MNC: Nearlymen Arsenal, Liverpool turning on Slot, Spurs crisis continues

23:04Chris Sutton:Loyalty matters if you're an adult. Yeah, I know. I'm just saying. I think it's happened before in the past. It's not happened before in cup finals as well. I'm sure Daston Villa once Brad Guzum said loads of penalties in the semifinal and Martin O 'Neill picked Brad Friedle in the final. It's not the first time that your first... It does happen quite frequently that the managers lose their nerves. and say, I think, I mean, Shea will know this better than I do, but I suspect quite a lot of goalkeepers when they sign contracts discuss how much they might play if they are the backup. To be fair, Arteta said that he never, the one thing that Arteta did say was that he didn't promise that he would play all the cup games to him.

23:35Chris Sutton:So he did. But it sends a message to the goalkeeper that you are not valued. And Kepa is not. But again, again, we're not. That's such nonsense. But again, we're talking about Kepa for the last whatever, 10 minutes. I don't think that's the only reason they've lost the cup final. I think there's numerous reasons. No, it's one of many, yeah. So it was easy to blame the keeper lads. Come on. Some of which were Arteta's tactical decisions. Yeah, tactical. I mean, Eze and Odegaard were a big loss as well, obviously. Yeah, they were out injured. So, I mean, that was an awe factor, I suppose. So there were lots of things at play.

24:05Chris Sutton:Can I just go back to just last one on this, Rory? Everybody understands, as far as I know, as a player, I understood pecking orders. I knew who was better than me and who wasn't. Kepa knows that Ray is better than him. I don't know where, you know, in Shea's career, top goalkeeper, you know, the keepers you'd be up against, you know where you are. You know what form you're in and what have you. And it's unfortunate for goalkeepers. You know, there is a number one and the number twos have to sit out. But then the number two has to work hard to try and out the number one out of the team. That's what happens.

24:38Chris Sutton:So, you know, there's sort of loyalty and you have to keep the number two happy. The game is players know the rules. I knew the rules, players who were better than me. and when, you know, if Shearer was playing as number nine in front of me, I wouldn't have a problem with it. That's, you know, I've got to try and find a way to get into the team and sometimes you're just not good enough to do that. So that all, you know, we have to keep him happy. It's top level football. It's not about, you know, worrying about how Kepa feels. You can still keep him happy, but it's pecking order.

25:12The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers, and that's where it stands apart from other ad buys. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company, role, seniority, skills, company revenue, so you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. It's why LinkedIn ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of major ad networks. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get$250 credit for the next one.

25:46Just go to linkedin.com slash broadcast. That's linkedin.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hey, I'm Josh Spiegel, host of the podcast Lunatic in the Newsroom. If you enjoy journalism that drifts into mild panic, wild overthinking, and a guaranteed nervous breakdown, Lunatic in the Newsroom is for you. It's news like you've never heard before. The only newsroom with a panic button. You'll laugh, You'll cry and gasp in horror as the show spirals completely out of control. It's not just news. It's emotionally unstable. Lunatic in the newsroom. Listen today.

26:26New teams. New rules. A new era. Formula One returns. The engines are revving. People are getting excited. Hear every race live on BBC Sounds. It's all eyes to the lights and foot to the floor. On 5 Live Sports. This is the Monday Night Club with Mark Chapman. On the Football Daily Podcast.

27:00Chris Sutton:Let's talk Spurs. Sammy Mockbell with us. Jack Hussey, presenter of the Spurs podcast, Rule the Roost, also joins us. And the one thing I think, Spurs lost 3-0 to Nottingham Forest yesterday. And the whole of this conversation will understandably take place with the backdrop, actually, of the difficult time, Sammy, that Igor Tudor is going through at the moment following the death of his father. Yeah, that's right, Chappas. And I think it's probably something we all should be mindful of, I guess, of how stricken Igor Tudor will be right now, how his family are feeling right now. And you're absolutely right.

27:33There are issues with regards to Igor Tudor's future at Tottenham that we simply can't ignore. But I think there also needs to be some sensitivity towards the situation and the period of mourning and grief that he finds himself in at the moment. But I think over the next few days, I think we will probably start to see a resolution to the uncertainty with regards to his future. And I think, you know, it doesn't take a scientist to work out or a football expert to find out, to work out that his job's on the line.

28:09Chris Sutton:Yeah, it's not often I would have thought, Jack, that Spurs fans have had sympathy for the Spurs hierarchy, board, exec, however you want to call them here. But whilst there are obviously understandable sympathies towards Igor Tudor for what he's going through, some sympathy for the Spurs board as they try to manage their way through quite a difficult situation because they'll have to make a decision, but they have to take his feelings into account. Yeah, of course. I think everybody else's issue around this pales in comparison to what it is that Igor Tudor's having to go through on a personal level.

28:45And it is just the main thing we have to be mindful of. It's an almost impossible situation, really, for the football club. I think a lot of people will have their opinions on it. And I guess at times like this, people tend to default into this position where they say, well, you know, there is this sensitive emotional issue on the side. But, you know, in a business sense, we maybe need to look at this through a different, a colder lens, if you like. Even if you were to apply that to this situation, I don't really think there's an easy answer either when we're talking about Igor Tudor's future.

29:23Chris Sutton:because of what else is out there. Yeah, really. I mean, what else is out there? The situation that Spurs are in right now. You know, I think one thing that, you know, probably hasn't been said enough of Igor Tudor is that there's a, I think there's a level of bravery to step into this situation, to put his reputation on the line, really, to come into, you know, a Spurs team that hasn't just been struggling, has been in free fall, really. If you look at our fixtures in 2026, our results, they're pretty much all losses. You know, there's no real way to sugarcoat that. I don't even think it's kind of reminiscent of Everton a few years back when they were bobbling around the bottom of the table and, you know, maybe getting caught up in a relegation fight.

30:13Like Spurs just seemed to be magnetised to the bottom of the table and I don't see how appealing a prospect that is for anybody. And look, myself and many Spurs fans right now are trying to be as positive as we can. So I don't want to sit here and say it's all doom and gloom. We've got to try and have hope until the end of the season. But it's not looking very good at all, is it?

30:35Chris Sutton:The only thing, with those options, and hindsight is a wonderful thing. But even when Frank was sacked, the debate was, well, where are they going to look? particularly because around the same time you had the Amer in Manchester United situation so United probably had two former players well three if you include Solskjaer I suppose but they had two former players that they could very easily get access to whether that was Darren Fletcher as an under 18s coach or Michael Carrick who they went with I mean neither the under 21 or the under 18 coach at Spurs are former players and I think that probably does matter doesn't it in the sense of selling that to the fans.

31:16Chris Sutton:But aside from that, there wasn't a lot out there for United in the same way that there hasn't been for Spurs. So the original decision is still slightly odd because of lack of options, isn't it? I think my main opinion on Thomas Frank really, and look, you know, this is again, this is coming from a fan's perspective. We're not there in the dressing room. We're not there on the training ground. I appreciate all that. But what I would say is that it was abundantly clear that Thomas Frank wasn't fit for purpose very early on in his Tottenham career. I think the biggest mistake the Tottenham board made was not sacking him much sooner.

31:52I know a lot is made of clubs like Spurs, Chelsea, kind of going through this merry-go-round of managers, sacking them constantly. But really, in truth, it's actually served Spurs pretty well to this point, really. Daniel Levy often got a lot of flack for it, but more often than not Spurs improved. Not always, you know, there were some bumps in the road, but, you know, had we got rid of Thomas Frank sooner, I think there may be more options there that we could have, we could have called, you know, just off the top of my head, you know, Kieran McKenna, there's a manager, he's got some affiliation with Tottenham.

32:30He's somebody that was, you know, he's done a great job at Ipswich. He is somebody that's been linked to Spurs quite a lot, you know, maybe there's the option that you can attract somebody like him to the club to take us on for the second half of the season before things start to look quite as bleak as they have done. But I think the timing of the Frank sacking after the January window, you've not signed anybody else during that window as well. I mean, that just speaks to the, really, the poor decision-making that we've seen at Spurs now for the past couple of seasons at least, but really, really since we opened up that new stadium.

33:06Chris Sutton:But there's also the flip argument where you could say, well, had Spurs stuck with Thomas Frank, they may not be in such a precarious position. You said earlier, Jack, you said that Igor Tudor put his reputation on the line when he took the job. What was his reputation from a Spurs fan's point of view? Because just from the outside, and we've spoken about this on the Monday Nightclub before, about him being this short-term specialist. And so if that's the way that Spurs fans are viewing this appointment, he certainly, I know he's had a really difficult time with what's happened, the loss of his dad.

33:45Chris Sutton:But he certainly, with what's gone on in terms of results, he certainly can't be viewed as a short-term specialist. And the defeat at the weekend, I suppose we're all thinking the same thing, that you can lose to a relegation rival, but you can't lose 3-0 in the manner which Spurs did. So a decision does need to be made, I suspect. What's your view on all that? Well, yeah, we did have a moment, didn't we, where we had a good game where we looked quite competent away at Anfield. I know Liverpool have had their own problems, relatively speaking, nothing in comparison to what Spurs are facing this season.

34:28So I still decided to take some positives from that. And it maybe looked like Tudor started to turn a bit of a corner. I think he faced some sort of fairly unfair and at times quite unpleasant lines of questioning from certain sections of the media. Nobody here present, so I'm not calling any of you out. But yeah, at times, and he came through that pretty well. I think he, you know, faced some quite unpleasant and difficult conversations quite well. And I think he actually won quite a few fans over, quite sceptical fans. And then obviously the Atletico Madrid game, despite the fact that Spurs still went out of the competition, spoke to, again, perhaps players starting to believe a bit, starting to buy into whatever it was that he was selling, or at least kind of starting to play football a bit.

35:18I think it's the first time in genuinely in months that I think we've actually, as Spurs fans, sat back and thought Spurs actually played quite well there. We actually looked like we had an idea as to what we were doing. And then to fall off like that against Forrest, I mean, look, all day long, my first thought waking up today was 3-0. 3-0. How has that happened, really? You know, in this game, especially after, you know, the big sort of the effort that the fans went to ahead of the game to welcome the players. And I'm not taking this on a level of saying, you know, these entitled players, they didn't show up for us.

35:53And it's nothing like that. It's just, it's, you know, more in a, you know, howling to the footballing gods. How has this happened to us after, you know, we showed up and we all rallied behind it and we had these great results in the week? It's hard to reconcile other than, you know, I think the manager made some fairly poor decisions on the day. I think his substitutions at half-time were quite hard to fathom. I haven't seen anything out the back of it that would indicate there was any injury or anything.

36:21Chris Sutton:His number two said there were tactical decisions at halftime to bring the two players off. Rory, I know you wanted to come in. Yeah, what really struck me yesterday, apart from how easy Forrest's second goal was, the fact that they basically walked to the edge of the box and then Callum Hutton-Odoi sprinted for half a second and then everyone left Morgan Gibbs-White unmarked in the box, which was, as a fan, is the sort of goal that would infuriate you. But there was a number, and I wasn't there, but the number of times on the TV they cut to fans not booing, not shouting, not screaming but looking totally kind of baffled and bereft and kind of doing that thing where you smiled, you're not really sure what else to do and it's all slightly laughable and it looked to me like Spurs fans might even have come out of they've been obviously in sadness and anger and regret and bitterness and fury but it looked like something else yesterday and I just wondered what Jack's kind of perception of what the fans are feeling it looked like they were numb to be honest Just Rory, just quickly, the director's not going to cut to swearing fans, though, is he?

37:23No, I mean, not swearing, but normally you expect someone, I expect someone whose face has gone quite red shouting at the moon. That's what I want. And it wasn't.

37:34Chris Sutton:I would also say, Chris, it is remarkable how often actually directors do manage to cut to people gesturing, swearing and everything else. Go on, Jack, answer that one quickly. I think yesterday a lot of people were shell-shocked. I think a lot of people, because of how good the results had been in the week and because, you know, they had across the week, other than just the bust, had been a concerted effort amongst many of the Tottenham fan groups to build bridges with the club. And a lot of that was there was a lot of messaging based on Christian Romero's sign off, which is altogether always, that was reciprocated by the club.

38:09And I think a lot of people went into that not even contemplating that Forrest would win. You know, considering how bad our season's been, it seems naive, but sometimes you just get caught up in the belief, don't you?

38:22Chris Sutton:Sammy, if they were to move on from Igor Tudor, do they have a plan? They've started looking at identifying candidates to take the job on, but as you rightly said earlier... For eight games, sorry. Yeah, yeah. There is such a, like I said, there are minimal options out there for them, obvious options. My understanding of the situation prior to the Liverpool game was that I think they had a conversation with Roberto De Zerbi, who is on their list to be permanent manager, to see if he would be prepared to take it now. I think that was a negative. And if he is to become Tottenham manager, he would much rather do that at the end of the season, i.e.

39:11when he knows whether Tottenham Hotspur are in the Premier League or not, basically. So I think they've exhausted a lot of those avenues. And then if you just look at it from a purely, I guess, an external perspective, you've got the likes of Harry Redknapp has made no secret that he'd do it on a temporary basis. I think Ryan Mason would jump at the chance to do it on a temporary basis. That's just two that someone mentioned Jürgen Klinsmann to me today as a potential option. So there are options out there who have links to Tottenham Hotspur, who would 100 % be willing to take the position. But it's just whether the board decide to make that move.

39:54But in my mind at the moment, it's more of a risk keeping Tudor than it is not making the change.

40:01Chris Sutton:You would think, wouldn't you, Shay, that you would have to want to take it over now, if that's what's going to happen. you would have to have a deep connection to the club. Because a bit like Sammy said, if you are someone like Deserby, you wouldn't want to risk it, would you? No, I don't think you would, no. It's on a free fall, basically. I mean, the team's down there, Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Leeds, they know they've been in a sort of fight all season to stay in the league, probably. And Tottenham seems to be sleepwalking into the Championship. I was going to ask Sammy, because I believe Jack's too emotional to ask this question, but there's no point in looking back Thomas Frank, Tudor now, and condolences to Tudor and his family and all that because it's a real difficult time for him off the pitch.

40:44But I was shocked that I didn't wake up this morning to news that there's a new guy coming in for these seven games, these remaining seven games, because each day, each hour that passes, it's literally, it's that stadium, we all talk about one of the best stadiums in the country, if not the world, it's set for the Premier League. It's an unbelievable place. Every day it goes past, I mean, it's, you know, Tudor hasn't worked out for whatever reason. then one point out of 15 is just they have to throw the dice they have to they have to just do it now because each day it goes past I know it's an international break now so maybe it's not but at the same time you can still work with the players that's at the training ground what you know is it not more urgency it feels like the board and everything just going we'll see what's out there you know what I mean it's crazy yeah no I think that's exactly where the mindset is at the moment with regards to do we or don't we I think they are more leaning towards we've got to do it we've got we've got to make another change because not doing so would represent a far bigger risk than keeping him.

41:43The identity of who they could go to next, I can't sit here and tell you I know who it is, but they have options and they have explored options. But you're absolutely right. It's just not working out. The Igor Tudu experiment has been complete and utter failure. And that is unfortunately on the on the board they decided to get rid of Thomas Frank when they did they decided that Igor Tudor was the appropriate manager and the ideal manager to get them out of the position that they were it just hasn't worked out and you do wonder how the ownership look at the way that the board have made these decisions and dealt with this situation come any kind of end of season with you.

42:26Chris Sutton:Jack, final one. When you look at the remaining fixtures, on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season, your final away game of the season is at? Yeah, Stamford Bridge. I mean, have you even gone there about what could happen that weekend? The idea of Spurs being relegated by Chelsea the year Arsenal win the title? Yeah, I mean, it's... The danger of bringing this up is a bit like a director cutting to the fan at the wrong time here. So, you know, but as you do your podcast, I think I can trust you not to just flick a sign at me and turn your camera off, but go on. Yeah, I mean, it's, the situation that we're in is dire and, you know, there's even the added element that it would be West Ham that could leapfrog us.

43:18Oh, my God.

43:19Chris Sutton:So, Arsenal win the title, Chelsea relegate you and West Ham stay up as a result. There we go. You know, it's a triple whammy for Spurs, isn't it? But, you know, one thing you can always say about Spurs is there's always a story there, isn't there? There is. Hopefully we won't be in that position. Hopefully somehow we'll muster something and pull away from it. But it's got to come soon. You'll come back home, won't you? I mean, do you talk about the EFL? Yeah, you do, don't you? We'll do a National League title race a bit later. I mean I don't want to go fully doom and gloom for you but yeah we'll go thank you very much Jack, Jack Hussey presenter of the Spurs podcast rule the roost another guest leaves with that warm happy glow of being on the Monday Night Club we've seen another one off Sammy thank you see you soon cheers Sammy Montbelt BBC Football correspondent on the website with us on the Monday Night Club next crisis club Liverpool Rory yep let's go for that one as well obviously not quite as extreme as Spurs I think what Jack said is interesting that you do have to keep crises in perspective but they've lost a third of their league games this season that's not and there are extenuating circumstances around Liverpool as well obviously what happened in the summer with the shot you know that have to be it's not brilliant and I'm not saying that you're guilty of this at all Chapters if anything you're the very opposite of it but it's not brilliant that when we talk about these things we have to say like remember but to treat everybody involved as a human being.

44:52We shouldn't really have to clarify that. It feels like we do. But even allowing for that, I think that you do have to, you know, you have to confront the world as it is, not as you would wish it to be. And Liverpool do have to, Liverpool on a slot, the club, the hierarchy, have a very difficult decision to make over the next few weeks, I would say.

45:11Chris Sutton:Having watched the game in full on Saturday lunchtime, the Brighton-Liverpool game, and we're going to talk to Abigail Rudkin shortly from Anfield Rap and Redman TV, but everything about Liverpool on Saturday just seemed to be confused and bemused. That player's she, that was on a slot at times, it just looks a real muddle. It looks a bit lacklustre, even everything they do, from an attacking point of view all the way to the defensive side of things. It's kind of like, we'll half-heartedly try and block a cross, we'll half-heartedly try and block the defender or the striker trying to get in front of us.

45:47Somebody else will do my job, pass on the book, to someone else he'll clear it it doesn't seem any urgency at all in everything that Liverpool do be that attacking or defending and I don't know what the answer is I mean you know Liverpool are renowned for a club not to sack their managers I think that's actually the opposite when it comes to Liverpool they really support their managers and they never seem to do that and of course they've only won the league a couple of times in 30 years and Arnaud Slott's one of the guys to do that so a few months back or six or eight months whatever it is he's a hero building a statue there for him and I don't think it's at that level yet but if they do miss out on Champions League qualification there'll be serious question marks at the end of the season what do they do next and just look at the next two fixtures Man City away in the FA Cup and PSG away in the Champions League I mean it doesn't get any easier It doesn't and I think that's a really important thing to know is that and we were talking about Spurs and the way it kind of turned it's possible that from the end of the season you look at the draw at Anfield and the win against Atletico in the second leg and think that's the point where Spurs got relegated does it just cost them that chance to make that change while they still had the opportunity.

46:51I think with Liverpool, their season could be over by April the 20th, and there is, Abedal will know this better than I do, there is a Merseyside derby at the Hildifonson around that time. I think if Liverpool are out of the FA Cup, which you'd expect them to be, does it City at home in the quarterfinal? If they are out of the Champions League, which you'd expect to be, does PSG are the best team in Europe? I think Stephen Warnock saying that if Liverpool played like they did in Paris against Brighton, that they could lose 10-0. that feels a little bit negative even for Stephen Warnock, but he's got a point.

47:19If they're out of both those competitions and they lose the Merseyside Derby, I think the risk is that what is at the moment a quite angry but also slightly sorrowful desire to think that maybe it's time that Slott maybe should move on in the summer, I think could become quite toxic and that would be very sad indeed.

47:35Chris Sutton:Okay, so we let Jack go from the Spurs side of things on a wave of disappointment and we're bringing Abigail in on a similar wave of disappointment. Where do you want to begin with doom and gloom there? All of it just feels like a mess, to be honest, from a Liverpool perspective. I mean, I don't even want to think about the fixtures that are coming up. The fact that we've still got to go and play Everton away is making me sick about the fact that they're three points behind us. That's when, you know, the manager's job should be on the line is when Everton are three points behind you. That's when, you know, the Liverpool fans are going to start panicking is when you think that there's any chance in this world that Everton might end up finishing above you.

48:14you've just got to you've got to get a grip and I'm of the perspective now that I think the Liverpool need to start looking for other options in terms of a manager it's just it's not working and I was the first to say when everything happened in the summer that this needed to be a transitional period for the manager and it also needed to be one with a little bit of leeway considering what all the players went through in terms of grief and stuff like that but in terms of what we're actually seeing on the pitch now and what we're hearing from him in press conferences and stuff like that There's no fight there.

48:45There's no belief in the manager from the fans or from what we think from the players. Like what I'm watching at Anfield, these performances, it's just not right.

48:55Chris Sutton:There's no consistency though, is there, Abigail? That's the other thing with it. It felt stark on Saturday because I know Ekotike went off injured very early on with the dead leg. But you're never quite sure of who's going to be selected in those forward positions. You're never quite sure whether he's going to go with a two now or whether he's going to go with a three. You're never quite sure who his right back's going to be. Often you're not 100 % sure who his left back is going to be. And then where is he going to use Verts? And then how's the midfield going to perform? The only certainties, more often than not, are the central defensive partnership, who are both struggling.

49:34Chris Sutton:I was trying to work out what. But they are. They are both struggling, aren't they, in games? I think the only certainty and consistency as a Liverpool fan that you can be sure of is that we're going to have a poor performance where everyone looks confused and doesn't know what they're going to be doing. I think the Galatasaray game was an anomaly and all the fans inside the ground couldn't believe what they were watching because we were just fully expecting a poor game. Especially coming off the back of Spurs, that performance was awful and I think the crowd have decided now at Anfield that they've decided to turn against them and that's when you know things aren't right is when it's not just social media fans it's not just those online deciding who aren't in the ground every week that they don't want this manager it's actually the ones sitting in the stands who are bored who are sat on the phone the moment that Spurs goal went in in that Spurs game were streaming out of the ground no hope at all that we were ever going to get any sort of comeback no chance at all we were never going to see like what we saw a couple of years ago where you know with Charleston scores and then Diogo goes and gets a winner we were never going to see that and we all knew that deep down and I couldn't even be angry at the fans deciding to boo a full-time and stream out the ground because none of these players look like they've got any fight at all and even his choices, it's like, you know, Curtis Jones has had a better season than McAllister but you still continue to pick McAllister and then Ekertike goes off injured the other day and you decide to bring on Curtis Jones when you've got Rio and Gamera sitting there and I understand maybe you don't want to give Rio that amount of game time but no one would have been thinking anything bad if he'd have took him off at some point in the second half because you'd have understood that he'd played a lot of minutes at that point.

51:09But it just feels like it's odd decision-making and I can't see how we go on from here. And he doesn't even buy into the fans or the club and he doesn't even live in Liverpool. There's all these things and all these conversations going on amongst the fans on channels like The Wrap and Redmen TV where we're all just starting to feel as though he's not really buying into Liverpool either. So, I mean, why should we still have hope?

51:34Chris Sutton:As in the city? As in a whole, yeah. I think it's sort of, it's not even just a Klopp thing either. I mean, I understand that we've all sort of been bought into the whole charisma of Klopp and him buying into the city and him becoming this massive thing for the community and, you know, making so much time for fans and things like that. We weren't really expecting that. But you could even go back to like a Rafa figure who, you know, said things that galvanised during a press conference, you know, literally has never really left Liverpool, lives on the Wirral, you know, just fell in love with the city.

52:03We're not getting that at all. There's already photos of Slott in an airport. He's gone now. It's an international break. A lot of the breaks that we've had throughout the season, even if it's just a weekend off, there's photos of Slott in Dubai. And that causes a lot of trouble between the fan base of people just thinking, why is he not trying to sort this out? And you watch his press conferences and the whole conversation that he's having is basically just excuses. And I think that's really difficult for Liverpool fans to listen to. And it just doesn't sound like he's trying to galvanise us at all.

52:34or that doubters to believers thing that Jürgen did, it just, we're all doubters again. And it's hard to say that, to be honest, but that's exactly how most people that I speak to amongst the fan base, especially in the ground, that's how we all feel. Just quickly, Abigail, is it too easy just to blame one person as in the manager? You know, you talk about the players look disinterested, you know, not closing down, not having that urgency when they cross the white line. I mean, recruitment last summer, there was really the balance of the recruitment felt was very top heavy in the front line and of course defensively they weren't brought in.

53:05I mean, it can't all be down to one person. I know he picks the team and leads them out, but is there no blame anywhere else or is it just purely on the manager? No, I think that's fair. I think a lot of games this season, I've thought to myself, like this is coming down to individual errors now. Certain things could be Canarte not using his strength, you know, attackers not really being able to finish. But he says all this in his press conferences, like he's going on about how we're not finishing chances, but he's said that all season. So it's like, what are you doing in training? That means none of these attackers can finish any of their chances.

53:37That's got to land at the manager's door because it's happening again and again and again with no improvement. Why are we not seeing it in training? I think that's where the frustration sort of comes from. Yes, individual errors are happening, but it's consistent errors. We're seeing the same thing again and again, and it's his job to iron those out. And he's not doing that. And it's hard for me to say that as a Liverpool fan, because I had some of the best moments of my life last season, winning that league and getting to celebrate that with all of them. And I really did think maybe we did have our sort of Bob Paisley figure coming in after the Shankly sort of thing, but it's not that.

54:12And I think a lot of fans have accepted that now and we can't sit through more of this for much longer. And he's not really doing anything to right his wrongs. I'd actually take real issue with this idea that Liverpool have been inconsistent. It's using the word wrongly. Liverpool have played well twice this season. they played brilliantly in Marseille and they played brilliantly against Dalet Aseray and it's really easy for us to say well, Farmers League and then whatever the Turkish equivalent of Farmers League is but those are decent teams Marseille and Dalet Aseray on their day would give most Premier League teams a decent game they're not semi-professional they don't have Gunasaurus in goal Liverpool were great in both of those games they have been basically dreadful in every other match since about October and sometimes they win those games because the opposition make mistakes or because an individual plays well, mostly they're really low event matches.

55:01There's not much happening and Liverpool sometimes get the bounce of the ball and win and sometimes don't get the bounce of the ball and lose or the other team gets set piece or whatever. I think they have been remarkably...

55:12Chris Sutton:Dreadful is on there. All right, Dreadful is maybe pushing it a bit, Chris, but poor. I've watched more Liverpool matches than my officially neutral status suggests I should and they are not entertaining to watch. They're just, and I think that is ultimately the thing that Slott maybe needs to turn more than anything. Results will, he needs results, so they probably have to get into the top five to get Champions League money because they're halfway through a rebuild, they have to keep on doing the other half and they probably can't do it without the Champions League money. But he needs performances.

55:39He needs the fans to want to be in the stadium or to want to watch them on TV again. The Spurs game wasn't sold out. There were tickets available, I think, on the day to get into Anfield for the Spurs game. Really? That's not happened for a long, long time. I think there were tickets on the exchange that you could get because people didn't really want to go. really worth watching Liverpool matches. That's not a good thing for any manager. And if that doesn't change in the next, what, seven domestic games, and he's got rough draws in the FA Cup and the Champions League, that's fine. But they don't have to show something.

56:06Otherwise, I just don't think it's sustainable.

56:13Chris Sutton:We've talked many weeks, many times on Monday Nightclub about the Scottish Premiership title race and how close it is and how enjoyable this is. The other really close one, domestically at the moment because in the Championship, Coventry have a bit of a lead and in League One, Lincoln have a bit of a lead, a little bit tighter in League Two with Bromley. But in the National League, the gap between the top two is just two points. Rochdale are top of the National League. They have 94 points from 39 games. York, two points behind them, 92 from their 39 games. and York already, they talk about entertaining football here, York have hit 104 goals already this season and then there is a huge gap to Carlisle who have 78 points.

57:03Chris Sutton:Stuart Maynard, York manager, joins us on the Monday Nightclub. Are you both, thank you very much for joining us, are you both proud of what your team are doing and the football they play and at the same time also scratch your head thinking how the hell are we not top? Yeah, we went on a 24-game unbeaten run and we didn't really close the gap. And fair play to Rochdale. They've done an incredible job as well. They've carried on winning. It's going to go all the way to the wire. We played Rochdale the last game of the season. So for us, can we make sure that we have that opportunity on the last game of the season to put ourselves in a strong position to hopefully have a chance of winning it?

57:39Chris Sutton:I realise, you know, kick-off times can be different and both teams are actually a big draw for the TV company that shows the National League. but are you getting in after a game and immediately checking what Rochdale have done or are you just assuming they will have won and I'll concentrate on my own team for a bit? We've got a couple of members of staff that just can't help themselves. We've tried to try and not focus on it. It's hard not to at the end of games, obviously when you get back in the office and you've won. Like the weekend we'd won, 4-0 played very well, comfortable win and there was murmurs in the crowd at one stage.

58:13It was 2-0 with Tamworth, Rochdale and they went on and got an 80-minute winner. So, look, fair play. We've just got to keep focusing on ourselves and if we focus on ourselves, like you say, we'll be in a really good position come that last game in the season.

58:25Chris Sutton:You are at, and you have joined, haven't you, a club who has really built itself back up. You know, I've done a couple of games at the stadium there. It's a great community stadium, isn't it? And this is a club who's had hard times and feels like they're on the way back. Did you get that sense when you joined? Yes, Matt and Julianne, the owners have done an incredible job, not just on the pitch now with the squad and the investment, but also off the pitch with the community. You can really feel a togetherness now with the football club and obviously they've been out of the football league for a long time.

58:58And obviously the National League is one of the toughest divisions to get out of. We've only won up and then won through the playoffs. Obviously, it looks at the minute that us and Rochdale probably finish on over 100 points and only one of us will go up automatically. so but yeah they've done an incredible job the owners and uh it's a great club to be working at

59:14Chris Sutton:well chris is it i mean that that seems so so sort of wrong i mean because last season you you finished second as well didn't you and the the brutal element of the playoffs i mean you work so hard all season and for you for you and rochdale to be so far clear that seems that seems mightily harsh that it is only one up and you have to you know the team who finished seconds go through the playoffs. Do the managers talk about that? I think it's a talking point at the minute. There's a campaign going on for free up National League. But I get it. Last season, I was at Notts County and we got into the playoffs as well.

59:50And I get it that the EFL clubs don't want to give up another place because then it limits their chance of getting relegated. But I look at the other way sometimes. If you get relegated into the National League, how tough it is to get back up. Carlisle came down last season and they're having a really good season now with Mark Hughes and they're on 78 points and they're quite a way off of us. So it's just a really tough division to get out of. You've got to be on near and perfect to go up as champions in this division.

1:00:14Chris Sutton:But you have that experience of both a football league experience and non-league experience. And you've been at smaller non-league clubs with all due respect to Wealdstone, for example. But the beauty of the National League is if it was treated the same and had three up, most of the division is professional, isn't it? And then it gives those opportunities for teams that do drop out. And there are lots of big, what I would call, football league teams in the National League, whether that's Southend or Carlisle or Rochdale or York from days gone past. But also the opportunities for Boreham Wood at the moment, who are currently in the playoffs.

1:00:51Chris Sutton:Bromley are top of League Two. They went up through the playoffs a couple of years ago. It does seem unfair. You know, before the season starts, what the challenges are and you have to work with it. It's obviously when you have the seasons that us and Rochdale are having, it gets to the end of the season when one of us are going to end up in the playoffs and potentially when you get into the playoffs, it is a lottery. We understand before the season starts, it's a big frustration that it's not free up. Like you said, it's pretty much a full-time league now. I think there's only two hybrid teams left in the division and they're normally the teams that get promoted out in the north or the south.

1:01:25So yeah, it's pretty much a full-time league and I feel that it warrants three to get promoted out of it now and two automatically and one through the playoffs. I see all the things, Stuart. I mean, from a manager's point of view, the psychological side of it, a few missed out, say, in the last game of the season to Rochdale or whatever, you know, it's so difficult to have that gap between the third place and you guys and then go, right lads, we've got to dust ourselves down again and we've got to go again. It's, how do you keep the lads? But once they win, Shay. All right, Chris, I know that.

1:01:52Once again, this is just being positive. I'm getting into Stuart's psychological side of things here. How do you keep the lads, you know what I mean? Because it's, it's crazy to think the many games you've played and when you were You're sitting here now and there's 104 goals you've scored. It's phenomenal the season you guys are having. But still, I'm just trying to get to the point where how do you keep the lads focused on going again? I think the key has been all season for us is just to go one game at a time. I know it's very cliche and solely focus on it. It's put us in really good stead and not to look too far ahead.

1:02:22At one stage, when we first took the job, we were in 17th place when we come in as a management team. We won, I think it was six on the bounce and we didn't really get anywhere. I said to the group, We don't look at league tables now. We've just got to go one game at a time and keep ticking the winds off. And we've done that ever since. And we've put ourselves in a great position now. And it happens all through the divisions. We see it year in, year out from the championship all the way down. The team that normally gets into the playoffs with a bit of momentum is normally the team that goes on to get promoted.

1:02:49But at the minute, we're in really good form. And hopefully we can get over the line. But if it is the playoffs, we've just got to be solely focused. We've been in good form and the goals that we're scoring and we're not conceding many either. We're in a really good place.

1:03:04Chris Sutton:Stuart, you've done a wonderful job already. Congratulations on what you've done. Wish you well for the rest of the season. Thanks for coming on. Cheers, guys. Thanks for your time. Cheers, thank you. Stuart Bainard with us on the Monday Night Club, the York manager as they go head-to-head with Rochdale for promotion. Thanks to Chris, Rory and Shea. That's it for this episode of the Monday Night Club.

1:03:31I'm Rich Hall, and this is Sports Strangest Crimes presents Confessions of a Super Bowl Streaker. When people ask me what I do, I say to them, well, by day or by night. The story of one man's mission to conquer the holy grail of streaking the Super Bowl. Mark Roberts is too lively for his body. He's just like the entertainer. Mark pushes the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. No chance, Texas. It's really strict. But then the more I thought was about it. The more I thought, I'm not. What are you about? Sports Stranger's Crimes presents Confessions of a Super Bowl Streaker. Listen on BBC Sounds.

1:04:15Every day the world gets a little weirder and a lot more awesome. Cool Stuff Daily takes a look at everything from mining in space to the latest in the fight against cancer to how AI is, well, basically changing everything. It's all the cool stuff you didn't know you needed to know. Join us for Cool Stuff Daily as we take a quick look at science, tech, and the wait, what? stories that make you sound way smarter at dinner. Subscribe to Cool Stuff Daily now because the future's happening fast and it's way too fun to miss. Hi, this is Alex Kantrowicz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on-air contributor to CNBC.

1:04:56And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it. Asking where this is all going. They come from places like NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues, and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.