Salah Says Goodbye to Merseyside

29:16It's actually got worse. He's doubled down on the initial interviews. And it's actually, it's falling off a cliff. It's just ludicrous. And when you get to that stage, and when you're at that stage with your players, and I don't know if he is, but it looks like it, it's very difficult to get them back onside. Once they go to the other side, it's very difficult then to drag them back because they've already made the mind up. And once the dressing room makes its mind up, it's very, very difficult to change that. Frank? Yeah, that's the concern that I have. You know, his approach of the dressing room was wrong, where because of the non-pedigree in the world of football, he tried to pretend or maybe to behave like a professor of philosophy, knowing his world, you know, knowing the words and everything.

30:11and that wasn't the kind of stuff you should have done. You have to, you cannot fake it. You have to be real. You have to say the truth to the player. You can say whatever you want to say to the press conference, but to the players, you have to be straight. Yeah, I might not have the pedigree, but I did stuff and I have an idea how I want to make it. And if you don't follow me, I'm not going to pick you. You have to have one direction to go into. I think it was too much waiting saying, oh, I know, but I'm going to check how it works. It doesn't work that way. And but do you know what? He's not the only responsible for that.

30:50I mean, the players and we have we have seen that. And I'm wondering, imagine that the board decides to get rid of Liam Rossignor and get somebody else. What do you do with that defense? On top of it, your players injured. Colwell has been injured for a long time and he was the leader of that defense. We can see that Wesley Forfana is still looking for something that we don't know if he one day is going to find it. We lost the captain. He's injured now. So it's hard also for Liam Rossignol to give what the fans and maybe the press and the former players that we are want to see from Chelsea. The inconsistency of the players have been shown not only under Liam Rossignol, but under Maresca, the guy before here and the guy before here.

31:38And it's hard to count on Chelsea and what they can achieve because we know that they're not ready. They're not ready. Maybe they're not the player who should play for that club nowadays with the level they have been in the year 2000 until 2020. Chelsea are the Manchester United of the South at the moment aren't they they're stumbling around they don't know Man United still are unsure Michael Carrick at the moment is in the box seat but who the hell knows what way they're going to go and they've stumbled around for several years now it just seems this new ownership is whilst the club may be running different mechanics they're also spending money and changing managers and stumbling around and not really knowing what they want.

32:30It's a kind of wait-and-see policy. So, you know, it's not all in Liam Rossiniar, of course, the goalkeeping situation is not particularly good and Robert Sanchez was at it at the weekend again, even before they lost the three goals. He almost got cut out, you know, trying to dribble out from the back. So there's a lot of issues there to be dealt with. I just feel if Liam Rossiniar wants to hang on, it's not just about results, but it's about rhetoric and respect as well. And at the moment, he's got to build all those fronts. One more thing before we move on from Chelsea, James. Obviously, you've got Enzo flirting away with Real Madrid.

33:06Yeah, well, this is, you know, it goes back to the point Craig was making about the dressing room. You know, if you've got a group of players that fully respect their head coach, do you, within 20 minutes of going out of the Champions League, go and do an interview with ESPN Argentina and say, I'm not sure if I'm going to be here next season? I mean, that is an alarming sign. He's obviously tried to play it down. Rossini subsequently suggested he's spoken to Fernandes himself and suggested there's no issue. He's obviously on a very long contract. But that is a worrying sign when your World Cup winner, your vice captain, one of your best players, he knows what he's doing.

33:47He's casting doubt over it. And for me, it just comes back to the issue with this head coach model that they have at Chelsea. right you've got a very specific situation where you've got five sporting directors who all feed into the manager all of it there was a lot of chat around when Maresca left that he wasn't solely in charge of picking the team and by that I mean the medical department was dictating quite heavily when substitution should be made certain minutes for certain players at certain times and Maresca who accepted that and remember he came in from Leicester he hadn't managed in the Premier League he was a bit of an unproven you know sort of factor at the highest level he won the Club World Cup he got them into the Champions League he won the Conference League and he felt he deserved a little bit more say in that and that created that friction within that head coach model so they've come for Liam Rossini who's worked in the Blue Coast system at Strasbourg this is comes back to some of the fans criticism of him that he's a bit of a yes man but he knows that and he accepts that environment and he knows he's going to get that technical feedback and that input from a lot of people but what do you have as a head coach there you either have a head coach who doesn't have the pedigree and is prepared to accept that slightly diminished role or you get a high profile big name who is not going to accept that and there's going to be friction from the get-go so this is a bit of an issue for Chelsea and their model overall because if this is a stepping stone to something else if you say okay I'm going to get a yes man in for 18 months, two years, he proves his worth and then we give him more responsibility and we move more from a head coach to a manager situation than I understand it.

35:29But if you want to perpetually control your head coach, you're never going to get someone, it's very unlikely to get someone who's unproven but can develop and then accept that they don't have the level of control that all of their contemporaries do. Let's stay in London, shall we, and look at the bottom of the table. Of course, Spurs losing at home against Nottingham Forest put a huge dent in their hopes for safety and the bookies can't separate them. Spurs and West Ham have the same price to go down. Just one point separates them. Next up for Spurs, of course, mid-April, their next game in the Premier League, James, away against Sunderland.

36:06Who will be in charge? Well, that's the million-dollar question. I mean, it's a very difficult situation with Igor Tudor because obviously he was brought in as the firefighter and all he's done is really poor petrol on the situation. And, you know, one win in seven games and it was a win that didn't matter against a Let's Go Madrid. However, there is obviously a personal element to this. He has suffered the loss of his father and the club are very acutely aware of trying to give him space and time to process what was obviously a difficult moment for him and his family. But then you go back to the professional side of it and you say, well, is there anything really to recommend him continuing after what was a dismal performance against Nottingham Forest?

36:52And if they are going to make a change, they need to get on with it because they want to have time with whoever they get in to be able to work with the players when they come back from the international break. And there's no time to waste because every game matters in the running. So I think he's unlikely to be in charge for that game. The other element, of course, is who they get in and whether they can get a short-term appointment to get them through to the summer. My understanding is the two names on the shortlist for the permanent job are Mauricio Pochettino and Roberto De Zerbe. Now, De Zerbe has had some contact with Spurs and he has made it known to them that he would be interested in potentially taking the job in the summer if they stay in the Premier League.

37:34Now, that conversation, as far as I know, is not extended to saying to De Zerbu, well, what would it take to get you in now and would he take it? Of course, he's out of work after leaving Marseille. Pochettino is in a different situation. He's, of course, managing the US at the World Cup. He wouldn't consider anything until after that tournament, which would mean if they were going to go down the Pochettino route and you suspect that he will be in demand for one or two other clubs as well. I always thought Manchester United would be a potential logical option for him. That's going to be a more complicated situation and they'd have to wait to get him until after the summer, in which course we don't know whether they're going to stay in the league or not.

38:11For me, I get the argument for bringing somebody in who knows the club. I know that's sometimes a bit of a cliche and people talk about DNA and whatever. But when you go to Spurs, you can see the disconnect. You can see the fundamental disconnect between that group of players, the predicament that the club are in and of course the fans. And you need somebody who can stitch that together. And then you start looking at the candidates and you think, well, Harry Redknapp, he's been out of work for I think it's seven or eight years. He's 79 years old. He says he could come in and do a job. That would be a gamble.

38:45You've got Ryan Mason, who if Daniel Levy was still at the club would probably be turning to now. but of course he had his own managerial disappointment at West Brom and has kind of taken a step back there. There's Robbie Keane but would he necessarily leave Ference Varos to go for a temporary role that could be whatever it is, seven or eight games or whatever they've got left? Unlikely. Then you've got sort of more unproven candidates who are out of work like Jermaine Defoe or Glenn Hoddle of course who's got great experience but not been involved in the game. So it's an incredibly difficult situation and Vinay Van Ketchum who's the CEO there It sort of created his reputation on backing Arteta in that difficult moment when he was at Arsenal.

39:24I think he'd like to try and continue with this again. But it feels as though it's got to the point that it's almost negligence if they don't do anything, given how bad it's been under Tudor. You know, it's a very unfortunate situation personally with his father passing away. But they have to look at this from a business standpoint. they're up the creek without a paddle. That's how they had a good game against Atletico Madrid, but that game was almost done and dusted after the first leg. They had a decent second half in particular at Anfield. That apart... Who would you choose from that list of names that James gave us then?

40:06Well, obviously, I worked with Glenn at Chelsea, and we're talking about a guy who's A, managed Spurs, as well as the other teams he's managed, and B, has been the England manager. but again they've been out of the game for so long I think I'm right in saying Harry Redknapp I think he's 79 yes yeah 79 is what and I've always thought Harry Redknapp was just a great man manager and I agree with James I think in terms of the short term at this club I don't I'm not a big believer in you need to know the club if you're looking at long term you need to know the club you need to know the league all that sort of nonsense because managers learn fast and this game travels.

40:47So, you know, people know what's happening in the Bundesliga and Serie A, so people know what's happening in the Premier League. And over a long term, I never buy into that. Well, he knows the fabric of the club and all that sort of nonsense. I think it's just balderdash. However, I think on this occasion, for a seven or eight game run or whatever it is, and I've looked at Spurs fixtures, by the way, they are not the easiest. Not that anyone's going to be easy at this stage, the way they're playing. but they have a particularly difficult run in. And I do feel it needs somebody at this moment in time that can go in, connect the fans, get the players sort of, you know, believing again.

41:24And more importantly than if you play a four at the back or a three at the back or a 4-3-3, is they need a bit of fight. I've been at sort of both ends of the spectrum. You know, I've been near the top of the league at Chelsea and I won the league at Celtic and I've been in a relegation fight at Derby with Jim Smith. If you don't have any fight in that dressing room to scratch out a nil-nil ugly, a few of those or whatever it is, if you don't have the players to do that, you're screwed. So they have to find somebody that can come in and somehow motivate these players to make them understand the situation they're in.

42:05Because nine months ago, they were in a Europa League final. Now they're fighting for their Premier League survival. That's a different scenario completely. So whoever it is, and I don't know who it's going to be. I've no idea. But somebody has to come in and connect the dots for a six-week period. Otherwise, this Tottenham side are going to go down. And unfortunately, for all the scenarios around Igor Tudor at the moment, if you look at it from a football perspective, and the situation therein and the job he's done, he's going to have to go. It's as simple as that. One last thing, James. could Kinski be in goal?

42:42Yeah, it's possible. I mean, they've tried to time the Caros hernia operation to minimise the absence, but the briefing that we were given is that they expect him to be back within a month, which is obviously, if it's four weeks, then he would miss that Sunderland game, and it creates a very difficult situation where of course Kinski was embarrassed and humiliated really in the Atletico Madrid first leg and he might have to come in and try and help save their season in what would be a very difficult game at Sunderland. In many ways, it sort of crystallises what Craig was saying about somebody who's going to come in and motivate this group.

43:23I'm reminded of a, I had a drink with one of the staff members just before Christmas who was telling me that one of the issues they felt they had with this squad was that they didn't respond well to setbacks, that they could work with this team all week they could set them up they could start a game well but if they conceded a goal or they missed a few chances and something went against them they folded so cheaply and it's really stuck with me because that was three months ago three and a half months ago and yet you see it all the time and Sunday was such a classic example of that you know they started well against against Forrest they probably could have taken the lead missed a few chances then of course they go behind and it just folds completely collapses like a house of cards and that's why they need someone, the guys will know, you can't coach much now.

44:09I don't think tactically we're looking at too much. I think you need somebody who can come in, give these players a bit of confidence, self-belief, play to their level and they'll stay up because two wins would probably do it. But at the moment, they look a long, long way from getting one, let alone two. Just off the top of my head, somebody like if they even brought in a double duel, somebody's been there before, is well respected with the Tottenham fans and he has coached. if he came in with somebody, it would be somebody like Clive Allen. Clive is super respected within the game, but he's no mug behind the scenes.

44:42I mean, I think it was 87, he scored 49 goals out front for Tottenham. If he was to come in, or somebody like that was to come in with a Glenn Hoddle or something, just to get them over this line, I think that's kind of what they need. Now, that would be ludicrous to talk about this long-term going forward, but Spurs are looking very short-term at the moment in terms of what they need, and something like that, I think, would sort of possibly, possibly galvanise the team in the dressing room. James will say thank you very much, mate. Much appreciated. A lot more from James. He's on the latest edition of the Football Reporters podcast, along with Rob and Oggy.

45:16That is available to listen to now, where they talk in more detail about Spurs. 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. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivGartMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. And talk to your doctor about VivGart Hytrulo. Brought to you by Argenics. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start?

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46:22La Liga action, of course, takes a break for the international break. However, it returns the first weekend of April, from Mallorca against Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid against Barcelona. Right, it's not April the 1st. And when I heard this first, I said, there's no way we're doing this. This cannot be true. But apparently, it is. They MRI'd the wrong knee for Kylian Mbappe back in December. He played three more matches before it was discovered that this actually happened. It's impossible. I've told you this. No, it's impossible. Jules is with us. How is this? How are we even having this discussion, Jules?

47:04It's impossible, Dan, really. I haven't had it confirmed, to be fair. I tried today. But I agree with the boys. It's just, I mean, if... If they start to look at the wrong knee, you would have said... That's all right, Jules, you've come in. You've done your bit. Perfect, perfect. He said no. Nothing to talk about. I think this has to be, you're right, this has to, let me just explain to, what are you looking at? I was looking at Kylian Mbappe, we don't normally have big pictures like that. Well, he's not in his mind. Let me explain for those, but you've had an MRI scan, but not on your knee. I would at least, probably somewhere between three and six MRI scans on knees, right?

47:49Because of operations. It is impossible. but let me put it another way unless the player says nothing it's impossible because when you go for if your problem's on the left knee on the right if your problem's on the right knee when you don't just go into the scanner they put a coil over the knee that's the issue and then the radioactive frequencies from that coil which goes around your knee and it's a structure it's not like a bit of paper, it's a structure that goes round in the arc the information from that gives you the analysis and the other knee, guess what, doesn't have the coil around it, so unless you sat there, Kellen and Bappé and let them put the coil on the wrong knee and said nothing then that's fine, there is a chance it would take the player unless the MRI scanners have completely changed it would take the player to say nothing for this to be possible because you have to put the injured knee into a coil before you go into the scanner comprende frank allow me dan to to explain a year and a half ago i had to do to have a scan because of my meniscus and i exactly did what craig mentioned when he was on the right side, they put, do you call that a coil?

49:13Coil. On top of my knee. And I knew that I had a prime on the right knee. So they would have put the coil on the left knee. I would say, oh, sorry, there is a mistake. It's on the right knee. So I have a real concern about Kylian Mbappe not saying anything. You know, I have seen, you know, bad doctors, bad staff, medical staff, whatever he could have been but why what was doing kill and back mbappe why he didn't say uh sorry wrongly change the call put it on the other side that's insane it doesn't make anything it's why we we we think it's impossible i think kylian mbappe has to speak and to explain what happened because that's impossible again uh jules this connection is fixed according to our producer uh jules

50:07yeah I mean to continue what the boys have been saying I completely agree with them obviously the only thing I could see maybe is that when he reported the injury the medical staff looked at the two knees maybe not not not through the scan first and maybe just got a bit confused that's the only thing I would think but but to go into a proper sky like that on the wrong knee surely no surely that's not possible uh meanwhile news of course announced yesterday that went to chantilly's france oh yeah no surprise it will be zinedine sedan your good mate frank taking over oh wow what a breaking news you know i didn't expect that coming you know that's crazy oh la la yes of course that's that was the normal um following and the succession that we wanted to see with the era of Didier Deschamps.

51:00I think it's only fair to see Zizou coming. And that was, I mean, that's kind of a fairy tale. And we want to see that. And it's going to be hard, especially if Didier Deschamps win the World Cup. I mean, the task for Zizou is going to be huge. But I think it's the wish of all French people who love football. They wanted to see that, like, in the 90s, we saw Michel Platini. It didn't work with Michel Platini. It was a hard time at the time between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille. I want to believe that with the player that Zidane will have under his control, he will do well because I know that what he did with Real Madrid wasn't randomly done.

51:41So I'm very happy. I'm very happy that Zizou is taking over Didier Deschamps because I really think he's the right guy. 24 hours, of course, of big breaking news, big surprises in France, Jules, because Griezmann is going to MLS. Yeah, and again, we knew this was coming. For the Zidane one, Frank is right, he was the worst tech secret in football. And for Griezmann, he had a chance to go earlier. He decided to stay at Atletico until the end of the season. He could play in the Copa de Re final against Real Sociedad, his first club. That was very symbolic for him, very important for him. But he was always going to join Orlando then at the end of the European season, if you will.

52:23So he's very happy. It was always his dream. I remember even a long time ago, back in 2016, when we spoke about MLS back then. And he was still very much a younger player, a full strength in Europe and in La Liga. But he was always saying, one day I will play there. I want to live in the US. I want to experience that life. I want to play there. And it's finally happening now. The family is very happy. The three children are very happy. They're going to live somewhere that there's a lot of Spanish speaking and they love that kind of Hispanic culture, which is very good for them, and he's very, very excited.

52:57But first, he wants to finish on a high with Atletico. Imagine telling the kids, we're moving to Orlando. How cool is that? When I was in Orlando last, the Uber was telling me the kids would go there on school trips to Disney, to Universal, to everything. How cool is that? Very cool. Where did you go on a school trip? Butlins, which is a very run-down holiday camp in the UK. Jules, you're in Germany at the moment. Are you flying over here for Brazil-France? I wish, but my editor said, oh, you can do it from home. Let's keep your energy for the World Cup. So I'm going back tomorrow to London after presenting the coverage on Disney Plus for France.

53:39Tonight of the game, the Lyon game, yeah? And then I'll be watching it at home. Good stuff. Of course, you can watch it here. We got best. You can watch it here on ESPN2 on Thursday. Brazil taking on France. Our coverage starts at 3.30 on ESPNU. Do you know what the scariest sound to hear on the factory floor is? Silence. That means something somewhere broke. Production has stopped and now you're paying workers to wait while the team troubleshoots and fixes the problem. Finally, there's a proactive way to reduce equipment downtime thanks to MaintainX. MaintainX is the AI-powered maintenance and asset management system that brings your unplanned maintenance downtime to zero.

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55:04Looking back, I'm definitely proud of what we accomplished. Marriott Bonvoy, where Game Day checks in. Harry Douglas here. Game Day brings the excitement. Your stay should feel just as memorable. With Marriott Bonvoy, official hotel partner of the NCAA and U.S. soccer, you're connected to a portfolio of brands designed for how you travel. Some offer complimentary breakfast, others give you room to spread out, space to stay productive, or extended stay comforts. So whether you're a traveling fan or part of the team, Marriott Bonvoy celebrates the moments that live on before and after the game. Marriott Bonvoy, where game day checks in.

55:42National latest edition of Football W. That is live tonight, 8.30 Eastern.

55:51So it will be Jamaica against New Caledonia tomorrow, Thursday, in the playoffs to face... Thursday? Yeah, Thursday to face Congo, of course, as the team's looking to book a place in the World Cup this summer. Here's Jamaican goalkeeper, Andrew Vermeer. The vibe so far, I like the vibe, you know, I feel like everybody know what's at stake, you know, we all know what we got to do. Obviously, you know, this is not where we would want to be, you know, but this is where we are. And I think everybody is still confident, you know, we have a chance, the football is round, you know, and yeah, I think that we're all looking forward to it.

56:36We're all excited and I know that everybody's going to go out there and give their best. And sometimes we as Jamaicans tend to operate better when our box are against the wall. So let's see. What a day of playoffs. It is going to be on Thursday for a lot more looking ahead to them. And of course, the old prediction as to who's going to be starting at the start of the World Cup. Be sure to check out Football Americas.

57:06It is, as I mentioned, a huge week for those vying for a place. Make that graphic a bit smaller. In the World Cup. Four European places, of course, still to be filled in total. They've got 16 teams vying for those places. And, of course, we'll be discussing and looking ahead to those playoffs in more detail on the next edition of the show. Craig, Shaka and Stevie with me here in the studio. Gav Marcotti joining us as well. Yeah, I'm not happy with that photo, by the way. We actually are the... I'm not going to lie to you. I'm a bit worried about what we're going to talk about tomorrow. Tomorrow's fine.

57:41Is it? Stevie. Are we going to get 20 WhatsApp messages again? Gab will be looking ahead. It'll be good. Be sure to join us.

57:53Welcome in to the latest edition of Extra Time. What are you laughing at? What are you laughing at, Frank? The picture. Oh, yeah. The picture was going somewhere. Have we got the picture? Do you want to show it? Is that easy to do? Check out where we're talking about who's on the show tomorrow as we're playing a World Cup Qualifier countdown. There it is. Look at that. Beauty and the Beast. What if I had copyright on that picture? Well, it wouldn't matter. Nobody's asked me. ESPN surely own all of your image rights. No. I think they paid five bucks for them. I think that was it. Frank is with us as well.

58:31Beautiful. Beautiful. My best friend, Frank Leboeuf, who was sorting me out tickets for Thursday's game between Brazil and France. Thank you very much, Frank. No parking. Don't forget to cheer for France. You're going to be on the side of French fans. I forgot to that. What a massive surprise. Thank God I'm not working on it. You'll be watching it live on ESPN2, Craig. Well, I don't think I'm the target audience. I'll be waving to you. Frank, is it... Oh, four o 'clock? I know, I walk the dogs at four. Frank, is it true that as a World Cup winner, you get free tickets to every World Cup competition.

59:07No, absolutely wrong. No, no, no, no, no. We don't have tickets for that. No, no, we have to pay if we want to. I can have, like, for you, you know, some comps, you know, if the French Federation wants to. Yes. But no. For a friendly. No, we don't have any. Maybe some others. Maybe I'm not famous enough to get some free tickets. What? Maybe you should ask some others. Wow. Yeah, maybe you have to ask Zidane or I don't know some others. Maybe they can get some... Not for me, anyway. I wonder where you get these tickets. Did he say he had to go to the... For Thursday's game, he went to the Federation.

59:43Yeah. There you are. I couldn't see me going to the Scottish FA. Well, I don't know. I wouldn't know how to get in there. I'd just ring them up. Hey, Siri, call the Scottish FA. Hey, do you remember me? 98 World Cup No Okay Bye Craig Fan of Shirky playing Keepy up Disrespectful Any teammates of yours do this If you were white Would you have done the same This of course during the Carabao Cup final 68th minute Keepy ups White took him out I probably would have Done the same thing If I was white Yes Looking at it now I'm I don't It's not the most Egregious thing to do Maybe it was a little cocky But Yeah Who cares No Frank, how would you have felt?

1:00:33I could have punched him in the face. That would have been a bad idea. But yeah, I don't like this kind of behaviour, but I know what he wanted to do. I like what White did. He just barely touched him, just said, don't do that, but he didn't go too much. I think in our time, that would have been a red card for many, many players. They would have tackled him like crazy to show that they were upset. So, different time. But yeah, don't do that. I mean, it's not really nice. I don't like when you do that. Arsenal couldn't even make a proper tackle with a player keeping the ball up, could they? Never mind with somebody else.

1:01:12Don't cry about it. Not crying, it's got something in my eye.

1:01:19Where do Craig and Frank... I won't go to you. Where does Frank stand on the Scholes-Lampard-Gerrard debate? What debate? Well, who's the best? Well, nobody's having that debate. Lots of people have that debate a lot. It's a well-worn debate. I think, well, if I, if, um, I really think that Scholes have been very impressive, but it's not the same type of player that Lampard and Gerrard for me. It was more, uh, the, the guy would never let you breathe, you know, less creative than Lampard and Gerrard. But I love and you needed the players like Skoll and Manchester United at the time needed the players like Skoll.

1:02:02Frank Lampard, when I played against him when I was at Chelsea, he was playing for West Ham. He wasn't the Lampard that I've known after. What he did at Chelsea was absolutely fantastic. A kind of a miracle. I never expected, I would have never bet a penny on him doing that with Chelsea, knowing what he did or didn't do for West Ham. But great career, fantastic player. And Gerrard, Gerrard is just a legend. Just a real legend. And hard to name who's the best of those three, especially because they had different tasks. Did you give an answer there, Frank? Did I have to? Yes. Yes. Well, I stand in the fact that they were absolutely beautiful.

1:02:51That's the question. They don't ask me to rank them. Well, yes it does. It says, where do you stand on a debate? A debate is... There's no debate. The only people having a debate are people. They've got nothing better to do with their life and they're actually annoying me now. They don't play the same position at the beginning. They don't have the same job. So why do you want to debate between Scorce and Lampard? They don't play the same football. So stop that question. Next question, Mr Thomas, please. How confident are you that Italy will qualify for the World Cup? Or are the same issues that led them to missing the last two still holding them back?

1:03:24What do they have to do? They're playing Northern Ireland, aren't they? And then they play Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina. Yeah, congratulations. They're through? Is that what you congratulate them for? No, I'm just saying, after they get through, they get through. How worried? What was the question? How worried or concerned? Yeah, how confident are you? Why would I be confident or not confident? Why would I personally care what the hell Italy do? I don't. Frank, how confident are you?

1:03:54I think a World Cup without Italy is a mistake because they've been so competitive and good throughout all World Cups. But if they're not in the World Cup, it's because they don't deserve it. That's as simple as that. and so football in Italy is not as big as it has been. It's not the best football anymore, so they just deserve what they have and they're gonna struggle. So I'm not confident, but it would be nice to see them. Could Morgan Rodgers start ahead of Bellingham in two cool selections, Frank, you ignoring me now? Stupid questions! I love Morgan Rogers, I think he's not at his best right now because he's a little bit going down but hopefully he's going to be very good for the World Cup and he has something special and when he's at the top he's unstoppable so yes he has to get it.

1:04:57I think Tuchel's already shown that, I'm not saying he holds grudges, but if he doesn't like, and you know he's already had some little quips at Bellingham. Yes. They've had some jabs back and forth. You've only got to look at the Alexander-Arnold situation, which whether you agree or not, I mean, about how he's played. He's not played well this season and he was never guaranteed to get in a 24-man squad. but a 35-man squad just shows that the manager doesn't I think probably just doesn't like him maybe doesn't like his attitude around the place as well as doesn't like his defending so I think Tuchel has shown that he's going to live and die by the sword here and if he thinks Bellingham's not the right fit, not playing well enough or not fit enough and Rodgers is going to be the better option, he'll play him I don't think he'll have any issues with that Now, he'll have to deal with the potential aftermath of how Bellingham reacts.

1:05:56Well, that's maybe going to make it quite interesting in the summer to talk about it. But I don't think he's going to be frightened. You know, Real Madrid... Oh, I'm Real Madrid's right backer, scoring number 10. Yes, and it's up to the manager. Frank, am I right in thinking in France, PSG want to postpone their game against Lens? Yes. I'm ahead of the game. Because of their Champions League tie? It's been refused. Which brings us to the question, what do you think about L 'Ans refusing that offer? Headed again. I know, mate. I know. I think it doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, L 'Ans are racing the Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain.

1:06:39They're just one point behind, but Paris Saint-Germain has one game in hand. And maybe L 'Ans thinks that PSG won't be really serious against them. So maybe it's a chance for them to get the three points and chase really Paris Saint-Germain. It's tactical, I would say. Is it nice for the French football? I don't think so. I mean, it's nice to see the light on the Ligue 1 because of the Paris Saint-Germain. So you have to see that. But I understand why Lance is doing that. They would love to win their Ligue 1. And you cannot deny that that can be a good move. It's common sense, isn't it? why would you as the biggest rivals at the moment allow them the postponement to rest their key players when you could give Luis Enrique a decision to make that may or may not weaken this PSG team in a game in a direct match-up it's not, I understand it's good for French football when PSG do what they're doing but that's not Lons' objective The objective is to win the game and to win the league.

1:07:51So you want to weaken your opposition as best you can. So yeah, I think both are in the right here. PSG are right to ask. But I think when they asked, they knew probably what the answer was going to be. Frank, have you ever had a memorable encounter with a fan? It can be a good encounter or a bad encounter.

1:08:14Well, we had a meeting one day, I think, was organized by the club in Marseille, where we had like 200 fans, you know, asking us to come. And we were like 10 players. And that was a hard time where they were all criticizing us, saying that we had to do better. and because I was the captain, I had to talk and I confronted some fans. And fortunately, I'm from Marseille, so I had some friends coming because I knew what it was about. So they were strong. They were strong friends against fans. We didn't expect that. So it went very intense, but very well at the end where they understood that you couldn't do that with me because I knew how it worked in Marseille.

1:09:03But that was a hard time. Everybody was, what the players were, quite scared. Knows people. Quite scared. What about you? He knows people. Of course he does. Hey. Who'd been the back of a fan before you know it? When you go, won't see the daylight for, I don't know. How long's a piece of string? You had fans trying to punch you? Yeah, my fans tried to punch me. I had one fan say he hoped I died. He was my own fan. Well, he was a Chelsea fan. Yeah. Celtic fans, and this wasn't when I was playing, this was after when I was in the media. A couple of times people tried to fight me because their reasoning was that I wasn't currying enough favour to Celtic in my analysis, analyst job.

1:09:53They couldn't get their head around it. When it gets to that situation, I'm sorry, you can't reason with people. You just can't. You say, well, it's not my job to do that. It's not my job to curry favour with Celtic. I've got a duty to other teams and try to be as objective as you can. You can't reason with them. They don't see it. And so luckily there were some other people around. But I never came to anything. But I thought it was coming close a couple of times. Because people are on the old air. Once they get on the loopy juice, anything's possible. But you get that. Frank and I had a very interesting encounter with a supporter outside Wembley just the night before the Community Shield.

1:10:35Oh, yes. We were doing a piece back to the studio here. You were off again. I don't know where you were. I don't know, hospital. Life-saving something. And anyway, our boss was there and one of the technical crew with the camera, Freddie. And this guy came with a family. he wasn't particularly old I'm going to say mid-20s early 20s and there was a couple there was at least one kid there you know four or five year old and an older gentleman and blah blah blah and he came up and he was being a bit arrogant and I think myself or Frank and he brushed him away and then he got really aggressive he got really aggressive and to the point he started saying that I'll take you I can't remember the exact words but you know touch me again I'll wipe you out and all that and he got he got he was basically he was a gigantic pain in the ass.

1:11:31But it did almost spire out of control, Frank, do you remember? Yeah, I remember. And it's true that I was watching his hands because he was very political and he could have had a knife or whatever. I think he was looking for something special. And because the camera were there, you know, maybe wanted to play the hero for whatever he could be for any causes so you had to let go it's hard because you want to punch him in the face you want to do something because you were in the middle of the work and craig was quite clever and he said you know cut cut cut the live show and wait for him to go and it's what we waited and we we were able to do it after but i was uh yeah that was intense yeah those are the situations remember Robbo got outside Wembley on his own during Kobe and all those fans came up behind them but my concern is and we very rarely have ever seen this it's the same as supporters of any sport running onto a field my concern is always for anybody in this job is when you're outside like that or be it a player on the field is people don't go through scanners when they go into these huge stadiums because we just take too long is any idea could have anything tucked in their jacket or down their trousers or whatever.

1:12:53You know, some kind of instrument or a knife or whatever. So you have to be really careful with these situations. And there's always somebody who wants to be a hero. And that guy that night, he was just, honestly, he's just one of those people that I think reading him over a few minutes' time is, he's always looking for a fight. And people that are always looking for a fight generally get it. and they usually come across somebody that's bigger, harder and smarter than them. But that's the kind of fella he was. So, you know, I'm sure there's been people had issues outside broadcasts and different.

1:13:26But yeah, that was the most recent one. And the thing is, he was with a family as well. So he was a bit of a smart aleck, as we'd say. Final questions. Golf base. Craig, are the links open yet? Are the links open yet? You mean the golf? The golf. Actually, some of the municipals are open. Of course, I'm a member of it's not open yet. And the weather is... Finally, the snow. Most of it. Almost 99.9. I haven't seen any. Those little clumps. It's almost gone now, isn't it? Yes, it has. There's a couple of mountains that are still available. We're getting to that time. Craig, I saw on TV that beautiful golf competition competition between former players of England and former players from the rest of the world with Ginola, with so many, Ruud Gullit, Gianfranco Zola and I was very sad to not having seen you fighting against Guaz Ramsey, there was a lot of, well all PL players, former PL players and I was looking at Craig Burley and where is he, where is he?

1:14:36They can't afford his fee Frank. Thank God I wasn't there if Ruud Gullit was there, you know how long it takes him to play around the golf. Oh my God. He used to analyse every shot because he was just learning. Right. He was just learning. Jofranco as well. Yeah. But really, he would hit a bad shot and he'd get behind it. I remember where we were. I think we were in Hong Kong or somewhere. We were playing golf end of the season and he hits his shots and then it goes off on a tangent and he stands behind it and he goes, what? I need to, what's happened there? And he starts analysing it. How is this possible?

1:15:06Because you're crap. Yeah. Five and a half hours. And on the neck. Yeah, Yeah, because in the end, actually, my mate was going, get on with it! Yeah, I bet. So, yeah. That's it. We won't do the last question. We'll do that another day. ESPN FC. Tomorrow? Maybe, yeah. Let's do it tomorrow. I'm not going to. Here's the line-up for tomorrow. Perfect. We'll ask everyone tomorrow, what's on your Masters menu? Masters.

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