybe they don't have the right players for it. God, I hope they score from a set-piece this weekend.

46:22Does it matter? Does it matter if this is perceived as less entertaining overall for the Premier League, if the stats are down in certain areas? It matters to the neutral. It doesn't matter to Arsenal or their fans. It doesn't matter to Brentford and their fans, use Brentford as an example, if they stay up, if they get into Europe. You know, we can take this kind of... Again, we are afforded this neutral view that we could say what we want and criticize any man of the game that we want. But a club and its fan base who all have very different targets at the start of the season, if these set pieces help them achieve those targets or excel them, they're not going to complain in the slightest.

47:08Which is why, again, I find that I don't think a current manager needs to be criticising other teams and how they go about achieving their targets. I don't like that. If Bernardo Selva whips a ball in at the weekend, I don't remember who City are playing at the moment, or if he whips a cross in from a corner and Erling Haaland rises above everybody and bashes it in, Bosh, 1-0, what's Guardiola going to be? Running up the touchline going, no, don't want it. Chop it off. Set pieces. Boring. Oh, come on. Just doesn't like these methods. Well, not many people liked his methods last year when he lost eight in the bounce and they fell off the cliff and they couldn't defend.

47:52Yep. He'd have taken set-pieces last year when he couldn't win a game for Toffee. Yeah, we'll take a look. You believe we're talking about set-pieces. Almost as bad as talking... Why are you blabbing on? It's almost as bad as talking about goalies. Oh, we love talking about goalies. No, we don't. Thank you very much, Keith. Nice conversation about the goalies yesterday. We'll see if there are any more coming up. Please. Yes, these guys will be joining you on the latest edition of Extra Time. You can check that out every single day over on our YouTube channel. Don would love this conversation. Juventus have appointed former Italy head coach Luciano Spalletti as their manager until the end of the season.

48:31He has replaced Igor Tudor, who was sacked after the loss to Lazio on Sunday. It had been a winless run of eight matches for Juventus. Gab Marcotti still with us. Not your favorite appointment, it's fair to say, Gab.

48:50Well, there's several things that go to this. One is, and I wrote a column about this, is that Spalletti is, he's a band-aid. He's a shot of adrenaline. Will he do better than Tudor? Probably. But the point is, Juventus' problems run a lot deeper than that. It's like a body where you need to let your toxins run through them rather than go and spend money on some fancy new drug that's going to make you feel good for an hour. But then after that, you're going to face serious problems. The reality is you were in this situation because of mistakes that were made in the past, bad decisions by many different people.

49:32Tudor and Damian Kamali and Giorgio Chiodini were the ones kind of carrying the can. But they were in a straitjacket over the summer, both with their signings and with the way perhaps they handled Tudor as well. I mean, remember, Kamali only took over on June 1st. And what, like a week later, they were in the U.S. for the Club World Cup. So all of that said, I think what they need now is continue your detox. and instead you bring in a fancy, highly paid manager. Reportedly, you know, his deal is through the end of the season, but if he qualifies for the Champions League, he gets another two years.

50:12I don't know that that necessarily makes sense. Juventus should be qualifying for the Champions League regardless. They qualified for the Champions League last year and they had Mota and freaking Tudor, right? They need somebody who can really toe the party line, which is right now for Juve is we need to fix the long-term damage to our books. Every time you look at this and you see, oh, wow, look, there's Kostich, there's Rugani. Most normal people would have thought these guys would have retired like three years ago. No, they're still there on the books. They're still paying for them. Freaking Archer is still on Juve's books, believe it or not, even though he's on loan in Brazil right now.

50:52So you can't think of Juve as a normal team that's going to build in a normal way until they manage to somehow fix their books. And my fear is with Spalletti, you're not going to go that. You're going to get a guy who's 66 years old, who obviously isn't going to be thinking long term. He's going to want to turn things around now. Inevitably, he will probably try to bring you to wheel and deal to bring in other players. And he's also a guy, frankly, let's not forget how it ended in his previous two jobs, right? With Italy, we know the absolute disaster at the Euros, disaster against Norway. I thought even worse against Moldova.

51:32And he threw a hissy fit and then was sacked. Before that, at Napoli, what happened? They've won the title. A couple games left to play. He gets an email he doesn't like from the club president and then ends up resigning. So you want a guy who's going to be a calming influence right now with this group of players, many of whom are fragile, many of whom are in unusual or singular situations. I don't think Spalletti gives you any of that. I'm sure the Napoli tattoo on his forearm will go down well as well, Gareth. Is Napoli at the top of the table in the Serie A? When we take a look at the top of the table, are they in control of it and how much of a threat are Roma under Gasparini?

52:18Well, first of all, it's still pretty tight. Yeah, those two teams are at the top. I didn't think Asperini was going to do well at Roma. Shows you what I know. He's right up there at the top. And more importantly, Roma's underlying metrics are actually really, really good for those who are into that statistical stuff. So it's a bit surprising. He's kind of done it with waifs and strays. Dovbic, he's relaunched Sule. He's getting a tune out of Dybala of late. He's relaunched Mario Hermoso, who looked like he was going to be on a complete scrap heap. Manu Kone is living up to the hype. So he's done really, really well.

52:58I think this is still very much wide open. I am not sold on Napoli at all. I don't think they played well against Lecce when they won on Tuesday. Lecce missing a penalty along the way. I don't think they played particularly well against Inter either when they went 3-1 at the weekend. So, you know, Conte can go out there and say, oh, look at us. We know how to suffer. We only win 1-0. And then the opposition take a million chances on goal. But, you know, we don't concede. How about you don't suffer? How about you take the ball and you dominate the opposition, which we've seen Conte teams do in the past, but which, you know, we really haven't seen from them yet this season.

53:37Gab and Don will take a deeper dive on what's going on at U of A at the moment on the latest edition of the Gab and Jules podcast. It's available now wherever you get your podcasts. Luster Olney here for La Quinta by Wyndham. Summer mornings move fast, whether you're heading to the job site or catching the first pitch. But not every hotel makes it easy to start your day right. at La Quinta by Wyndham. You can wake up to a free bright side breakfast, including hot waffles, fresh fruit, eggs, yogurt, and more. It's the kind of lineup that helps you knock your morning out of the park. And while you're at it, book your next work trip at LaQuinta.com to earn Wyndham Rewards points with your qualified stay.

54:21Tonight, La Quinta, tomorrow you shine. Terms and conditions apply. You know, recommendations can be great. Maybe someone recommended this podcast, and here you are. But home projects are different. If a podcast isn't your thing, you lose a few minutes. If you hire your cousin's neighbor to mount your TV, you might end up with a lopsided screen and wall damage. Maybe I know a guy just isn't enough for your home. That's why Thumbtack works. It matches you with top-rated local pros with photos, reviews, and credentials all in one place. For your next home project, try Thumbtack. Hire the right pro today.

55:08We'll be right back.

55:27PSV, top of Eredivisie and going so well in Champions League. Bournemouth, who have been an absolute fairy tale story in the Premier League this season. They get a huge nod. Galatasaray, PSG down two after Drone and Lorient. Napoli, top of Serie A. Stuttgart, who again have been a little bit of a surprise. In a ten. Looking at all of these bigwigs, I have got a real problem with Stuttgart. Why? What have Stuttgart done to be in the top ten? They're third in the Bundesliga. They're third in the Bundesliga. Do you know how they've played in the last five games? Oh, they've been. They beat Mainz in the Dettigby Pokal.

56:05That was Derek Ray. They are defending their title. Wait, don't make excuses. They've played Mainz twice, once in the Pokal, and the other one in the... We love you, Derek. Derek's got Covid at the moment, and he's in bed sick, OK? He's only man. He's only man on the planet with Covid. What is Covid? Covid doesn't even exist. So, Mainz twice, who are third bottom in the league, lost to Fernabache in the Europa League, and beat Heidenheim, who are second bottom in the Bundesliga. You are making a case for yourself to do Craig's power rankings? No. It sounds like it. But they are third, you can't blame them for what they have to play against.

56:44I know they're third, but they played the second and third bottom team in the Bundesliga. I blame the computer for that. And they lost in the Europa League to Fernabache. but they did win and the DFB Pokal Oh look at that he's making a case for himself to be on the Bundesliga coverage have you got any issues not with Craig's pronunciation but with Xhaka's power rankings

57:09Well I do want to give a shout out to Bayern 14 consecutive wins to start the season that breaks the record for a big five team which was set by the legendary Milan side 92-93 under Fabio Capello. But yeah, I'd love to know. I was hoping perhaps Schocker can ask the computer on my behalf. Napoli, I'm assuming, are right up there. They're ninth place because they're top of Serie A. I believe Roma are also joint top of Serie A. Well, what's wrong with them? Roma lost to Inter a few weeks ago. Napoli beat Inter a couple of weeks ago. So, Napoli get the nod. Ah. It's the inter algorithm. Inter plays a big part in the algorithm.

57:59Just to end, that little birdie did tell me that you almost forgot PSG for a second week running. Yep. The smile on your face. That birdie again. That birdie again. Ah, boy. I've got to say, if he was on a computer looking at algorithms, it was at the bottom of a tub of soup. because he's been fizzed down in his soup for about an hour and a half. Loves the soup from the canteen to Shaka. Thank you so much for joining us. Oh, boy. The FB. The SBNFC. Oh, wait for it. Stick around. Extra Time is on the way next and we'll hopefully get some more German from Craig Burley. Oh, God. Oh, boy.

58:41Welcome in to the latest edition of Extra Time. Gab Marcotti's with us. Craig has been wonderfully... What happens? I've grown up to the German. Yes, yes. You know what gets me? You know what gets me? A lot of people, it seems to me, and it seems that the German football is the worst for it, but a lot of the guys that cover the Bundesliga, they just lose their mind. It's a very generic thing to say. I didn't see where you were going with it. They go nuts with pronunciation and enunciation. more than any other league, I think. It's like this Vanson company thing. You should be kneecapped. You know, Florian, you can't just say Florian.

59:26I know, I know. It's a bit like Bruno Fernandes. Bruno Fernandes. I think you should start doing it that way. And I know maybe in Germany, but we're not in Germany, Florian Wieds. All this, it seems to be, there's something in the air with the German coverage that just drains all common sense out of some candidatators and blunders. They go into it, normal people. What about when Shaq's on the Bundesliga coverage? Is he doing it? I'm kidding. Your liking? Yeah, yeah. Yeah? No, I'm talking about on-site. On-site, I'm talking about. You know, all right, I'll name them.

1:00:08Derek, Archie... Derek and Archie. Oh, and even Robbo, even Stuart Robson got reined in to the Van Sant company in the Der Klastika game last year. If that's how he properly pronounces his name. Shut up, Shaq. Do you know when you go to Newcastle and do a game, or Liverpool? I don't go to Newcastle and start talking like a Jordy. I want to do your Jordy accent. How is that? How is that? I win a lutch. I win a lutch. Gavis Gray got a point. Or has he been too conickety?

1:00:55I completely understand where he's coming from. Look, this has been going on for a long time now. I do wonder sometimes I hear sort of native English speakers from the southeast of England, and, you know, they pronounce Joe Bellingham with a German accent. Or Harry Kane, you know, the way a German would. Harry Kane, or whatever. Like, I mean, I wonder, is this actually necessary? And as long as they stick to over-pronouncing the German names, but then they broaden now. Like you said, Vincennes Company. Yeah, all right, okay, sure. Yeah, it's, like, I get it. pronunciations can be difficult. I think there are accepted pronunciation.

1:01:45I mean, I mean, the guy with the dreadlocks who used to manage Craig at Chelsea, when he was in Italy, we all called him Rude Gullet because guess what? That's a G. We're not Dutch and we pronounce the G as Gullet. When he comes to England, everybody's like, oh, look, it's Rude Gullet. I'm like, where's the H? You guys change the pronunciation to accommodate a foreign name when it comes to Ruud Hullit, but you don't do it for 99 % of the other foreign players who come to this country. So I think there's a lot of inconsistency. I wish we could just agree on how to pronounce somebody. And don't get me started on Tottenham Hotspur's Italian left-back leave.

1:02:26Okay. All right, Craig. I don't mind. You call me in and people do. But people get hung up on it, don't they? and they get upset. But it's commentators, isn't it? Commentators. OK. Maybe in fairness to the ones who do speak German, they're more used to saying it that way because they're speaking German regularly. Those who live out there. No, I'm not being fair to anybody. It's not just Derek. No, no, no. Kate, Kate, you know what it is? You know what it is? No, no. Look, Derek is the goat. It's not, I'm not talking about Derek yet. There are some commentators who will speak one foreign language, say they speak French, and so they'll go out of their way to show off how good their French pronunciation is when there's a French player playing.

1:03:07And then they'll go and they'll mangle every single Brazilian, German, Italian, Spaniard. But hey, it's okay, because I speak French. Look how well I say, make sense, la croix, right? That really, really rank. Okay. But that's just me. But it's just, it's not just that. Sure, Craig, it's far more chilled out. I'm taking a question, by the way. No, but I'm telling you, it's not just, it's the whole, even the world feed commentators on the Bundesliga, they drive me nuts. They drive me nuts. But they are writing the ground. They're just trying to show off. You're not German. Just pronounce it normally.

1:03:44Nobody cares. The only people that care are commentators. They are train spotters. They're bird watchers. That's what they do. They need to get a life. Nobody really cares about it, whether it's like Van Son or Vincent. and you're like having a briefing about it before a game. Do me a favour. OK. I'm glad you got that off your chest. Oh, I just want to get it right. Because my eight friends online on Twitter might have a little pop at me. All that sort of stuff. Get a grip of yourself. Give your head a wobble. OK. First question or first comment today. Be honest. Who trusts this face to drive you around after a major operation?

1:04:25You know what's coming, don't you? Oh, yeah. Yes, I saw this. Stevie Nichol taking Dan Thomas to his hospital appointments as he recovers from his transplant. There he is. Oh, boy. Steve Nichol, who continually gets lost. What a lovely guy. Yeah. What is he doing up there anyway? He doesn't live in this area anymore. He's been a great friend to Dan. I'll tell you what it is. It seems like you're putting your name forward for that job too. I know. I was asking Daniel how he was the other day. He never mentioned he wanted a ride. He did say, I'm thinking about getting a ride from a guy who's escaped from an asylum.

1:05:08That's what that looks like. It looks like an escaped lunatic from one of the local asylums. You've been in the car a few times with Stevie. It's a no-no. Let me tell you something, it's a no-no. He's got no patience, right? I'll tell you that for nothing. And he'll admit that. This man approaches stop signs, like Formula One drivers approach corners. I mean, he speeds up when he's coming to them. And then he goes through to Bradley Airport many years ago, goes through two stop signs at the main terminal, gets stopped and gets a ticket, and then complains that the officer gave him a ticket. Because he balls straight through.

1:05:51Yes, a bit like that. So he's the last man. Even if my appointment was 100 yards down the road and I want to ride, it ain't from him. It's not from him. OK, for Craig, do you still see Manchester United finishing lower than... Sorry, I don't have the full... Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea?

1:06:15Yes. Yeah, they've had a really good three games, obviously, after a really bad run of games. So a lot of work to be done. Yeah. I would still say those other sides, particularly Newcastle and Chelsea, to an extent, and maybe Tottenham, although they've got a lot of injuries. But I'd still say yes. Yeah. Gab, next question comes for you from Dan's Fancy Dress Shorts. And yeah, half my questions are chopped off on the page, so I need to read from the screen. Gab, with rumours that Vinny Jr. could push for a move to PSG, Why would PSG take a chance on a volatile talent and do past experiences with similar players make them think twice?

1:07:01Twice, three times, four times, five times. I mean, it's not a knock on Vinny, but he just doesn't fit what Paris Saint-Germain are trying to do right now. First of all, they already have a host of winger types from Desiree Douai to Kvijak Fraschelia to Speedy Barcola to Dembele who used to be a winger, lest we forget. To some of the youngsters coming through from Mbaitis to Sandy Mayulu. So is Vini better than those guys? Yeah, maybe he's better than all of them, but he also makes a lot more money than all of them. And when you insert somebody like that into the mix, on top of that with his history that he's had of being the sort of temperamental player he is, it's just not worth it.

1:07:54I think Vinny might make sense if you were to join a team where you've got a guy who's very much a player's coach, you've got a guy who's a man manager, as they used to call them. Maybe a team where you've got a couple superstars, Vinny would be one of them, the others work for them, they supply them the ball. That's not how Paris Saint-Germain play, it's not how they want to play. So, no, to me it would make no sense whatsoever. Why would you want to cry, baby, when you've got a good team? In all your questions, you haven't got them. I've got them now. I've got them on my email. I mean, that's just, you know...

1:08:31That's what they were looking like. And you wonder why Sebi got in that self-combustion state of mind. However, I've managed it really well. Yes, you've come nowhere close to it. Nowhere close, Kay, to your credit. Next question. Craig, have Arsenal been brilliant this season or have others underperformed? Well, Liverpool have underperformed. Have Arsenal been brilliant? Brilliant at what? Overall. They've had brilliant results. They've defended brilliant. They haven't played. I don't think they've played as well as we know they can yet, but they haven't had to. They've had, I think, is it seven clean sheets now?

1:09:12They lost one goal at Newcastle in the last seven or eight games, whatever it was. So, brilliant results. I mean, you define brilliant. I mean, at the end of the year... Scoring from set pieces, much longer than... Well, at the end of the year... Well, at the end of the season, when everything comes out in the wash, people just say, are you top of the league or not? Are you finishing second again or not? Or are you winning? They don't say... Some might, but you're not going to sit there and discuss how brilliant they are or not. It's an end game, isn't it? And at the moment, they are getting to the end game.

1:09:47And pretty comfortably, it has to be said, without being... Brilliant, but maybe that's the balance that they are trying to achieve this year. We don't want to be the fanciest team, or necessarily have to be the fanciest team, but we have the players if need be, but we're going to be a more compact, not defensive-minded, but making sure we have a good shape. And you can't argue that they've had, out of all the teams we would consider elite teams in the Premier League, their shape has been the best from the start of the season to now. I suppose both could be true, right? That others have underperformed and Arsenal have been brilliant, really good.

1:10:26I think in many ways, both things are true. As I say, I think Arsenal have defended brilliantly. We know they can be a good footballing team. They certainly have the players to do that. Liverpool are a shadow of the team we saw last season. City continue to be a shadow of the team we saw two seasons ago. And I don't think anybody else is really equipped to make a run at them. So this really is our first time to lose. Last question, Gab, for the boys. Will not signing Mike Gerhi due to a£5 million difference in valuation on the same day they signed Alexander Isak for£125 million go down as the season-defining mistake for Liverpool?

1:11:07After all, they already had to striker Uwe Ketike, who is playing sensationally.

1:11:18I've been saying this all season long if things go south for Liverpool this season and I know that they've not been good but we've got a whole season to play people are going to point to Mark Gay to go into this campaign with Van Dijk at his age Conate a year away from free agency and then they're backed up by Leone, who is like a stick figure, who's got 14 Serie A starts under his belt, and Joe Gomez is madness, and they had the plan for Gay. Something happened. I think we will find out the reality of what happened. We know that one of the stories that was put out there immediately, and I'm guessing this story probably comes from somewhere around the River Mersey, that, oh, well, no, everything was agreed, but they had to pull the plug because Glasner threatened to resign if Gay left.

1:12:18Well, we know that's not the case. Oliver Glasner, the palace manager, told us that, no, I wasn't going to resign. I just would have been really disappointed. I think it's somewhere along the line, somebody dropped the ball. You had to have a plan B in case Gay fell through because you needed another body at centre-back. God forbid something happened to one or two regulars or they go off the boil. And you might argue that they've done just that last couple games. So that puts them in a tough spot. Isak and Nekitiqa, you could argue, is a hedge against the future. You're cornering the market on center forwards.

1:12:58Even if one of these two guys isn't stellar this season, hey, that's fine. You can get that down the road. I don't have a problem with pushing the boat out on that. But yeah, not sounding a centre-back, that is definitely a colossal, colossal mistake. And if you're a Liverpool fan, hopefully one that they can address in January. I wonder if the righteous anger of Craig Burley came after a Bundesliga abroad. Well, I don't think, yeah, volume down. I don't think it would have been such a talking point had Van Dijk and Ibrahim Kanati been playing as well as they did last year, which they have not.

1:13:40Now, they've changed the full-back position, so you might say, well, that's a part of it. I think you could argue that as well, but I don't think Marguerite, although he plays the left side of a back three for Palace, I don't think he's going to play left back because they signed Milos Kerkhez to do that and he certainly doesn't play right back. So, yeah, in terms of the squad, that was a big mistake. But that's not the reason why Liverpool are where they are. They are where they are because they have several players that are not playing well enough. And that was to Gab's point, that if they go off the boil, they needed somebody to bring in.

1:14:19The fact that they've gone off the boil is the big surprise. but yeah in terms of recruitment that was you know because I think he's a very you know I don't think there's many people don't think Mark Gay is a very very good player very calm very composed good defender good on the ball very experienced now and at that price at that price that would have been really really good business but that ship has sailed unfortunately to Germany I believe to go and see Vance on that's fun I think we should get you to do this is my pitch to not get on the Bundesliga you've been doing so I can't do me we don't need to do meetings anymore I can't do meetings I can't do them I think really good business I'm gonna just tell you Your Bundesliga meetings are absolutely stupid.

1:15:12I can't do meetings. Just get on the air, roll on and roll off. All this sort of running order guff. Yeah, but you've just showed that you're really good at those names. All this scripted stuff. To you, to me, to you, to me. Not for me. I'm out. We're going to go now. Before he throws a sebi at Bundesliga pronunciation. Thank you so much for being with us on the latest edition of Extra Time. We'll see you next time.

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