Will Arsenal "bottle it" in the North London Derby?

18:43Alex Kirkland:But if they go behind early, you can just see it being potentially another very, very difficult afternoon for a group that are clearly lacking confidence and a bit of direction at the moment. Stevie, how does Igor Tudor go into this one? Because I feel like we can't truly judge him harshly on this one if Spurs do end up losing. But as James said, if they get thrashed like they did last time, things could get even more toxic.

19:08The FC Crew:If and when they do get thrashed causes every likelihood they will. I mean, let's be honest. Yes, when the whistle goes, the fans will be behind them. But you wonder, the first mistake, the first time Vicario does something crazy, the first time the first goal goes in, you can just see the whole thing collapsing. And you can see everybody piling on the players, which will end up being a thrashing. Listen, this guy has got one job between now and the end of the season, and that is to get the players to play for each other. somehow, some way, whether it's through enjoying training or having days out or whatever it is, the only thing this guy has to do is get the players playing for each other because that's the only way they're going to pick points up is by covering each other's backside.

19:57And if he can do that, I think they've got enough to stay in the Premier League.

20:03The FC Crew:But if he can't get them to do that, they're in big, big trouble.

20:07Alex Kirkland:Big trouble indeed. Indeed. So a big one on this weekend in the Premier League. James, how do you see this one going? Give us a prediction.

20:17Alex Kirkland:It's hard to see anything other than Arsenal winning, I think. I don't think it would be a cakewalk for them, but if I've got to go for a scoreline, I'll say 2-0 Arsenal. All right, James Oli, thanks so much for hanging out with us and bringing some, I guess he tried to bring some positive vibes, but it's all going downhill on one side. It's a tough job, especially if you're looking from the Spurs. perspective. Partner with Amazon Hub Delivery to earn extra income for your business with your business. Assist with local Amazon deliveries and get paid for each package you deliver. When you become a partner, you and your staff will deliver packages to customers in your area on a schedule that works for you.

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21:43Alex Kirkland:Here's a look at the Premier League title odds. And despite the issues Arsenal have been having recently, they are still favorites. But Manchester City are indeed closing the gap. So let's hear from Pep Guardiola ahead of City's game against Newcastle. In a title race, how important is experience? Because you've done it many times before.

22:05The FC Crew:70 % of the players are new, so they don't have experience to live these kind of situations. Do you now feel you have a better chance of winning the title than you did, say, at Christmas? To be honest, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen in the next 12 games. So, I don't know. Do you and the players have that confidence that it is now possible? I didn't speak one second about that with my players. Yesterday, the day before, it was just Newcastle, Newcastle and Newcastle. I didn't talk about the table, I didn't talk about the position or something like that. No title talk at all?

22:43The FC Crew:I could not care less. It's 12 games. If you tell me this question, two games left, three games left, I will have your answer. It's the fourth time you ask me the same question, I won't answer you. You should know me. So with 12 games left, it's an eternity.

22:58Alex Kirkland:An eternity. Probably doesn't feel like that. Also, Pep Guardiola and our Stuart Robson in a battle on who wears the best roll neck, right? I'm going to go with Robbo.

23:06The FC Crew:Robbo, easy. Robbo, easily.

23:07Alex Kirkland:Come on. So he's bringing Sean Connery, James Bond vibes. All right, Stevie, Pep Guardiola always, always entertaining in his press conferences there. Although we know that he's probably getting the mask a little wrong there. He does have a bit more players in his arsenal than he's suggesting with title winning experience. But as a manager and as a team, when you're in that locker room and you are involved in yet another title race, and even though he's saying it still feels like an eternity with 12 games to go and whatnot, how much are you leaning on experience to see you through when you're involved in a title race?

23:39The FC Crew:Well, you're not consciously leaning on it. You just you just subconsciously use it.

23:45Alex Kirkland:How much do you talk about it? Because he's obviously saying they don't.

23:49The FC Crew:Well, all he's going to try and do between now and the end of the season, and while there's a title race, is take the pressure off his players. But actually, most of what he said is 100 % true. It doesn't matter right now. You know, with three games to go, guys who've been through it, seen it, got a T-shirt, the lot. With three games to go, they might look at the league and say, right, we need to do this in this last three games. But right now, his team and his experienced players are just playing. They're preparing for the next game. And as a coach, the next game has to be exactly the same as the last one and the one before that and the one before that.

24:28The FC Crew:And you make it an ordinary day, an ordinary game. It's about what we do well. It's about how we pass the ball. It's about how we defend. It's all about all of those basic things that you try and sort out in pre-season and then you go through the season and it gets you to the end of the year, that's when you maybe start looking at the table and you start thinking about the title. Now, that's if you've already won it. And that's exactly what the Man City players are doing. And when I say, you know, the experience is not just about during the game. The experience is about the whole week leading up to the next game where everything's normal, everything's treated the same.

25:10The FC Crew:It's not a title race. we're not trying to do anything we're not trying to win 6-8 or whatever it's another game we have to win and as we spoke about earlier unfortunately for Arsenal it's the opposite because they don't have the experience they don't have the amount of winners certainly Premier League winners in their squad they're not quite sure should we be doing something different should we change something should we have Wednesday off instead of Tuesday off that's what's going on at Arsenal at Manchester City we were just trucking on playing the next game and doing what we did to do Robert what do you think?

25:47The FC Crew:Absolutely all you can do as the manager and Pep Guardi I know he's a bit feisty in the press conferences but he's saying the right things all we can do is focus on the next game we'll win the next game I'm looking at Newcastle we've got to play well in that I'll pick the right team for that and then we'll worry about the next game after that if you're challenging for lots of titles and lots of competitions in one season it's exactly the same as if you're doing just the Premier League they've got the Carabao Cup coming up. And he'll just say, right, we won't worry about that until that's the next game.

26:14The FC Crew:So he's absolutely right. And Stevie's absolutely right. Arteta is doing exactly the opposite. You know, when you look at the two press conferences, Arteta is talking a whole load of rubbish and trying to be clever with what he's saying. And he's actually putting more pressure on the players and making himself look a little bit silly. Pep Guardiola is going, no, we just worry about the next game. You know, I've done it all before. We've done it all before. Some of the players, not all the players have done it all before. But we know what we're doing. We'll get on with it.

26:38Alex Kirkland:All right. A tale of two managers. Either way, both of them will be not exactly in action, but their teams will be in action in what is going to be an exciting Premier League weekend. And just to remind you that our show, ESPN FC, is on seven days a week. Join us all through this weekend as we look back on all that enticing Premier League action.

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28:25Alex Kirkland:Well, another big topic this week was the racist abuse that Vinny Jr. said he received during Real Madrid's game at Benfica in the Champions League. Here's what Jose Mourinho had to say after. He said, it happens in so many stadiums, always the same person. Something isn't right. I told Vinicius on the pitch, you score an otherworldly goal. Why do you celebrate like this? All right, well, here's what Real Madrid manager Álvaro Albeloa had to say in Friday's press-up.

28:58The FC Crew:Everyone, obviously, is free to give their opinion. I'm giving mine. I think Vinicius Junior scored a truly spectacular goal, a fantastic goal on a phenomenal, amazing pitch.

29:12The FC Crew:And he celebrated a goal that we've seen countless footballers celebrate hundreds and hundreds of times throughout history. And many footballers, regardless of their background or skin colour, I repeat, we cannot portray the victim as their provocateur. We won't allow it.

29:29Alex Kirkland:I think what he's been doing on the pitch since I've been here has been absolutely sensational.

29:39The FC Crew:brilliant. He's deciding matches, scoring incredible goals, carrying the team on his shoulders. He's a player who, well, he's not just a game changer, but he wants to take on that responsibility within the team. And then he's a guy who isn't afraid. He's brave enough to go through situations like the one he experienced the other day and still be able to get back on the pitch.

30:05Alex Kirkland:Alright, our Stuart Robson is still with us, but Alex Kirkland is joining us for this chat. Alex, you are at that game. So what's been the reaction like in Spain since then? Yeah, lots of reaction to what Jose Mourinho said. As you mentioned, I was sat in that press conference and couldn't believe what I was hearing from Mourinho and how sort of deeply misguided it was, his reaction after the game. Alba Loa said it there in his news conference today. Whatever Vinicius Jr.'s celebration was like after scoring that fantastic goal, There is no justification. Nothing justifies racist abuse. And so there's been a lot of, I think, kind of outrage and surprise at the way that Mourinho reacted.

30:46Alex Kirkland:It's been developments over the last few days. We've had UEFA launching their investigation. We've had Real Madrid providing a dossier to UEFA of the available evidence they have to contribute to that investigation. Of course, there will be limits to what is available because, as we all know, the alleged abuse happened with the player covering his mouth with his shirt. But the latest developments today, some sources telling ESPN that the player Gianluca Prestiani has already given evidence to UEFA, his version of the story. And what those sources have told ESPN quite remarkably is that his version of events is that he says he used a homophobic slur rather than a racist slur.

31:24Alex Kirkland:That is his, and I use quotation marks, his defense in this case. So we're waiting for a conclusion. and of course the deadline in a way is that we've got the second leg next week at the Bernabeu and there's already a lot of talk about just what is the atmosphere going to be like going into that game. Now Jose Mourinho of course will not be involved because he was sent off in the second half of the first leg so he won't be involved at the Bernabeu so the crowd won't get the chance to react or to sort of give their verdict on Mourinho who of course he's to many a legend at Real Madrid but Prestiani at least as far as we know right now is expected to be involved in the Benfica squadron.

32:02Alex Kirkland:So, of course, all eyes will be on if he is indeed involved in the squad and in the team if he plays, just how the Bernabeu reacts to him as well. And Alex, just to follow up on those new developments that you just mentioned for us that Prestiani has said in his evidence that he submitted to UEFA. So what kind of punishment are we looking at if he does get punished at all? Yeah, well, interestingly, you take a look at UEFA's disciplinary regulations on this and they are very clear when it talks about racism, homophobia, any form of discrimination. Essentially, the punishment is the same. UEFA talk about something like a 10-game ban or similar in those circumstances.

32:42Alex Kirkland:And that would be the same whether indeed it was, in this case, racist abuse or homophobic abuse. So if that has indeed been Prestiani's defence, as ESPN has been told, that wouldn't necessarily make a difference in terms of the outcome, in terms of the punishment. Now, like I say, we're awaiting the conclusion of that inquiry and then for the findings of that inquiry to be made public. But potentially, yeah, like I say, we're talking about something like a 10-game ban or something similar. So potentially really quite a, I think it's hard to say what's an appropriate punishment for conduct like this.

33:14Alex Kirkland:But certainly UEFA in recent years have started to take this kind of thing more seriously. As they should, so we can finally come out of the dark ages. But Alex, just following up on what Arbeloa had to say, because he has spoken so highly of Vinny Jr. And it's true that we have seen an improvement in Vinny Jr.'s form since he came in in comparison to Xabi's tenure. Yeah, absolutely. We know that there was a big kind of breakdown in the relationship between Vinny Jr. and Xabi Alonso. That started last summer, pretty much straight away after Alonso arrived. arrived, there was a feeling from Vinny Jr.

33:48Alex Kirkland:and from his camp that Alonso didn't fully kind of believe in him and back him. We saw Alonso putting Vinny on the bench in a number of games in different competitions, in La Liga, in the Champions League, even when available, when fully fit, something that never happened before. Arbeloa has taken a completely different approach. We've seen the number one priority of Arbeloa since taking the job has been to get the key players back on site, make sure they're happy. The number one really, top of his list, was to get Vinicius Junior back and on form. And we're starting to see that. It's been a difficult season for him.

34:19Alex Kirkland:Like I say, he was sort of in and out of the team under Arbeloa, hasn't always been delivering. But you look at the last few weeks, he's been scoring goals consistently, game after game. I think it's something like three games in a row in the games that he's been available that he scored. He scored that incredible goal against Benfica. He scored that great goal in the Spanish Supercopa against Barcelona as well. So it feels like he's getting back to being the player that we know that he can be. Real Madrid. And so far, at least in that sense, I think Arbeloa has been successful in terms of getting Vinny back on board.

34:52Alex Kirkland:Yeah, Rob, I mean, of course, the stats don't lie. But in terms of improvements, do you see a better Vinny under Arbeloa than we did under Xabi?

35:01The FC Crew:Of course, he's played much better in the last three or four games. But remember, it was only five or six games ago where the Real Madrid fans were booing him at the start of the game. He got the biggest boos of anybody when I think it was in Arbeloa's second game in charge. So the fans didn't like him at the Bernabeu. They didn't like Jude Belliam on that occasion as well. But since then, he's played well. He's scored one or two really good goals. And he looks as though his focus and his concentration is much better. And that's the Vinny Junior you want to see. You don't want to see the one that's rolling around on the floor and moaning at his manager and moaning at other players and just stick late into the crowd.

35:35The FC Crew:That's the Vinny Junior that you don't want to see. You want to see the excellent footballer, the brilliant footballer, The one that can make defenders look really poor. He can score great goals and he can make goals. That's the Vinny Junior you need to see all the time.

35:48Alex Kirkland:All right, well, elsewhere now, let's shift focus to Real Madrid's rivals, Barcelona, because another Barca player is criticising referees. Stevie's already chuckling after Rafinha did it earlier this week. Eric Garcia is speaking out on the La Liga refereeing. This is what he had to say. There are situations that we cannot control right now. We feel like the referees can disallow every goal we score If they want to disallow it, they will do it. These are games in which we have entered a bit of frustration and we must reset. We know that decisions against us can come and we have to remain focused.

36:23Alex Kirkland:All right, Alex. Well, this is a tale as old as time, whether it's Real Madrid or Barcelona picking fights with referees. So here we go again. Yeah, basically nobody's happy with referees in La Liga, are they? Absolutely nobody. body look it's true in in fairness to eric garcia there's been one or two decisions in barcelona games in the other games too but in barcelona games in the last few weeks that has been difficult to understand you think about that big loss they suffered on monday night against girona a game that um meant that barcer dropped behind madrid in the title race and yet the decision not to disallow um the key girona goal was hard to understand was baffling you need to go beyond that and i think garcia takes it a little bit further and talks about a more sort of generalized pattern of and talks about referees wanting to take goals off of Barcelona.

37:09Alex Kirkland:That's going much too far, of course. But yes, there are one or two big decisions in key games that have gone against them. But really, to me, it's just an expression of frustration at what's happened with Barcelona. The fact they have somehow, despite the dysfunctional season that Real Madrid are having, they've slipped behind Madrid, albeit maybe temporarily, in the title race. They haven't been getting the results. They had that thumping defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey. They had the loss to Girona and Barca, they're not looking like the team that they were earlier in the season and certainly not last season.

37:40Alex Kirkland:I think that is really the context of this. It's frustration at what's going on with the team. There've been reports this week about Anzi Flick and the players getting together for a team meeting to try and resolve some of these issues. There are other problems as well. They've been without Pedri. He's coming back, expected to play some part in their game this weekend. They were without Rafinha. He came back in the Girona game. So key players, both to what they do with and without the ball, haven't been there. So that's a big part of it as well. But there's no doubt, yeah, they're not happy about the way things are going right now.

38:07Alex Kirkland:And I think what Garcia says there is just a bit of frustration at that more than anything. Stevie, you were chuckling before I even read what Eric Garcia had to say. Well, when you're losing, it carries no weight.

38:18The FC Crew:A, when you're losing, B, when you're playing horribly and you deserve to get beat. There's no way you can turn around and start blaming referees. Listen, if you're creating chances and not getting penalties and decisions go against you and you're losing games that way, then there's not a person that ever kicked the ball is going to have a problem with it. But when you're just rotting, you're not producing, and then you want to turn around and stick all the blame on the referee, then nobody's going to listen to a word you say. Not a word.

38:49Alex Kirkland:Robbo, even if you're frustrated, you would never just blame the referees, would you?

38:55The FC Crew:Well, you can't be. I'm not sure what game Alex was watching when he said the goal should have been disallowed. to Girona's second goal. It was never a foul. He won the ball. Anyway, yes, you don't blame the referee. You don't keep having a go and making excuses. At the moment, Barcelona have got all their defensive structure wrong. Even though they're trying to play this high line, they're doing it badly. If you play it well and you get the timing right, it's a good policy. But if you get it all wrong and they're making some bad, bad errors, you're going to get beaten. You're going to give away many, many chances.

39:25The FC Crew:And if you're not playing quite so well in the front areas, which they haven't done in the last couple of weeks, particularly against Girona, where I thought they were fairly poor. They didn't dominate the game as they normally do. You're going to get beaten and it's nothing to do with the referee. Let me get it clear. Barcelona and Real Madrid get most of the decisions go their way over the course of a season because they're the teams that matter. So it's absolute rubbish from Eric Garcia.

39:48Alex Kirkland:All right, well, let's remind you how things are looking in the La Liga standing, specifically in the top half. Remember, Barcelona dropped points last time around, so they find themselves playing second fiddle to Real Madrid, who are at the top of the table with 60 points, two points clear. Real Madrid play Osasuna away this weekend while Barcelona will be trying to make up against Levante. Alex, surely no more points dropped this weekend with these fixtures? I think Barcelona, the one big thing in their favor is that game they've got right there, which is Levante at home. That's exactly the kind of game against the second bottom team in the table they would want to have to try and turn this form around.

40:25Alex Kirkland:Real Madrid away at Osasuna is tricky. El Cedero is basically the most hostile stadium for Real Madrid to go and play at anywhere in Spain. Always has been. It's not an easy place for them. Osasuna at home, you'd give them half a chance. I think Madrid probably the form they're in, like I say, Abloa getting it together. Signs that they're starting to become a more reliable team. We saw that I think in the first 50 minutes against Benfica before Vinicius Gold and everything that happened after that. I'd expect Madrid to get the win. I'd expect Barca to get the win against Levante as well. So yeah, I think certainly the Barca fixture is one they could really do with right now.

40:57Alex Kirkland:So it's fallen rather kindly for them. Robbo, how do you see these two games going?

41:02The FC Crew:Yeah, I think both teams will win. Real Madrid are playing much better than they were several weeks ago. They've got their confidence. They're getting some good results. As Alex said, some of their key players are playing much better now. Jude Bellingham's out the tee, which I don't think is a bad thing for them because they've got better shape to their side. And I think Barcelona, despite not playing particularly well in the last two or three weeks, will beat Levante. I think it's an odds-on win.

41:27Alex Kirkland:All right. So both of them going for wins for Real and Barcelona. Now, Alex, before I let you go, we just want to remind everyone that we know you're an Arsenal fan and you begged our producer to not have to talk about Arsenal on today's show. I did, yeah. So the logical thing is that we're going to now ask you about Arsenal and if they're going to bottle this title race. North London derby coming up, Spurs. How are you feeling overall? Yeah, here's what I'll be doing on Sunday. I'll be going up into the mountains outside Madrid where there's no phone reception. I'll be going for a walk in the woods and then I'll come out just to take the result and either you'll never hear from me again or I'll come back down into town and I'll be happy.

42:08Alex Kirkland:So let's see what happens. So he's dodged a question. He's rattled, he's rattled.

42:13The FC Crew:Can we get an answer?

42:14Alex Kirkland:I am definitely rattled. Surely you're backing your boys though. No, yeah, look, I think... I'm just scared. I'm scared. I think Arsenal will probably win, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid of even the remote possibility that, you know, the bottling is really happening. So I'm afraid. But, yeah, I think Arsenal will probably win, but not enough to not be terrified. Wow, I've never seen a rattled Alex Kirkland quite like this. This is what Arsenal will do to you. They'll break your spirit. But either way, you can't run away too far and hide because we are still paying you to go to games. So which game will you be at this weekend?

42:50Alex Kirkland:No, I'm not going to also soon to Real Madrid, but I'll be watching it at home. So yeah, I'll be keeping that one on the TV. Oh, he really is rattled by Arsenal. He's probably going to go off into the mountains and we won't hear from him again, but we hope we do. Alex Kirkland, thank you so much for joining us. Well, here is the La Liga schedule coming up this weekend. As we said, both Real Madrid and Barcelona in action, as well as Atlético de Madrid. Which version of Atleti will we see next? We never know. They go up against Espanol. That's on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

43:21The FC Crew:We're leaving today and entering a world of Mickey Mouse waving, princess meeting and greeting, lightsaber clashing, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror dropping, banshee flying, Space Mountain launching, galaxy rewinding, what's the whole death of galaxy rewinding, fireworks igniting, world of other worlds, for whatever you love. Infinite worlds await at the most magical place on Earth. Walt Disney World Resort. Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them. Plus, time management tools.

44:00Alex Kirkland:And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences.

44:09The FC Crew:Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com slash teenaccounts.

44:24Alex Kirkland:All right, we're heading to Scotland for this one, Stevie. Have a look at this. Wraith Rovers against St. Johnstone. This was a no-goal. Only in Scotland.

44:33The FC Crew:Only in Scotland.

44:36Alex Kirkland:This was a no-goal. Because it came off... Oh.

44:40The FC Crew:Right in the nose.

44:42Alex Kirkland:Only in Scotland. It's giving very conca-calf as well. Maybe we're closer than we think.

44:47The FC Crew:Yeah, exactly.

44:48Alex Kirkland:We are. All right, that's it for this edition. of ESPN FC, but don't go anywhere. Extra Time is next.

44:59Alex Kirkland:Welcome into Extra Time. Alexis Dunez back with Stevie Nichol and Sean Conner. Ooh, I mean Stuart Robson. See what I did there? Oh, he liked that one. Look at him smiling.

45:10The FC Crew:He's more of a Roger Moore, is he not?

45:11Alex Kirkland:Is he more of a Roger Moore? Is it because he's English? Yeah.

45:15The FC Crew:Gentlemen. Both were a bit more my time. What about Daniel Craig? Will he do? Will Daniel Craig do or is it a bit more Sean Connery?

45:22Alex Kirkland:I feel like he has too much hair to be you, Robbo.

45:26The FC Crew:Yeah. Well, Sean Connery was born. I'll give you that. He was born. You can't complain being compared with Sean Connery. Exactly. Or Roger Moore. Seriously.

45:35Alex Kirkland:I'm telling you.

45:36The FC Crew:Holy smoke.

45:37Alex Kirkland:Sean Connery is my favourite Bond. Always will be. Always will be. All right. Let's get into the first question. Stevie N Stewart. Have you ever been shocked by the quality of an opponent from a lower league like teams must have been by Bodo Glimp this year. Bravo, let's start with you.

45:56The FC Crew:Absolutely. When I was playing, when Stevie was playing, there wasn't such a big difference between the teams at the very top in the first division, as it was called then, and some of the teams playing in the third and fourth division. When you went to their grounds on cup ties, you were often surprised by how good they were, how well they played. The pitches weren't quite so good. But we went to York City, Arsenal, and we lost the game 1-0 and four or five of their players played out of their skins on that occasion. You know, brilliant passing. The centre forward, I think, was only 18. Did brilliantly against Dave O 'Leary.

46:29The FC Crew:I think he only played about another 10 games, but on that day he was absolutely brilliant. So, yes, you went to a lot of grounds in the lower divisions and you were shocked by the quality of the players that were playing there. We actually went to York City a couple of years before that and drew 1-1. We were European champions. We just won the European Cup. We went to York City and drew 1-1. Beat them in the replay. The biggest surprise I got was with Bolton Wanderers. Early 90s, when they were flying in the First Division, they came up. We played them in the FA Cup. We played them at their place.

47:02The FC Crew:We drew 2-2. We thought, OK, get them home. We'll beat them at home. And they beat us at Anfield and completely outplayed us. So, yeah, Bolton Wanderers back in the day, early 90s.

47:13Alex Kirkland:Magic of the FA Cup, that.

47:15The FC Crew:Yep.

47:15Alex Kirkland:So that's why you've got to watch it on ESPN. Next question. Why are Palace and Glasner not parting ways? How will it affect the team performance? Well, I mean, I think he is leaving at the end of the season at least, but I suppose he's wondering why they're not parting ways any sooner. Robert, what do you think?

47:33The FC Crew:Well, it's a good job they got that result against Brighton because there's always one team that come tumbling down the table, I always think, after Christmas. And it looked as though Crystal Palace could be that team. It might be Brighton now. but yeah, Glasner and Crystal Palace have fallen out he's fallen out with the owners and the chairman and they're keeping him for the moment they know he's going to go at the end of the season and I suppose they don't want to disrupt anything but they can't get the person in they want so it's only a matter of time and I think they've just about got enough to avoid being dropped into the relegation zone so yeah, it's only a matter of time really before he goes

48:08Alex Kirkland:Stevie? Surely he just doesn't want to leave this crap out of players I think the fact that they won the FA Cup last year and the fact that they've been doing

48:17The FC Crew:pretty well in Europe is the reason why Glasner is still there. Because I think there's still... I'm sure a lot of the players will be upset that Glasner's leaving. They'll be upset that he actually turned round when he did and told everybody. But I think there's enough respect between all of them. and I'm talking about the board as well, that that's why it will work because nine times out of ten, this sort of situation doesn't work because generally when players know the manager's leaving, it's really tough to get the best out of them.

48:53Alex Kirkland:Yes, that's the situation there. I love me some Crystal Palace under Glasnow. Next question. At Manchester United, are we seeing a genuine cultural reset or is it just a short-term bounce under Michael Carrick? Robbo, what do you think?

49:09The FC Crew:We can only tell whether it's going to be a change of philosophy and a change of culture if he stays all the way to the end of the season and they get some very good results. But we've seen it before. We thought that on a couple of occasions, Manchin had a good run. This is a change of culture. They're doing well. The manager's got it sorted out at last, whoever the manager was. But it's not lasted. But it shows that the players have got it in them. It shows the players can play with great intensity, when they need to. They can play with great organisation when they need to. They can work as a team when they need to.

49:41The FC Crew:It's up to them to continue this form under whoever the manager is, whether it's Carrick or somebody else next season. The players have shown that they can be good enough when it matters.

49:52Alex Kirkland:Stevie, what do you think?

49:53The FC Crew:Do you know, Man United right now are a great example of a team who are playing under no pressure. No pressure? That's... I mean, we saw it under all. As soon as Oli took over, the same thing happened. And then as soon as he became the manager, the whole outlook changes. Now you have to. You know, it would be nice to, it's way easier than you have to. The difference in the pressure at Man United right now, playing one game a week, with no pressure on you, I mean, they're making it look easy. Not quite as easy as making it look, but you 100 % won't be able to tell until they get a proper manager in.

50:38The FC Crew:Did also Ruud van Nisserij, sorry, Steve, did Ruud van Nisserij when he was caretaker manager, he had success as well for I think three games he was in charge. Yeah, he got the lesser job. No pressure. Because of it. So there's no pressure. Playing football is dead easy when there's no pressure on you.

50:52Alex Kirkland:Yeah.

50:54The FC Crew:Different ball game when there's a little bit of weight on your shoulders.

50:57Alex Kirkland:You just can't wait. Can't wait for them to sign someone and then there's pressure. How did you know that? Because I can see the flicker in your eyes.

51:06The FC Crew:Keeps the heart pumping.

51:07Alex Kirkland:I know exactly it just pains you to see me slightly happy doesn't it?

51:12The FC Crew:Well I don't mind because I know there's a fall coming.

51:15Alex Kirkland:I was going to say you know you know there's going to be a spectacular fall coming indeed. All right next question from Joe. Stevie and Rabbo, any memories of playing against each other? Oh are Are we aging, Robbo? Surely Robbo wasn't born.

51:31The FC Crew:No, I was playing for Arsenal probably before Stevie was playing for Liverpool. I was playing for Arsenal in 81. And I think you came down in 83, something like that? I came down at the end of 81. Yeah, Robbo, yeah, you were playing. Do you ever play against each other? So I remember playing against... Yeah, we played against each other. I think Stevie played... It was a game where Niall Quinn scored the opening goal on a fairly icy pitch at Highbury. And I think Stevie played it right back. And we won the game 2-0. That's about the only time we did beat Liverpool when I was playing. So I think that was the only one I can remember.

52:07Alex Kirkland:Fond memories?

52:09The FC Crew:What, getting beat 2-0 at Highbury? No.

52:11Alex Kirkland:That's what I'm saying.

52:12The FC Crew:I'm fond of that.

52:13Alex Kirkland:OK, look at how you ended up.

52:15The FC Crew:Yeah, yeah. All's well at ends well.

52:17Alex Kirkland:All's well at ends well. Whose trophy cabinet is a lot more full?

52:22The FC Crew:I don't have a trophy cabinet. You don't? I think Stevie's. No.

52:25Alex Kirkland:Where did you put all your memorabilia, all your silverware?

52:28The FC Crew:In the loft.

52:30Alex Kirkland:Just collecting dust?

52:31The FC Crew:Collecting dust.

52:32Alex Kirkland:Oh, jeez, Louise.

52:34The FC Crew:Can I ask Stevie a question? Go ahead. Did he play in Alan Hansen's testimonial against England? Because I played in that game. No, I didn't. Scotland were playing. We had a World Cup qualifier. So I never played in that game. I think was it Iceland? Yeah, I didn't play in the game. Yeah, because it was a sellout. I think we won the did we not win the FA Cup that weekend? No, you lost the FA Cup so we won it that weekend. Aye, aye. Because Hansen was moaning, right? Because instead of being 43 ,000 so it used to be 43 ,000 was the capacity. And he was complaining. That he wasn't. Well he was complaining to Aldo because Aldo missed a penalty.

53:22The FC Crew:So he was complaining to Aldo that it cost him 3 ,000 fans because there was only 40 ,000 turned up. We blamed Aldo. It wasn't a full capacity. So yeah I was playing for Scotland in a World Cup qualifier. And what I can tell you about that game, I know you didn't play anything, I can tell you about that game. It was an end of season testimonial. It was one of the toughest games I had played in for a long time. Liverpool played at maximum intensity, 43 ,000 people there. It was England's sort of mixture of the European squad that was going to the European Championships in 86, 88. It was a pretty tough game and played at a high tempo.

54:03The FC Crew:Proper game of football. Well, it would be because you guys were going to Euros, so as you said, there'd be players there trying to get either in the squad or in the team. And then, of course, testimonies are OK until either somebody scores or somebody gets fouled. And as soon as that happens, generally, whoop, it all lifts up because it's all done a minute. It all saps out, oh, proper English gentleman and cup of tea and, yes, after you, Claude. But those two things, either a goal or a foul changes it. And everybody's like, OK, they get the face off and get the real one on. Get after it.

54:40Alex Kirkland:Oh, the proper days of football, right?

54:42The FC Crew:Yeah.

54:42Alex Kirkland:All right, final question now. Now, Robbo, should future World Cups take on the new Champions League format? There could be a group phase with five games per team from which the top 16 teams move on to a knockout round. One versus 16. Stevie's had enough already.

54:58The FC Crew:There's two cents. There would be more matches. Is it Infantino or somebody?

55:02Alex Kirkland:There would be more matches between juggernauts plus smaller teams' fans would get more games.

55:08The FC Crew:We need more games. I think the World Cup should be longer. I think, yeah, I think the World Cup should be longer. I think Arsene Wenger, I think, is behind it all. He wants 120 teams in the World Cup to play each other in a round-robin tournament and you end up where you end up. So that's what I think Arsene Wenger wants. And that's what's going to happen if he wants it.

55:28Alex Kirkland:But what do you think should happen? Bin that idea with?

55:32The FC Crew:It should be left as it is. In fact, there's too many teams in the tournament already. They should cut the teams, but they're not going to because they want to get more teams in it. It's absolutely wrong that they've got so many teams in it. You're going to stifle the quality of the early rounds, I'm afraid. The best thing is the reason why they do it. According to them, it's for the good of the game.

55:53Alex Kirkland:To grow the game.

55:54The FC Crew:To grow the game.

55:55Alex Kirkland:Get us smaller teams a chance, although you're no longer a smaller team. You've qualified directly, big man.

55:59The FC Crew:Oh, and by the way, we want a£1 ,000 ticket as well.

56:03Alex Kirkland:Oh, yes.

56:04The FC Crew:For the good of the game.

56:06Alex Kirkland:For the good of the game.

56:07The FC Crew:Yeah, right.

56:08Alex Kirkland:Expanded World Cup and Jamaica still hasn't qualified. What a time to be alive. Anyways, don't laugh at me, Stevie. How are you doing Olympics? We don't do winter Olympics. Well, apart from bodsledding. There you go. Well, I don't know. No.

56:22The FC Crew:All right.

56:23Alex Kirkland:Just know. Anyways, make sure to join us on ESPN FC all weekend long. There's a lot on the line in the Premier League, and we'll be looking back at all of it and more on the show.

56:42Alex Kirkland:It's a season two playoff race with TGL presented by SoFi. Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern, Jupiter Lynx versus Boston Common Golf. Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern, Los Angeles Golf Club versus New York Golf Club. Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern, the Bay Golf Club versus Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's golf. Watch on ESPN, ESPN2, and the ESPN app.