Mailbag: Are we all sleeping on Manchester City?

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3:03Pete Donaldson: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble Mailbag. Manchester City, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Funny Laws are the orders of the day. It's Tuesday, 19th of August. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Pete Donaldson and I'm the Dushan of Hunter Raja

3:26Pete Donaldson: Hello everybody it's a terrific Tuesday here at the Football Ramble because it's mailbag time and if you want to get involved with the mailbag you can tweet us on X at Football Ramble you can message us on Instagram and Blue Sky at Football Ramble email us show at footballramble.com and of course friends of the Ramble can get involved on the Discord. Oh, and leaving a comment on YouTube is, I believe, your preferred method, Peter. Yeah, I do. When you're doing your little drive-bys. Marcus looks stupid. Pete's moustache looks great. All that stuff. Yeah.

3:56Marcus Speller: You comment like that as well? Yeah. I always compliment your moustache. Yeah. On my alt.

4:01Pete Donaldson: Yeah. You grew your moustache in response to Luke's, didn't you? Fuck the fuck off, Marcus Speller. Excuse my language. Luke will appreciate that. Yeah. Okay, let's begin. I'm going to start the proceedings with this from Patreon member Johnny, who got in touch via email.

4:18Marcus Speller: Johnny, he's emailing. This might be Johnny Five from Sean Seymour. Johnny Five, yeah. Oh, okay.

4:24Pete Donaldson: Nice to see you're doing well. Flourishing. Is everyone sleeping on Manchester City a bit this season, says Johnny. I know wolves don't look in great shape, but Man City looked back to their best on the opening day.

4:38Marcus Speller: Ooh.

4:39Pete Donaldson: V2, what do you reckon?

4:41Marcus Speller: I mean, I picked them to win the league, so this question isn't directed at me. But yeah, they did look really good. They looked annoying because they looked as organised as Man City have looked in the past, but they were doing more running. They were being inventive. Didn't like it. I don't like to see it. Despite the fact that it was being... Signed well. Ruthless. You could say ruthless. Yeah, they were. Yeah, and they, I think the worst thing about it is they look like they're enjoying it. I think sometimes one of our criticisms of the most Guardiola teams, and I use that as like iterations of Man City, when they're at the most Guardiola, they seem quite rigid, they seem like they're playing on memory and they lost a bit of joy about it.

5:29Marcus Speller: And then they signed someone like Tajani Rinders and he breaks from midfield between two people trying to fucking tackle him. And then he lifts the ball over to Rico Lewis, who then plays it first time on the half volley inside for a Harlan tap-in. And you're like, fuck off. Because that was all the things I said. That was a bit of, not even creativity outright, but like a spark of ingenuity from a new signing who felt so comfortable breaking a line. You don't really see Man City players break lines in the middle as we did then. I know what you mean, yeah. And just setting everything up, and they look really fun.

6:08Pete Donaldson: Well, the passing is usually what breaks the line, not a player driving forward. Yeah, that's what I meant.

6:13Marcus Speller: It's really to see someone take initiative and basically do what I've not seen a Man City player do since like Prime De Bruyne, think of Yaya Toure a bit further beyond, and now to Johnny Reinders. Mostly because they don't need to,

6:25Pete Donaldson: because of what you just said a moment ago about the system and all that. But I mean, Reinders, what a Premier League debut. PTD. And what a signing. And you sort of look at that team and you mentioned De Bruyne there. Did you see the footage of him in his match for his next team? Did he say Mamma Mia? Well, I think the fans were saying Mamma Mia. What the flip have we bought? He looked really like he's just fallen to pieces. Think of the heat down there and he's very fast.

6:56Marcus Speller: You've bought a guy with one ankle. What do you expect? Yeah, I think an incredible signing by the looks of things if you can sort of keep up that form for the rest of the season i mean that's going to be their strength i think the slight unknowability they're very unknowable at this moment in time you never know they don't know where they will become noble very quickly i think the new challenge is kind of going to be the point for pep god earlier i think i think the interviews that he sort of gave just before the start of the season he looked he sounded like a broken man he sounded like this was sort of um season too far but one oasis gig well peter mouth Full of beer farts and weed.

7:34Yeah, and he's just ready to get going. Beer farts? Seriously, seriously. There was none of that at Heaton Park. If there's beer farts. That's all where his gigs will be, won't they? Not true, not true. And now he's just ready to get going.

7:45Pete Donaldson: I was there at Heaton Park. It was pure. Wonderful. It was a lovely collection of fine people. Outstanding people. Genuinely boss. But anyway. Good people on both sides. I. Go on, I don't like that. As long as... Look, I think that they definitely have a spring in their step, and I don't think... Man City or Oasis? Well, I think one has led to the other. Okay, right. And I think that Oasis are powering this Man City side. But if they get Foden and Rodri right, I mean, that's a hell of a... Indeed.

8:15Marcus Speller: That was annoying when they pan to the side and the people in their civvies. You're like, hold on, what?

8:19Pete Donaldson: Not even on the bench? Not even wearing jeans?

8:22Marcus Speller: Yeah. Well, Foden is in... The Avengers are fucking watching them.

8:25Pete Donaldson: What's this? But Foden is an interesting one because he spoke a few months ago about off-field stuff having an impact on his performance and so on and so forth. And, you know, obviously we don't know where he is with that and we're certainly not going to start trying to find out and speculate. Detective Marcus. Going through people's bins. Undetected Marcus, yeah. Closing up the bins. Taping up the bins. I've got personal problems. as a man keep taping my bins. Whoa, I can't put any... I'm looking like a hoarder. There's just trash around my house. Birmingham City Council needed help, so I thought I'd get involved.

9:04Pete Donaldson: So, look, Phil Foden, if he can get back to anything near to what we know he can do, and he could be freed up as well. If you think about the options they have on the right, it could work out that he plays more centrally in his preferred position.

9:17Marcus Speller: If you're Phil Foden watching that performance on the weekend, your one overriding emotion is get me out there. Yes. Because, you know, not to repeat my point, but because they looked so free and they looked more fun, everyone would want a piece of that, wouldn't they? Totally.

9:33Pete Donaldson: Where does Rico Lewis play? He's just like... I think that's the point, isn't it? It is the point. If someone says, well, how would you describe Rico Lewis as a player? I'd always just say to everyone, tenacious. You know... I don't know. He can attack, he can... Real, as many people say, a Swiss army knife of a footballer.

9:50Marcus Speller: You know, one of the things that was talked about as soon as Guardiola came to Man City was about how everything from the top down would be done a certain way. And I suppose the most obvious side to that would be the academy sides playing the same system and therefore players reared the same way. And he's been there long enough that we see these players breaking into the team and basically being Guardiola fit players for anywhere. So yeah, Rico Lewis could play fullback on either side seemingly and be the person in midfield that Guardiola always wants as that extra man or he can start in midfield and drive forward and be the player who's on the byline pulling the ball back for the opening goal yeah he's such a incredible player yeah already I know and you kind of wonder like yeah what position will he be if he goes to another side or you know in a world beyond Guardiola regardless of whether that's man sure or not and it kind of doesn't matter because as you say he's a swiss army knife footballer he has all the tools to do

10:52Pete Donaldson: most things yeah and and i mean you know if you look at the formation obviously it's he's starting it right back and oscar bob is is a right wing you know and and and ryan's as well is on the sort of the right side of of the three if you if you like the the quality they have and it's just so hard to defend against. It really is. Because the movement and so on. So trying to get back to the question, are people sleeping on Man City a bit? Perhaps, you know, mine is more of a doubling down than being stubborn. But maybe one or two people are. I think by the looks of things of journalist predictions and reading things, people seem to have them down as third favourites for the league.

11:34Pete Donaldson: And I think that's probably fair. Going on what you had last season, going on how Arsenal and Liverpool have strengthened, I think that makes sense. But 8-0 is a great signing. You have a proper full-back there.

11:45Marcus Speller: He does the same thing that we were talking about Rico Lewis doing, breaking into midfield.

11:49Pete Donaldson: Exactly, yeah. And great having Oscar Bob back in the side. One of the reasons why they were fairly happy for Cole Palmer to leave, I say fairly happy, was because Oscar Bob was going to come in and they thought there's a player with potentially a higher ceiling or at least an equal one with Palmer.

12:05Marcus Speller: And also importantly, at the time where Cole Palmer was wanting more game time they couldn't give it to him because of their options on the right and they knew in the time that they would be able to give Cole Palmer the right wing entirely he'd have probably already gone anyway because he'd be you know he'd have itchy feet totally

12:23Pete Donaldson: so an enormous amount of creativity as we know but it looks even more this season with with Reinders going in there and Reinders his is an interesting one he had the choice when he left the Eredivisie of going for Barcelona or Milan. Now Barcelona, bigger side, obviously Milan, a huge club, but certainly not the force that Barcelona are in European competition. But you don't think they're like, the way they've treated players like Rafinha, that they're not necessarily the most supportive club for your career. How do you mean? Rafinha was brilliant last year. He was brilliant, but like, but there was still talk that they were going to get rid of him because Barcelona be Barcelona.

12:57Pete Donaldson: Yeah, but Barcelona are beginning to understand how money and maths work. The economy. Yeah, yeah. They're beginning. It's basic arithmetic, that club. What, we can't just, yeah. So maybe that was it. But he obviously thought there was going to be more opportunity at Milan, and he was right. But he also said, speaking to Pioli, he said he felt that his role in the team at Milan was going to be suited to his style and better for him. It shows maturity, I think. Indeed it does.

13:26Marcus Speller: It does, but there were definitely points when I was watching him at Milan where I misconstrued bits of it as someone who just wanted to be comfortable. because there's a flip side to it isn't it and obviously he's been proved completely wrong but he says you're going to play this role you're going to be freer and you're going to do what you want that can sometimes be a bad thing I know what you mean

13:49Pete Donaldson: but he you know what is he 27 and he went there only two or three seasons ago

13:54Marcus Speller: I remember speaking to a Dutch mate of mine during the 24 euros and he was like he's suddenly become a brilliant player in the space of that one season he's suddenly like developer you might say yeah we can hang our hat on this guy yeah

14:11Pete Donaldson: so exactly yeah so when he does move to Milan obviously he's a young man but he's we're so used to people moving when they're 17, 18, 19 kind of thing

14:21Marcus Speller: there are younger players in their earlier 20s who are you know not just starting for their countries but integral to their countries starting for their clubs but integral to their countries and you would think

14:31Pete Donaldson: with Rinders now Man City under Guardiola albeit it could just be this season, his ceiling is very, very high indeed. So to try and, again, get back to Johnny's question, then maybe we are. I mean, time will tell. It's a boring and obvious thing to say. But certainly after that first game, it does look quite something. But with Guardiola, this is something that we haven't seen him do before, is reinvent a side and bring them back from a disappointing season. because Bayern, as you would suggest, has it all his own way. He doesn't win the Champions League, of course, but very impressive on the pitch.

15:09Pete Donaldson: Barcelona is the other one that is in his CV that you think when it started to go wrong, I think they won, did they win the cup in his last season? The Copa del Rey, maybe, but they didn't win the league, didn't win the Champions League and it just sort of was beginning to kind of peter out and he wasn't there to, again, refresh the side and that was it. there were shorter stints at Manchester City the start wasn't great for his standards but he obviously got there and they've been absolutely magnificent the only blip was finishing second to Liverpool that season and they didn't play badly just Liverpool had to be stunningly good as well now after last season it's the first time it's happened can he arrest that and can he do it and if he does it will be yet another feather in his cap because we've seen him do everything else.

16:02Pete Donaldson: One of the greatest managers, one of the greatest men in the history of football. If he can do that, I think... And that was part of Alex Ferguson's great skill, wasn't it? Yes, exactly. And where Pep Guardiola sort of fell down last scene is that he just thought there was more juice left in a few players that were...

16:18Marcus Speller: Yeah, very dry. Yeah, well, absolutely. Mothballs coming out. Do you also think it's a shift in philosophy from Guardiola because it's almost not as philosophical as it was before? because I think I imagine that when you're someone who is constantly at the tactics board yeah trying to reinvent size trying to you know going from the side he originally starts with to for example four center backs in your back four playing a certain way quite structured quite kind of big men game to borrow like an NBA term and then you end up refashioning your squad since the start of the year to look as they did on the weekend where one of your main signings of the summer is Ryan Shirky who is the most skillful flair player in the world right now.

17:10Marcus Speller: Not someone you'd associate with Guardiola. No that's what I've felt. But he signs him he brings him on and obviously he scores on his debut but he is can be he he's an x-factor player and you'd always think that Guardiola in this situation wants known quantities and that might be an example in one player of a complete shift of like maybe even Guardiola just remembering why he loves football yeah let's have some fun it's fun yeah

17:36Pete Donaldson: Alan Sir Maxima's a free agent there you go actually he's not he's signed for someone else oh okay oh well that's a shame but yeah I think Mexico I think he's gone to Mexico has he really why don't you have a little Google one sorry I'll cover for you I think yeah I think that point you make about Now, that's why I don't think they're going to win the league is because I think Guardiola... Football moves on, even from the greats. They'll still... Even if Guardiola's managing in 10, 15 years' time, he'll still be a good manager with good ideas. But it's very, very difficult to stay at the very top for that long.

18:14Pete Donaldson: Everyone... I think it's reasonably common thinking that our managers can't keep their ideas for more than, say, 10 years. Like Jonathan Wilson thinks most of probably, the very best, maybe 10 years at the top, and then football starts to bring in new innovations and so on, as it does. Same with bands, you get 10 years or three albums. Yeah. You can't go longer than that. You've got to retire. Well, you can always do a reunion tour. But I think that's, you know, with Guardiola, it could happen even to him. And that's something that seemed inconceivable. again we'll find out this season but you know his Barcelona side it felt like they'd completed football and it felt you know this is it you know but of course when Luis Enrique wins the treble with Barcelona it's a different vibe about the team and you know Jürgen Klopp different philosophy different all this that and the other Guardiola I feel this is not Pete Guardiola anymore at Man City as you've just described there Vish I wonder if there's an element of let's try and throw a Ryan Scherke in there, throw a bit of caution to the wind.

19:19Pete Donaldson: Let's do it. Or, as you framed it more positively, hang on a minute, let's get back to basics. Let's, you know, really, you know, indulge is perhaps not the right word. He's probably just got one eye on his legacy at Manchester City and he didn't want to leave last season, so he just wants to have one last season.

19:32Marcus Speller: I genuinely think he's on the cusp of doing something pretty special with this group. Yeah, to turn it around completely. Because of the squad depth and the minimal drop-off between starters and non-starters. I really do think that if Manchester City win the league this season, they win the league the season after that. And they may also win the league the season after that.

19:57Pete Donaldson: Are Arsenal finishing second in all those?

19:59Marcus Speller: Yeah, because... Sorry, I realise we're dwelling on this. But for the reasons that you say that you don't think Manchester City are going to win the league because it's maybe a bit more carefree are exactly the reasons why we think Arsenal aren't going to win the league because they're not carefree enough. And I feel like this Man City squad and Gualiano now have the right balance of both. Interesting.

20:17Pete Donaldson: All right, coming up after this, should Newcastle United and Aston Villa be worried?

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22:38From Charles on Instagram, did you know that players can't stand one metre from the wall at a free kick? I do now. Ludicrous. I mean, what a weekend for strange refereeing decisions. Not strange, potentially good refereeing decisions, but just in this sense, do you want to explain what actually happened? Because you remember all the details, don't you, Marcus? It was Mark Gay, wasn't it?

22:59Pete Donaldson: I don't. Don't trick me. It was Palace, of course, at Stamford Bridge. Ebereche is lining up the free kick fairly central slightly to one side Chelsea have a wall protecting one side of the goal and then a smattering of players the other side of the goal just to confuse the goalkeeper and Mark Gaze in amongst them and he's pushing and shoving and he's doing that thing that we see players do where they try and usher a defender out the way to create a little bit of space for the free kick so Ebereche can rifle the ball in which he duly did the pace of the ball takes that in Sanchez may have been disappointed not to save it, but Eberich is here.

23:36Pete Donaldson: Bang! And it was 1-0 to Crystal Palace. And Mark Gay was pulled up not because he ushered... Was it Mark Cook right? Anyway, it doesn't matter.

23:44Marcus Speller: It was Nicholas Jackson. Oh, Nicholas Jackson. It was shoulder to shoulder. At no point does he put his hands on him. Yeah. Shoulder to shoulder. Yeah.

23:50Pete Donaldson: So he just... He leans into him and basically, as I say, ushers him out of the way to create that space. That wasn't the misdemeanor. The reason Mark was pulled up is because Mark Gay ventured within one metre of the wall, the Chelsea wall. And you saw the referee explaining to Gay why it was going, because Gay was looking at him going, you could see Gay's mouth and go, it wasn't a foul. It wasn't a foul. And he said, no, no, no, that's not what you've been pulled up for. You have gone within one metre of the defensive wall for this free kick. And this law has been in place for a few years now.

24:24Pete Donaldson: I think it may have been 2019 when it came in. So it's sort of new-ish, but it's not that new. But it seemed to stump a lot of people, because on Match of the Day 2, Danny Murphy and Joe Hart were saying that when the ball went in, they were both arguing, apparently saying that one was saying, well, of course it's a goal. And I was like, no, it was a foul. And it was like, actually, neither. It's a mute debate because that's not why it was pulled up. So a lot of confusion, gutted for Eze, not getting another three kicker. It's a lovely lashing, wasn't it? Yeah, it was a good one. And what could be his last game for Palace?

24:53Pete Donaldson: We shall see. So I didn't know that. Although when it happened, I was like, oh, was there a... it's one of those laws where you feel like is this is this acted upon does the referee I feel like the referee it felt like one of those things where it's like no one's noticed this rule I'm gonna that's gonna be my pet project for the season because we would have seen it we should have seen it last season we should have seen the season before and maybe it didn't maybe they didn't need to because if if Eze waxed the ball over the bar or into the wall then it's cleared maybe referees sort of say because this is what I mean this is what I was saying yesterday about there is there are the laws and the spirit of the laws.

25:32Pete Donaldson: That's absolutely it. And then there was like loads of people on your social, you know, name your social media posting videos of times when the exact same thing happened and it was not ruled out. So, you know, it's the idiosyncrasies of how refereeing is applied. But even the laws of the land, I mean, there's certain, you know, like, what people say, you walk through the streets of London, you can smell people smoking weed and stuff, you know, I mean, I don't want to sound too right wing about the whole thing, but it's not that uncommon. And people say, well, that's against the law.

26:02Marcus Speller: But the laws of the land are there to stop disorder. Yes. They're not there to like, I was going to say not there to rule out joy, but maybe the weird thing is. But there you go.

26:10Pete Donaldson: But that's the spirit of the law is what you're talking about. And this is in football. So this is my point.

26:14Marcus Speller: But this is in football where it's just chains them. Like you mentioned there that we've not seen it since it's been brought in since 2019.

26:21Pete Donaldson: I can remember. Perhaps there was an obvious one last season. I forgot about it.

26:25Marcus Speller: But we, all of us around this table, cover a lot of football. Oh, yeah. You'd think we would have seen it.

26:33Pete Donaldson: And we smoke it. No, we don't.

26:34Marcus Speller: Yeah. Well, you'd think we would have seen it. Yeah. And yet, no. And the fact that we haven't makes it, by proxy, a redundant law. And also, like...

26:43Pete Donaldson: But not necessarily. Yes, because what is the issue here?

26:47Marcus Speller: What is the problem?

26:48Pete Donaldson: Well, I think that they were stamping out people, you know, they're stamping out the whole kind of did he push the wall over was there a foul was he interfering but he did none of those things though did he really it was just it was as we described in the last short yesterday it's a preventative boat on boat man on man action I'm going to read it's a preventative law

27:07Marcus Speller: I'm going to read a tweet from an account at John Mark Sisman

27:11Pete Donaldson: right

27:12Marcus Speller: about the and it's he quote retweets the video of the of the goal and with the clarification that had been ruled out because Mark Gay was within the metre of the Chelsea wall. This is the stupidest rule implemented in the game. One, it's your free kick, notwithstanding offside, etc. You should be able to stand wherever you want. Two, the wall is not actually a thing. It's a tactical concept. It has no legal status. It's a total... On the rule itself, he says it's a totally arbitrary thing to legislate. But it sounds like it does have a legal status because... But where does a wall exist? It says it's more than...

27:48It's three or more players a wall is in the rules, right? Could you have a wall, a corner? You can't get near it. But like, so is it two men and a man lying down? We've got new walls now. So is that a wall?

27:59Pete Donaldson: How many walls can you have? Two men and a man lying down. Is that a wall?

28:02Marcus Speller: Two is technically the smallest wall you can have.

28:04Pete Donaldson: You can have a one-man wall. If you could have a one-man wall,

28:07Marcus Speller: then no one's allowed to be in anyone.

28:09Pete Donaldson: Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, I agree. Get rid of it. It's bitty.

28:13Marcus Speller: It's a bitty little rule. Because I wondered, actually, you could, within reason, Create A concave wall Because you can still If you curve it right You can still be within 10 yards away from the ball And just block everything And they'll have to hack your hands down Like in that game when you were a kid The princess slept for 100 years 100 years Did you grow up as a samurai? What are you talking about?

28:40Pete Donaldson: I don't know what this is It's like a Sleeping Beauty sort of game I know what you mean And you hack down I was thinking of kiss chase And it's the forest You're always thinking of kiss chase You have the forest as the arms And the knight comes round in his horse And he hacks all of the arms down And the lantan worm pops up And you've got to deal with it Hopefully that made the edit yesterday

29:01Marcus Speller: But if it didn't

29:02Pete Donaldson: I'm sure it did You're not allowed within one yard of certain worms Well it's for your own benefit I think we've answered that Get rid of it Crying out loud

29:13Marcus Speller: I have a question from Supernova on X after the match on Saturday should both Newcastle and Arsenal Villa fans be worried that they both may be lacking on the attacking front Newcastle only two strikers and Villa offered nothing in attack at all

29:29Pete Donaldson: Villa were down a 10 for a bit they were I think even

29:32Marcus Speller: previously before that they were lacking something they looked very poor

29:36Pete Donaldson: well Newcastle and I do have at the time of recording one of the best strikers in the world they do and they refuse to play him absurd Silly tactical decision From Eddie Howe He's going to play He's going to have to go back there His tail between his legs I think he will I think he'll stay Personally I think it'll just be one of those Kind of big club problems That you've got to deal with sometimes I think so as well So Newcastle though Should they be worried Because Yes Okay Why is that then? Because watching Anthony Gordon Do what he did At the weekend Getting a mass in off Lovely Stuff was just Bouncing off him Like The ball was going And he just got boing And it was like oh no and yeah it was Jules Breach was interviewing him at the end and basically asking is this a real issue and he went yeah it is actually it's a bit annoying but we're a good group I mean you know and you go on you know he's great running into space and stuff but you wouldn't back him one on one against the keeper anyway so yeah and on the other side like the only highlight from that match I think for Villa was Matty Cash who played out was god damn skin yeah he kept he kept a lot of the Newcastle team very very quiet indeed like Emery said before the start of the season that Villa need to master the defensive side of football this season in the Premier League and good God they seem like they've started in that particular way.

30:53The Gas had a lot of chances and the keeper was very much on form.

30:57Pete Donaldson: Yeah, I think for Villa I mean they do have forward players and they've got Watkins there so Isn't it quiet though? Yeah, but I would just say I would say to Villa fans it's early days and hopefully they'll come good. They're in the Europa League not the Champions League this season and maybe obviously they'd rather be in the Champions League but it's less demanding as we know and Villa will be probably one of the favourites for the Europa League you would fancy More options to play yourself in the form a little bit when you've got when you've played against Quite possibly yeah quite possibly I mean indeed yeah they can rotate a little bit more I think it's fair to say now obviously you know with the two boys they got in on loan last season in the second half of the season you know they had some more options and so on I thought Villa might do a little bit more business in the window I know there's still time.

31:44Pete Donaldson: So my concern for Villa would be, has that squad been refreshed enough for them to get back in the Champions League spots and kind of have the kind of season that we've come to expect from Emery's Villa? So I get the sort of slight concerns there. For Newcastle, it is all about that striker situation. And it's such a shame because last season, they were in the League Cup, qualify for Champions League, you think, right, they're going to kick on. And this season you're thinking, this could be really good. And then nobody wants to go there or they'd rather go other places because that was clearly the situation.

32:24Pete Donaldson: If they can get one or two maybe before the window shuts perhaps, but it would be a great shame if Isaac, well, if he does indeed go and they don't get anybody to replace him or he sulks and that situation doesn't get repaired, to have a team with a good defence, one or two players ageing, fine, but still a good defence you can get a tune out of them still this season a very good midfield Alanga's there as well adds a little bit extra something you've got Gordon who had his injury problems last season but he can still stretch the stretch we know as a winger he's really good as well if you have a gaping gap up front not too dissimilar to Arsenal last season where you think blimey if Arsenal had a quality centre forward could they have could they have beaten PSG could they have stayed in the league a little the title race a bit longer sometimes it's not even a quality centre forward it's a centre forward well somebody yeah And obviously, Wilson was the only other one, and he's left as well.

33:14Pete Donaldson: Yeah, Ossola's not really quite there. I think in an ideal world, they probably would have sent him out on loan somewhere. But yeah, it's difficult. I mean, it's quite sad seeing Jacob Murphy coming on. Because obviously he's had his place taken. He might be back in the side, you never know. What do you think, Fish?

33:35Marcus Speller: I think you solve both teams' problems with a swap deal that will never happen and shouldn't happen. But if Watkins goes to Newcastle and Anthony Gordon comes to Aston Villa, you get... Villa have basically lost all their wits. They played so narrow. I love John McGinn. I don't like him out wide for that very reason. It's about the fact that he works hard. Morgan Rodgers is obviously someone who actually influences play in the middle bit of that left-hand side rather than that left. They obviously couldn't get Rashford.

34:03Pete Donaldson: Well, the width has been provided by cash, as Pete said.

34:06Marcus Speller: Yeah, but again, he needs someone... He would prefer someone ahead of him. they obviously couldn't get Rashford. They might still get Asensio back. I know there's been talk of that. I'm not sure, you know, at the time, Tuesday, today, like if that's still a big thing. Yeah, they've lost all kinds of width. They don't seem to trust Marlon. So that feels like it should be an option, but it isn't. Leon Bailey obviously has, you know, fallen down the pecking order and I think he's about to go anyway. And then with Newcastle, yeah, they just need someone to be a focal point and allow other people, you know, around him to work.

34:43Marcus Speller: It feels like you're kind of wasting a languor by not having someone further forward who he can even just run off. Even if you did like a cheap 10 million pound clodding Peter Lovenkrantz or something. Where's Andy Carroll? Antoine Sibiescu. It's almost kind of like basic... Striker's instinct, you know what I mean? Yeah, but like something like, you know, like a basic decor.

35:08Pete Donaldson: Who was the Danish guy Barcelona, Simon? Was it Brantthwaite? Hossaloo! Fucking give us an Hossaloo! Yeah.

35:15Marcus Speller: But it's that thing of like, what's the best way to like furnish a room? Get the TV and work from there. Yes. What's everything going to, what are the couches going to face? The TV. Right, get the TV first. Yes. Work out where you're going to put the TV and then sort the furniture out. There you are. I love this Marie Kondor. What's Chipo Moten doing? Just something like, just a big old clodding journeyman Brazilian. Come on! Get Hossaloo. Jardell. Get Hossaloo. Go get Hossaloo back.

35:39Pete Donaldson: That'd be class.

35:40Marcus Speller: actually. Absolutely. There you go, you see.

35:43Pete Donaldson: Just blimmin' heck, Newcastle. Sort your recruitment out. There's a few options for you. Yeah. All right, coming up after this, all the Premier League overachievers are losing their best players.

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37:50Pete Donaldson: Got a question from Matt on X. With all the top teams cherry picking overachieving team's best players, is this good for the league? I.e. Bournemouth losing Kirkesh, Wolves losing Cunha, Brentford losing Mbumo and possibly Wissa, Crystal Palace potentially losing Gaye and Ezzer and Isaac is refusing to play for Newcastle. Is there more disparity than ever before? I feel like this is kind of routine.

38:17Marcus Speller: Yeah, this happens all the time, doesn't it? I think the difference is that because last year, as Matt points out, there were so many different teams Bournemouth do well Newcastle and Crystal Palace pick up trophies and do so with such style and panache that it just happens you know Palace lost to Lise before that how did Palace you know build themselves back up they took Wharton from Blackburn it's kind of just the food chain really in action and it's definitely funnier when a Saudi back Newcastle it happens to them it's hilarious that's the funniest bit

38:48Pete Donaldson: with their green and white away kit which they've gone back to again yeah now they've I mean the Saudis have definitely lost interest and I'm very I'm not very much enjoying but it is quite funny that you know people just assume that money equals success it doesn't because people with money generally get disinterested after a while but you know what though Pete it's funny you mentioned Saudi Arabia that actually that that's one of the things that stops this cherry picking from happening a player that would normally go to a bigger club in that league go actually no I'm going to take the Saudi money do you know what I mean and I don't want to see that happen but you know With every big ticket item lately, there has been a Saudi kind of bid.

39:29Look at Ivan Toney.

39:30Pete Donaldson: Ivan Toney was going to be cherry-picked by, I don't know, Spurs or Arsenal, whoever it was going to be. Brentford were going to lose him. And for whatever reason, that deal didn't happen or it wasn't taken or as we understand it. And then Toney goes to Saudi Arabia instead. So there is that actually. But I appreciate that's not what Matt is honing in on. But Vish, you're right. It is the food chain. I think we see it it probably goes through more phases I mean I know Chelsea have been stockpiling talent and Man City I don't know have been stockpiling talent

40:03Marcus Speller: it feels like Man City do it from further afield as well so it's less concentrated because you know the last season I think the frustrating thing as well just from a football fan's perspective regardless of whether you support those clubs or not is it's nice having loads of different teams that have their fun players and if those fun players then get channeled into a select few teams, you see less of them.

40:25Pete Donaldson: Totally. It's why we wanted Gibbs White staying at Forest was good for the neutral, I think.

40:30Marcus Speller: Yes, yeah. Even though I'm sure

40:32Pete Donaldson: he could have done something at Spurs and whatnot. But yeah.

40:36Marcus Speller: We're still going to see a lot of Eze at Spurs if they get that deal over the line. But yeah, it's not going to be the same.

40:40Pete Donaldson: Totally. I would love Eze to stay at Palace. But he thinks he's got more chance of winning more trophies at Spurs. He will definitely play Champions League if he goes to Spurs, of course. So you can understand it. I think the pull of the Champions League is there. But I think, but also though, I mean, when you get a side like Manchester City, more specifically Manchester City really, what they're doing with their academy and so on, well, that does benefit other teams. You know, McAtee going to Forest, for example. You know, Liam DeLapp, I don't know, he's at Chelsea now, but you know, Ipswich benefited from him.

41:15Pete Donaldson: So -

41:15Marcus Speller: Even Omari Hutchinson going to Forest as well, as an example of this, just pick him off you because you've been relegated.

41:22Pete Donaldson: Yeah, exactly. So it's a funny old thing, the ecosystem in the Premier League and in this country. I think you would probably find fans from European leagues. I don't know whether they would get annoyed or they would think, well, thanks very much for all that money. But that's where the cherry picking also really happens with the Premier League at the moment.

41:44Marcus Speller: if you're just a fan of Italian football and the way Serie A has been picked apart over the last 20 years almost you'll probably be looking at that question and be like see how you like it

41:58Pete Donaldson: it's not nice is it who knows in 20 years time maybe Serie A will be back on top and Premier League will be lacking I don't know I wouldn't see it now but things do change but I think we would all get frustrated in this country because Serie A is a good example well Serie A was the best league in the 90s in Europe, no doubt about that. And maybe even into the noughties as well. And now, as you say, you know, it's kind of roles reversed. I mean, Kevin De Bruyne kind of going, oh, maybe I'll have a bit of a swan song at Napoli. That used to be the Premier League in the 90s with players of his quality.

42:29Pete Donaldson: So, yeah, I think cherry picking, I mean, but, you know, teams abroad do get their fair share of the cash, by the way, because the...

42:37Marcus Speller: Oh, we spread the word, we're very generous like that. Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah. What's up with you?

42:40Pete Donaldson: Yeah, you know, you get yours, don't worry.

42:42Marcus Speller: It's a trickle-down economy. We don't see anything from the Schengen. Here's a bit for you.

42:48Pete Donaldson: Portuguese League is a prime example of this. Victor Jocker, yeah, we'll have him back on these shores, thanks very much. You start to prove yourself as a goal scorer. So I don't see this, Matt, as particularly different to any other time. And I grew up in Scotland, by the way, and Rangers and Celtic were terrible for this. The best example was the Hearts player. it's a long time since I thought about this it was at Johnston I want to say Alan Johnston forgive me if that's wrong but he scores a hat-trick at Ibrox and Hearts win 3-0 an outrageous performance an outrageous result and no sooner the Rangers go we'll put a stop to this Neil McCann was another one do you remember

43:28Marcus Speller: Helicopter Sunday where Scott McDonald scores for Motherwell against Celtic that basically gives Rangers a title yes yeah maybe the next season Celtic like yeah we'll have you Yeah, we can't have that done to us, yeah.

43:42Pete Donaldson: So, yeah, Sarah Lick goes on. But you were going to say something, though, Vish, before I went down a Scottish lane there.

43:48Marcus Speller: I suppose the one thing you want from those clubs, and it's helped by the fact that two of them have European football, the teams that we talked about there, is that you don't want those teams to suddenly become almost shop windows for whether it's talent lower down the pyramid or overseas talent where they know they're just going to be picked up by clubs and I suppose that would be the problem with PSR is that you're more encouraged to get players in who will benefit you for the short term but then you sell on so maybe building becomes a bit harder and not even harder but just doesn't become it's just not a priority for you moving up the league it's sustaining your comfortable mid-table position and you know making a profit every PSR window

44:34Pete Donaldson: well yeah I mean being a Fulham fan I know exactly what you're talking about but you've got to try and sign those players in that sweet spot. I mean, look at Palace with Jean-Philippe Mateta up front. Is he a striker that are Arsenal going to go for him? You know, probably not. Maybe, I don't know, you could see Spurs if they, the type of clubs that he's not being linked and we don't think he's going to go, there's no reports saying this, but it's those types of clubs. And actually, if you can make a fair wage at mid-table Premier League clubs, which you can now, it gives them that just a little bit more leverage in the deals.

45:10Pete Donaldson: You can say, well, hang on, you're owning all right here. We can add a few more, a little bit more money to your pay packet. They can stick around because that's the Premier League's pulling power. They might go abroad, but can they match those wages? The smart money for anybody in Eastern Europe who are coming over, most agencies will place you in the championship rather than Italy or France. So yeah, the cherry picking does go on, but on the wider scale, England is cherry picking a lot of talent. Yes, we've got a lot of cherries. An awful lot of cherries. Bournemouth are called the cherries, for example.

45:44Pete Donaldson: Yeah, there you go. So you've got a whole side. Cherry picking from the cherries. Dedicated to cherries. Yeah, from Stuart on Instagram. If you could watch only one match for the rest of your life, what match would it be? Oh. I've taken this question. The Europa League final. Man United nil, Spurs won. What a palm burner. What was the match that where a man you later play that got Burpo in his mouth. Oh, Ashley Young. Ashley Young. You'd want to re-watch that entire game for that moment. Dirty. Vish, you had an answer.

46:16Marcus Speller: This is the only question on the mailbag that I've made notes for.

46:22Pete Donaldson: If you haven't got the 99 Champions League final down, then you're not... So I do, but to re-watch,

46:28Marcus Speller: I feel like, so a lot of random matches stick in my head and I think if I'm going to re-watch a game from start to finish, I'd want the journey and the journey of that game is good but it's not a great football match.

46:38Pete Donaldson: Manchester Derby, Owen with the winner.

46:41Marcus Speller: Well, so I take the 08 Champions League final because as a progression... Against Chelsea? Yeah, as a progression of a story... You're choosing your best Champions League final.

46:48Pete Donaldson: Yeah, exactly. No, it's a poorer Champions League final.

46:51Marcus Speller: No, it's not. It was a better game but also you get the sweetness of Manchester United winning it and just before that John Terry missing a penalty. That's a good point actually, yeah. Very good point. I take the 4-2. These are Manchester United games as a Manchester United fan. I'd take the over the Champions League final 99 I would take the semi-final second leg against Juventus 4-2 against Arsenal in 2004 2005 at Highbury John O'Shea Dink John O'Shea Dink lovely stuff and then I have a couple of games I have two games neutral games for me I have the 2004 Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1 game the Neil Mellor game yeah the winner which I actually did on our greatest games I was thinking the first time we met Yeah, of my, the one game where I was like, this has everything.

47:38Marcus Speller: Technically, some of the best players in the world at that point. Tactically, an amazing game.

47:43Pete Donaldson: Xavi Alonso goal?

47:44Marcus Speller: Yeah, Xavi Alonso goal. He opens the scoring, yeah. And then Vieira scores a lovely goal. Lovely move, yeah. And then Mela scores his volley at the end. My second game is from the 2019 Championship Playoffs. Leeds Derby, the second leg at Ellen Road. Oh, yeah. it had it was an astonishing match incredibly emotional a lot of action proper like blood and thunder really good players on show as well Mason Mount scores in that game it was the best of the playoffs and the best of the championship and I would encourage people if you don't remember that game to go and watch the highlights that are still on Sky they don't do it justice the full thing was exhausting and I'd probably that would be on my list as well that would be up there Peter?

48:29It has to be said. I mean, obviously, the Carabao Cup final from a few months ago. And I know I would watch that every day for the rest of my life because I am watching it for every day for the rest of my life.

48:39Pete Donaldson: But you being you, I thought you were going to go the Carabao Cup final look. We lost again. Because you've got to keep your feet on the ground. No, definitely.

48:47Marcus Speller: The 4-3 against Liverpool. But the one that sticks in the head for just heroism and just bloody minded, like, F you, we're going to win this football match because World Cup 94, Italy, Ireland. just because Paul McGrath. Really? Yeah, that would have had a big impression on you. It was such a beautiful, romantic kind of vision of a flawed genius just absolutely saying, F off, we're winning this football match. Yeah, nice. That's a nice one. Just something else. Just really, really good. Like a real ragtag bunch of, let's face it, not Irishmen a lot of the time. I mean, McGrath very much was. McGrath very much was.

49:24One of the few. But a lot of checking grandmother's passports kind of vibes. in the team, but from start to finish, what a manager, what a performance. You really shout on that by saying that. What a New Jersey sunshine.

49:37Pete Donaldson: Irish people would have been, oh, that's lovely. And you say that, then you go, hang on a minute. As they said at the time, it was a lot of, has your grandmother ever drank a pint of Guinness? You can come play for Ireland. There we go. Unbelievable.

49:49Marcus Speller: What's yours? That one. What's yours? Yeah.

49:54Pete Donaldson: The friendly when England beat them 5-0. I swear, If you pick a Nations League game, I'm going to flip this table. Spain 2, England 3 in the Nations League. What a victory that was. So I would obviously have Fulham 4, Juventus 1. I have to say that. England 4, Netherlands 1 at Euro 96. Yeah, a gorgeous game. A gorgeous game. The one spoiled it though? Did it? Because it knocked Scotland. That's a good point. That's a very good point. I forgot about that aspect of it. Yeah, well done. Well done. Well done. Well done, everybody. body so yeah those were great games they were great games yeah or if I'm going to be really me about this England won Colombia won 2018 that penalty shootout win right yeah okay yeah that was so emotional that was special that was very emotional I think that was the biggest cheer I've ever as an England fan because obviously we never won anything Le Tournoir Le Tournoir all the matches of Le Tournoir

50:54Marcus Speller: you don't even get the Roberto Carlos

50:56Pete Donaldson: because you're watching all the England games. But you get that lovely Ian Wright goal, though. Yeah, yeah. True. Yeah, something we can all get behind. Yeah. There we are. Thank you very much for listening to the Football Ramble Mailbag, part of the Acast Creator Network. Vish and I are back tomorrow alongside Luke for another classic Ramble, if I do say so myself. Please do send us your messages. You're putting it down. Sorry. we've got a shared document on the show today for the questions yeah and I put a little picture of Gumby in there yeah and you keep writing the word piss for some reason to be fair I wrote the second piss how did you the second piss has hit the word the second piss has hit the Gumby on the word on the live doc thank you for listening to the Football Ramble Mailbag part of the Aircast Creator Network with me Vish and I and Marcus are back tomorrow alongside Luke are you back no no well don't say that then it's written for you not for me yeah okay I've already said that you're the Gumby of the Ramble buddy piss off do send us your responses opinions and questions for next week's Mailbag and subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your pods see you tomorrow

52:20The Football Ramble is a Stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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