Dinner money goals

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3:23Luke Moore: We all face the same way, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble! Brighton were brilliant and Everton were finally beaten. It's Monday, 19th of October. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm Jim Campbell.

3:47Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. on this Monday morning. Pleasure to have you with us. My goodness, what a weekend we had in the Premier League. Red cards, goals, hammerings, and a Fulham win as well. Good to have you with us. My name's Marcus Speller, in case you don't know. I've got Jim Campbell and Luke Moore with me. How are we doing, gentlemen? Very good. Very good. Very happy to be here. Oh, I bet you are. I bet you are. What a weekend of Premier League action, Jim. Lots of incidents. Sorry, Crystal Palace fans, but we're going to start there. Yeah, actually, I mean, you say what a weekend full of incidents.

4:22Luke Moore: Basically, there weren't really any big surprises apart from the absolute slapping that Crystal Palace got. Well, not in this game. I mean, there were surprises elsewhere during the round of Finchers action. Are you counting the full and winners as a surprise? No, I'm counting the amount of red cards as a surprise. Sure, yeah. The violence in the air was a surprise. It was a weekend full of aggression. I think we'll all agree on that, surely. Even Ryan Sessegnon got involved. That was amazing. Anyway, we're going to start with Brighton 5, Crystal Palace 0. What an absolute hammering Palace took there by their fierce rivals in this.

4:58Luke Moore: This is a grudge match. Would you call it a grudge match or a derby match? I think actually... You can have both, I suppose. You can have both, and it is both, but I think I respect the grudge matches more, right? Because derbies are often about proximity. These matches are just, no, we absolutely hate each other for often very small reasons. Because Palace and Forest is now a grudge match. Yeah. Well, I think it's quite the same thing. I don't think Forest Palace... You've got to start somewhere. Yeah, you have got to start somewhere. And I applaud the pettiness that gives us the platform, which means maybe in 30, 40 years' time, Palace Forest may be a big deal.

5:31Brighton Palace... 30 or 40 years. ...is a big deal. It's a really big deal.

5:35Luke Moore: No, but that is kind of what the Brighton Palace thing is, isn't it, right? True. And the one thing that probably, over everything else, that Pierre Sarge was probably told to not do would be to get absolutely battered by Brighton as Crystal Palace manager. This is a result that will live long in the memory. It'll be a long memory thing for Crystal Palace fans, for Brighton fans. It's the kind of thing that, you know, if you're on the right side of it, you lord it up forever. If you're on the wrong side of it, you just want to forget it. It was an incredible game. Brighton essentially flew out of the blocks in a way that Palace could not deal with.

6:12and weirdly it was, you know, it's probably a bit of a stretch to say it was three freak goals in 10 minutes. But if you think about it, you've got the own goal from Jadie Canvo of a fairly decent ball that comes in and he heads it into his own net. Fairly decent ball.

6:27Luke Moore: That's a hand grenade into a bunker. It was great. It was an incredible ball. Yeah, but he doesn't have to head it into his own net. Can we at least agree on that? I don't know. I think, as Jim says, the ball was that good. He was just at sixes and sevens. Outside of Austin McPhee, A set-piece ball hasn't been developed. It's so good the defender has to head it into his own there. Diego Gomez obviously does what he does, but that's a freak goal. It's an amazing goal. That's what he does. It's a freak goal. Scored from 51 metres. The third goal's a massive deflection. But before you know it, you're 3-0 down.

6:56Luke Moore: But we had this... This is bright, though, this season. I mean, obviously, they hammered Arsenal. They've been amazing. And look against Villa on the opening day. We said, oh, well, but individual errors. I tell you what, someone is forcing these errors. And it's bright. It is Brighton. We found them. Absolutely. Don't let them do that to you. Exactly. Palace. I emailed Mikel Arteta about this. Again, no reply. You'll get them at the Emirates. Don't worry. He's not on email. We won't. He's LinkedIn messaging only. You're probably right. But yeah, I think the Diego Gomez goal, obviously, he tried it the other week, didn't he, as well?

7:31Luke Moore: And the technique on it is spectacular. But even though this is a 5-0 win, and you're right to say this is going to go down long in the memory, the nature of this goal means like that that's trapped in amber now that's forever and the third goal I think there were four Palace defenders back in the box when Ayari takes the shot and none of them are affecting anything really they were as good as Brighton were Palace were sort of rattled at that point and they were sort of all over the place it's a terrible thing to be under that kind of pressure just ten minutes into a derby game where you think this team are good there's a long way to go we're away from home we've lost players so we're I mean I know Brighton have lost players as well but we've lost players we're experimenting with a new manager etc etc it just feels like that final final 80 minutes would have been an absolute grind but it was incredible Bob Brighton you're well beaten and you're right it's yeah it's but Brighton's sixth win in a row they've scored 22 goals in that run and they are they're on the march yeah I'm so annoyed that I didn't put Brighton as the overachievers or the I forget the precise category we have on that.

8:41Luke Moore: Dark horses or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Maybe it's overachieved. Because they're on for it. Now, obviously, to invoke the Luke Moore law, it is only seven games into the season. And they do have European football. So when that rule kicks in, we'll see if they can still play this high-pressing, swashbuckling stuff. You would think perhaps not. We saw Bournemouth do it recently when... Do you remember when Liverpool went away to Bournemouth in Arnaslott's first season. Liverpool won 2-0. Salah scored, I think the opening goal was a lovely little curler. And everyone was going, oh, Bournemouth could really, they could do something because Bournemouth, there was talk about Champions League, there was talk about, oh, is their stadium going to be big enough for the Champions League?

9:20Luke Moore: Or how are they going to... There's a lot of talk from you. A lot of talk from me. There's always a lot of talk from Marcus. Stick a microphone to front of my face. That is crucial, to be fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Makes it easier for us. But every now and then you do get a team who start the season like this and then it sort of peters out a little bit, dare I suggest that I think Brighton have got a little bit more about them and they're more equipped. I get it. I think, obviously, they have started in Europe already, but they're going to be playing a combination of teams we've never heard of and some teams that, you know, have got Monaco, I think, haven't they, Panathinaikos?

9:55Oh, that's both of them. Yeah, so they've got a couple of those teams. Yeah, yeah, yeah, good, good. But the other teams they're playing, you know, are a mixed bag. the thing that's probably worth thinking about most on that subject specifically is probably the idea of keeping Fabian Herzler because he's linked with United he's obviously going to be linked with big jobs the problem with that situation is so you take United as an example you can't really blame him going to United individually but I think he should stay and I think he I think they've got to be targeting Champions League football they have to be they will be

10:30Luke Moore: I mean they'll win the conference league you would think yeah I mean they'll be the heavy favourites for it they are the favourites this football they're playing Jim yeah yesterday the word Leicester would have been said more times in Brighton than it was in Leicester for sure Leicester would have forget their Leicester absolutely I thought you meant Leicester in the conference league I thought well yeah okay fine I just think you're right to point out that you know we quite often see teams get into this flying start and obviously the press is a big part of how Brighton play but it's not the only thing they've got in their locker no and I think one of the things that we perhaps all missed when thinking about our dark horse was how it's been a season with so much change in terms of managers coming in and whatnot and like big managers leaving you know obviously you know Arna Slott going is a big surprise and is a big immediate change and then the Pep Guardiola legacy changing all these different things but obviously Brighton have got some consistency they are used to the churn of players they don't do with that Brighton don't do anything that doesn't suit them and I think that is this really is a kind of combination of all these elements coming together really really well so yeah Herzl has obviously got a lot about him yeah I really hope for everybody's sake that he doesn't end up at Man United this is such a great sort of kind of flourishing of everything they've been building last season you only need 60 points to get in the Champions League you can't tell me based on what you've seen that Brighton aren't a 60 point team they've got 16 points already and if you obviously it's not always going to shake out like that and it depends on the amount of places the Premier League gets and how other teams do I get that but ultimately they've got to be targeting that they have to be and it'll be interesting to see if they can do it of course but I mean they've been brilliant it's not just the wins they've had it's the goals they've scored the teams they've played against Crystal Palace are in a bit of transition they've obviously lost an important manager possibly their most important manager they've lost players but Brighton lost players Brighton lost some decent players you know they've lost if you think about the fact that they they're so adaptable to that though they've lost Balebo who's a massive player for them they lost Van Hecker who was their most important centre back and they lost to Kieper as well didn't they for good money and Danny Welbeck went senior player for them so you know so I mean all these teams of this profile do lose players but the Palace game could have been a banal skin it's a derby game you know the Arsenal game is a really tough game on paper they were by far the best team in both those games.

12:58So the goals they're scoring as well is really good level. So it'll be fascinating to see how they go. I hope they do it. The Premier League needs teams like Brighton to do well. So hopefully they can continue it. And on the Palace side of it, tough for Sarge. I mean, really tough. Defensively, look at the statistics. Defensively, they are very, very poor. And that's going to undermine them, to say the least, if they carry on in this way. And Sarge, who's got no pedigree in the Premier League at all, is going to have to fight really hard to get it back, for sure. I mean, they've got a really tough couple of games coming up, because they go to Besiktas in the Europa League, then they play Newcastle.

13:38Luke Moore: Well, I think that Europa League is kind of like... They lost in the Europa League to Lyon, didn't they, midweek? They did. I mean, obviously, 3-2, yeah. With Palace, you think... What you would love if they're finally in the Europa League, you want to really put a bit of swagger into that and try and express yourselves a bit. With what's going on in the Premier League, I understand they've got, what have they got, seven points already this season, but Fulham gave them three. Alright, fine, they still won, take that away. But you want to be able to enjoy those big European trips, whereas you don't want that little...

14:11Luke Moore: Exactly about, oh, in the Premier League... It's a bit of a shame for them, really, and Sarge is under huge pressure. He's been under a bit of pressure for a while now, because I think they've not really got going under him. The question mark is, can they get going under him. He's kind of come in and he's sort of trying to replicate what Glasner did, which is understandable and kind of keep the same shape and all that. They've just been really inconsistent. They have. If you look at the way the back three... But they've been quite lucky as well, Marcus. Their defensive numbers are behind. They've not conceded a massive amount of goals, but they probably should have.

14:42Well, they've conceded the most in the Premier League so far. Right. After that 5-0 victory. Well, fine. Yeah.

14:46Luke Moore: So that does obviously, you know, rubber stamp that sort of stat, if you like. I saw a new stat they have conceded the most deep completions what does that mean? in the league I presume it's when the opposition do something of note in your box it sounds a bit it sounds sexy deep completions with Pete Donaldson is that on and off or off the pitch? they conceded 17 goals so just forget what I said they conceded loads of goals and they should have conceded more well they have and I think that back three partly because of probably injuries and also So De Zassi getting a red card to the suspension.

15:23Luke Moore: It's changed a bit. And also the goalkeeper, Henderson getting an injury. Henderson is their captain. So again, orchestrating that back line is something that he does. I mean, Benitez is a cubby and he made some good saves the other week against, was it Ipswich? Not Ipswich, sorry. Forest. I'm thinking De Lapp. But it's a mess back there. It is a mess. And when the front line is not scoring, I mean, Mateta had a very presentable chance. I know it would only be a consolation. But it's that kind of thing where if you're at the back you think if you were not putting those ones away But Jim and I know if you can see that amount of deep completions it does get messy Yeah, I'm not clean up.

16:00Luke Moore: Do you want shallow completions then? Yeah, shallow completions are a lot easier to deal with. It's always a compliment to get a completion Yeah, I feel like it's a good compliment of your skills to get a completion It does a lot clear up after up afterwards. Okay. Is there any tip completion? You're pretending you don't know Yeah, you pretend you don't know pretending I don't know what I don't know I genuinely don't know what the stat is. I had on out. I don't. Yeah. We're not talking about a stat anymore. No. We've moved on. You're talking about shagging, aren't you? Okay. But look, Brighton, I want to go back to that Diogo Gomez half-way line goal because we mentioned it, but we sort of skirted over a bit.

16:36Luke Moore: The technique was beautiful. Much debate about, is it the best of its kind in the Premier League? I think the two, the Rooney one against West Ham, which is further out. Because that was later on in his career, wasn't it? Second spell at Everton, I think. 2017 that happened. Oh, was that right? So it's, that makes me like it more. Well, I remember when he scored for Manchester United when the ball bounces up and he thumps it. To me, it's Beckham and Gomez are the leading ones. Beckham against Sullivan. Yeah, against Wimbledon, yeah. Beckham's obviously just inside his own half and Gomez is just, I want to go, he's a fraction into the opposition half.

17:08Luke Moore: I think the technique's better on the Gomez. I agree with you. But I think the reason that Beckham, several reasons why Beckham gets a load of coverage for that and a load of kind of props for it. one is because you hadn't really seen it done that much secondly is it's Beckham and the technique his technique is so iconic and he had this bleach blonde hair at the time and he was a guy he had dark hair at the time I'll pull you up on that did he really? okay fine maybe I've misremembered that but also I think there's an element of Beckham around that era from what I remember that people who didn't really he had transcended football and people didn't really know if he was a great footballer or not they just knew he was a really big celebrity that was when he more announced himself yeah it was but my point being that goal basically delivered him onto the world's day.

17:49Sure, okay. And people kind of accepted him as a footballer as well, I think.

17:52Luke Moore: And also it was on the news and stuff because it was pre-internet and whatnot. Do you remember a couple of weeks later David Batty lobbed Neil Sullivan from miles out as well and it's like there's no way you're trying that if Beckham hasn't done it a couple of weeks earlier. Batty's never going to get the coverage. No, it was a delightful goal from David Batty. It was. Yeah, so yeah, the takeaways are Brighton, they're on for Champions League we think. Well, it feels to me that the takeaways are a delightful goal for David Batty. A delightful goal for David Bassey. That is a forgotten goal because it was an absolute peach.

18:20Luke Moore: And it's a forgotten goal and a 2-0 win for them, so it shouldn't be. So yeah, Palace are in big trouble. Sarge is under a lot of pressure. And Fabian Herzl, please don't go to Manchester United. Yeah, absolutely not. Please don't do that. I know he can't right now because there's no vacancy. But you get the point. I think you could probably turn up and make a case for it, couldn't you? I think you could. Did you see what Pierre Sarge said after the game? It was incredibly French. He said he was ashamed. No, he said, I have only one feeling. It's about shame. well he didn't say I'm ashamed it's not as good though is it what you said it's not as good he definitely had the energy of an embittered like French noir kind of detective no I think yeah it's cat and mouse and the guy just keeps getting away I can't believe the murderer's done this again I thought French chef he served you up a steak and you go this steak's well done and he go no it can't oh my god I've shamed my family in for five more minutes.

19:16Luke Moore: I'll show my family. Yeah, exactly. He's a Delors. A little rat popped out from his hat. Is that right? Yeah. Who's the rat? What's his name? Remy. Yes. Remy. Is it Steve Parrish? Yes, act. Something like that. Anyway, let's move on. Manchester City 3, Ipswich Town 2. Manchester City have won their first seven Premier League games of the season. That's for the first time. Have they? How do they do it? Oi, how do they do it? How do they do it? How do they do it, man? Little Man City. I know. And we lead with Brighton. I know. That's a joke. We know how they do it. Brighton have won six in a row, but Man City, for so long the underdog in Manchester, they've won seven of their seven Premier League games.

20:01Luke Moore: Seven out of seven, they've been perfect. Absolutely perfect. That is irrefutable. It was their first Premier League game at the end since being found guilty. Fans booed the Premier League anthem. They're just confused. Are they? They booed it because they're confused. Right. How do you expect them to feel? Exactly, they're confused. And what do you expect them to do, Marcus, in the stadium? I would say play the national anthem. Is that right? They boo that as well. So we can all get behind them. They boo everything. Well, there's no pleasing some people. No, there's not. There is no pleasing.

20:30Luke Moore: Although actually there is a really pleasing Man City fans. Give them inflatable bananas. They quite like that at the moment. Yeah, they do. I'm quite indifferent to the bananas. I find that psychologically quite interesting because that is a signifier of a simpler time. for Man City fans. They used to do that in the 90s, of course, when they were a lot less good than they are now. Cheating a lot less back then as well, so that's probably part of it. But the fact that they are kind of almost echoing back to a simpler time, to use as their, I guess, symbol of defiance, if you like, is fairly interesting, I think, psychologically.

21:04I like this game because it had, you know me, I'm always on the look for a dinner money goal. And also a Gary O 'Neal. Well, of course, I'm always on high Gary O 'Neal. Why is he not being linked to the Man Utd job, by the way? I'll tell you why. We haven't got time for that. Oh, we do. Yeah, it won't take long. The dinner money goal was Maeda on Gay. But I tell you what, Gay. Gay gave one of the penalties as well, didn't he?

21:28Luke Moore: Gay's having a bit of a tough time. Because if you remember against Spain, against England, you know, when Lamin-Yemal nipped in. Now, that's Lamin-Yemal. That can happen. Although Maeda's a good player. But, you know. But he's been caught again. I mean, Maeda, you're right. The way he shoves Gay off. Great. It's really good. Really, really strong forward play. And you don't, I mean, I appreciate Gay has made that error you've referenced there for England. I appreciate he's having a bit of a tough time. You don't often see him get physically bullied. No. And by Maeda, who was in... Do you think he's too honest?

21:57Maybe he is. Way from Man City. Maybe he is. His head's a mess. Everyone else is carrying on like normal. It's like, you've all seen Phil Phones, kids and the badge. Gay's like, guys, this isn't good. He's Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day. Guys, this is bad. I promise you this is bad. Cycling around. Why is no one listening to me?

22:16Luke Moore: He's got his laptop. Look, these are the emails they found. Look at them. The clock is ticking. We'll just appeal to the aliens, it'll be fine. Deary me. But Man City won though. They're a good side. Erling Haaland got his 11th and 12th goals of the season. You blink and he's in double figures every single time. And he also, almost a hat-trick, he's very narrowly disallowed. Yeah, he's unlucky there. Third goal wasn't there. I mean, they have, I suppose, credit to them. They have carried on like nothing's going on off the pitch. I don't feel like I want to give them any credit. No, I don't either.

22:49Luke Moore: No, but in sheer footballing terms, Jim is right. You do have to give credit because it wasn't those players who did all that stuff. And let's not get into that because I disagree on that. The players haven't done it. I get the players haven't done it. So that's my point. Yeah, so we'll agree. Fine, I can't. But anyway, the fact is, with Maresca coming in there, there is, I mean, as he put it, a loss of noise. I would say guilty verdicts, but there we are. You get the picture. For them to be able to knuckle down and keep winning games. There are 114 noises. There are. Let's ignore them. There are.

23:25Luke Moore: But, you know, in sheer footballing terms, if you take the sort of verdicts and morals out of it and all the rest of it, which I don't think you should, but in sheer footballing terms, they're playing good football and they're winning games. I know, you know, obviously Ipswich scored a couple of goals. I thought Ipswich did okay. But Man City are looking impressive. And right now, even though one would strongly argue it kind of makes a mockery of the whole damn situation, they are top of the league and they will be very much in a title race should the punishment not be forthcoming before the end of the season, which seems utterly remarkable if it isn't.

24:00Luke Moore: Or indeed the appeal is successful, which seems more unlikely. I mean, yeah, who knows? I think, you know, everyone's just got to play to the whistle on that, haven't they? They do, Jim. Aebo Adi made his debut. He's not featured a lot for them. First start. Sorry, first start, of course. He's not featured loads for them, but he's been very impressive when he has. And all of their signings have been. They've all hit the ground running in kind of, you know, what must be slightly extreme circumstances, I suppose, is the way to put it. And I know that their signing ends are Fernandes and Elliot Anderson.

24:32Luke Moore: and they're Premier League proven players who are, you know, kind of plug in and play. But it has all come together really well with them on the pitch. And I think also a little word for Phil Foden as well. He's had like a much more impactful start to the season than he was able to do at all last season, really. I mean, I know he got sent off in the Manchester derby and stuff, but other than that, he was obviously very good at the weekend. He was pretty good against, was it Palace was his kind of standout performance this season? There were a couple of assists when they beat Palace pretty easily.

24:58the fact that he's involved because he's actually featured and done quite well in the Champions League as well. That would have been a concern for them given how he's come through the club and he's been so important for them and he was so quiet last year. The fact that he's hit the ground running as well is massive for them on the pitch too, I think.

25:15Luke Moore: What do you think about Gag O 'Neill's start as Ipswich Town Manager in the Premier League this season? They've won three. Yeah, I actually think it's been a lot better than I expected. I agree with you. I had O 'Neill down as the first manager to go. I thought they'd struggled badly. It was a difficult situation he came into to be fair to him because the McKenna thing was was actually quite odd Yeah, I mean obviously I respect McKenna's choice to do what he wants to do Of course he's earned the right to do so unusual though, isn't it? Very unusual. What for Luke to respect another man? Yes That was almost unheard of But they sit where they sit like banging mid-table they've picked up points.

25:47It's very early I mean who knows what's gonna happen, but they've definitely shown a lot more than I thought they would

25:51Luke Moore: Yeah, I mean I think again if you look at the sides, you know, I think I think Maeda is a really good signing You know, we saw what he did at Celtic, you know, and what he did to Mark Gay on the weekend, you know, so he'll provide something. But that goal, he gets his body shape in a really good position. Gay is caught out of position, which is kind of obviously problematic. But he shrugs Gay off, who's a big physical specimen. And then he also has a presence of mind quite close in to give the keeper the eyes and put it at the other corner. It's great forward play. It is. Because the best forwards are able to go fast, fast, fast, slow.

26:18Yeah. To make a slow decision in that moment, or a fast decision, but slow it down to do it. Yeah. And he's able to do that in a very compact space. It's actually a very underrated skill.

26:26Luke Moore: That was always my problem. I would go slow, slow, slow. Fast, slow. Yeah. Too late. Yeah. Too late. And then it's all gone. But do you understand what I mean? No, I do get what you mean. You've got to work so fast to get into that position and you've got to have the calmness to execute. Indeed you do, yeah. Which he absolutely did. I also think Zian Fleming was a really canny signing. Ten goals for Burnley in the Premier League last season. That went under the radar a little bit. I think he'll have an impact. Nice penalty as well. He did that penalty, which I really rate, where you shape like you're going to stick it in one of the corners and you side foot it, but with a little bit of power right down the middle.

26:55Luke Moore: I think rarely goalkeepers save that one because again, if you blast it down the middle, you can see if a player's going to blast it. So yeah, if you hit the ball like you are Tony Soprano and it owes you money. James Milner used to do a weird one where he'd do that but he hit his heel on purpose and it would go the other way. It was very... He used to obviously practice that a lot and if you watch it in super slow-mo, you can see it coming off his heel. But if you're going down the middle, you can do that. You wouldn't be able to whip it into the other corner. That would be too much. But the fact is, you're right, the body shape and the way you're moving your foot, it's, you know, it's a lovely step and it evidently worked.

27:27Luke Moore: If it doesn't though, then it's a pretty straightforward say for the goalkeeper. But it went in. So well done to him. Although they lost the game at 3-2 of course, so we have to say well done to Manchester City. Jim, you're still looking confused. You're not a Man City fan. They might get that way. The thing about it, switch to keep them warm at night is they might well be awarded the points at a later date. So don't worry about it too much. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, everyone's queuing up. Can we play you every week? in a weird way they'll be singing can we play you never as well as the alternative I'd have the point it may well it may well end up like that for at least a season or two Jim

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30:12Luke Moore: played Chelsea at home and they lost 2-0. This was a fight. It was a bit of a fight. Another touchy one. Great game to watch. I mean, straight from the off, the tackles were flying in. This was, this was a proper encounter. It was, game back. Jim, do you know what? You're absolutely right. After this weekend's football, with certain decisions not being given as red cards and obviously there were some which, you know, you just had to send them off. I did think we've got a game back. I'll tell you who set the tone, Harrison Armstrong. Very much so. That was a big, big challenge. And that was a challenge that 20 years ago was great.

30:47People would be fine with that. Ball first, all good, play on. Now it's a big debate, isn't it? Because it's aggressive and because it's potentially out of control and it's potentially dangerous. And I'm broadly in support of protecting the players. I get that. But it really set the tone because it's one of those ones where the referee can stamp down it. He can dish a yellow card out. But the players will decide whether they're going to accept that or not.

31:06Luke Moore: And they did not accept that. And so the whole thing escalated. And that was the thing. I mean, did you think that was a sending off? I think... He got a book in there, Harrison Armstrong one. Yes. No, I didn't think so. But we get a lot of decisions now, if you think about it, where if it's a yellow card or a red card, you don't really argue either way. I don't know what you mean. It goes into that little grey area where it's not going to be overturned. The Armstrong one's a classic one because... Well, it wasn't even given as a foul. But the point is that they're not going to overturn that kind of thing.

31:38No. If they had given it a red, do you think, if the referee had seen it and given it a red, would they have overturned it? They'd probably not.

31:43Luke Moore: Yeah, probably not. I mean, it's interesting, as I say, the play sort of continued, didn't it? If I'm remembering that correctly. And that was where, that's always going to annoy the fans as well because they're thinking, well, hang on, if it's not a foul, why are you? But obviously, there's a little bit more complexity to the rules. Now, I thought the Rodgers one was more interesting. Well. From a refereeing point of view. Yeah, this was a sort of double knockout, wasn't it? There's an angle where you see how they essentially make the same challenge on each other. I think it just blew the ref's mind.

32:11Luke Moore: So this is where Morgan Rodgers and James Garner, or Jimmy Garner, as Joe Hartkett's affectionately calling him, came together. Now, Morgan Rodgers is already on a yellow card, and they both go in, and Rodgers seems to get the ball first. Well, he did get the ball first, didn't he? Rodgers is off the ground, and that's where the reckless nature of that comes in. Now, we heard one or two of the reasons why certain, that like we'll get to, we mentioned Sven Botman as well. He wasn't sent off because it was deemed as reckless rather than serious foul play. Surely what Rodgers did could be deemed as reckless.

32:47Luke Moore: And if it's reckless, surely that's worthy of a yellow card, which is at least a second yellow. I think the difference is though that with the one with Rodgers and Wee Jimmy Garner was that it's more of a 50-50, right? So it's there to be contested, which is slightly different from the Botman one. but he is off the ground though and that's where the recklessness comes in for me I think if you both get you're right you can both do that and you can both have a bit of a coming together or a bit of a clash but for me if you you know what it's like Luke if you leap off the ground and you're off the ground that's reckless do you not agree with that?

33:21I do agree with that and it's totally indefensible that he's not got a second year for that it's totally indefensible because you could argue

33:26Luke Moore: it's not a red if you want to get into that but the fact is he was on a booking and did that they both should have been booked and then Roger should have walked It's an open shot. I agree with you. I think the referee's embarrassed himself. And I don't see how he can justify it. I like Morgan Rodgers. Great player to watch. I had him as my potential player of the year this year. I think the way... We know he's not been player of the month. Yeah, quite, after Friday. But the way that Chelsea's set up to play where they want to attack, it's perfect for Rodgers. He's got two great foils as well in that front three.

33:55I want to see him do well. But the referees do not help themselves not dishing out a second yellow card for that challenge. it's totally dictionary definition yellow at least at least so both of them should have got a yellow because they both they both really basically they're combinator the same thing and he has to go

34:13Luke Moore: so he's chosen to give well not he's treated them the same in that he's not given either player a yellow but that's bad it's completely bonkers but you're right see look at Rogers' face in the slow-mo he thinks he's going he thinks he's going because he gets carried away he loses his control for a fraction of a second he wants to win the ball he knows he can't get there Garner actually does him a favour by going in as well. And they both should have got yellow. And this is all, I mean, this was informed by, again, the spicy nature of the game because before that... Tarkov got a yellow for nothing.

34:42Luke Moore: James Tarkovsky, we know, is immune to red cards in the Premier League. He has the, what is he, was that his 73rd yellow card? Something like that. Hasn't he played like a whole season on a yellow? Like, you had it all up. Some crazy thing like that. Yeah, he's never got a red card in his Premier League career, which is extraordinary. I mean, the way he just shoved Moyes' car's head off, it was NFL stuff. I know that's not a red card. I know I said for nothing, but comparatively speaking, if we're going to agree that the card system is ultimately, in terms of the red card stuff, it's to protect a combination of the players on the receiving end of it and the kind of reputation of the game.

35:22So if you start throwing your head in there and stuff like that, you're going to get a red card, as we saw elsewhere. If you were going to push someone over, I get well that's a yellow but you can't dish a yellow out for Tarko for that and not dish a yellow out for Rodgers for that in the same game it doesn't make any sense it's the same referee it's the same game what's the defence for it?

35:43Luke Moore: do you know what I did enjoy? Jordan Henderson's Liverpool pass kicked in didn't it? where he was straight out to Tarko oh you again is it? but Henderson very much occupies that role of kind of dad of the group which is why Rodgers should just let him do it yeah exactly although I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of well any anybody quite frankly let alone a professional athlete well now Luke you were talking about David Moyes on Friday saying it was very reassuring there was no time for my analogies on Friday I understand that I respect it there was a lot of time for your analogies thank you because you gave at least three of them yeah I did but Ian B messaged us I'm not sure Ian B could be Ian B he said after Friday's chat about David Moyes I was reassured to switch on the Everton game and hear the commentator saying, only one shot on target so far.

36:32Luke Moore: Then Tiano Barry, with his first touch of the game at the 30-minute mark. The kingdom is safe. It is. Absolutely. You know what you're going to get. Yeah, you know what you're going to get. Were you disappointed with Everton in this game? Yeah, because I just think of them, perhaps unfairly, as being a good team at home. Chelsea have shown themselves to be... What I don't understand about it, I suppose, is that Chelsea have shown themselves from the start of this season to be a team that are perfectly capable of conceding quite a lot of goals. So I know that Everton didn't get the recruitment they want.

37:01I know that Tiena Barry is going to be running to the ground all year. I get that. But I don't quite understand the reticence to not at least challenge a bit more going forward because Chelsea are vulnerable. And perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, you know, Moyes thought, well, they're so good going forward. We need to kind of keep the handbrake on type thing. But ultimately, they've ended up with a reasonably comprehensive 2-0 defeat.

37:22Luke Moore: Yeah, I mean, on that though, I think, you know, we said a few times earlier in the season that it feels like Chelsea will fix that at some point and Alonso will fix it. It's a new system, lots of new players in there. He's obviously someone who's very good at fixing that particular problem and this feels like the sensible Chelsea that we sort of suspected were in there. I think they are far more likely to start picking up routine 2-0 wins than they are having 4-3 kind of games. I thought they lost control of themselves and I thought that against a team who had showed more ambition going forward it would have been much more of a shootout.

37:55I thought.

37:55Luke Moore: Well, yeah. I know what you mean I mean it was their first Premier League clean sheet in 23 matches with Chelsea so it shows you it needed and big Mike Penders played his part in that great to see him because Emi Martinez went off after a very nasty injury when he clashed with Jared Brantway and he's he's broken his jaw broken his jaw's not good that's not fun he really isn't apparently the surgery went well and Emi Martinez posted that he'll be back in a few weeks and I thought I don't know what the recovery top is for the broken jaw does a broken jaw mean he'd be less likely to say a load of stupid shit or not could be yeah he can still hump things though exactly You can't give a good man down.

38:27Luke Moore: Which is the main thing. No, joking aside, I mean, I don't, you know, it's always bad when you see a player being stabilised on a stretcher. He can't move his head. Broken jaw actually is bad, obviously, but it's... All things considered. Yes, it's one of the better things to have got, given that he's already said he's going to be back soon. Yeah. So, yeah, the news was as positive as it could be, you know, once he's gone to hospital for that. But it was nice to see big Mike Penders. Always good to see Mike Penders. All six foot seven of him. And, you know, in the shape of Mike Penders and Ted Curd, they've got two great named goalkeepers.

38:58They really do. Ted Curd. Ted Curd. Lovely, isn't it? It's brilliant stuff. It is.

39:02Luke Moore: It really is. Feels like a brass eye named. It does. Very much so. Yeah. I mean, are they still stockpiling goalkeepers? They're about 14. They stockpiling everything. No, true enough. Yeah. True enough. He's actually, by the way, he's... And now they've just started to stockpile clean sheets. I should say, in the interest of detail, Ted Curd is currently on loan at Boreham Wood. There we are. Again, for the second season in a row. but he is technically a Chelsea player. Yeah, aren't we all? Yeah, kind of. In a way. Look, we talked about the violence in that game. There was a lot. I mentioned Sven Bottman as well.

39:33Luke Moore: Let's talk about that incident because we are going to talk more about Newcastle United on tomorrow's mailbag. They were obviously beaten 1-0 at home to Aston Villa. But Sven Bottman escaped a red card for his two-footed tackle slash lunge on Nicholas Jackson. And that divided opinion. He was booked for that because, as I say, it was described as reckless. But I tell you what, that is the type of tackle or, you know, lunge, whatever you want to call it, where a footballer can get seriously hurt. Yeah. What did you think, Jim? Was that a red for you? Yeah, I thought he was lucky, to be honest. Do you want to say an orange card?

40:07Luke Moore: Yeah, I always want to say an orange card. You just want them to invent it to bring it in. iFab, if you're listening. I feel like I have to sit here like Bob Hoskins on a long good Friday just a few minutes and I have to speak. because I just feel like I've been asked for my opinion on whether something's a red a yellow or an orange or a blue for just far too many years of my life now blue cards were talked about for a while weren't they yeah well let's hand it over to Luke it's a fucking red card all day long and I cannot I cannot see for the life of me why so many men cannot see something so obvious yeah but he got the ball Luke he's thrown himself in as fast as he can and lunged as deeply as he can.

40:50Luke Moore: And he's way off the ground as well. And there is a serious element to this, which is that Nicholas Jackson could have had his career ended by that challenge. And that is exactly the kind of challenge that the modern red card rules are to prevent. So if you're not going to implement it, then as far as I'm concerned, without being too hyperbolic, the referee shouldn't be doing his job. The referee shouldn't be doing that job. If he can't see that, and the VAR can't see it, then what are they doing there? But have the laws been sort of tweaked or massaged a bit, if you see what I mean? Because VAR checked that, referee checks that.

41:26Luke Moore: I think maybe... But the excuse given is ridiculous. Well, it's reckless. What's the excuse? It is called reckless, yeah. It's bollocks. It's just bollocks. Yeah. It's bollocks. I mean, I appreciate Jim might not agree. No, but I agree with you. The fact that that's the card you're playing, that's your defence, is it, on that action. No, no, no, it was reckless. Oh, well, we can't give reckless Yeah, it's not a red because it's reckless. It's confusing to me. Yeah, exactly. It's like the old Neil Warnock thing where he didn't endanger the life of the player. Neil Warnock actually said that. He actually said that.

41:58He absolutely did.

41:59Luke Moore: Well, he's not cut his head off. How could you? Yeah, it's benar. Okay, well, Luke and I certainly agree with that. But you don't agree by something. Yeah, I do. He's outvoted, who cares? I agree, but I just wish we didn't have to talk about whether something was or wasn't a red all the time. That's entirely fair enough. Okay. So you don't want to talk about the Brentford red cards either. Actually, you know what? I do have a fairly strong opinion on the Brentford red card. This might be something that people don't agree with a lot. I think it is possibly time to revisit this whole idea of a headbutt thing because you're getting a red card for a situation that could have been worse in a different scenario which didn't actually happen.

42:38Luke Moore: And I think that's kind of strange. you're getting sent off because you might have headbutted someone harder than you actually did. So sort of a headbutting motion. Yeah, the headbutting motion and the sort of like the touching head stuff, this idea that that should immediately be a red card. I know it's to discourage headbutts, but does it actually do that? I don't know that it does. It's stupid when players do it, they shouldn't do it. It is kind of unforgivable and while the law is the law, they should be sent off for it. I just think it's like a red card is a really massive game-changing thing, right?

43:12Luke Moore: And I just wonder if it's an outsized punishment for a silly thing. Yeah, so he was sent off after the VARU, the referee said for a head-butting action is the wording the referee used, which is what you're talking about there. I mean, yes, I tend to agree with you because I feel like when he was sent off for a head-butt, I think, oh, that's not a head-butt. The amount of times I've seen a tinge of disappointment there. Yes, I think so. On this weekend of violence? I know, Jim. We thought we had a headbutt in there. Just say what you see. That's the... But if you were to say, Luke, the headbutting action, the only thing I would say maybe in defence of that is obviously a headbutt is an incredibly violent action.

43:50Luke Moore: Yeah. And if they're kind of... To both parties. Well, indeed. But if they are kind of motioning and saying that, what if a player raised his fist and went like, I'll give you one of these or something, do you know what I mean? That's quite campy by you, dude. I'll tell you. Beano comic. Knuckle sandwich, eh? No, but if a player was to, like, think about the fist equivalent, Luke. If you were to raise a fist and just give a little dig, just a little stab. A little tap. It's violent conduct. I think that... I don't know. I mean, you're really testing my knowledge now under the laws of the game, but I think that might be a red as well.

44:25Luke Moore: It would be, because I think, again, it's the idea it's violent conduct. I have sympathy with Jim's viewpoint, because I do think he kind of, it almost kind of begs the question, what are we actually legislating for here? Because I suppose there might be a reputational thing that you don't, and I also think you've got to distinguish between things that are clear football adjacent actions like tackles. And no matter how much they're mistimed or how aggressive they are, they are still tackles. And this thing, which is almost separate from that, which is a kind of, there is no reasonable defense to be sticking your head in on someone.

44:56Therefore, maybe that's punished a bit more severely. but the headbutting action is quite a recent thing, I think.

45:02Luke Moore: But people have been sent off. I think that's the wording. No, but it's been adjusted recently to the wording. But I think, again, like, because, look, I've already said, you know, there's a tinge of disappointment of being like, come on, he's not headbutting him there. However, if you weren't to send a player off for that, we would then be here sat talking about the severity of a headbutt. Well, hang on a minute. Did he make proper contact? Did he leave a mark? Do you know what I mean? So I understand that. I did actually find... Headbutt's illegal now. It's like the purge. specifically go headbutt for five minutes of every game.

45:31Luke Moore: But we won't tell you which five. But Keith Andrews, I did find his take quite refreshing on it. He just went, look, no complaints. We've got to look at ourselves with that. He wasn't saying, oh, well, the other player wound him up or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He knows the rules. As we've been saying a lot, you know, the rules are there. Everyone's got to follow them the same. Yes. Just because you don't like the rule doesn't mean you can go and break it. I know, Jim. Absolutely right. There was another sending off as well. Second yellow for bundling over Rio and Gamar for Janel. It was a good game as well.

45:57was a really fast It was a shame for Brentford

45:59Luke Moore: that they went down to 10 actually because It's really avoidable that second one Yeah, Keane Lewis-Potter scored a lovely header Yeah, he did There were some good goals in the game overall That's how you use your head That's how you do it Victor Munoz Chop That's a deep completion That's a proper chop Deep completion all over the place If someone was a bit like Remind me what a chop is That's what you challenge Glorious goal Emmanition chops Please for Alexander Azak Yeah Yeah, I think so I like Azak a lot Even though he disgraced himself to the Geordie Nation. Even though he disgraced himself to the Geordie Nation.

46:30Well, perhaps that's why you like him.

46:31Luke Moore: I wanted him to join Arsenal when he didn't, which is, you know, fair enough. But, you know, still sad. He's doing very well at you. He is. He looks like a gazelle sometimes and I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all love an Adidas gazelle.

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49:27Luke Moore: Let's talk about Fulham winning again. The main event. Come on. The main event of the evening. Fulham won. Hull City nil. But. Should have been more. We have to say, it was a great performance, wasn't it? Well, I'll tell you what. From Pete Donaldson and his curse. Exactly. We've got to thank Pete Donaldson. Well, I celebrated when I was in this very studio with the curse monger himself. I, when he said that, that I'm going to curse hell, I punched the air. Yeah. I thought we're in. It does have a kind of monkey paw vibe though, doesn't it? You've got to be careful what you wish for. It's a powerful arresting vision, isn't it?

49:54Seeing Pete dressed up to do his curse.

49:56Luke Moore: Yeah. He was just wearing a normal clobber, but I suppose... He used to wear the witch's hat and he's kind of given up on that. Yeah, what he wears is kind of him dressed up. He doesn't stick to anything, Pete. No, indeed. But I punched the air when he said it because I thought, well, Fulham, I've got at least a point now. We need all the help we can get. But what was surprising to me, from an outsider's point of view, was just the nature of the performance from what I saw. Look, I could definitely see Fulham nicking a win against Hull at home. I could definitely see that happening. But the manner of the performance seemed far more impressive than I think we had a kind of right to expect, really, based on what's come so far from Hull, from Fulham.

50:30Luke Moore: No, I agree totally. And I think... It could have been better, you reckon? Oh, no, I mean, it should have been. Fulham missed three very, very presentable chances. I mean, Fulham should have won that game at least 2-0, maybe three. But you know what it felt like? It felt like Marcus Silva was still in charge. Right. And that's... So did you see changes to the way he approached it then? Hull were very poor. Right. So you have to say that. Kirovich was like, this was men against boys, it was no excuse for it kind of thing, wasn't it? Yeah, he said, well, we were eating alive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like there was some sort of quote, curse on us.

51:02Luke Moore: One hat can't... Some of our players did have a flesh-eating wasteland. Yeah, you can't discount that. You can't discount that at this early or late stage, Jim. Look, Fulham, after Ipswich, I think, because that was quite a sobering one when they went 1-0 up with Ryan Sessegnon. We'll get to him in a moment. And then they just sort of dropped so deep. I think Fulham, you know, Alex Iwobi scored. What was a fortuitous goal, really? A little deflection, which confused the keeper. The keeper should really save it. Even though the keeper did have a good game, you know, he made a couple of good saves.

51:32The flexion did make it really hard for him.

51:33Luke Moore: I mean, under the... But he wasn't expected to come under his body. Sure. Either way, from Fulham's point of view, it's a fortuitous goal. Fine. But you take it all day long. I mean, it won't be missed an absolute sitter in the second half, you know, which you've got to give credit to the keeper. Yeah, he should have scored. But I think... I don't know if I see he should have scored as well. He really should have done as well, yeah. And Josh King, actually. Yeah, I mean, three really, really good chances. King was great. King is a marvellous player, and we'll get to him in just a sec. I think with Fulham, after that performance against Ipswich and the outcry, it's kind of like, what are we doing here, lads?

52:01Luke Moore: And I think when they go a goal up against Hull City, yes, Hull were really, really poor. Fulham just kept the ball and passed them to death. And I think Shea Charles in the middle there, you know, what he provides is really good. He's really made the step up to, you know, Selhampton, he was there before, but he's really, really taken this season like a duck to water, bearing in mind that's their first win. And I think the defence, I think Affengrube has made a big difference at the back with a bit of pace and he's more assured as well. Bassey was just dominant as well. Like he was just bullying everybody.

52:33Where's that performance come from then Marcus? Because you were very kind of down about it last week.

52:36Luke Moore: Well I thought Arbelova was going to go. And look, this is just one performance. Let's see what happens. You know, again, you can do that especially when Hull are just really, really poor. But you have to give Fulham credit and clearly something has happened. I wonder if Arbelova after that defeat against Ipswich, particularly with his comments after by going, well you know, I'm Mr Real Madrid by the way. And then Fulham phoned Real Madrid and went, Oh, what's his name again? You know, I think I just wonder, he cut a bit more of a modest figure afterwards. And maybe just there was a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a sea change there because Fulham had put in good performances this season away to Anfield against Man United.

53:12Luke Moore: They were a bit better. And I think maybe Arbeloa just needed a little bit more pragmatism. You can't be too idealistic when you've got a side which is now a side who are, you know, for what it's worth after seven games, you know, in a relegation scrap. Now, hopefully that won't be the case as the season progresses. But you're right, Luke. I can't really put my finger on it. But just there was an intensity there for the 90 minutes that they just haven't had. It might the opposite of what you just said be true, though. If you look at Andoni Uriola's start at Bournemouth. I know they're very, very different profiles.

53:43Luke Moore: I suppose you can make an argument that we're seeing it a little bit with Oliver Glasner at Forest at the moment where things aren't going particularly well now. But once the players buy into the style and they get used to it and the connections on the pitch start to feel a bit more natural, possibly kind of growing pains that are happening now will be better in the long run. It's really interesting. Yeah, so there's always going to be a little bit of that with a new manager. Can you click into what he's wanting to do? And is that plan good enough? But there's definitely been a tactical tweak because if you look at it from early on in the season, he thought he was still managing Real Madrid.

54:16Luke Moore: Oh, well, the full-backs can just bomb one. We can only have two sitting at the back, because that's fine, because we've got Kielin Mbappe and Jude Bellingham and all these players. And it's like, no, you haven't. And that's why the often-referenced game, or certainly I often reference it, Palace, it was comical. It's like, Palace couldn't believe the luck. And you've seen how poor Palace have been at times this season. So I think there has been a bit of Premier League pragmatism that is really needed, has come into play, and hopefully now this gives them a bit of a platform. But Hull after their great start, you know, again, we're terribly poor in this game.

54:46Luke Moore: Really, really uncharacteristic performance from them. But we must remember that they are a newly promoted side. With a curse on them. With a curse on them, exactly. You can't avoid that. But there was another red card in this game. And poor old Ryan Sessegnon. Well, he did it. Yeah, he did. As in, he's not that type of player. I think we could all agree. But he did the old, do you remember when Wayne Rooney did that, trying to do the tactical foul at Old Trafford? and he thought, I've seen foreign players do this, I'll have a go myself, and then just size the guy down. And I think Sessegnon...

55:15Luke Moore: Foot in a bucket stuff, this. Totally. He's clearly gone for a tactical foul on Vaz, which I would suggest is probably unnecessary anyway, because Hull weren't creating anything, but Sessegnon's probably thinking, well, we are good for a dodgy rick at the back. And he's just mistimed it. And it's as cynical as they come in how it ends up. And poor old Vaz, he's stretched it off at the end. I hope he's okay, but that was a nasty one on him. So, look, I can sit here and say, Session John's a lovely lad and all the rest of it what he did he's injured bang to rights bang to rights exactly and he knew he was off he walked as well wasn't Pete saying last week like why don't Fulham just hit it long as a Session I think sometimes the curse spills over and gets on you know areas you're not expecting maybe that's it maybe that's it Josh King though yeah great on the half term is there anyone better in the Premier League on half term yes yes there is go on There's several players as good as him on the half turn.

56:12I'd like you to name them. I mean, Phil Foden? No, not at the moment. Oh, come on.

56:18Luke Moore: I don't think at the moment. Anyway, okay. I didn't know you meant specifically at this minute right now. Okay, fine. My point is, without undermining my own point, is Josh King, the way he gets the ball, he turns, he runs at players. He's a glorious player. Yes, I agree with that. And I just hope we get a good fee for him. What have you guys made of his performance? Well, I think he's clearly made a massive step up. He obviously had a lot of potential. But from what I saw, and I was at Fulham a couple of times last season, he would get crowded out of games, looks a little bit lightweight. He's clearly grown in confidence and grown in physicality over the summer and is relishing taking a bit more responsibility.

56:56Ability-wise, he's very, very good. And I think at the age of 19, what I'd love to see is him just do two or three more years at Fulham. just become the guy there I would love that because ultimately you made the comparison the other day about Fabio Cavalli a lot of people have made that comparison and he's now kind of nowhere really in the ground

57:17Luke Moore: well there was somebody posting on socials playing for their Brentford Reserves Brentford against Fulham Academy essentially or Fulham Under 21 or whatever it was so there's a weird dichotomy about this because you have players who are always used to being you know a player of the quality of Josh King is the journey he's going to have been on is he going to be the best player probably in every age group break into the first team used to being good now he's shown that he can play at this level he's always naturally him and his advisors are going to be Liverpool want me of course I'm going to go because I want to see where I can get to but at the same time the dichotomy comes in because that is essentially what ruins you as a player if you're not careful so I think what's to stop him maybe signing another contract for him for more money staying there for another couple of years and then ultimately I think in that situation he's still got probably 10 years at the top level ahead of him the Fulham fans don't mind he's done three years with him or whatever and you wouldn't stand in his way because that's the pecking order and everyone's happy to me it feels like if he goes too early it'll be a shame unless obviously he just flies and in which case you've got to go well yeah I mean you don't know until you do it no exactly that's the other part of it but I think he's been brilliant and I think he's looking at a player now it seems like he's shown early parts early kind of glimpses of going from a glorified cameo player who can do some fun stuff to you can build a team around him.

58:38Yes. And that's massive.

58:39Luke Moore: I think there was a moment he should have scored a goal though, right? Yes. And I feel you'll be more knowledgeable on this than I am Marcus but I feel like I've seen him in that position a few times and seen him not score. Adding goals is the next step. Yeah, there's very much a clear thing to work on there. Yeah, but I think those are positions where he's probably the favourite to score and doesn't. But again, he is young, he's getting in those positions, obviously. He's a really exciting prospect. Yeah, no, you're right. You want a player like him in the position he plays to score. He's arriving late in the box.

59:11Luke Moore: Yeah, you sort of like, this season you want sort of like nine, ten goals, something like that. Yeah. Ten goals is a really successful season. I think more than that, he's got two already. He's been brilliant. Yeah, I think that's what you want. That's what you want to challenge him to do. Because yeah, if he ends up the season with, you know, six or seven goals, that's fine. But a side like Fulham, who are not scoring that many goals, and Gonzalo Garcia up front is new to the league, you're kind of like, right, go and take the initiative. Go and do it. That's the challenge, of course. If he ends up with eight or nine, fair enough, you know.

59:40Luke Moore: But no, I agree with you. I think that that's the next step for him is to start adding goals, getting those numbers up. But a vital win for Fulham, nonetheless. It was absolutely, it was, you know, this game and the next game, as we said, it was just non-negotiable. Yeah, yeah. No, it's a fair play to Arbeloa for whatever he said to the boys, because it worked. But he's still under pressure because they're only the first win of the season in the league, but you've got to give credit. Speaking of teams down the bottom as well, Spurs play Coventry tonight. The big news is that Dan Kulisevsky could make his first appearance in 526 days.

1:00:15Yeah, he posted a terrifying post on Instagram of him looking like a cyborg. Has he been living underground? Looks like he might have been, yeah.

1:00:22Luke Moore: We did wonder where he was. Well, you know. I'll be at the game tonight, so I'll be interested to see if he pops up at some point. Added incentive. Talk of him. Yeah, for him, yeah. I'll definitely play then. You need to perform in front of Lukey Moore. But he might be on the bench, I suppose. And I think, you know, joking aside, it has been comedy at Spurs for a long time now, but you have to be pretty hard-hearted to begrudge Kulisewski coming back and playing after so long out. It's been really difficult. Well, no one's more frustrated than him. Yeah, his absence is a big factor as to why they're in trouble.

1:00:55Luke Moore: Oh, he's quite super-knowing. He's quite super-knowing Jim the best player of all time. Absolutely. Because that's why Spurge fans have to cope with that. They have to deal with that. But he does have an incredible engine. It's like Inge in the head of Gareth Barry in the head of that big World Cup. Or when Kieran Dyer wasn't fit to play on the left wing in 2002. I've only Kieran Dyer been available to play out of position. Back then, right footers were on the right side, Jim. Let me remind you. Was Gareth Barry 2010? 2010. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I sincerely hope we see Kulusevsky take to the field because last time we saw it was May 2025.

1:01:24I mean, I think there's a bit of, a kind of schism I think in the fan base at Spurs where some fans are obviously just pissed off understandably and don't feel like anything's improving and then there's a lot of fans who think oh we're actually playing alright and we're just not scoring and if we just keep at it and the players take on Deserby's kind of methods more and more and with these new players we've got when they're finally bending we'll actually sort of hit our straps and get cracking they're playing Coventry at home tonight it's really difficult to find a place to hide or an excuse if you don't win that game.

1:01:57With due respect to Coventry, obviously against Newcastle were good and they've shown themselves to be, you know, showing signs of adapting to this league and that there's some stuff to credit them. Back-to-back wins, yeah. Yeah, but really, you know, when you started that sentence, speaking of the bottom of the table, you were talking about Spurs and not Coventry. So that tells its own story. My take on it as a kind of neutral would be, you know, I'm sympathetic with both sides of the coin, but I would say, you know, really, if not now then when because you cannot really excuse not beating promoted sides at home with the money you've spent the profile of club you are all this kind of stuff and I had a bit of a set to online with a couple of Spurs fans last week Don't believe it when I said that the Villa game was a joke and the Spurs fans went well you know actually the first half we played really well it's like well yeah

1:02:48Luke Moore: They were 3-0 down and they were consolations I totally agree with you and what you see too often with Spurs is they can do half an hour and they just they lose heart you can see it right in front of you they lose heart but I'm saying any team in the Premier League can do half an hour yeah you and I can manage a team and just go out there and do your stuff the players are good enough at that level look at you a little smile maybe I'll go back to the uni days I know what you're getting at one of my great regrets in life is that you never managed me because he used to be a manager I see I managed to he used to be a manager yeah there's a lot of creative I was done by 21.

1:03:27Anyway, so it'll be a good game. Listen, if a commentary score early tonight, it's going to be fascinating to see how it develops. Yeah, it will be. Because they're so soft-centred, they lose hearts so easily. So if they go a goal down, that's why they lost 3-2 to Villa in the end. That's the last game I was there at, so that's why I'm kind of referencing it. And it was 3-2, but the Madison scores with the final kick of the game. And the other consolation, it was just a consolation. But with Spurs in that situation, they don't just concede one. They get completely discombobulated by it.

1:03:59Luke Moore: But surely the encouraging thing for Spurs is what happened at Old Trafford, Jim. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. They go a goal down, they're a man down, and there was fight, and they deserved their... That's a really fair point. And De Zerbi was really, really pleased with his players. And I just wonder, is that the platform? Well, if anything's going to be, it's got to be that, hasn't it? So, you know, at some point, I think part of the problem is that this anxiety at home, right, that you've mentioned a lot and it used to be like that at the Emirates as well. We were talking about this the other day, how it's like the psychodrama of the first misplaced pass everywhere.

1:04:30Luke Moore: Everyone's like, oh God. And then that feeds through to the players. It's an identical energy to that period at Wenger. Arsenal under Wenger, yeah. But that is something that can be overcome, can't it? And it can only be overcome by putting a consistent good performance together and they should have it in them. Kulisewski coming back off the bench presumably would be a little positive boost in terms of the feeling there as well maybe. So it's a good opportunity for them to do it because as you say it is a promoted team at home But as good of as Coventry have been it They have to talk this is a win of course for sure with Frankie Lampard in the away dugout as well Adds a bit of spice to the occasion Well, yes Spurs we look forward to that game tonight now speaking of Spurs We mentioned Richarlison scoring for their under 21s in the Jersey Mike's EFL Cup on Friday's pod well listen to Sean Gilmore has some more information for us because we were talking about Jersey Mike's.

1:05:21Luke Moore: I was kind of unaware of what old Mike does and what he produces. Sandwiches is the answer. It's like a version of Subway, where if you want a foot of food, they can do that for you. What about a yard? They probably do. Other than ale, what can you get a yard of? It's a good question. Put it in the comments. Do let us know. Sean Gilmore said, regarding your investigations into very generous word into Jersey Mike's private equity group Blackstone acquired a controlling interest in the chain in 2024 yeah so that answers that question he said coincidentally many of my fellow countrymen have I noticed a sudden staggering drop in the quality that concedes sorry that coincides with their sponsorship of the EFL trophy this begs the question is English football ruining American sandwiches yeah hope so yeah no American sandwiches are great they're amazing I'd be very sad if we're ruining You get loads of food in there.

1:06:20Subway's not great. No, that's, Marcus, come on. That's not the be-all and end-all of American sandwiches, is it? It's an example. Yeah, okay. It's like you're saying English beer's great. Well, you know, I mean, carling's not great.

1:06:32Luke Moore: Carling. Yeah. It's all the same, isn't it, Jim? Yeah. Beer, carling. Apparently it's mandory. Apparently carling and mandory are the same. It is the same to you. You don't drink anything. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I just get it down me. I don't bother. Yeah. Barely touches the sides of me. Yeah, you're going to have time to taste it. That's not what it's about. Exactly. About blotting out horrible reality. Yeah. Get that deep impression down here. Oh, dear. But I tell you what, there was a lovely reality on the weekend and it was full of getting three points. It was. Jersey Mike sandwiches all round.

1:06:58Luke Moore: So there we are. Thank you very much for listening to, or watching even, the Football Ramble, should I say, part of the Acast Creator Network. We'll be back tomorrow with the mailbag. So do get your ears around that lot. In the meantime, do chuck us a nice review, if you wouldn't mind, and hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Thank you, Jim. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. Thank you very much. And thank you, Fulham.

1:07:26The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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