Mailbag: Are Arsenal officially the title favourites?

0:00Hello everybody, welcome to the Football Ramble Mailbag! Arsenal's title credentials Eddie Hale's credentials and Premier League dads are the orders of the day it's Tuesday 4th of November I'm Marcus Speller I'm Luke Moore and I'm Pete Donaldson

0:24Hi gang it's the Mailbag it's lovely to have you with us we're ready to answer some questions are we not lads? we are ready come on lovely tight intro from you Marcus by the way I have to commend you they always are Pete was born ready you know that I was born to do it like Craig David he doesn't do that I don't know why he did it that's the way Craig David likes it I think the new Craig David Just Eat advert have you seen that yeah I have written by Doc Brown I think is it I think so he alluded to that on his Insta right and he wrote the Sainsbury's one recently you allude a lot to your Insta I think Doc Brown was on stage it rhymes with allude at the Hackney Empire with another football podcast so he shall never be named.

1:05What? One more, once more. Fucking wanker. Football cliches. Yeah. He does that all the time. Yeah, rude. You know why? He's a football ramble man. He asked you on the ramble, we said no. He's gone cliches. None of that happened. Oh dear. Right, remember everybody, you're in the driving seat with this show. Okay, we're mere passengers who are gobbling off when you ask us questions. I'd rather, and a kind of random listener drove us somewhere than Pete did. Really? Yeah, oh yeah. Outrageous. Yeah. But sensible. Yeah. You're the most taxi driver out of all of us, I think. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that's right.

1:41So you'd be probably best if you're at the wheel. I've heard Luke's driving reviewed as being quite lead-footed. Probably is, yeah. Was that John that said that? Yeah. Yeah, he's a fucking idiot. This is fucking any excuse, isn't he? And the last time we... Lead-footed. And the last time I was in a car with you, Marcus, people stopped you from driving because you were that bad. So I think I might be the sleeper cell of being quite a good driver. Yeah. I think you definitely most likely have been a sleeper cell. For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Luke drove us back from, was it Bournemouth after a live show once?

2:11I thought he was a great driver. Thank you very much. And I drove again in South Africa. You drove again. I drove again. Now, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, driving seats. Yes, we want your questions. We want your questions. Get in touch on ex-blue scar, Instagram, at Football Ramble. Comment on YouTube or email us at footballramble.com and of course, friends of the Ramble, get priority on the Discord. Now then, without further bollocks, let's get on with it from Andy Salop on Discord. Can we officially call Arsenal title favourites now? And what would it take for them to stutter? Teams becoming wise to their corner routines or an injury to a key player or two?

2:51Well, I think they are favourites, aren't they? Easily. Classically favourites. Well, in the same way that how other teams conduct themselves in the league makes other teams title fairies they've not done this themselves have they really yes oh I don't know decent transfer window they've conceded one shot on target in the last six games or something like that but they've been brilliant Peter by far the best team in the league they have been brilliant and they are winning games last season this season that they wouldn't have won last season as Jim said on the short on I think Friday but maybe the Premier League is just reverting to a league where teams don't have to win every game and I would very much like that to happen because I was quite bored of the last few seasons to be honest with Man City and Liverpool running a move I think Andy's question is an interesting one, they're odds on favourites, which means they're big favourites for those people who don't get involved in betting their price has gone very very short and I think that's not just because they're six points clear at the time of recording it's because the way they've gone about it right?

3:57Yes. So they don't really look like conceding shots, let alone goals. They are by far the best team in the league at the moment. You have to say that. When you tipped them up at the start of the season, Marcus, I laughed at you. Well, I said it was a banter pick. And I said that, I said that, you know, obviously tongue in cheek. I knew what was going to come. You said defences win titles and give a little wink, didn't you? I did. And I said, Mikel Arteta will win a title. I think this season, a lot of people were saying perhaps last season was the year that come on Arsenal when are you going to win it or not with Man City not being at the races last season as they had been very much leading the races for so long in the Premier League Liverpool were in transition now Liverpool then have a very good season of course and win the Premier League Mo Salah plays like a man possessed one of the best individual performances we've ever seen probably in our times in the Premier League and they thought Arsenal could have at least pushed them and challenged them as they had done with Manchester City in a previous season or two.

4:58This season, it's kind of like, well, Liverpool aren't even at the races. Man City are still decent, but they are not the Man City of two, three, four, five, six years ago. Liverpool are not the Liverpool of last season. Who else is there? It's like it is properly up for grabs now. The door is wide open for Arsenal to take control of this. And as Luke already said, they are. I thought they would do it in a little bit more of a... Attacking sense? Attacking sense would be, yeah, that would be the right way of putting it. Not that they've lacked goals, of course, but clearly the priority is on not conceding and their quality up top will get them through.

5:38There's a lot more, I'm not saying the tactics are that simple, that would be doing them dirty. But also, they've improved that squad, without a doubt. They have put in players there who are going to improve them, who have improved them in the centre of the pitch with Zubamendi coming in. Great signing. Eber Echiezer is coming. I mean, when Martin Odegaard got injured last year, it was like, that is a blow. Yeah, it seems quite quaint now, doesn't it? Yeah, now it's kind of like, oh yeah, would you put him back in there? It's always the strength of the bench, isn't it, I suppose? People coming on.

6:08Well, I was going to say, Victor Jokeres as well. I understand some are not that sold on him and obviously big price tag and people are comparing his goal tally when he played for Sporting who are in Lisbon, Sporting in Lisbon. he still improves them. You still have, because he's a striker. So he has improved that side. That's the Marino. Exactly, yeah. Calafiore coming in. Looks magnificent, plays magnificently well. So the way they played against Burnley, for example, it was 2-0, but it was that archetypal, get this job done, no stress, no fuss. We've got a Champions League fixture coming up.

6:46We are much better than this team. Let's just get it done. Declan Rice scores. Declan Rice is now one of the best midfielders in the world, I think we could say. The balance of that team and squad is the best balance that is in the Premier League. In terms of quality, you might say Liverpool maybe have got a tiny bit more quality than them. But again, that word balance. To answer the next part of the question, what would it take for them to stutter? I think it would be like a Brentford or something. It would be something weird. It wouldn't even be Man City. Yeah. Was it Watford who beat Liverpool when they were going on?

7:19It could be someone like that. quite handsome as well yeah they did oh yeah you entertained a Japanese man yes you did who had come to see Liverpool he was called Minimino had he come to see Liverpool he'd come to see Liverpool but I think he got still caught up in the whole the curse of Donaldson the event of it curse of Keita what would it take for them to start Pete to go and see a handful of their guys but I think it would I'm a gun for hire people I think it would be an inevitable or not an inevitable I think it would be pressure getting to them which I'm not sure will happen and this is what other teams are now going to rely on really if this carries on it would be for Arsenal to have a little bit of a dash of confidence and maybe an injury to Gabriel would be big I think he's such a huge player for them whereas everywhere else even if Djokovic got injured if Kai Havertz came back even if he went to old Marino right big lad you're up again it's a routine they know I think that what would it take for them to stutter they're happy to win a game 1-0 with a set piece I think maybe if people start marking them properly for set pieces well that's going to be a huge focus of the second part of the league isn't it because that's what everyone's doing at the moment because of what Arsenal did last season well do you know I find it interesting with their set piece routine what they do is and we all know it a beautiful delivery to the back stick I know they mix it up slightly but that's basically they crowd the back post right now if I've seen that I'm quite sure that other Premier League managers and analysts and all the rest of it have gone that's what they do yet no team seems to set up to counteract they sort of go no no no we'll keep to what we do every week and somehow we'll be okay and then Arsenal score from a set piece it's just nice seeing like the kind of tribute act at Newcastle where it's like trip you into Bern he's always at the back post and knock it back in the problem with that competing against that is that Gabriel is just a brilliant head in the ball.

9:20If you put your best head of the ball on Gabriel, there's a good chance he's still going to be better than you at it at winning it. And so he'll get his head on it whenever it happens. I'm not saying he'll always score, but he'll generally get his head on it. And it becomes difficult to combat that. And they've also got players with amazing reactions around the box as well to kind of... I mean, basically what I'm saying is Arsenal are the best team at the moment, right? That's what makes it tricky. that's what makes it half. So to try and sort of, you know, as I say, I'll answer Andy's parts there about the injury.

9:53If Gabriel got injured, they wouldn't be as potent as set pieces. No, but the answer to Andy's question is, well, it's a long season and the things that could scupper them are the things that can scupper any team who's leading the charge in the Premier League in any season, which is things like key injuries, you know, some kind of disagreement in the group or some kind of difficulty that they can't and get over and how they respond to the first defeat in a while would be how I would look at it so if you look at how they responded to the Liverpool defeat they responded really well they followed it up but to be fair I think they had some pretty easy games they followed it up by beating Forrest and then they drew against Man City didn't they but they probably I mean that was a weird game the way Man City played and coming into that season you'd probably look at Forrest and sort of go they would have mounted a better challenge than what they actually got not under Ange they didn't know what they were getting with Ange I would also add to the mix last year Liverpool lost that game against Nottingham Forest obviously Forest had a really good season last season overall but they just bounced back and they didn't lose another game until I've just got it in front of me here they didn't lose another game until April so the response to that is really important as well Arsenal haven't won the league for a very very long time so the pressure will ramp up on them as we move through the season if they go into say April and they're still the six points clear then as they are now it'll be a really interesting finish to the season Liverpool won the league at 66 % wins now that's the lowest it's been in about 10 years like it's astonishingly low the last time they won they had to win 84 % 85 % yeah yeah yeah I'd just be at this stage of the season I'm very comfortable saying I'd be shocked if they didn't win the league yeah because I just unless Arna Slott suddenly finds something and Liverpool just go bomb they click and it all goes off because I don't think Man City are as good as Arsenal I don't think they're going to catch him but I think it would be within the interests of the chasing pack for Arsenal to stay as long as possible in the cup competitions because that's what you want firing on all cylinders stretch the squad exactly but look at the language look at the stuff we're saying it's going to take something for Arsenal to drop this and for the other teams to be almost not perfect I don't think with that it's kind of season anymore but for the others to not have those injuries to not be fatigued to not be stretched and so on so if Liverpool play Arsenal in a later stage of like the FA Cup just throw the game yeah exactly push them through push them through to the next round the amount of times we advise teams to throw games you know so there you are Andy if you're an Arsenal fan well start celebrating now if you're a Spurs fan well you know don't do that then you've got to hope for something seriously to shift alright coming up after this is Eddie Howe at the end of the road with Newcastle United

12:53We've got a question here from Kyle on Instagram. Hello to you, Kyle. He asks, as Mark has intimated before the break, have Newcastle reached a glass ceiling under Eddie Howe? You have to say it would be a new glass ceiling because the glass ceiling was trophy. Refurbished. No, because he punched through that glass ceiling, smashed it won the trophy kicked through it good old Isak and DB but then Isak's put down some double glazing as he left yeah so I I think this is an interesting question because if you remember last season going into into winter there were just teensy little suggestions is Eddie Howell could he be in a bit of trouble here and I forget when it was but certainly into the kind of the new year and then obviously in the cup final in February you know they were off and then they went on a bit of a winning run I know they lost at I can't remember when the Bournemouth game was but they got hammered at home by Bournemouth a very good Bournemouth side it was a good Bournemouth side no they got beaten away at Villa quite handedly yeah that was in April they lost 4-1 yeah so other than that they went on a pretty good winning run and they obviously got into the Champions League positions so they finished the season reasonably strongly into the Champions League they got that trophy which is an enormous monkey off their back.

14:12Like that is, that's like Spurs with the Europa League, like just absolutely massive. That is the smashing of a glass ceiling. It totally is. I mean, at a club level, in some regard, it would be almost like England winning the Nations League. Okay. So it was enormous. So Eddie Howe will always be a legend at Newcastle United. Depends how he leaves. Look at Isaac. So, so I think, you know, he did smash through a glass ceiling. What is the next step for Newcastle United? I did ponder and wonder if, because when Isaac was there, you know, at the end of the season, I thought, over summer, would they think to themselves with Man City perhaps on the slight wane and so on, would they think, ooh, could we even just see if we could push for a little tilt at the title?

14:57Very tentatively, I sort of wondered that. Quite clearly, that's not the case. They've not been good in the Premier League this season. They've been all right, pretty decent in the Champions League. I think maybe he's focusing on the Cups and just thinking the Premier League will be okay in some of the games they've played they can't win the Premier League so I think that's probably quite sensible I mean what do you think Pete? I'm sort of waffling here now I think that the glass ceiling isn't necessarily Eddie Howes it's the clubs I mean the Saudis seem to have sort of moved on to a certain extent they've kind of lost a little bit of interest it'd be great if they fully moved on but I mean I think they wanted to sort of financially jump over the hard yards of being a selling club, a stepping stone club, a top seven kind of concern into being like a Champions League regular and also someone who's going to have a tilted title.

15:44But PSR has just blown that out of the water. You just can't do that anymore. And they don't have London residency. So players who want to play in the Premier League but want to be resident in London, they're not really interested in making their way up to Newcastle. It's big boy problems, I think. And any Newcastle fan would probably take that over what Ashley brought up. but you've got to ask I think I think Eddie Howe would probably be quite sensible to exercise some options or certainly strong arm the club into making changes that he wants to change or but on the club side I think they'd they'd have to have as Luke occasionally uses rocks in their head to to get rid of him because who's out there?

16:22I think it depends on what their ambitions are right and how they want to go about it because if you look at how Diego Simeone's been at Atletico forever and they came into some money and they've been able to finance themselves, new stadium, finance players to get them into the Champions League. Obviously, two Champions League finals, I think it is. He's been there for so long, 15 years now. He's won everything other than the Champions League. Right, and they've relied upon him to kind of grow with them, if you like. Now, I know La Liga is a very different beast to the Premier League for all the obvious reasons, so it's not a direct comparison.

16:57But what I'm trying to say is, when it comes to an ownership who is super ambitious, you can kind of go that way or you can kind of go to PSG, way, right? You can kind of go, we have a manager for that kind of problem we want to solve there to take us up to that level. Then we move into another one. Then we move into another one. And if you've got the money and you rotate through it, eventually in PSG's case, they finally get a Champions League, probably years and years after they thought they were going to get one, by the way, but they did. And it just depends on what their approach to Howe is, whether they think he's capable tactically, ambassadourially and all the other things to deliver them right to the very top where they want to go.

17:31The problem is with Newcastle is Pete's right to say attracting the players can be tricky because of where they are. But also, the Premier League is like super competitive. I know that we don't get too kind of jingoistic about it, but it is by far the most competitive top league. And so you have so many things to overcome to win a Premier League. That's why it's still so incredible that Leicester are able to do it, of course. But if you look at the profile of teams that win it outside of that anomaly. I mean... Arsenal haven't done it. Exactly. Even clubs the size of big clubs have never done it.

18:08So it's a big ask. And I also don't think, coming on to the other point I want to make, I also don't think that you go and you say, thanks, Eddie, for everything you've done. Thanks for winning us that trophy. Maybe he wins the FA Cup this year or something or whatever. Thanks for doing that. But we've heard that we can get Ancelotti if we want to get him. Ancelotti's a two-year manager, probably, max. Well, he won it with Chelsea and then he was off the next season. And he's done so many different stints in different places. You've then got to prepare for what happens after that. So it's almost, it's a real difficult thing to approach and to kind of navigate.

18:41And in this stage, they're essentially relying on Eddie Howe to grow with them. And I think you can afford to have the off-season. I mean, Liverpool under Klopp had off-seasons. They finished fifth. They finished, I think, in his first season. They finished seventh, maybe. Can you, for player recruitment nowadays, though, have an off-season at that level? Well, it felt to me that... Yeah, because if you don't qualify for the Champions League again, it's a big financial hit. Sure. And they snuck in there last year. Yeah, and I think you're right, Luke. I mean, it's inevitable if you're... Because Man City, and to a lesser extent, Liverpool, as you've sort of mentioned, have kind of skewed it, really.

19:18This idea that you've got to be... I mean, even Arsenal, they've been consistent. Okay, second, but still. I think he's trying to manage the rigours of being in four competitions and Champions League is an interesting little project for him an interesting little project a little project for him you know it's a second go at it I suppose what are your hobbies? dialing the intensity down in aware league fixtures in the Premier League that's my hobby but it is just they're kind of the league formers haven't to suffer unfortunately because they probably look at the Premier League and sort of go you know what so this isn't as important as having a bit of a tilt at the later stages of the Champions League which is somewhere they've never been before and like he's been there four years and you'd probably say that the players he has turned from, you know, was it Sousiers to Silk Purses, your Joe Lintons and stuff, he is a bit too loyal to a little bit.

20:09Nick Paul probably should be, they should be thinking about using... Well, they were after Trafford, of course. Well, I mean, we've got a really good keeper who's marginally better at shop stopping and certainly better with his feet on the subs bench. I think the loyalty is showing to players like Joe Linton and Dan Byrne and players like that, possibly he should be thinking about building the team around Chao and a couple of others. Yeah, it's an interesting one. I'm just going to jump in quickly because I'll move on to the next one in a sec. But also as well, I think sometimes one can be obsessed with a particular type of ambition, which is just about where can you finish in the league.

20:49And that goes into winning the league and finishing in the Champions League. But the scenes of celebration when they won the League Cup, incredible there's no romance in finishing a point higher yeah they're still in the League Cup and as you say the Champions League whereas they had that learning experience before when they went out of the Champions League and you think to yourself you know what with the new format and all that I think it does actually give Newcastle maybe a bit more of a chance hugely so and again I often liken it to what Villa did okay Villa didn't win it but my goodness you know all the way to the quarterfinal maybe he's thinking do you know what do the people actually want here it's a very special and kind of unique place in a lot of regards.

21:25So I think... Yeah, I... I was just under the impression that the whole point of this takeover and the controversy around it and the money behind it is because they want to win the Premier League. And if they want to win the Premier League, which to me infects the entire point of the question, whether they can do it with Eddie Howe. And to win the Premier League these days, you need a lot of points. I mean, you can talk about Liverpool and the amount of games they won last season or whatever, Pete, but you do need a huge amount of points to win it. to come anywhere near it. But I don't think anyone can win the league with Newcastle.

21:57That's the crux of what I'm getting at though. Yeah, because... Because they finished fifth last season with 66 points. That doesn't get you anywhere near it. Yeah, no. Yeah. And as you say, Arsenal has been, what, over 20 years? Manchester United. How long has it been for them since the last time it was Ferguson? For Corona, Lads. So, yeah. Massive transformative. I think the most disheartening things is seeing players like Anthony Gordon drop off. But that kind of stuff was massively adjusted in the situation because in the closed season in summer, he was on the transfer list, you know what I mean?

22:28Which is a bizarre thing to have to deal with. But that's modern football and that's modern PSO. Also, it's a World Cup year, so he needs to take it easy. He needs to take it easy. Okay, looking at the bigger picture. All right, got a message from Dave. Hi there, Ramblers. This one came via email. Just want you to know, Marcus. Thank you. Hi there, Ramblers. With the mention of the guy who snuck into the Manchester United team fought on the preview show, I thought I'd tell you about my own encounter with the man. Oh, hello. Yeah. About six years ago, me and a few of my mates went to a midweek wrestling show at a comedy club in our adopted city of Manchester.

22:58It was a really good night, and after plenty of drinking and watching Graps, we headed off to our various homes. On our way to the bus, one of our group decided he wanted to take a selfie of the four of us to remember the night, which is lovely. Yeah. As we clustered up to take it, a local random mank asked to join us in the photo. None of us knew him, but given we'd been drinking, we figured we'd just humour him and take the proper pictures after he left. So he does this for everyone? He's not just famous people? Yeah, apparently. Well, we haven't revealed who it was yet. After the pictures were taken, he said, Google me.

23:29I'm Karl Power. It'll come up. And then he just left. This made an already strange incident even more confusing. But a quick Google did confirm that our photo barger was indeed the same man from the 2001 Bayern Munich game. Yeah, he barged his way into the Man United team photo. I've not heard of any other similar encounters with Mr. Power, but it raised questions like, does he do this all the time? What the hell just happened here and why? and yeah he's attached the picture it's a lovely picture of them out on the streets of Manchester and yeah there's a slightly older man who's decided to pop into the picture it's a photo bomb apparently he reenacted a Diego Forlango on the Old Trafford picture as well Karl Power sounds like a stuntman I think 2002 he beat Michael Schumacher to the winner's podium at the British Grand Prix love it come on I like it get himself on the front bench in Parliament one for you managed to get onto the centre court at Wimbledon play a short game before a Tim Henman match as well I remember that do you you must have someone to play with yeah it was Tim Edmund's dad or George W.

24:25Bush I can't remember in the middle of Henmania yeah but it's great that he photobombed just a random bunch of lads photos that is good I do enjoy that I mean it's a little bit Bill Murray-esque it is a bit yeah he does that no one would ever believe you yeah friend of mine met what would turn out to be John Boyega right on a night out like he was a leg it was John Boyega's egg yeah exactly he would later become John Boyega as in as in he didn't know who he was a single cell John Boyega John Boyega spore I think Star Wars was about to come out or maybe it had just come out it was just sprouted and he was like oh if something like take a picture whatever it was it was it's gonna be huge yeah you're gonna kind of think but he was like really giddy and excited I like that I remember that it's absolutely lovely that yeah yeah yeah because there'd be a big layer between you doing it and it actually coming out yeah I'm pretty sure Let me clarify that for another episode.

25:20Remember this footage? When I commit my atrocities? Yes, exactly. When he's at Notting Hill Carnival. There we are. Thank you, David, for that. Yeah, the photo does suggest that that is Carl Power. 20 years on. Why would you lie? It's just the worst lie. The most pointless made-up story ever. I do know someone who once... He went on Countdown and told a story about... A consonant? Speaking of practice, he's more of a friend of a friend. He went on Countdown, right? You say, why would you lie about pointless things? He went on Countdown and the great Nick Hewer was presenting. I believe you've got a story about somebody famous.

26:03He went, yeah, yeah, I was skiing going up in Switzerland or somewhere, going up a ski lift and there was a guy who was chatting and I thought, that's a famous voice. And I went, because you can't see him because he's got all the gear on. Yeah. And he went, and he said, oh, you sound like Christopher Walken. And he went, it was Christopher Walken. And he went, yeah. And he went, oh my goodness, yeah. And he went, yeah, he was really, really sound. You know, he took a picture and yeah, he was lovely. And that was it. Completely made up story. Walking on the ski lift. Lovely. I don't think he's even been skiing.

26:37I read, I absolutely read that. Lovely. Anyway, coming up after this, which Premier League manager would you like to be your dad?

27:15We'll be right back. resistant to appreciating the present. For example, despite Mo Salah surpassing what Thierry Henry achieved in England that's very much the views of Max by the way. We'll come to that. Many still see it as sacrilege to suggest Salah might be the better player. Similarly, plenty of fans refuse to accept that Pep's all-conquering City side could be superior to the Manchester United treble winners or Chelsea's 2004-2005 side. Would love to hear your thoughts. I don't think many people would count Man City and Guardiola out. I think they would say that they'd be the best. You are going to start this whole question by citing Sandro Tonali.

27:54You are going to talk about the nine-month-long betting ban as well, where he didn't play a single lick of football for him. And also, he's not even the best Newcastle midfielder. He's obviously a good player, but I kind of was surprised to read that. Is that a standard opinion from Newcastle fans? Not from what I've seen. Paul Gaskell played for him. Yeah. It's worth mentioning that. But it wasn't in his pomp though. So that's where... Emre played for them. Robert Lee. Robert Lee. Robert Lee. Yeah, was Peter Bisley sometimes in midfield? He was sometimes in midfield, yeah. He's a forward, Peter.

28:27I think it's... Dava Ginola. And there's others. Different kind of football, I suppose, but yeah. I do get what Max is saying here. because I think people were reluctant. I remember when Sergio Aguero had put in three or four brilliant seasons and people were like, I'm reluctant to say he's one of or possibly the best forward in the Premier League's history. Kind of an inverse recency bias, isn't it, really? Yeah, it's a weird one. People do feel like it's quite sacrilegious to say something so recent. Yes. And also, it's very difficult to compare eras. because if someone said to me do you think Mo Salah has been a better Premier League player than Thierry Henry instantly my my instincts are saying absolutely not then when you start to think about it more you know you see these lists and these people talking about who the best player in the Premier League ever was ever it means Thierry Henry is basically always in the top two possibly top three yes I mean there's no there's no doubt about that would you put Salah in there you'd have to yeah you'd have to be part of the conversation wouldn't you you'd have to be do the Henry face it's very difficult it's very difficult to looks weird with a moustache it looks good I'm really hard to do how do you do it so quickly I'm really surprised I'm really surprised that when Tierra Henry does it it looks quite when you do it it looks like you've had a stroke both sides at the same time yeah I think it's very difficult to compare eras I think whenever I said to a friend of mine I was at the Spurs game with on Saturday who's a lot younger I said that Ronaldo the original Ronaldo is the best striker I've ever seen but I've got to admit there's a certain amount of nostalgia and kind of emotion in that view I just loved watching him play I just thought he could do so much different stuff and there's a I was 18 when he did his thing and also did you have the intelligence to kind of to appreciate it back then no no the answer is no I didn't I certainly didn't have you know OTC's lot to steal opinions off when I watched Man United's you know incredible team in the 90s but Man City's fair game yeah you know what I mean And Man City were so good, they sucked the joy out of football for three seasons.

30:42But also, though, it's so hard to sort of... Some answers are obvious with particular clubs. It's delicious pub chat, isn't it? It's delicious. It's delicious pub chat. I'm sure your average Fiorentina fan would go, yeah, Gabriel Batiste was the best striker we ever had at the club. You know what I mean? There's some obvious... But with Newcastle United as well, though, but Tonali, part of the side that won the trophy, the first trophy they'd won since what the 19 well the Fairs Cup of course so there's that also getting back into the Champions League I think that and if people say well he's been such a key part of that and a key part of the midfield then I understand why some people want to go there but I also get the whole kind of we need because often you can't fully appreciate some things in life or certainly in a creative sense when there's a little bit of time for it to finish and then you've got a little bit of breathing room and go, right, okay, because we're in the midst of that.

31:39How do we compare that or whatever? So I think that there is sometimes there is recency bias. And as you say, Peter, there's almost the inverse of that. Which I appreciate is perhaps a slightly boring answer. But I think that's what it is. Because I said, Joao Polini is the best player I've seen play for Fulham. And then someone said to me, well, what about Moussa Dembele? And I go, oh, yeah. But then I suppose I think of Dembele playing maybe you saw some of the best of his at Spurs and was it a bit younger whereas Polina was like very much in his pomp and peak yeah so it's different as well what kind of player as well Polina was a huge part of Fulham re-establishing themselves as a Premier League club as well all that kind of stuff so yeah and also people like different things and different players you like to watch different types of player different things in a position or whatever and so you love a different view there's no right or wrong answer to this stuff if Newcastle fans that Max knows thinks that Sanford is the best midfielder ever to play for the club that's really a matter for them sometimes there are very much right and wrong answers let's be absolutely clear about that alright what about this then to finish off from George on X which Premier League manager would you most like to be your dad Eddie Hale he'd never be in the house and have the run of it he wouldn't no he wouldn't Daniel Farker get all the get all the all the subscriptions get all the naughty subscriptions you'd be well popular stop this he's in the shower again Pete's telling you to stop it he'll never be clean the wallpaper, you'd have mould you'd have black mould the shower's just always going I think Nuno is not a bad shout, just because he looks like he could play the part I think he might be intense really intense I think the answer really is David Moyes, and I think that goes for everybody.

33:34I don't think so. No, I think it is. Oh, show you. No, because you need, I think he's a good man, but you need a little bit of discipline. Let's go through an alphabetical order, right? Okay, it's very quick. Go on then, do it. Arteta, no. No, thanks, no. Emery, Emery wouldn't be too bad. I think, yeah, for a bit. Irreola would be good. You'd have great holidays in Europe with Emery. Irreola, I think he'd be really nice. I think he'd be okay. Keith Andrews, younger. than me. It's a bit odd. Well, yeah. Hurtzley, young, young, young, young, sexy dad. Yes. More of a brother. Young, sexy dads. Parker's more of a brother.

34:08I think Parker would be okay. Mareska, absolutely not. No. Glasner? Yeah. Glasner's not too bad. Yeah, it's solid. Moyes, old school. Moyes, I would say Moyes. You don't want a Sunday lunch chat with Moyes over that. No, I think you're surprised. I think Moyes is, I think he's the answer. Farker would be great for the reasons I've said. Marco Silva. yeah not bad yeah I think he's a bit aloof you wouldn't get much out of him yeah I think he's quite a bit of a realist though doesn't smile enough no okay Arnestlot same reason as fans can I have last season's Arnestlot so dirty yeah Pep Guardiola no way absolutely I don't know he's chilled out now you'd stumble upon a dungeon you'd be like what the hell too much emo music you'd be listening to Evanescence every day and he'd hate you as well as he once said he would hate you Eddie Howe again Sean Dyche Embarrassing man Just the most embarrassing time He's probably more like my dad than all of us The most dad-like guy I know he's gone now But what would you say to Big Ang?

35:10Yeah I think he'd be alright Potential to be a good dad Yeah I think he'd be alright Bring him in Rage of the Brist Literally don't know who he is Thomas Frank Frank I think would be good I think he'd be a good dad Yeah I think he'd be alright By the way when I say good dad I'm sure these men aren't good dads We're specifically talking about us Dead beats The lot of them Nuno we've done him I think Nuno would be okay and then Wolverhampton Wanderers in this list I've got here is quite poetically he's just listed as vacant yeah but even if it was Vitor Pereira no way he's never around I don't want to take a punch from your dad I managed it because he went out for some milk never came back yeah so who are you choosing come on I would probably I think I might well go for Glasner oh yeah I think I'd go for Glasner but I totally agree with Pete Sean Dyche is the most dad man yeah yeah and you wouldn't want like a hurt cellar because he'd be too handsome and people would be going well why are you so ugly when your father's so handsome and why is he younger than you what's going on here do I need to call someone social services to get him on why is he not picture for the team yeah okay Peter could I have an answer you're going Dychey surely yeah you've got it you've got it send politics send WhatsApp forwards lovely if you've got to go to a family function with your dad Dychey's going to fill that role very well he's going to out drink you you're going to stand at the bar at a wedding right having a couple of beers with your mates and you're going to see Dyche walking over as your dad from behind and you think right I'm now about to take a load of pelters he's going to say something about woke towards the end people being woke but you know what though and this is I think this is where Pete was thinking he'll take all that on the chin absolutely but Dyche will be there at 2am at the indie club he will he will absolutely he will you'll be cutting some rug with your old man who's Sean Dyche to a pop B side at 2am in Nottingham and you've never been happier yeah He'll be giving you a clip around the ear and telling you that your kebab order was shockingly bad.

37:00But you're not alone. Thanks very much for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the ACAST Creator Network. I'm back tomorrow with Vish and Jim. So get involved there. Please do send your responses, opinions and questions for next week's mailbag and become a friend of the Ramble to join the conversation on our Discord. Thank you very much, though, for getting your questions. And we do really, really appreciate it. Keep them coming. Laura Love, see you tomorrow.

37:29The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.