Ramble Reacts: An overhead kick to the face

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2:48Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to Ramble Reacts. There are two weekends to go in the Premier League. Vish and I are here to react to a huge game that happened at the bottom of the table. Spurs 1, Leeds United 1. Vish, for a little while there, in an earlier part of the game, you were a little bit worried that this might be fairly uneventful. I think it's fair to say it was rather chaotic at the end. We even had 13 minutes of injury time. It was so good, nobody wanted to leave. I, you know what? I might as well just read the messages I put in the Football Ramble WhatsApp group. Because that's the only way to do it, really.

3:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, cool. So what time is it? It's 10.21 now, about an hour ago. So 9.26, I said, do we really have to do a react for this? At which point, producer Rory went, Spurs have a head loss in them. A minute later, Matthews' tail overhead kicked someone in the face in the box. And the worst thing is that beyond finding it funny, somehow I should have seen that coming. Somehow I should have seen the fact that the man who took an incredible first touch and then pinged it into the top corner to put Spurs 1-0 in front was then going to overhead kick someone in the face. Yeah.

4:14And you know what, the egg and the boot is on my face now. It certainly is. Yeah, Ethan Ampadu's got nothing on you.

4:28That kick to the face, that overhead kick to the face, we should say. You have to solly march it. It's an overhead kick to the face. Yeah, that overhead kick to Ethan Ampadu's face, which results in Dominic Alvut-Lewin smashing the penalty in. you could make a very good argument that that has kept West Ham United alive realistically in the Premier League this season. Tottenham Hotspur, one goal up. And really, what it would have done, not really, what it would have factually done had they have hung on for the victory, it would have put them four points above West Ham with two games to go. West Ham then go away to Newcastle United.

5:09Spurs, I think, were thinking, do you know what? we might go to Stamford Bridge not needing anything. And then Tell does that and suddenly it all changed. I mean, it was, go back to the start of the game. It was an expectant and confident atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And it is incredible what a game or two can do in football. Pre-Aston Villa, obviously they beat Wolves. It's still unconvincing. That win against Villa gave Spurs such a boost. And understandably so, rightly so, Suddenly you think, ah, De Zerbi's got them. He's got them playing. He's got them where he wants them. And they go into that game and the stadium's bouncing.

5:49It's singing. Right, come on, boys. We're on the home straight now. Let's get this done. It was not a scintillating first half by any stretch, but Spurs clearly on top. But as you mentioned earlier, Vish, when Tell pings that ball in, oh, a delicious goal. The type of goal that gets everybody out of their seats. And Spurs, like, they're away. When he scored that goal, I thought, yeah, I can see Leeds, who are already safe now. I can see them going, all right, we're still going to put up a fight, but really, Spurs, that was them in a position where it's going to be three points or maybe two points dropped, something like that.

6:31But when they went 1-0 up, did you think Spurs are going to be okay now? Yeah, I did. I did. More for me. But yeah, it just felt that way for everything you just said. And I don't necessarily think that we'd be, you know, that we were thinking that Leeds would just completely mail in this performance. But, you know, at this stage of the season, it's do you need it? Do you want it? If not, fine. You know, on both counts. You're right to say, I don't think that Leeds were ever going to do that. But, you know, subconsciously, they've got nothing to play for, really. You know, are they going to really bust a gut to try and get something out of this game?

7:16It turned out very much they did. But sorry, I interrupted you. Yeah, very much they did. And they were shifting the ball well and quickly, even. I think there was, you know, when I saw that line-up at the start, it was only when the line-up dropped that I realised that Bogle was out and Okafor was out. There's two integral players for their width in particular and, you know, getting in behind any back line on both flanks. And so I thought, going to have an easier time against Dan James. So, you know, Spurs can give Leeds more to worry about than Leeds can give them. And in the end, there was probably about a 20 minute period in the first half and a 20 minute period in the second half that Spurs were really all over Leeds.

8:02Yeah, absolutely. And then other than that, Leeds were hanging with them in terms of the pace of movement in midfield. Ethan Ampadu, like, I mean, is he going to be a Leeds player at the start of next season? Oh, don't say that. They just stayed up. Come on. I know, but I'm kind of, yeah. But I'm a Man United fan and we need a new midfielder and we want to pick everybody off. Yeah, that's right. Did you support us as a kid, Ethan? He won't be the first person to cross that divide and he won't be the last, will he? Anyway, how do we get into this? But yeah, basically, I think Spurs panicked. There were times, and it's probably not my place to say it, but it felt unnecessarily tense.

8:48Oh, it did. Parts in the ground and on the field. And Leeds sensed that and Leeds profited from it. I mean, the sea change in everything when Leeds got that equaliser, it was incredible. and suddenly Leeds thought, we are going to play this game like we're not safe, like we need something. And you have to say that they've kept the integrity of the competition very much at the forefront because Leeds were excellent again. And obviously we're going to focus on Spurs and the relegation battle and the relegation running they have. But Leeds United have stayed up with a few games to go. It's remarkable.

9:28They've been a credit to the Premier League this season. And this performance was another one. Because even in that first half, Leeds still posed a threat. I mean, if it wasn't for a very marginal offside, they probably would have had a penalty in that first half. Dominic Cavalier in a constant threat. But into that second half. Oh, and also you had the header, which Kinski saved very, very well indeed. Was it Roden, if my memory serves me correctly? Yes, Roden, yeah. Yeah, Roden was left. Kinski, yeah. Yeah. But like you say, we're deep into the 70-odd minutes and Spurs, you know, looking reasonably comfortable.

10:06And then Matthias Tell thinks, you know, I want more than one blockbuster moment tonight. And I thought an overhead kick clearance. Oh, dear, I've given away a penalty. It's a penalty all day long, OK? for those ones does the referee need to go to the monitor should the VAR just go I could send you to the monitor but that's a waste of everybody's time anyway penalties given and Calvert-Lewis what is the what is the conversation that happened to that point we're going to have to you're going to have to look at the monitor we suspect he's kicked him he's kicked him in the head well has he kicked him in the head or not he has he didn't give it he didn't give it yeah or did the VAR just say save me the 50 yard walk over there did the VAR just just say to the referee Oi, do you want to see a player overhead kick another one in the face?

10:53No, I understand. Watch pop over the monitor. That's what you'll see. No, it's not Danny Baker's own goals in Gaff Street. VAR just said, right, there's a video here of two lads racing outside of a pub and one of them runs into a bus stop. Do you want to see it? Yes, I do. Come over. While you're here, have you seen this video of Matthews Tell overhead kicking someone in the face? Yeah, that's absolutely it. So the penalty was given. I feel that was a less contentious decision of our decision than the David Ralfael in the West Ham game. But there we are. Cavaloon beautifully puts it away. As you said, what a sea change.

11:34Suddenly, the atmosphere goes from, oh, we're all right. It's on the home straight. And I get that to, oh, yeah, there is a relegation battle that we need to get out of. And then Leeds are on top. and then Spurs kind of, so James Madison then comes into the field of play and fancies a bit with his beautiful hair. What did you make of that? Seeing Madison coming back because they've missed him this season. Yeah, really good. Very Captain America, Winter Soldier, coming back from the wilderness with curtains like it. There was also a point, like it's probably age badly or someone's probably already screenshotted it and is laughing about it online.

12:15but it was like the 97th minute or something and he gets a corner and he's like smiling to himself and I wonder if that's a bit like, oh, how good's this? That's the first time he's played in over a year. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I mean. I have no problem with it whatsoever but he was able to have that moment to him, well, not to himself because we all saw it but yeah, clearly waiting a long time. it's a horrific injury to come back from there was obviously a bit of me that thought go on just do something maybe an assist bend it in I don't know yeah yeah yeah win a penalty oh he certainly tried to do that yeah he did just a second so yeah I when the board goes up with 13 minutes injury time I mean the WhatsApp groups are alive and well with what on earth is that for?

13:13Couldn't work it out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But that was the moment, I think, when Spurs fans suddenly believed again that the victory was there. And that's when Spurs kind of got back on top a little bit and they were coming forward and so on. And the game shifted again. And then suddenly it shifted again. And Sean Longstaff, how he didn't score. He's done everything right. And Kinski pulls out one of the saves of the season and it cannons off the bar. And you could say that might be the difference between Spurs, Pippen, West Ham, you know, to Premier League survival. Because, Vish, bear in mind, I hate to bring this up, but you sort of have to, to remind yourself what Kinski's gone through in the last few months, not even all season.

14:02This was the bloke who leaves the field of play in tatters at Atletico Madrid. He's pulled off some great saves in recent Spurs. He saved them a point tonight. There's no doubt about that. Yeah, it says a lot about Spurs' plight in general that you can go through that personally and still actually be like, I feel so low. Oh, you're all here as well. Do you know what I mean? There is obviously a solitude to having that moment in Madrid where he was a victim of so many different things, having not played for so long, being asked to come in and do a job in such a high-profile game. The fact that Atleti watered the pitch on that side to the nth degree before a game and he ends up slipping.

14:49There are so many things that are working against him there. and you're right like if that ends up being a save that keeps Spurs in the Premier League or goes towards keeping Spurs in the Premier League then fair play to him it was incredible really the other thing I didn't really appreciate it in real time until they showed the replay from the camera that's in the goal just Calvert-Lewin coming into shot like that as if to say Lamy Lamy yeah I think Longstaff's always going to hit that really he is yeah especially the way the momentum he gets onto the ball, the first touch, and then, I mean, he nails it, really.

15:25It's such a great reaction save. Nine and a half times out of ten, that's a goal, quite simply. And even with the save, as brilliant as it is, and obviously it's enough to keep it out, it's a save. But, I mean, on the underside of the bar, you know, that is the margins of it. Oh, my goodness, what a moment that is in the relegation running. I mean, obviously, West Ham fans must have been thinking, blimey, you know, they might not even get a point here. but a brilliant save and then kind of moments after that the ball falls for long staff again obviously a bit of a difficult one to take and the ball goes wide and suddenly you think Spurs are hanging on you know and then they kind of and then then there's another sea change and Spurs start winning corners for fun up the other end and the ball's going in the box and it doesn't quite happen and then James Madison thinks oh I've got me moment here I'm gonna definitely win us a penalty and the referee just wasn't having it a jot, was he?

16:19No, a fair play to him. Madison looked a bit rusty there taking contact, didn't he? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see what you're trying to do. There's a bit where he takes a touch and he gets basically both his legs to kind of shift in the way of the moving defender so that the defender, just by moving towards the ball, takes him out. It's too obvious and he probably goes down a fraction too early. As he's going down, having taken contact, though, he's probably thinking, cannot wait to Penenka this. Yeah. Somebody, sorry, one of our comments from Mr. Stephen Stotch on YouTube, he says, is it just me or was that a clear penalty at the end?

17:00I think it is just you, Mr. Stotch, because there's no one here. It's probably not just Mr. Stotch, is it? It's probably Mr. Madison as well. I don't think Madison thought that was a penalty either. In his heart of hearts. but I can tell you there's no one in the good shit rambled that thought that was a penalty Mr Stotch so sorry about that

17:50We'll be right back. at Lowe's. Valid through 527. While supplies last, selection varies by location. See associate or lowes.com for details. I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. While employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English, and it's built. No drag and drop workflows, no expensive consultants.

18:26Employees get unblocked, and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company. This is a new way to run IT. We guarantee you'll automate 50 % of all tickets and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot. Go to serval.com slash ACAST. That's S-E-R-V-A-L dot com slash ACAST.

19:04I mean, we're talking about that amount of injury time. I mean, Reid Venture Kid says, where do Speller and Vish think the ref got 30 minutes of added time from? I mean, presumably it was a lengthy VAR call for the penalty. It wasn't that long, though, was it? It was like three or four minutes? Yeah, it was a few substitutions. Listen to us. Listen to us. It wasn't that long. It was only three or four minutes. What have we become? That was only four minutes. We watched a man look at his screen. I'll tell you what, if David Cartlidge is watching this, he's punching his monitor or something. yeah I don't think it was a penalty on reflection I'd say a draw was probably a fair result bearing in mind the chances of Leeds at the end yeah probably a draw was a fair result I mean I think Leeds can be delighted that they didn't lose the game being 1-0 down and the way it went and so on it was pretty mad at the end so you know fair play to Leeds who let's not forget Vish were so many We're in so many people's tips for relegation this season.

20:16And for the first handful of months of the season, it looks like they were going to go down. We have to have a word on them. They contributed to, at least in the second half of the second half, a very, very enjoyable game. They've got a point on the road. As I said earlier, they've been a credit to the Premier League. And Daniel Farker has earned the right to, as Luke Moore would say, eat all the sausages he wants in the world while watching whatever he wants on his TV during the day in his underwear. But they've been great in the Premier League this season and I'm delighted they've stayed up personally.

20:52Yeah, really fun to watch. You know, I mentioned Bogle, Okafor, Carvalhoen. He's had a good season, a surprising season really. I certainly didn't think he'd score the number of goals that he has, play the number of games that he has actually. And also, you know, being with a shout for the England squad or at least having made a couple at the back end of the season. I'd also say, you know, to add to your point about people picking Leeds to go down, I think I not only did that, but I think I also picked Daniel Farker as the first manager to go just because of how things ended at the end of that championship promotion season.

21:26So, yeah, credit to all of them. They've got such a good vibe. Even someone like Nonto there, I appreciate he hasn't started, but I don't know. We'll see what happens over the summer. but it feels like he's someone who, you know, when they first went down, one of the number of players they wanted to cash in on, they ended up keeping him because no one's coming for the right amount of money. But, you know, he's been decent in flashes at this back end of the season. So, yeah, you kind of wish them a good summer, don't you? To come back and play with the same verve and be the, you know. I reckon if you were a Leeds fan, though, you'd also think, like, you shouldn't have got this dicey.

22:07obviously you're not going to say no to just staying up full stop but I think there were points in the season where they could have given a bit more, maybe they were a little bit too conservative, I don't know, they drew a lot of games but yeah by and large I think we've been a touch house where you see it a bit dicey, I mean they've not looked like they were going to get relegated for a little while now I know they've been in the relegation zone mathematically No but they could have been safe way before this weekend Yeah fair, I mean And obviously it helps the Wolves and West Ham previously have been so, so bad.

22:38Yeah, but I mean, so Wolves have been away. Burnley, another newly promoted side who have, you know, they've been mathematically relegated, factually relegated, if you like, for a little while and we all knew they were doomed. But look at the teams Leeds were up against in that relegation battle. Spurs, I know they've been shocking, but they are the dictionary definition of an established Premier League side or club. West Ham, again, I've been up in the Prem for a long, long time now. Both of these sides, you know, I understand that it's been sort of almost like managed decline in some regards, but still Nottingham Forest, who again, funny old owner, but I've been playing in European football and competition this season.

23:24You know, those are the sides that are around. for Leeds to not come out on top necessarily but as in to not be dragged in and manage to compete with them and to stay up while Spurs and West Ham have still got a job to do and it's a straight shoot I just think you have to give them credit for that Yeah, I am giving them credit for it and also they've had some quite memorable results this season as well but yeah, I'm not taking anything away from them but I reckon actually they're probably better than what we've seen well interesting I mean as you say though with the summer now as a chance to improve and keep the likes of Ethan Ampadu from going to Manchester United as you would love to see which is exactly what I said yeah but you you did mention Dominic Calvert-Lewin there and you've twisted my arm I think that he and Ollie Watkins should be backups to Harry Kane at the World Cup discuss he he is playing well isn't he two different options as well Watkins and and Kermit Lewin offered something a bit different to each other I also think he's doing you know the stuff away from the middle of the pitch away from the goal quite well yeah can score a penalty I think we saw flashes of it in that yeah we saw saw flashes of that in you know the recent England friendly didn't we like I appreciate when he came on for the second half but yeah he looked pretty tidy I think he yeah I mean and he's clearly fit so yeah that's obviously that's obviously the biggest thing with still two games yeah true but obviously the biggest thing with him was that when he would play around injuries it would take him a while to get up to speed it feels like he's in quite a good space at the moment where he's healthy and getting in consistent games and playing with a bit of rhythm.

25:27Take him across the Atlantic. Absolutely. Well, let's go back to that relegation battle between West Ham and Spurs, which will possibly go to the last day. Now, if West Ham beat Newcastle United at St James' Park next Saturday, Spurs will be in the relegation zone when they play Chelsea. the next week. It's a, what is it, a Tuesday night or a Wednesday night? I forget when, but it's... It's a Tuesday night, yeah. Yeah, they're not playing on the weekend, so we're going to have to wait for that. But this was... It was vital for West Ham, as I say, that Spurs didn't win this game because they're now two points behind them, but with the goal difference, it's kind of effectively three.

26:13I mean, if West Ham fail to beat Newcastle United, there's a tough one to call that because Newcastle have been pretty poor this season, but they've been a little bit better than West Ham and they've got them at home and are still hoping by a near miracle they can finish with some European football next season, if indeed that is possible. If West Ham don't win that game, Spurs then go to Stamford Bridge thinking, if we avoid defeat, it's pretty much done. A win would certainly do it. So a few permutations there. But that is a fascinating one. I mean, it was always going to be a big game, of course, West Ham going to Newcastle United.

26:49but I mean how much of a chance do you give West Ham now because it does I mean it's hard to say who's got the tougher running you'd probably say Spurs because away to Chelsea it's a derby match and even though Chelsea have been very poor my goodness that the fans will very much let their players know that you we want you to win this and then Spurs have got Everton on the last day and Everton quite possibly will have European football to play for. West Ham are way to Newcastle, Newcastle hasn't been brilliant, it's still a tough assignment though and then they've got Leeds, Leeds are obviously still very much out for every point they can get in the Premier League so how do you see it then Vish with these with all these different permutations and fixtures and so on and so forth what's your feeling on the uh on the shootout between West Ham and Spurs for that last relegation place.

27:44My feeling is Spurs will be fine and West Ham will end up taking it. Newcastle haven't been on a great run, but at home it feels a little different with more of the ball. It feels a little different. I wonder how the FA Cup final, whichever way it goes, affects Chelsea going into that Spurs game as well. Yeah, good point. I mean, Chelsea seem a bit of a mess full stop, don't they? So how much of that occasion, which maybe two months ago would have been seen as an opportunity to relegate Spurs, is now about making, from a Chelsea fan perspective, is making further statements against their own club, against their own owners.

28:28So there's a lot more to that game than there would have been a couple of months ago. So for that reason, I'm probably going to give it to Spurs in terms of survival. Interesting. Interesting. Well, before the game tonight, Opta apparently gave West Ham only a 12 % chance of survival. So I would have thought with that extra point. Maybe that's where they got their added time from. Maybe that's what it was. I mean, presumably that percentage will have dropped with Spurs getting a point. I know Spurs fans might look at this as two points dropped. And yes, you probably would think that, but ultimately it's still a point.

29:09They didn't lose the game. That's the important thing I would remind all Spurs fans. Just to end with a couple of comments from our good viewers on YouTube. At Klesk says, I think West Ham could get something at Newcastle. And Foxy has says, West Ham beat Newcastle and Chelsea beat Spurs. all down to a thigh-rubbing final day. Will Moyes do his old club a favour or stick the boot in on Sullivan? I can't imagine David Moyes ever even beginning to contemplate the idea of not going in full force in a football match. So let's get that out of the way first. But if West Ham beat Newcastle, it certainly would throw a hammer among the pigeons or the cockerels, should I say, or the Cox.

30:02So I think it's a fascinating one. And I think it's really interesting that West Ham play Newcastle first and then it's a few days later with Spurs going to Chelsea. Oh, deary me. I wouldn't want to be a fan of either club right now. But mind you, both have won European trophies of late. And as a Fulham fan, I think, yeah, I'll probably take that in relegation. By the way, before we end, we should say that Millwall have been knocked out of the playoffs tonight. So they lie in wait for West Ham next season in the championship, do they not? I wondered where you were going with that because I think Hull City won it in the Hull City in the playoff final.

30:47My goodness, they could be back. We'll see what happens in the other playoff final, which will be tomorrow night, if my calculations are correct. There we are, everybody. Thank you very much for joining us for Ramble Reacts. It's been a pleasure. Blimey, the relegation run-in just doesn't stop until it does. We've still probably got another couple of rounds of games of it. I'll be back on Wednesday with Jim and David. So get your ears around that lot. But until then, thank you very much. Vish! Cheers! And thank you, Matthias Tell, for giving us not one, but two blockbuster moments in the game.

31:23See you on Wednesday.

31:32The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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