The Commentators' View: Arsenal’s wobble & ‘in the hat’

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0:40The Commentator's View on the Football Daily with Alistair Bruce Ball, John Murray and Ian Dennis. Hello, this is the Football Daily. I'm John Murray and this is the Commentator's View where we 5 Live commentators talk about the football, the language around the game and our travels around the continent. Ian Dennis is with us. Hello, John. And in the absence this time of Mr. Alistair Bruce Ball, who is on assignment, we welcome back Conor McNamara. Hey, very nice to be here. Very nice to see you guys. Yes, and you've had a bit of a rarity, Conor, this week. A few days off. I have. I've been abroad and I've not been watching football.

1:21Do you know what? I recommend this, John. So what you do is you go and you eat lots and you have an occasional drink and you sleep in in the mornings. and I highly, highly recommend it. What about that, Ian? Well, when Connor says that, the only difference to him normally being away is that he hasn't watched the football because had he been watching the football, he would sleep lots, he would eat a lot, he might have the odd drink, but he'd watch a game. So, apart from that, his schedule hasn't changed. Touche. And talking about travelling the continent, John, you are back from Baku. Yeah, I don't think it's possible actually to travel more of the continent than I have.

2:00Having this week gone to the very far eastern edge of Europe to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, walking along the Caspian Sea coast. And actually, where we were in Baku, if you look out across the Caspian Sea, the next land you would come to would be Turkmenistan across the other side of the Caspian Sea. So I have to say that's been quite an experience to go there with Newcastle United. Honestly, I can't believe something like 1 ,800 Newcastle fans made that journey, which, as we speak now, I only got back late last night, and that involved two flights of roundabout four hours in order to traverse the continent.

2:50You've been, Ian, haven't you? Because I think we were there together, weren't we? We were. It was a World Cup... No, it was a Euro qualifier. It was a World Cup qualifier. I know this because I checked it back this week. Northern Ireland. Yes, and I'd already been with Wales the previous... This was 2004, so I've not been to Azerbaijan for 22 years. And I remember the first time I went there, it was to watch that Wales World Cup qualifier. And I remember leaving and thinking, well, I'll probably never come back here again. And as it turned out, but Wales and Northern Ireland were in the same group.

3:24And when I got back, almost the first thing that was said to me, did you enjoy that? And I said, yes. And they said, actually, we want you to go back again next month with Northern Ireland, which we did, Ian. Yes, we did. And the other thing about that was, and the match was played in the Tophig-Bakramov Stadium, as was Newcastle United's match this week. More on that in a moment. But also, it was an Azerbaijan team that was managed by Carlos Alberto. And I interviewed Carlos Alberto back then, who was Brazil's 1970 World Cup winning captain, but also scored one of the most famous goals that had ever been scored, the fourth goal against Italy in the World Cup final.

4:07Yeah. Sadly, the game was not so memorable. It was 0-0, wasn't it? That was 0-0 and the Wales match was 1-1 or the other way around. I can't remember. Yeah, Northern Ireland was definitely 0-0. I remember it being an awful game. Wales was 1-1 and I don't think that was much better either. Have you had the Azerbaijan experience? I ask that question because I know you have. Yes, at least twice. So I remember a long time ago, and I never put a year on it other than John Hartson was in the squad. So that'll give you a rough idea of the era. But Wales played Azerbaijan. And it was in the days when we used to fly on the team plane.

4:42So I went to Cardiff, got on the team plane. And I remember it was a relatively small plane. Not a tiny one, but a relatively small one for such a long journey. And we just stopped refuel. I mean you don't get much of that these days we stopped somewhere in Germany or somewhere and we stopped and we refueled and then we went on and did the rest of it but in more recent times I remember being there for the Europa League final in 2019 which was the All-English Chelsea Arsenal so a bit like when you were saying about all the Newcastle fans there John my sort of most recent experience at Baku was full of fans in Premier League shirts and obviously fans would come from different countries in supporting those teams, but it was all Chelsea blue and Arsenal red.

5:27And I do recall our much-loved colleague, Rob Dybal, having one of the most stressful assignments I would imagine he's had in his radio career with a piece of equipment. I wouldn't say it wouldn't work. I would say a colleague left an important part of the equipment in the hotel, and it was too far a journey to go back and get this piece of equipment. So older viewers will remember MacGyver, and Rob Dybal is very much a MacGyver character. So he was able to, you know, bend a few wires together and stick a few antennas onto things and get our equipment to work. But boy, it was skin to the teeth.

6:03It was just before kickoff that our transmission was enabled. By a strange quirk, Rob Dybal was our engineer this week as well in Baku. He's our man in Azerbaijan. He is, and things worked a little more straightforwardly for him this time. And actually, there was a Baku-based engineer who was in the commentary position in the media area with us, and he was very, very helpful. So there was a little bit of initial synergy. Yeah, there was between the two of them, and there were a few initial problems, but they were very quickly ironed out. But I think, Ian, when we go to places like this, and we've had a few of them, haven't we, this season, we've been very fortunate, some of the places that we've ended up covering football this season.

6:51Azerbaijan is definitely one. Before Christmas, remember, we were in Albania. Serbia we've had this season. Riga. And I find that places like this, when you see, it's like seeing how the other half live, isn't it? Well, it was like when Mark Chapman introduced you, because it was an early kick-off, obviously, on Wednesday, wasn't it? And you were in crystal clear quality. The atmosphere is a little different. I'm disappointed, John. Your line is really clear. I was hoping this would be the equivalent of listening to Brian Butler in the 80s. That's what I was hoping. When you go as far as Azerbaijan, that's what I feel it should sound like.

7:31Yeah, well, as you said that, I looked to my left to our engineer, Rob, who about an hour ago was fearing it wasn't going to be as clear. as it is. It's great. I mean, the trips, I mean, you've mentioned the Arctic, you haven't mentioned the Arctic Circle. And Buddha, of course. Absolutely. But that wasn't half the story, though, was it? Because there was an element of doubt about your presence in Azerbaijan because you had to pass a fitness test. Yes. It's been quite a hectic couple of weeks, I have to say, with one thing and another. And when I was covering the Nations League draw, one of the big stories of which was Thomas Tuchel, signing his new contract extension with England.

8:11And by the time I interviewed him, my voice was absolutely almost on its last legs. And then it was FA Cup weekend. So I had to pull out of the Burton West Ham tie last weekend when Ali Bruce Ball stepped into the breach. But I was okay to go to Birmingham the next day. It was just about okay for the Birmingham City-Leeds tie. But it is the classic occupational hazard, isn't it? It certainly is. When you know, you know. When you just know the voice is not there. Yeah, and I've had enough in recent years to know that if your voice is sore, that is when you cannot commentate. That's when you have to draw the line, isn't it?

8:47You strain the vocal cords. Yeah. Do you remember years, and I'm talking 20 years ago, in TVC that they organized for a voice coach to come in and talk to us? Have we discussed that? No, I don't think we have yet, have we? No. So this lady came in who was an opera singer, and she was used to working with performers on stage of that regard. And I'm sure you were both there. Della, you were at that, weren't you? Yes, I was, yeah. Yeah. And it was a mixture of radio and TV commentators with BBC. And I remember this lady came in. She was a lovely lady, and she had a beautiful voice, and she was talking to us.

9:24And she said, you know, warm up your voice. And she gave us these exercises. It was all to do with, you know, how once we come to this stage that John has had this past week, how we prevent that happening. And she gave us these exercises to warm up the voice. And I'll always say it was like, you know, making these deep noises or long noises that went on forever like this. But then the other was to go really, really as high pitched as you possibly can, which definitely helped me in my swashbuckle career later on, by the way. but I remember that there was like 15 of us in a room just squealing to the loudest pitch we possibly could and she said yeah you've got to do that every time to warm up and of course you can imagine walking through a football concourse to get to the gantry and making these squealing noises you're probably going to rest it but then the other thing I remember she said was never perform in the cold the cold is the absolute villain of a good voice so if conditions are cold, refuse to perform that was, you know, bring up your bosses and say, it's cold, I can't go on, which definitely had a few smirks around the table and the notion of that.

10:30Although, in actual fact, you remember last Saturday morning, the morning of Burton, where I was a little bit, I was a bit touch and go for Burton, and in the end I decided the best thing was not to do it. But if you remember, last Saturday was a spectacular Saturday morning, but it was also very cold, and I was outside and I thought, I can feel that, I can feel that in my throat. Right decision. can you remember what that lady suggested was good for the throat a first class traveler i remember she did she said that she said don't don't be in crowded cabins on aeroplanes and trains you know demand to be first class which i think we all uh we all looked at the bosses went okay unadulterated luxury was it whiskey then or chocolate she said a Mars bar will help you with your throat.

11:16Other brands are available. A couple of very exciting developments on the email this week. Let's start with this one after John gave a special mention to a railway worker who helped him on his travels to Chelsea. Let's have a little reminder. When I was approaching Leeds station, I found that all trains south had been cancelled. I thought, uh-uh, this is trouble. And a very friendly member of LNER staff, one of the people who wear those long red coats came up to me and said can I help you and I explained the situation and he said yes absolutely get on that train there which will take you to Peterborough and then at Peterborough you can get a bus to Bedford and then get back onto the line which would take me to St Pancras and so I said thank you very much I was just about to head to the train and he said you're John Murray aren't you and I said yes I am he said I was listening to you this morning So he was listening to the podcast this morning.

12:15And the one thing I wish I did, I should have got his name. I didn't get his name. But he was very helpful. And I would not be at all surprised if he was listening to this now as well. Was he walking his dog at the time? He was not walking his dog. And this week, we've had this voice note. Hello, chaps. Sam here from LNER at Leeds Station. just a quick one to say hi to John it was good to meet you the other day on the platform I trust you made it to Stamford Bridge for that epic game with Chelsea and West Ham it would be good to see you again whenever you're popping through keep up the great work guys always good fun listening to the pod often listen on my way into work not with a dog but yeah keep it up thanks guys see you soon that is Sam Hansen who has also got in touch with me via email and as you say Ian he works as a dispatcher on the platform and he certainly dispatched me in the right direction so well done and thank you Sam and also I don't know about you he sounds as though he's got quite a good voice hasn't he I will definitely be looking out for him next time I'm passing through Leeds station I bet you will you're like a meerkat

13:34we've also had an email from Tranmere fan Mike with the title A Sleeping Update. So this was after Mike and Caroline told us they put the podcast on at night as they're drifting off to sleep and wake up each day and debate where they got up to in the episode before they dropped off. Well, this week, Mike says, Hello all! Just got a quick update on the great falling asleep to the podcast saga. I can confirm Caroline woke me up on Saturday evening to announce with great excitement that you were discussing our long-standing tradition of drifting off while listening to your weekly ramblings. I've never felt so proud to be mentioned on national radio for having the sleep discipline of a toddler.

14:18However, the real twist, roughly five minutes after you'd finished talking about us, Caroline was fast asleep. Meanwhile, I was wide awake trying to listen to the rest of the podcast while battling the surround sound experience of her snoring. So that's this week's sleep report. Anyway, he says, it's getting late. Caroline and I are about to put Chapman and Sutton on. We fall asleep far quicker to their voices than yours. So if you're looking for performance feedback, there it is. Keep up the good work. And one day, hopefully, we'll hear one of you commentating on a resurgent tranmier side, ideally before I need a hearing aid.

14:57All the best, Mike. Brackets. And I better put Caroline so I don't get told off. End brackets. So thank you, Mike. I think the fact that Mike has just told the audience that Caroline snores, I would suggest that you might be getting told off anyway. Yes, I would strongly suspect that. So thanks very much for that update and any other emails of a similar nature, tcv at bbc.co.uk and WhatsApps and voice notes, as Sam sent us, to 08000 289 369. Fine. The Five Live commentary is coming up this weekend. Ian, you are heading for Vela Park on Saturday afternoon for the three o 'clock commentary. I am, but the first half will be on Sports Extra because of the rugby.

15:46And the second half will be on Five Live once the rugby is finished between England and Ireland. OK, but at the same time, the three o 'clock option, which is new this season, There is a choice of Premier League commentary on a Saturday afternoon at 3 o 'clock. That will be Stamford Bridge, Chelsea Burnley on Sports Extra 2 on your BBC Sounds app. And then, Connor, 5.30 for you, the commentary on Fired Live. Yes, West Ham against Bournemouth. I'm looking forward to being alongside Rob Green. And I don't do this regularly, but I can give listeners a spoiler alert. This game is going to finish as a draw.

16:27so I can tell you that in advance because it always does is that right if you look back in recent years it virtually almost always is a draw so it was in November 2-2 at the Vitality 2-2 last season at London Stadium season before 1-1 at the Vitality season before 1-1 in both games always a draw but it'll be an exciting draw so enjoy listening yes tune in 5.30 West Ham Bourne with Rob Green who I think probably thinks I'm avoiding him because I think I've pulled out of quite a number of commentaries that I was due to do with Rob which was including Burton last weekend so that is Saturday Sunday 2 o 'clock Nottingham Forest Liverpool with Vicky Sparks and Pat Nevin who was with me in Baku this week Pat but with it being the weekend after European matches Big choice on Sunday.

17:26There's also Sunderland-Fulham at 2 o 'clock on Sports Extra 2, and also at 2 o 'clock Crystal Palace-Wolves on Sports Extra 3. And then the small matter of Tottenham against Arsenal when Clinton Morrison will be with me, as he was at Birmingham City last Sunday. What a match this promises to be with Tottenham for the first time under Igor Tudor against Arsenal, who it's been widely suggested, Ian, that they're having a wobble. Well, they are having a wobble if you look at their results. The performance against Wolves in midweek at Molyneux was below their usual standards. You'd still expect them once they got to 2-0 to have seen that out.

18:14and that was a really, really bad result for them to drop two points. And bearing in mind they've still got Manchester City to play, at one point when you're thinking they could go what, was it the other week you were looking at going nine points clear, was it? Yep. And now that gap has been seriously reduced and Manchester City have now got the destiny in their hands, haven't they? Because if they were to beat Arsenal and win the game in hand, then they would go above Mikel Arteta's side. I think, Connor, you and I were both at the match, weren't we, when Manchester United won at Arsenal. And Arsenal were poor that day.

18:52And I think that was one of the points where people thought, oh. But the response to that was excellent. But now they've got to respond again, haven't they? Yeah, I think the reason why it feels, look, you know, obviously famously Arsenal themselves two decades ago did it. But, you know, it's incredibly, incredibly rare a team goes invincible through a season. You're going to have little patches. And, you know, the great Pep Guardiola teams that have won four in a row, they had spells in those seasons where people said, oh, they're wobbling and standards have slipped. It in itself doesn't have to be the end of the world.

19:26What I think is creating the noise around Arsenal at the moment is the manner of how they're dropping points. So it's not like a game is nil-nil and staying nil-nil or that they're losing 1-0. it's games that they go ahead in and I think the last five games they've dropped seven points from being in front so I think that creates this wobble mentality it's not that they're not getting over the line to win the game everyone thinks they've won it they're 2-0 up, it's oh hang on they've let in two goals I think that sort of late slip is increasing this narrative on them and I'm going to be there with you as well on Sunday John, I'm looking forward to it Igor Trudor's first game in charge, which I don't know if you saw this one, but in his last five spells as being a manager of clubs, he's always won his first game in charge.

20:14Hadrick Split, Verona, Marseille, Lazio and Juventus. First game in charge. He always won. Is it an omen? And yet you saw them, Ian, last time it was discussed that they might be having a wobble when they went to Elland Road and won brilliantly. Yeah, I know where the narrative comes from. And at times I think some of the Arsenal supporters, because it's been waiting so long, they get jittery as well. But I still I still I'm still back in Arsenal because I think over this period of time, they've shown the consistency and I still think they'll do all right. I still think they'll win it. Come May, these words might prove to be rather hollow, but I'll still back Arsenal because I think that every time they've been asked questions, like you say, John, they have bounced back.

21:04And that was a test going into that game at Ellen Road. You know, Leeds, intimidating atmosphere, that was a real test for them. But Arsenal that day just brushed Leeds aside. And I know it's a different thing altogether, a North London derby, a bit more unpredictable. but I think Arsenal will respond. So listen to that on 5 Live, Sunday afternoon, 4.30, Tottenham against Arsenal. And if you're a regular listener to the Commentators View podcast, as I always say, Ian, you might enjoy what we do on here, but what we're supposed to be best at is actually football commentary. So that is the, it's claimed, the best place to listen to us.

21:44Talking of Aston Villa, as we were when we were running through those matches, the Aston Villa match this weekend that you're going to be at, Ian. This from season ticket holder Dom, who watches Aston Villa. Hi, gang, he says. The talk on the last episode of children taking wooden steps onto terraces back in the day so they could see reminded me of my own childhood. At the hold end, terracing at Villa Park, the club used to leave upside-down plastic beer crates on the terraces so smaller children could stand on them to see. But my dear granddad, Charlie, went one better and made me and my older brother, Warwick, a bespoke wooden step.

22:25He painted it claret and blue, and it even had two levels. So once you grew taller, you could move down to the lower level. Needless to say, it was the envy of the other boys on the hold end. I do not know what became of the step once we became tall enough to watch the game without it. But I dearly wish I had it today. Love the podcast. Dom. Isn't that lovely? What a great story. Yeah. Brilliant. In an era where everything is so disposable, I love the idea of building something like this so that there's another step for when you grow taller. You know, this is a long-term project. Love it. That's the kind of thing, Conor, that you'd come up with, isn't it?

23:04Thank you very much. Some sort of contraction. Well, also, yours are probably just sort of getting to the point where they'd be past that, wouldn't they? Yeah. One of my favourite photos is I brought the middle child to the open one year and he was up on my shoulders to get a view, which of course at the open, once you have any elevation at all, you get a brilliant view. But there was a photographer of the Times, not knowing who I was or whatever, but he took this photo where the kind of silhouette of my son high up above the crowd looking down. And I couldn't see anything. I'm just hearing the roar or whatever.

23:36But that's one of the great things of parenthood and fatherhood, isn't it? Being the elevation for them to get the better view. Yeah. One of the other big scorelines of the week is we've long had a connection, haven't we, with Norway on this podcast and Buda Glimt after Ali visited there last season. I've been there this season, last month actually for the Manchester City game. What a result that was, Buda winning against Inter this week and have got a real chance to get through now to the round of 16. Well, Mark in Gateshead has emailed us, tcv at bbc.co.uk, and he says, if there's any more mileage in Buddha stories, brackets, yes there is, Mark, perhaps you'll enjoy this one.

24:17On the evening of the Buddha-Manchester City match, I was on holiday in Gran Canaria. In a local restaurant, the couple next to us were increasingly animated as they regularly checked a phone. No longer able to contain herself, the woman declared to us that Buddha had won. They were Norwegian, and although not great football fans, national pride drew them into the Buddha story. Mark says, I'm a Newcastle fan and took some delight in City losing. We had an additional drink with our new friends, and one of the Norwegians had a fancy Spanish brandy to mark the occasion, Ian. I wonder if that was called Cointre Trez.

24:54Well. Which is a Spanish liqueur that you can have with either a dash of pineapple or a dash of orange. well they've got 43 different spices in it it's very nice well mark in gateshead will have to let us know um so yes by the way i told you you got away with it lightly when you went to the arctic circle did you see the level did you see the levels of snow that they had there yes i did yeah that's what i was hoping you'd have got landed well that was quite uncharitable of you and something we've not had on the podcast before is music in commentary but we've had this from mike on the wirral ian who says hi tcv gang listening to the liverpool versus manchester city game and john gave us a lovely bit of commentary on an eka tk chance to the tune of for he's a jolly good fellow.

25:49Have a listen. Salah's able to get away from Ait Nuri, then pass the ball just slightly behind Virtu. Mike get it back. Mike still have it. Plays it square. Gagpul. Eke-Tike! Across the face of goal and wide. Mike says, needless to say, and so say all of us, stayed in my head for the rest of the night. Thanks for a great podcast and I hope this gives you a chuckle. Indeed it has. Love that. He's going to... No, he's not. The rise and the fall. Brilliant. I remember years and years ago, our colleague Tim Peach was producing Breakfast. And when did Habib Bey play for Newcastle? I would say late noughties.

26:29And to the tune of the TV show Happy Days, he took a bit of my commentary saying Habib Bey. And it was like, Monday, Tuesday, Habib Bey. Wednesday, Thursday, Habib Bey. Which I think was then adopted by Newcastle fans as a song. But I always remember that little clip on Five Live. he has just been announced as the new Marseille boss that's he that's right I was wondering how did that name come to my head so quickly and I've obviously read that this week replacing Roberto De Zerbi yes time for the unintended pub names always a popular part of the commentators view podcast and this is where we ask you to listen out during football commentary, sports commentary for phrases that you think could actually work as pub names, unintended pub names.

27:19Last week, we had the Into the Mixer bar with its double-up offers, cocktails and pitchers. We also had, after I slipped over in Buda, the Tumbling Murray. And on that note, Gilbert has written in and says, Good day, fellas. I'm a regular listener of the podcast from Adelaide, South Australia. Adelaide strikes again. For some reason, Connor, Adelaide seems to be a real hotbed of listeners to the commentator's view. And here's another one from Gilbert. He says, I thoroughly endorse Ed's suggestion of the Tumbling Murray as a great pub name. What Ed failed to mention is that the Murray is the longest river in Australia and its mouth is just outside Adelaide.

28:11As such, I imagine that the Tumbling Murray would be a grand old Australian pub with a large veranda on the banks of the river. Its clientele would predominantly comprise weary sheep farmers drinking West End Draft, which is Adelaide's equivalent of a Foster's, and well-to-do Adelaide families coming in for a schnitzel and chips after a day of water skiing on the river. Most would assume that the name of the pub referred to the gentle flow of the river waters. Only the rare, traumatized Mancunian or Nordic traveler with a hint of a smug smile would know its true origins. Cheers, Gilbert. P.S. The fact there is an Australian Murray River is surely a divine indication that the world tour should come down under, Ian.

29:05Gilbert, you took the words right out of my mouth. Adelaide would be. I mean, that's our dream destination. Yeah. I mean, you can just permanently base the part in Adelaide, really. You know, the world tour. Sounds fantastic as well, doesn't it? I do like the longest river in Australia and the longest in height of football commentators sharing a name. I enjoy that. And Ashley in North Herefordshire, an unintended pub name from the Liverpool City game Sunday afternoon not long after the start of the second half. Gagpo, Ekechike! Across the face of goal and wide of the far post as he looked at it.