Give it more biff

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3:08Luke Moore: You made an excellent choice, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble! Sir Bozlai scored a peach and West Ham won! It's Monday, 1st of September. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm Jim Campbell.

3:32Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. Good to have you with us at the start of the working week. Pinch punch, start of the month, Jim. Yeah. September already. You've not hit me yet, so I will. Yeah, I know it's coming. I'll give you a right good belting in a minute. Luke Moore, lovely to have you back on the pod. It's great to be here, thank you. Don't make me sound like a guest. I'm always in. yeah well it was since day one yeah just before we came on here fucking fed up a bit of anything Luke was telling us about his little trip to Fratton Park on the weekend good home win yeah up into eighth in the table now Portsmouth you saw your mate Johnny Westwood yeah my dad used to be my dad you guys always used to say I did actually look at him because I was thinking that I was thinking you guys he does look a bit like me no no you guys were saying that in around 2008-9 you used to take the piss out of me for that and I look at Johnny Westwood and he's still there and I'll be honest with you he hasn't aged no definitely no that's not the point I'm making I take no pleasure in saying this I was sitting there at half time looking at him and thinking how are you even alive his insides must be abysmal

4:36Jim Campbell: I assume he's just sort of crusted into his chair at this point and he's just always at Fratton Park well he never leaves yeah yeah because he doesn't get into away games much these days can't imagine so no anyway

4:45Luke Moore: what a man though do you reckon people were happy to hear about Fratton Park after a weekend like that in the Premier League markets. Well, I thought that we have to walk our way into this because, my goodness, we're going to have to start sprinting in a minute. We are. What a weekend of Premier League action. I mean, there's just not enough hours in the pod. It can't be denied, can it, how good it is. We have to start with, on paper, the biggest game of the weekend. Perhaps not the most entertaining, but it was Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal, of course. They beat Arsenal again at Anfield to take an early lead in the title race.

5:17Luke Moore: but my goodness what a hit from that Hungarian hunk Dominic Sabozlai yeah just perfect absolutely perfect it's one of the best free kicks you'll ever see

5:30Jim Campbell: 100 % the swing on it the angle at which it flies in the way he beats Rea and it gets those two Liverpool players in the sort of fake wall to separate at the right times the execution of it was absolutely perfect well

5:44Luke Moore: in theory yeah but it didn't did it well no I'm saying that when you say he got the players to sort of move out of the way, it was like, I don't think that made a difference. If anything, that would have helped the goalkeeper, which made the finish even more spectacular. It's an absolute exocet missile right in the back of Ray has been. It was an incredible hit. And if you watch it again in slow motion, the technique on it as well, it's not even necessarily that he's traditionally laced it. He just catches the time. And so it's a bit like, do you know what it reminded me of? but remind me if you ever go to a real life golfing event with professional golfers, right?

6:21And you expect them to be tanking the ball. And sometimes they are. But a lot of time, it's quite slow and slow. Just the timing. And the ball flies off the club head. This was like that with Sir Bozlai's boot. It didn't look like he was even putting that much effort into it. It was just a perfect technique.

6:39Luke Moore: It was incredible. Drogba used to hit the ball sometimes. A bit like that, yeah. With sort of the in-step. Almost the in-step, yeah. Yeah, but the power and the precision he would get on it was ridiculous. But my goodness, I know that there was a teensy tiny question mark over Raya and people say, you know, just as the ball's in the air, you think, again, from slow-mo behind the goal, you think he's going to leap and maybe get that. And then he takes that extra little tiny step. But I think to look at the keeper is perhaps a little bit silly. And I think Joe Hart summed it up on Match of the Day where he just went, no, that's all about the goal.

7:11Jim Campbell: Well, because Hart made the point that he's covering a number of possibilities before Saboslay hits the ball. So, yeah, I mean, it's pretty perfect where it's ended up, isn't it? To me, it's all about the strike. Absolutely, and it should be. And I think, you know, that's what it's going to be remembered for. I mean, it's a great goal to win a game that was a bit sticky for Liverpool for reasons that we'll probably come on to. But what Rea does is quite interesting because he sets up the wall and then he sits or stands, sorry, on the other side of the goal. and then as Suboslai makes his run up, he moves into the middle, which he does a lot, Raya.

7:43And then it makes you think that if he moves into the middle already and so his momentum's already going that way, how good does the hit have to be to still beat him? And it obviously goes in the corner off the post. I wonder, maybe it's not time to reignite this debate now for the reasons that you've just said, Marcus, but I wonder when it's that far out, if you even need a wall. I think, to be honest, it kind of complicates things a little bit because there's no way a player of that quality, whether he scores or not is going to struggle to get it up and down over the wall from that distance the wall comes into play when you're much closer in because it's really hard to get the lift and then get the dip from that distance it's not hard to get the dip no

8:18Luke Moore: what about could it be down to the new Puma ball that's what Ryan mentioned he did keep changing the balls on us well indeed well he said that it moves slightly differently to the Nike ball that they've used in previous seasons he was he said that after the goal yes I believe so into the camera did you not see it he said Sir Boswell had a jabalani in his pocket

8:37Jim Campbell: I saw it. He put it out of his pocket. It was a penny floater. Look at my Donald Trump drops a golf ball down his trouser leg. Yeah, exactly. That's what it was. I can't believe you disparage a man like that.

8:47Luke Moore: What, Trump? Moving on. Yes, we've always talked about the new balls and so on. I remember years and years ago when David Seaman said, you know, some of the new balls was like a beach ball when you boot it up in the air and it kind of moves around. It didn't look, I mean, again, I'm not in golf trying to save it. I appreciate it. But it looked, as you already mentioned, that Sir Bozla had complete control and mastery over that football. But Rea was quick to say, look, it's the same for everybody, blah, blah, blah. Ultimately, it's an absolutely stupendous piece of skill and a piece of brilliance, which separated the two sides because it was a bit of a stalemate, Jim.

9:23Jim Campbell: It was. And I do appreciate the tactics that Arsenal went into this game with, actually. As a neutral, I didn't. I'm sure you didn't, yeah. You're on your own. You're on your own. You're on your own. You're on your own. Because I was fuming. I appreciate what they were trying to do. I didn't enjoy the game at all. I'm sure most people that don't support Liverpool didn't as well because it was a very, very dull affair. But I do think, I understand why he's kind of taken a slightly Mourinho-ish approach to this fixture in particular at this time of the season because they've tried so many different things at Anfield.

9:56Jim Campbell: I mean, they've drawn there in the last two seasons. Obviously, we know they've not won there in a long time. So I think he's gone, all right. Well, we've not tried to just completely and utterly grind it from the off before. So let's give that a go. I don't think Odegaard was fit enough to start. So he's gone with Mourinho from the beginning. I think he might even have done that anyway. It looked to me like the plan was to just squeeze the game, keep it really tight until about the 70th minute, bring on your attacking players as he did, and then effectively gamble that you can win the game when it's 20 minutes long.

10:27Jim Campbell: And obviously they've been undone by a moment of brilliance. And the frustrating thing for me about the approach is if you are going to take that approach, you need to have little pockets where you do go for it even if it's just one move but they didn't create a single big chance in the game Liverpool didn't either really it was quite a dull affair across the board apart from that one moment of brilliance and yeah I think it's essentially just you take that risk don't you weirdly there's a lot of risk in being that conservative because you have to take your chances at Anfield and by playing in such a conservative way you limit your chance of even making those chances it was frustrating I understand the approach and if he pulls it off it's a tactical masterclass but Declan Rice was taking corners from the right which meant outswingers which they've not really done very much to be honest and they were really really ineffective so that's a big part of the game you've kind of neutralised within yourself I felt like they were really focusing on potential from set pieces more than anything else definitely and that is just a depressing thing to have to watch as a neutralist Marcus said my notes from the game I'll just read them to you give you an idea of how bored I was.

11:34Arteta needs to lighten up. Arneslot is chill. He's like a small town local baker in a Dutch town having fun, letting people off the occasional loaf. Arteta is a LinkedIn bore. Arteta is a LinkedIn bore, definitely. He's very LinkedIn, yeah. Arteta, you know what, if Arteta wasn't doing this, he'd be doing what Stephen Bartlett's doing.

11:53Jim Campbell: Well, he's already a brand ambassador for Under Armour, isn't he? And they're trying to disrupt that particular area. So he's kind of doing this already. Yeah. just for wedge William Saliba got injured as well really early on which is great like you know just ridiculous already at this point

12:09Luke Moore: and they knew he was a bit in danger of that in the warm up because he hurt himself in the warm up I mean Mosquera comes in and gives a very very good account yeah he did very well not exactly that familiar with the Premier League of course no so I appreciate what you said about the tactics and Arsenal's approach and so on and so forth don't they just need to lighten up Marcus they need to lighten up Arsenal don't they but I do agree ultimately with that But I get what you say, Jim, about for the first hour or 70 minutes, if it works and so on and so forth. As I said, the first day of the season when they played against Manchester United, I just want more from Arsenal.

12:47Luke Moore: And I'm sure as an Arsenal fan, you would agree with that point. Profoundly. I mean, indeed. Last season, you mentioned, was he going to sort of Jose Mourinho at Anfield? Well, when Mourinho played these types of games, he would win 1-0. when he was winning titles. He'll be happy with a nil-nil away in a knockout game in the Champions League or something. Yeah, but I felt with Mourinho, evidently with the titles he won here, and I'm talking about vintage Mourinho, the medals speak for themselves. With Arteta, what is it, finished second three seasons in a row, I think, well, okay, what he's done at Arsenal has been impressive.

13:25Luke Moore: It is that getting over the line. I feel he's more Southgate than Mourinho. I've said this before. And I think he's, you know, in the same way, you know, he's changed the culture at Arsenal and he's re-established Arsenal as one of the best, well, the second best side in the country, consistently there. People want to go and play for Arsenal. There's a buzz around the place. All that kind of stuff. It's about getting over the line. And I just look at games like this. And I know, look, it's the first time Arsenal have lost a game against a big six team in the Prem since April 2023, which in one sense is not that long ago.

13:56Luke Moore: But in another sense, I think it's a noteworthy statistic. so I don't want to be too harsh but and I was early in the season and blah blah blah they've lost three points to their rival and three points can win or lose a Premier League and I just they've got to do a bit more Luke they deserve everything they get yeah look the thing is I'm sat here now and I don't mean this to be pejorative about either of you but just going to contextualise what I'm about to say Jim's an Arsenal fan and you think Arsenal will win the league this season and you also said you think they win at Anfield you said that last week you said you said you said you'd win.

14:29Because I'm trying to

14:30Luke Moore: will it into existence for poor old Jimmy. Well, he doesn't need your help. No. If you want your help I'll ask for it. Yeah. Why does he keep turning up? But if you, I asked that before we came on. And apparently I'm rude. Only one team set up to win the game. Liverpool didn't create an awful lot themselves but that's partly because of how Arsenal set up. I know Arsenal have some key injuries. They have been unlucky of injuries for sure. But I also think you don't help yourself when you set up in that way. And you, What Arteta's able to do, I feel like from the outside looking in, is just surgically remove the joy out of stuff.

15:06I think it would have been a real statement, for example. I mean, to me, he has to play Eze ahead of Martinelli. He has to play him. I mean, Eze is a player who is raring to go. The momentum of him signing, the manner in which they signed him, the fact that he supports Arsenal, he can go to Anfield and really can take the game to Liverpool.

15:26Jim Campbell: Scored winners there before, or a winner there. Quite. Yeah, he plays Martinelli. I know it's easy to be wise after the event. He's never really going to do anything. It's just so disappointing. The thing with Martinelli, though, we mentioned it last week. He's just trying too hard, Arteta. Well, I think with Martinelli, he's quite an effective defensive forward. So I think the idea of starting him was to sort of get a measure of the game, try and keep it tight. I think he was part of that thinking, but I completely agree. I think it's disappointing that they don't kind of go for it a little bit more.

15:56Jim Campbell: and obviously if Arsenal nick that 1-0 we're all saying it's a tactical masterclass and that's the thing and that's what you're trying to do but this is the thing

16:03Luke Moore: I get what you're saying Jim this is we are literally I do because we're talking about the margins you're saying and rightly so but if this because Subozlai's goal it's an absolute worldie out of nothing so again Arsenal completely restricted Liverpool and even if it's 0-0 I still think there's a little bit of the same but ultimately they don't win the game and I thought Liverpool, as much as Liverpool have been in the last few years, were, this is too extreme to say, but not there for the taking. But I just thought that Arsenal went into this game and you knew the frailties there. You look at Bournemouth on the first day of the season, the emotion of the event basically gets Liverpool the win, right?

16:44Luke Moore: And fair play. You see them against Newcastle. The sending off helps, but even with the sending off, we mentioned that it was like Liverpool had a man fewer than Newcastle. the way the game was going. And Community Shield even, they've not looked convincing in all three of their competitive games, Community Shield included, this season. And I thought, Arsenal, go there and take the game to them. Yeah, they've not played

17:07Jim Campbell: particularly well in any game where they've got nine points and they lead the league. It's kind of ridiculous. Similar to last season. Yeah, absolutely. I do think, I agree, even if you're going to play that type of game where you are trying to keep it tight, I just think they should have brought the attacking players on a little bit earlier because Liverpool had started to get a hold in the game and it was starting to sort of tilt in their favour a little bit. Curtis Jones made a difference coming on. Yeah, he did. Arsenal were under a bit more pressure than they had been before. So just go to that second phase of the game a bit earlier.

17:34Jim Campbell: You've got the first phase done. You've kept it to nil-nil. You've made it tight. Just do it a bit earlier. Easy to be wise after the fact. The thing that annoyed me most was him bringing Max Dalman on. It was ridiculous to bring him on in that situation. I thought that. Ethan Winery scored nine goals from that position last season as a 17-year-old. He's shown that he's got the maturity to make the right decisions in those moments and affect games. I just thought that's a Hail Mary. It felt like a distraction. And it's kind of weirdly thoughtless, actually. Yeah, I agree. Totally. And having said that, I think he overthinks a lot of stuff, which I think he does.

18:04I actually wrote my notes for the game. I just thought it was ridiculous that he did that. Look, on the Liverpool side of things, to me, you're seeing signs of why they're the favourites to win the league again. I think you've got to factor in the idea they've brought in. Well, so in the game yesterday, they had three players, new players in key positions, right? So Verts and Kerkes and Eketike, right? And it's not that often you see a title winning team make as many moves in the transfer win as they have. They're trying to strengthen in kind of a lot of different areas. Obviously, Sabozo is playing in an unfamiliar position as well and was the difference maker.

18:42Liverpool are building nicely, right? They've not been fluent, I agree. I think, you know, you guys have talked quite a lot today about if Arsenal had done this and then you mentioned that, you know, if Newcastle had done that and all the rest of it. The reality is it carries on and after a while you have to understand it's not a coincidence. And Liverpool haven't been fluent but they've always found a way. I actually think the positives from there from them, it was Kerkers' best performance at Liverpool. It was Verts' best performance. Again, he wasn't amazing or anything but if you look at someone like Florian Verts' ceiling which is really high, I mean it's like one of the world's best players high and given him time just to find his way in that kind of creative midfield position and having a bit more of an influence and trying to, you could see him trying to get closer to Ekotike, get close to Ksela.

19:30He was going to find the ball quite a lot early on, but then he kind of changed. And all this is building up towards the fact that they're going to be a real force again this season. I mean, even when you're factoring that Alexis McAllister isn't fully fit yet, Gravenberts really hasn't hit his straps either. Canate's found it tough. You know, they're still winning. Rumors of a new striker coming in as well.

19:49Luke Moore: Apparently so. But you're right, Luke, But it is similar to last season. If you remember after, what was it, eight or nine games last season, you know, Forrest had won at Anfield, but otherwise they'd been pretty perfect. And I remember thinking, they're top. They've not done anything particularly spectacular. And that's what I fear for Arsenal and my prediction's sake is that it all just kind of looks pretty much the same again. Yeah, absolutely. Even to Man City. Look at Zubamendi in there. Zubamendi comes in, a massive fanfare. In that position, really key. I'm not saying anyone here was saying this, but some of the chat around Zubamendi coming in was he could be Arsenal's Rodri, right?

20:23He goes, obviously not on his own, but he goes up against McAllister and Gravenberch, neither of whom are at full Biff, right? And he's nowhere near it. I thought he had a really poor game. Yeah.

20:32Luke Moore: How much Biff were they at? 60 % Biff? I think McAllister's at about, from what I've seen, McAllister's at about 60 % Biff. Right. Gravenberch is probably higher than that. But Gravenberch is at a truncated start because he was suspended for the first game. Yeah. So - Do they have an almanac as well that they could predict the result on? it's not related to Back to the Future okay sorry but once McAllister and Gravenberch are full Biff it's title time it's party time it's fan dabby dozy Jim it's a lot of Biff it's Biff everywhere and Alexander Izak is joining in with the Biff have I got that wrong well Izak might not be a full Biff either because he hasn't played yeah not even training as we understand I love that he thinks I love that the exact thing about him not training at Newcastle is funny for the reasons as you've just alluded to.

21:20But there's also an amazing arrogance to it because he's just obviously thinking, well, Liverpool champions, they've won every game this season. Ekotiki scored already a couple of times. I'll probably just walk into that team even though I haven't been training one night.

21:32Jim Campbell: I hope he has just been sort of sat on the sofa watching Netflix and eating ice cream. And I hope he's on the bench for Liverpool until December.

21:40Luke Moore: Yeah. 125 million boys, apparently. He's going forward. Buy you a lot of biff, that. If you want the big biff, you've got to pay the big fuck. That's true. Exactly. Yeah, it would be a British transfer record fee. So yes, at the time of record, it looks like it's going to happen. He's expected to want to go medical later today before signing a six-year contract. And that's a good example. That can fuck off, can't it? No, it's really important to mention that he's doing a six-year contract because as we've seen, he'll definitely honour it all the way through again. He does like to honour it. Yeah, the length is really important for a player.

22:12Luke Moore: Well, I think it's a good example, kids. To get where you want to be in life, just throw a wobbler. to Australia Massacre. Watch myself. That's true. Yeah, there is a time to stop doing it. But clearly with Ezek, there's a time to reignite that sort of thing. Is he a rat? He is a rat, but it'll be their rat, right? It'll be different.

22:31Jim Campbell: Splinter. He's splinter. Yeah, exactly.

22:32Luke Moore: Yeah, splinter was a very good, positive role model for rats. I feel like I should stick up for rats. Right. Very important species, very successful species. I mean, all the species are important. Yeah, but some are more important than others, though. To paraphrase George Orwell. I would say... That says the Communist Party. We do a lot of experiments. I'm Trump most weeks. Don't you make your mind up? We meet in the middle. I'm so cynical. I'll go anywhere. What a meeting that would be. But what I'm saying is rats, we do a lot of experimentation on rats. Do we? For medical reasons. For better off or worse.

23:03They've played a big role. And they love very affectionate animals. They love cheesecake. There we go. Rats are at full biff and they always have been.

23:11Luke Moore: That's true. Cheesecake is the only thing they'll eat too much of. Is that right? Like you. although marzipan you are all of it marzipan or anything free yeah definitely he loves a free lunch that's true actually no if there was like free salad the other day that's safe I mentioned to Marcus like the other day as we were rounding down the show I said there's sausage rolls in the kitchen you couldn't see it for dust it was like it was like the roadrunner I'd already eat one yeah I was while ago I'd put a one ton weight above the sausage rolls but you got away with it that's a good sausage roll

23:40Jim Campbell: we're not far away from you bringing a Tupperware in are we no not far no not far it's a good idea well yes good win for Liverpool though good win for Liverpool really good win for Liverpool it's the win that titles are made of that sort of thing isn't it they've already done that against Newcastle

23:55Luke Moore: now the transfer deadline passes at 7pm today Mark Gay is going to be interesting what happens with him today obviously started and scored an absolute peach goal of the month contender for Crystal Palace suppose I had done the same thing a few hours before it would have been you don't just have I said contender you've got to have a contender exactly Exactly. Come on. Okay. Contendo. And he gets my vote. Okay. I don't get a vote. He just sent you some sausage rolls in the post. That's right. It's absolutely driverish. Ranked driverish. Well, on Mark Gay, Oliver Glasson said last night, I like Mark.

24:28Luke Moore: He is such a professional player and such a nice guy. It is for the future of Crystal Palace. We have to keep him. We don't have the right replacements. So for me, it is clear that we keep him, which is interesting because obviously Parish and the hierarchy of the club have said that they need to make sales. they sold Eberet Chez. It'll be very interesting to see if Palace think, do you know what? For the money we could get for Gay, actually we're better off having him because that may well mean, you know, longer running in European competition, further up the league, all the money that that could bring in.

25:02Luke Moore: And for the quality of the season that they could have, he is a big player for them. Do they cash in or do they, you know, listen to Oliver Glasner and take that on board? Big decision. I expect what will happen is that they'll sell him in January.

25:15Jim Campbell: little from column A little from column B you could say Mark Gay amid a lot of transfer interest from Liverpool has chosen a different type of strike a strike against Aston Villa yes to make his fear very accommodating this season we've not really got around to their start yet but such is such is the packed schedule yes they were pathetic last night yeah they've been very very poor but Gay it's getting late in the day we're going to do a transfer show tomorrow after the deadline closes so we better talk about it properly then. But it feels to me, maybe this is an old-fashioned opinion, but it feels to me that for a player of that quality and the money we're talking about and all that rest of it, notwithstanding the idea that I suppose a lot of the details may have been sorted out already, it feels like it's quite late for this to happen.

26:01I mean, so who knows? But like, Pakitar did his old phone thing, which is quite funny, and said that he's staying. But who knows? I mean, yeah, who knows? Palace were linked with a young French defender from Toulouse is JD Convo

26:16Jim Campbell: yeah but he's 18 isn't he 19 I think seems unlikely that he'd come in as a first team player he was being reported by some lazier news outlets that he was going to be a long term replacement for Gay but at 19 I mean Gay's a captain at Palace I mean come on yeah I mean

26:27Luke Moore: that victory against Villa bodes very well because Eze has obviously moved on but I know Villa have been poor this season you go away in the Premier League to a side who are on paper better than you you hammer them 3-0 I know they've got the I know they've got the reading of Villa you know remember that semi-final in the FA Cup but bloody hell you think well actually we're alright we're in good shape the key figure there is Glasner right yes exactly it's the same with Bournemouth great win you look at the same for Fulham as well slightly different you keep Silva you keep Iriola you keep Glasner that is they are the main guys and I think that for Palace even if Gay was to go I wouldn't worry about them at all and I would still put them down as going deep in the conference league of course so yes the show tomorrow with Jim Luke and Pete will look at all the deals that have happened on deadline day.

27:13Luke Moore: Not all of them. And yeah, all the runoff points. I'm not doing like, well, I nearly called him Visser there. Johan Wisser get his wish because you talk about, I did find it funny with his statement. He was saying, you know, they need to, they need to honour the promise they made. And I was like, but you've signed a contract. You've made one as well. That statement might as well start with, I am fucking furious. Yes, exactly. It was really, really, I mean, the great thing was he's probably gone about dictating it or telling them what he wanted to say and they've had to really couch it in like acceptable language You could really feel the vitriol dripping off it.

27:46Luke Moore: Yes. Talking of vitriol, one transfer we expect confirmation of is Jamie Vardy to Cremonese. Jamie Vardy in Serie A. That's what we want. It's an amazing prospect. Yeah. It was incredible to see the video that someone took, I think it was shared on the Sun website, of Vardy arriving there. And you just never really expect a player like him to move to a team like that. and the fans it wasn't quite like when Darius Vassell went to Turkey but it did remind me of that a little bit I know what you mean it's a great move he turned down the chance to go and play for Van Persie oh did he in Holland yes as well he's been burned by Dutch strikers let's be honest managing yeah I suppose but I just think Vardy doing the rounds in Holland would be amazing yeah I'm not sure he's that well suited to Italian life no I don't know that's part of the fun isn't it fish out of water I mean they was You know, it's a league where you can play when you're a bit older because it's slightly slower paced and all that kind of stuff.

28:45Luke Moore: Maybe that pace will be back. I don't think Vardy's pace would look that bad. No, no, no. That's what I mean. Yeah. And, yeah, I mean, the city of Cremona, known for its violin making. Is it really? A few hundred years. So he'll get the violin now. Like, what was that Italian strike? I forget his name. He used to do the violin celebration. He was in the 2006 squad, I think. I can't remember. Yeah, but anyway, it doesn't matter. Yeah, well, good luck, Vardy. Right, coming up after this, that beautiful boy, Jack Grealish, does it again.

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30:13See the reviews, see what stands out, and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit BetterHelp.com forward slash ramble. That's BetterHelp.com slash ramble. Hey guys, it's Joe. It's Kevin. And this is Nick Jonas from Hey Jonas. Do you remember growing up when it felt like every teacher had a favorite student? Everybody knew who it was. Well, I was homeschooled, so I like to think it was me. A class of one. Congratulations. But we're not here to talk about favorite students. We want to talk about a teacher's real favorite. Kleenex tissues. According to TeacherList, Kleenex is the number one facial tissue brand trusted by teachers.

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32:26Without Emmy Martinez, not in the squad at all tonight. Why is that? Visot. Marco Visot. Where is Emi Martinez, though? Marco Visot. Will he be your future goalkeeper? Marco Visot. The time is over.

32:49Luke Moore: What about the football ramble, everybody? Una Emery there just sort of, I don't know, did he... Was that an AI, Una Emery, who just got stuttery? I'll tell you what makes it sinister. is the interviewer is speaking to him like there's been the disappearance of a child. Yes. Where is Emi Martinez? Where is Emi Martinez? Bisod. Yeah. It took me a while to work out what he's actually saying. No, you've just made yourself the number one candidate. Suspect. Not as suspect as the word. He's the candidate for the murder. Good news. We made you a candidate. By the way, Italian strike of Ireland I checked in the break.

33:27Alberto Gilardino. Gilardino. Thank you for that.

33:29Luke Moore: Thank you, Google. And thanks to Friend of the Ramble, Kweli, for sending us that clip on Discord. You can become a Friend of the Ramble too for just five bucks a month. You'll get the Ramble up front and on the continent completely ad-free. And access to the Football Ramble Discord where you can chat with us and other Ramble listeners and get yourself a nice little community there. Search patreon.com forward slash football ramble to get involved. Now, I didn't think I would be uttering this today. Nottingham Forest 0, West Ham United 3. I know there's trouble in paradise in Forest's ranks. But my goodness, Jim Campbell, what a win for West Ham.

34:04Luke Moore: They've needed a result and a clean sheet as well.

34:07Jim Campbell: I would not have expected this in the 80th minute of this game, to be honest, because it was fairly, it looked like it was heading for a pretty routine nil-nil. Much better performance from West Ham. That was obvious from the start. Obviously, we've seen them have some quite shocking displays recently. But I think going to a traditional back four was a big, big part of it. They look way more structured. And fair play to Potter. Yeah, absolutely. And what they did really, really well was they denied Nottingham Forest space. And it's such a simple and basic principle, but you kind of starve them of oxygen if you do that.

34:40Jim Campbell: And on top of that, I think quite a few of Forest's better players had off days as well. Morgan Gibbs-White in particular had a couple of passes he made that were perhaps the technique wasn't quite right or the decision-making wasn't quite right. But there were quite a few performances from Forest players on the day that led to that. And obviously that's not particularly helpful for them at the moment. But the flurry of goals, brilliant finish from Bowen. He's so reliable for them, such a sort of talismanic player. And I think my highlight of the whole game was what should have been Bowen's second and West Ham's fourth.

35:16Jim Campbell: But Callum Wilson just took the ball off of his foot just as he was about to pull the trigger.

35:20Luke Moore: Well, Bowen got the shot away, but Wilson got in the way. sure but he's you know he's stopped that from being a goal it was Messi-esque you know when he wriggles it was a bit like that goal at the burnabout when he wriggles around the defenders and so on and yeah when you're seeing it you're like well this is none of that candidate for goal of the month this is going to be goal of the season and he does get the shot it was a good save but yeah Wilson didn't help and Bowen was furious with him absolutely furious he's still furious with him and he seemed to be alright at the final whistle as furious as he was with those fans against Wolves well you know what the narrative around West Ham has been there since the start of the season and you know to a large extent rightly so pot has been under huge pressure but against wolves even though they lost the game they did actually show a bit the game against wolves was where bowen started to almost like he was easing his way into the season he started to kind of hit his straps pakatar scored in that game as well by the way and those two players are going to be absolutely key the biggest damming the most damning thing you can say for forest is a kind of one point in kind of two parts really one is that elliot anderson was really the only midfield player doing anything he was trying to do all himself and he seemed really buoyed by his England call-up and all the rest of it.

36:24He's a busy... I mean, the shift he put in was incredible. But the fact that West Ham won this game 3-0 away from home, as Jim alluded to, with two players in midfield, basically a human feather and a human fucking cargo ship in midfield together, yet still managed to win 3-0. Now, it is worth pointing out that I think Ward-Prowse came off before any of those goals went in. Andy Irving came on. They've also signed Matias Fernandes. He had a really good game. They needed badly. and he can play obviously a little bit deeper as well if he wants to well not if he wants to if the manager lets him he doesn't get to choose I knew what you meant so it could be that if and there's a lot of ifs it's a point I'm about to make if Pakitar and Bowen get firing and stay consistent

37:11Luke Moore: which they've there's a real chance they could totally because Pakitar's now intimating that he's staying as you say with that celebration I mean if he goes it's a very descriptive I'll tell you something if he goes today that what a rat. Oh, mate, that's... Yeah, yeah. Could I just say two words? That's worse than anything. Carlos Tevez. Every Carlos Tevez stuff, mate. It would be shocking. No, I was throwing the phone out after the call had finished. Yeah, because it was such an easy decision. Yes, throw away. Yeah. I prefer text. I would... Look, for banter's sake, surely there's got to be an owner of a Premier League club today going, all right, let's see.

37:44Luke Moore: Yeah, let's test it. Let's see. 300 grand a week, you want? Fine. Let's test the result. We'll do that. We're in Champions League. Yeah. we hear you've got quite the overheads Lucas Packard and if the other if of the the final if of this point is if Callum Wilson will stay fit because Callum Wilson made a difference he did make a big difference and he looks several rungs on the quality quality ladder above Nicholas Falker but you're right if he can stay fit and that's always been the problem with Wilson in recent seasons but they've got two proper forwards there and I know that you know West Ham United with their number nines have struggled a bit but Luke's right with that front line.

38:21Luke Moore: But it's so funny how the conversation can change because I said on Friday that Jose Mourinho will be West Ham manager by the time the international break is done. Now, I don't know whether it was a case of make or break for Potter. We don't know because they won the game and they won it in quite a bit of style. But it certainly buys him a bit of time. It certainly makes him and the club feel a lot better about themselves going into the international break now. but if he has if this result has scuppered Mourinho at West Ham I am a bit pissed off yeah that is annoying the only thing that will cheer me up is a pay per view option for the Nuno meeting with Maranacas this week that would be good

38:59Jim Campbell: actually to be fair on the one hand it has made it less likely that he'll turn up at West Ham but also on the other it's made it more likely that he'll turn up at Forest so you know you might still get to have your free cake and eat it

39:10Luke Moore: on Friday we were talking about would he manage West Ham or Rangers well even Rangers manage a stinking nil-nil with Celtic and it's like ah we're going to have to wait a bit more for Mourinho. That was a surprise to me as well. I thought Rodgers would out-tactic Martin into the bin. Yeah. It's a long way back from Kazakhstan. I think it's Rangers' worst start in a long, long time. It is. It is. But back in the Premier League, Nottingham Forest have some big questions that are hanging over them. Most notably, will Nuno Espirito Santo still be the manager for much longer? I mean, reports that he was going to be sacked after his relationship with the only Maranacos had deteriorated.

39:48Luke Moore: And I find Nuno is cutting a very different figure than what he did last season. If you remember when Maranacos came on the pitch when they were, was it in the Leicester game, I think it was, when they sort of messed up on their quest to qualify for Champions League. And Maranacos comes on the pitch, it's all very obvious. But Nuno was very, very calm and very politician-like about it. Ah, you know, these things happen. And he downplayed it, downplayed it. And he's very calm, is Nuno. this season, when he's being asked these questions, he's not flying off the handle, that's not his style, but he's being much more almost elusive with his language.

40:25Luke Moore: Yeah, he's not... And it's purpose. He knows what he's doing. I appreciate it's not his first language, but he's been speaking English. And as I say, compare it to last season. It's quite clear that he himself is not happy, Jim.

40:35Jim Campbell: Yeah, he's not making any robust denials about the uncertainty. And he's not smoothing it over. No, he's absolutely not. It's because of Edu, isn't it? That is the story, isn't it? The story is that... They fell out so badly that they weren't on speaking terms. because I don't know what it's like now, but apparently it's like really personal and really tricky. But what does Maranakis do?

40:51Luke Moore: Edou's a fairly new man. Or does he have to choose? But I think Maranakis was, again, a pay-per-view event. I was it. Maranakis and Nuno, I think, had a really close kind of relationship. Nuno had a lot more, it felt like he had a lot more influence in things. And they bring in Edou, and he just works, I guess, in a completely different way. And as Jim said, it's kind of just all gone, fallen over. Which is kind of interesting on one level, because I understand the motivation of wanting to bring yourself up to a higher level with a really experienced sport and director or whatever. But then in retrospect, it looks a bit...

41:21Yeah, but it just looks like if it's not broke, why are you trying to fix it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, who knows? Oh my goodness.

41:27Luke Moore: The thought of... I mean, Mourinho is the specter at the feast. We often say it's like Sean Dyche, you know, he's waging circus. I just feel... It's maybe early for that, but... I can't explain why, but I'm going to say something quite controversial here. This is genuinely how I feel. Yeah. I'm definitely up for Mourinho going to West Ham. Yeah. but I think it's a bit insulting if he goes to Forrest I do agree with that but Maranacos and Mourinho teaming up fireworks so Mourinho talking about how they won't be teaming up though will they that's the problem and Jim again it would be disastrous for Forrest it would be great for us here sorry Forrest Mourinho after a couple of really particularly poor Forrest results just talking about quote unquote the Clough team and like really disrespecting that kind of era of Forrest you know come on I think it would be a little bit unsaving When you go in there, I know you're a Europa League team, but as far as I'm concerned...

42:15Luke Moore: Throw it in the bin. You got it through cheesing.

42:19Jim Campbell: Take all your medals. You got it through the Slack admin of another team. Yeah. I don't know. You won that Europa League place via an email. Or the lack of one, should I say.

42:32Luke Moore: Now, you've got to be careful doing Clough, because you can end up doing Savile. Yes. You're not careful. Oh, yeah. You found that to your displeasure in the past. I've never been asked back. No. No, no. I'll tell you what, he never started another marathon. He was never the official starter from London back to get after that. It was a questionable get-up, but there we are. Yeah. Anyway, let's move on. Put your cigar down, let's move on. Yes. Come on. Let's move on to Brighton 2, Manchester City 1. It's another loss. It is. Another loss for Man City. Can I just chuck a little, I don't really do that many stats because I think it's boring broadcasting, but if I may very briefly be able to say that weirdly enough, Brighton did the exact same thing in this game last season.

43:13They came back from 1-0 down at home to Man City by scoring two goals from players off the bench.

43:18Luke Moore: Yeah. Which is a really weird... And Haaland scored the goal for them as well last season. Haaland did score the goal for them, yeah. Well, this is it. Man City, they're just not...

43:24Jim Campbell: They're not scary anymore. That's it. And also, the one kind of bit of that legacy they had left was that Rodri record, right? Yep. And that's gone now as well.

43:32Luke Moore: Do you know, and also as well, yes, important to say that, Jim, but Haaland is still obviously, you know, I say they're not scary. I still think Man City He's like the third best team in the country. Haaland had a lot of chances. He did. And it's, you know, it's no mean feat being the third best team in England or there or thereabouts. It's my thoughts. But, you know, last season, I proclaimed, didn't I, the empire is over under purpose. It's never going to be the same. And it isn't. It's just not going to be the same. And it isn't the same, quite clearly. Because even Haaland, what Haaland used to do, or not used to do, he can still do it.

44:07Luke Moore: Haaland's still one of the best centre forwards in the world, possibly the best. He scores the goal and was it old Van Hecker? Yes. He barges him out the way. He's like, oh, right. And he loves a bit of all that. Well, when Brighton equalised, I think Lewis Duncan has a sort of a little laugh, doesn't he, in Harland's ear? And he goes, oh, right. They get the winner. And it's just like, mate, you're not the, you individually, yes, but your team is not what it used to be. And, you know, there was only going to be one winner. When Milner puts that penalty away, and marvellous for James Milner to score it.

44:37Luke Moore: I mean, come on. The second oldest scorer. the second youngest scorer. And I was bit of symmetry in that. I think he's going to take Gareth Barry's Premier League appearance record. I think that's what he's got his eye on. I can't believe James Milner

44:46Jim Campbell: doesn't already have it. That's how amazing Gareth Barry was.

44:50Luke Moore: It's how consistent Gareth Barry was. The longevity in that man's career, you know, being such a, you know, 16-year-old bursting onto the scene and he's still going and scores a crucial one there. And you backed him from the spot. He's so reliable with penalties. But there was only going to be one winner. You thought to yourself that Man City were just, yes, in the first half they were a lot better. But look at Brighton. And again, there was no kind of, all right, we've equalized. Okay, it's Man City. Let's just keep it. It was just like, no, we know what we're doing here.

45:12Jim Campbell: I mean, we often said, didn't we, even when they seemed completely kind of invincible, that quite often teams would lose the game in their heads before they'd even start. It's like Mike Tyson. Exactly right. Go on the pitch one nil down. And we often wondered, like, what happens if teams just kind of throw that out the window and attack them a bit more? And sometimes, remember even Southampton last season got a little bit of joy doing that. And that was perhaps a kind of herald of what was to come. And that kind of, that fear isn't there, as you're suggesting. So teams are now just fully aware that this is just 10 human beings and one Viking cyborg, and you can beat them.

45:48Luke Moore: Well, yeah, I mean, Pep said his team forgot to continue playing after they went ahead. He also said they were tired late on, and Rodri said, you know, they're not up to the level yet, new players need time to adapt, et cetera, et cetera. He said, okay, fine, but this is just not, it's not, my point that I'm repeating is it's not the same as it was now two seasons ago. It's not a case of, oh, last season. It's not the same. They're still a very good football team. They will play very good football this season. They'll have amazing moments. They'll win some matches. They'll go deep in the Cups, you know, FA Cup final success, blah, blah, blah, blah.

46:17Luke Moore: They're not going to win the league.

46:18Jim Campbell: Yeah. I think they've got a problem at right back as well. It seems to be Mateus Nunes or Rico Lewis, neither of whom are particularly convincing there. Neither of them are sort of a peak Kyle Walker for sure. There's areas where I'll kind of sympathize a bit with what Guardiola and what Rodri said. There is some truth into the idea that Rodri's been out for so long, such a serious injury. You can't expect it. I know why people are mentioning the record going, but you can't expect him to be full biff. Of course not. Right? Straight away. It is right to say that Rinders, Ait Nuri, you know, are new players, you know, and you've got other players as well that didn't feature at the weekend that are also new.

46:59Oscar Bob spent a lot of time out of injury, you know, and he started the game. Kusinov has found it really really tough and they're suffering as well because Guardiola's injured so there's a lot of a lot of these are not kind of reasons that doesn't affect any other club but they I mean we're still only three games in we talked earlier before the break about Liverpool having these issues to deal with but still finding a way to win that's probably the big difference the fear factor is is definitely part of it for sure but you know Brighton beat them at home last season Brighton are a good home side

47:30Luke Moore: and it's within the realms of possibility you know after moments just proclaiming they're not going to win the league it's within the realms of possibility that in the second half of the season they they they really go for it man city and they we've seen that even last season's second half after that sort of two and a half month blip or whatever it was they finished strongly and in their in their season when they won the treble they had a couple of sloppy results i think in the first half and then woof off they went i i just i i just i personally as i've said time and time again i don't see it happening this time but if If Guardiola can pull it out the bag, and it's very early days for this chat, so forgive me, everybody.

48:03Luke Moore: It would be quite remarkable. But a great win for Brighton, though. A massive win for Brighton, for sure. One thing I would say is, maybe they shouldn't have loaned out Jack Grealish. Oh, my God. This is such a great move. This is one of the best things to happen so far this season.

48:16Jim Campbell: Absolutely. It's definitely sort of one of the kind of heartwarming narratives of the season so far. Get me out of that sinking ship, and I will assist with my head sometimes. Oh, man. I'm looking at Jack Grealish having the absolute time of his life. He's got a calf on his head. Oh, God, just running through. Calf muscle on his head, Jim. Oh, it's beautiful. Keenan Dewsbury Hall looks revitalised. Get Jadon Sancho into Everton and get David Moyes to refurbish him. That's what he's doing. Yeah, yeah. It's like the repair shop before it was problematic. Yeah. Only one of them, though. Only one of them's problematic.

48:49Well, you already want competition for Grealish. Hang on, he's talking about a repair shop here. Sorry. The show's still touring, Jim. All right, it's like the repair shop. Before that. Yeah, thank you. He is. David Moyes is like one of the guys who restores those old antique chairs. Yeah. It's amazing. I think going back to link back to Arteta Moyes, what does Moyes do? It doesn't overcomplicate it. He sets them up to defend really well and then he sprinkles it, Jim, with a little bit of seasoning.

49:15Jim Campbell: Exactly. A little bit of salt by Jack Grealish. I don't want Mikel Arteta to be more like David Moyes. Jim. Just putting on the record sort of thing. This is Grealish. Yeah. Off the elbow onto the Everton side. it goes on his elbow that's gross it sprinkles it out it's horrible David Moyes is Salt Bay if Salt Bay was involved in football

49:34Luke Moore: I think it's the least likely other than Sean Dyche person that I would have likened to Salt Bay he'd chop you up though wouldn't he if you got pissed off quite possibly yeah big knife Grealish pair of gloves Grealish Grealish didn't get a call up to the England squad but I tell you what Thomas get him in the next one you fool right coming up after this Ruben Amorim hates his kids

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52:03Luke Moore: Now then everybody. Oh, go on then. Let's talk about Manchester United. They won a game. They did. How about that, man? Another heartwarming story. 3-2 against Burnley. That Josh Cullen home goal. They needed that. They needed that massively. Well, that was the funny thing. When Mbumo scores, it's the first time one of their players had scored in the league this season. And yeah, they really...

52:26Jim Campbell: Bloody hell fire. You can't help but look at this through the lens that we all on this show look at it through, which is that we want it to be as funny as possible and just be really annoyed with Jadon Anthony conceding the silliest possible penalty right at the end. So avoidable. How can we realistically expect to have sympathy for Manchester United when they turn down the opportunity to play Tom Heaton in goal?

52:50Luke Moore: I know. No, that was the real signal. He wasn't even in the squad. That is such a shame. Yeah, what a bunch of fucking dick teasers. We thought we were going to see Tommy Heats. We thought we were going to see T-Heat. It was a Tommy Heaten derby as well. Yeah, against his old club. Piss poor. He's at home, is he? Great. Well done, Amrim. You've been in no friends with that kind of decision you're making over here. All your good work that you've done for us to like you. You go and do that. Oh, dear. But he's got to learn from Potter with his system, hasn't he? Just change it once. Yeah. See how you get on.

53:20Jim Campbell: make it harder for them to score. Just try that. I love the way that he is absolutely salting the earth at Manchester United with all these young players. They can't play in quite a rigid formation, so they go in.

53:34Luke Moore: Get lost. There you go. Give us the profit. Yeah. I mean, he cared about that penalty, didn't he? Yeah. Although he didn't watch it, apparently. No. And then they scored. I mean, yeah, he was... Good leadership, isn't it? Sat with his feet up facing the straight forward. Good leadership, that. Yeah.

53:48Jim Campbell: quite literally an absence of it we've tried to do like literally

53:53Luke Moore: can you imagine you're David Moyes while I'm not watching this penalty 18 year old player on the bench or something looking to your manager for a bit of kind of leadership inspiration you know first time you've experienced something or whatever and he's literally following a penalty shootout in which he was so nervous he couldn't watch any of the penalties against Grimsby Town I think he was just disgusted partly I think but I think he's also nervous as well because the pressure yeah well of course of course playing with his little book yeah little magnets it's been reported that Manchester United have agreed personal terms with Emi Martinez that is throwing a a shithouse Argentinian international among the pigeons isn't it

54:34Jim Campbell: yeah that's a really interesting one I'm surprised I don't see what is really in that for Martinez other than probably more money I was going to say yeah you're throwing you're throwing the kitchen sink at that without turning the water off first yes this could massively blow up in their faces because of the type of character he is but if it goes the other way it could be a really good move. Well clearly he's a really good goalkeeper.

54:54Luke Moore: He's a good keeper and he's not I think maybe I don't know they're looking at the communication with the back four or three sorry yeah with the defenders and so on it smacks a little bit of desperation but I sort of see it. Well the problem the problem is we can talk we can look at this two ways we can look at this sitting here on a Monday and go, May and I would have won a game when they scored three goals and they're now, they're sorting out their goalkeeping problems, right? Great. That's a positive sign but if you drill in just very briefly, well, they weren't in control of the game at any point against Burnley.

55:28Burnley are a poor side in Premier League standard. Secondly, they're doing what they've done over and over again, throwing money at a problem. It's not even that long ago they signed Bayern Deer. It's not that long ago they signed Onana. Their scouting is obviously all over the place, partly because, which is then exacerbated by the fact the environment these players are going into is diabolically bad and Martinez is a combustible character. So you could argue they're just repeating the same mistake over and over again.

55:55Luke Moore: I think Martinez has made a different stuff though and I don't think he's going to upset his teammates or anything like that. I don't think he's that type of character. They all think that though

56:05Jim Campbell: don't they when they go through the door there. Sure. Yeah. Also not only that you're right to say that Marcus but something's got to give. If Martinez is used to if he's amazing in the dressing room and he's a brilliant natural leader and he's won the fucking World Cup and he's used to playing at a very high level, Champions League, all the rest of it. None of that now at United, even though they're a big club. If he doesn't get the... What happens with big characters and big natural leaders is if they don't get the response they want from the people around them, something's got to give. And you can't trust Martinez to behave in a vaguely professional way in that scenario, right?

56:40All I'm saying, I'm not trying to predict the future, I'm just saying it's a risk. It's a risk. I don't expect he's kind of different

56:46Jim Campbell: off the pitch. I don't think he's that to be honest. He's absolutely an upgrade on both of them. Off the pitch. Yeah, that was brilliant. After he'd won the World Cup. Marcus did the same thing with that trophy behind him. Exactly. That was off the pitch.

56:56Luke Moore: That was on a stage. Yeah. Still the WhatsApp group photo and rightly so. Judges on our trophy. Oi, Jim. Trophies, mate. Trophies. Trophies. Did you get me in? Marcus is a different character off the mic. And I really mean that. And I really, really mean that. But I have scored goals at Old Trafford. A goal. Two goals. Two, was it? Two goals. I thought the Quentin Fortune one yeah what's the other one made it yourself did you it was another one it wasn't from Quentin Fortune no but it was it went in the back of the net it was it was it was assisted that wasn't assisted by Quentin Fortune it was assisted by some bloke from fucking bubble from Big Brother it wasn't one of those games oh okay right anyway look let's enough about me we'll save that for the encore so yes back at Manchester United Amirim said recently sometimes I hate my players Sometimes I love my players.

57:45Luke Moore: This is my way of doing things. Sometimes I want to quit. Sometimes I want to be here for 20 years. Sometimes I love to be with my players. Sometimes I don't want to be with them. Sometimes I hate my kids. I'm going to be like that. That is not going to change.

57:57Jim Campbell: In his first press conference, which is not that long ago, he said, I believe I'm the right guy. I'm a dreamer. Now he's saying, sometimes I hate my kids. That's what Man United can do to you so quickly. He's refreshingly honest, isn't he? but he's honest in the way like Richard Gad is honest you know it's really it's quite hard to watch really extreme yeah so do you need to admit these things out loud yeah I think what he should have done is done what Una Emery said just said a player's name randomly until the interview was over yeah and what's happening we've got to move on but Amorim has has really benefited from his record being obscured by just how band Man Utd are generally.

58:42But you know, there are people now starting to say that, you know, you're rubbing along at kind of fewer points than games at Man United. Yeah. And you're getting knocked out by Grimsby. You know, you can't explain that away. You need to be better than that. And now the veil is starting to fall. And so, I don't think a game where you have a bit of life, you know, life or death against Burnley at home and you manage to come out on the right side of it means much. Conceived two goals

59:06Jim Campbell: to a promoted team at home. It's pretty bad still. This is the lowest it's been post-Fergus. Yeah. and we still talk about post-Verg I'll tell you though these two results at the weekend or just the general results so far set up the Manchester derby so brilliantly you know what would happen you know what would happen you know what would happen you know what would happen you know what would happen you know what would happen you know what would happen it would be boring yeah it would be really boring I don't know

59:22Luke Moore: let's end with the first big derby of the season local derby Chelsea 2 Fulham 0 the whole thing was really dominated by that VAR call when Josh King scored but it was disallowed from a careless challenge according to the referee when he stood on the foot of a Chelsea defender. That was Rodrigo Menez of Fulham. My God. Bollocks, Jim.

59:46Jim Campbell: Bollocks. Yeah, what's so annoying about this to me is that, you know, obviously I have not played at any sort of high level of football. Whenever I've played football recently, you two have basically been there. And sometimes you get hurt, you know? Sometimes you get stood on, you know? And that's just part of it, isn't it? It's annoying, yeah. This is one of those examples where it's just a little bit of collateral damage. I'm sure it's painful for Trevor Chalabar. But the reason put forward by the referee for the disallowable was Fulham 9 commits a careless challenge. It's like, he doesn't commit a challenge at all.

1:00:18Luke Moore: Well, I'm not, yeah. Personally for me, I'm not going to get hung up on the language used by the referee because, you know. Oh, fuck it. You carry on because I'm raging about this. Absolutely raging. To me, I don't give a damn. The fact is the goal was chalked off. That's the thing that's annoyed me. Not the subsequent chat after from the referee. to me it's a ridiculous decision and I've never known a commentary team and the pundits at half time be so unanimous and so opinionated about what a poor decision it was. I listened to it on the radio and I genuinely thought that one of the pundits on 5 Live was going to leave the studio he was almost I forget what there was don't forget there was quite a few of them so I can't remember exactly which one it was.

1:01:08It might have been Curtis Davis. Davis was fuming. Yeah, and it was almost like he couldn't quite understand what has happened. But I was like Graham Sunes or whatever, you know, got our game back and all the rest of it.

1:01:23Luke Moore: Oh, we've lost it. The thing that, I thought about it a lot, actually, after, because it was on Saturday evening one day, I was driving back from the Portsmouth game. Was it 12.30 kickoff here on Saturday? Oh, so obviously I was driving to the Portsmouth game. Sorry, yeah, forgive me. and I thought about it a lot I was like what's happening there and I've obviously watched it on my phone afterwards and checked it and stuff and the thing that I landed on about why I'm so annoyed about it was to me it's just the rank arrogance of it it's the rank do you know what I'll tell you a few things there's three reasons why it's the most arrogant thing you will ever see in the Premier League this season the first thing is intervening I've got to intervene in this because I've decided that this I know more than all you lot and this is clear and obvious.

1:02:06The second point is that the statement comes out which is blatantly untrue. It's not, forget the perception, forget the kind of we all interpret things differently, right? It cannot be the case that he's made a careless challenge when you see what's happened there and the fact that, bear in mind, he's in possession of the ball, right? So that's bullshit. The third thing is, and this wasn't reported enough and it needs to be said, right? do you know what they did do you know what Pugmol did I'm fucking fuming about this Pugmol right they removed that VAR official from the Sunday's official duties so they know they know that that was wrong right then they've quietly ushered the guy out the back door and hoping no one will notice little change around and the whole thing stinks to high heaven and I'll tell you why the final point I just want to make is you're being very sporting about it Mark as a Fulham fan I know you're annoyed about it.

1:03:03That's the Fulhamish way. You're holding yourself in a controlled way. Good for you. But the thing that's worst about it, I think, from a footballing point of view, is that Chelsea score in the time added on from this ridiculous decision in the first place. If they hadn't intervened in an arrogant way in the first place, there wouldn't have been nine minutes in the first half and Chelsea wouldn't have scored the goal. It's an absolute scandal and it needs to be treated as such and something should be done. like Marco Silva carried himself with incredible control I thought he was

1:03:35Luke Moore: going to get sent off and rightly so do you know what I would have I would have egged him on to do it he waited for the referee it's wild and the referee again that sort of away it's the worst decision you'll see it's so poor I thought Silva's going to get tore into it I don't mind I don't mind a referee making a mistake and the VAR coming and saying you've made a mistake there that's fine but to intervene that way you're looking for things to ruin people's fucking afternoon I think that's it it's the nitpicking it's going through it with a fine-tooth comb going, how can we chalk off this goal?

1:04:04Luke Moore: Yeah, absolutely. Weren't they checking for an offside originally as well? It doesn't matter. I mean, look, what I would say is that the penalty Chelsea got, I thought to myself, yeah, I can see that. I can see that being given. So that, you know... It happened with Fulham the week before with Bassey. Yeah, well, indeed. And the thing with that one, Marcus, right, sorry to cut in, but the thing with that one is... Yeah, that was poor. They intervene on the Bassey thing in the same camera shot. Luke Shaw's doing the same thing right behind him. And they look at that. there was one at Sunderland exactly Sunderland right Sunderland should have got a penalty the Palace Wall as well yeah but the thing with the Sunderland game in Brentford great win for Sunderland by the way is you could see the referee in the second half they were almost making up for it because they then give one when it happens and you can see that happening

1:04:47Jim Campbell: well there was a there was holding on Nathan Collins yes he got a penalty for that but the exact same scenario with the exact same two players happening in the first half as well there's so much of it going on they need to what they need to do is they need to be big enough under Howard Webb and they used to take a step back. They need to just undo all this stupid shit and say we need to start again. VAR's going to stay. It's going to stay but we need to just stop because we're piling more and more shit on and we're getting ourselves mixed up and it's now so far removed from the sport itself. It's letting every single person down.

1:05:20Players, fans, managers, all the rest of it.

1:05:21Jim Campbell: I do think it's slightly different with the holding thing though because the point of this is to eradicate it, right? As we always say, They'll do it for about six weeks, Jim, and they'll forget about it. Well, this is what they need to not do, right? Because what we always say is like, oh, look, if players start giving away penalties or they start getting red cards for this behaviour, they'll stop doing it. And this is part of that process, right? But they do need to be strong on it and be consistent with it, yeah. Because I find that maddening

1:05:43Luke Moore: when a player is standing still and the defender is not letting him. It's like, no, you can't stop me from standing here. Better news for Fulham. It looks like they're going to make a signing. Yeah, Kevin from Home Alone. Get Kevin there. Yeah, Kevin! Big Kev. He's going to chuck little mic machines all over the wing.

1:05:59Jim Campbell: Yeah. So all the fullbacks slip over. That's got to be the chant. Like the sort of Icelandic thunderclap. Kevin! He looks great, Marcus. He looks a really good player. He looks... Get him in. Left-sided forward, right-footed. Yeah. Great feet. I mean, you can't really read too much into the old YouTube compilations, but he does look good. He does look good. I think a fully fit Anthony Robertson behind him would be a really, really good thing. Yeah.

1:06:21Luke Moore: Well, hopefully that'll keep Marcus Silva a little bit happy because he was very unhappy. once again due to lack of signings but more so refereeing decisions of course he did manage to avoid himself getting sent off which I thought was remarkable restraint the red card was on the cards from the man from the Iberian Pulintida as well even trickier run very hot yes but I want to end the show with a sending off that happened in Romania the stadium announcer at Romanian club Craiova in their game against Istanbul Basakshahir last week so a big game a fracas broke out when the Romanian side scored their third goal and then the strangest moment came when the referee showed a straight red card to the stadium announcer who was giving it his all into the microphone celebrating the third goal for the home side

1:07:12Jim Campbell: Surely a red card or a referee's authority doesn't stretch that far Well indeed Is he just walking around the town at the weekend to send people off How much pride would you have if you're that stadium announcer

1:07:22Luke Moore: He's like, are you staying anywhere else in the world? They've got a red card, baby. He looked like such a bellend as well. I think that's fair to say. Yeah. I actually asked ChatGPT if a referee's got the authority to do it. And they said that if the announcer misbehaves by making an inappropriate comment over the PA system, trying to influence players or referees, inciting the crowd or disrespecting the official, the referee should pause the match and report the behaviour to the match delegate and request the announcer be removed. The showing of a red card, it seems, is just pure theatre. And that's why I'm here for it.

1:07:51Is that right? Yeah.

1:07:52Luke Moore: how about that well I'd mind how you go with AI because it told me last week that Oasis aren't touring and if you buy tickets for that then they'll all be fraudulent it also told me it also told me that Jerry Fringbrock still plays for by Leverkusen

1:08:04Jim Campbell: yeah oh brilliant yeah and we're using our drinking water to power it yeah I know it has to be drinking water apparently well otherwise I get dehydrated and answer your questions

1:08:14Luke Moore: think about the big picture Jim for crying thank you very much for listening to the Football Amper part of the Acast Creator Network remember Luke Jim and Pete are back tomorrow to react to all the news from Deadline Day. Also, remember to subscribe to the Football Ramble in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. There we are, everybody. Thank you very much, Jim. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. Can I borrow your yellow tie for tomorrow? Of course you can. And no thank you, VAR.

1:08:46The Football Ramble is a Stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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