The Great Autumn International Break of 2026™

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2:48Luke Moore: There are two types of business owners, those who are busy and those who want to be busy. Toast is designed for both, with tools to keep you humming and help turn grind into growth. That's how you turn busy into business. Toast, built for busy. Are you hoping for a miracle, everybody? Welcome to the Football Ramble! The great autumn international break of 2026 begins. It's Wednesday, 23rd of September. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm Adushan Ahantaraja.

3:29Luke Moore: Hello everybody! Welcome to the Football Ramble. What a Wednesday. What a Wednesday! Ah, we got it back. International football's here. More on that in just a moment. I need to say thanks to Friend of the Ramble Nathan, Big Nath, for giving us that intro line. If you want to submit an intro line for a future episode, then become a Friend of the Ramble on our Patreon. You'll also get an extended edition of The Ramble today and every single Wednesday we affectionately call it Ramble Uncut. The things that we can say here, we also say... It's some of our best work. It's some of our very best work.

4:00Luke Moore: You think so? Er, get a miss. Yeah. I feel liberated by it. Do you? I feel like, you know, we're in the marketplace of ideas. We are. Some of them are rogue, but we're allowed to share them. You get so much bile off your chest, don't you? It's freedom of speech is what it is. It's freedom of speech. It's the Ramble Speaker's Corner. It's the First Amendment stuff that we'd like to stick out with. All the things you can't say anymore, we say. Yes, you want to hear Vish's true thoughts on guns, they've come to ramble on cuts. Click the link in the show notes to sign up. Is that a gun in your pocket?

4:29No, no, I leave them all in my bag. That's fair enough. I thought you were just pleased to see me, Marcus.

4:33Luke Moore: Oh, well he is, of course. Who wouldn't be, Luke Moore? Who wouldn't be with that tash? Now, kicking off the great autumn international break of 2026. Is this what we call it now, is it? The great autumn international break of 2026? Who has done this? Is this you or is this a producer? Original pirate material. The great... They'll look back on this in years to come. They might. Yeah, they might do. You never know. England could become unofficial world champions. They could. What did you call it? Two goes at it. The great... What did I call it? The great autumn international break of our discontent.

5:06Luke Moore: Yeah, well, we've got to kick things off from the great autumn international break of 2026. We've got Azerbaijan versus Tajikistan and Gibraltar versus South Tome later today. Those are your orders. Strong start. Why are Gibraltar playing South Tome? It's a friendly. Yeah, it's a weird one. Just, you know, little boys having a nice day. I don't want to be snobbish. Little boys in the tentative park. Yeah, exactly. I don't want to be a snobby person talking about someone who supports and is from a big international nation. But it's a long trip, that. I thought you'd have a bit of South Coast solidarity with these people.

5:41Luke Moore: With Gibraltar. Is it South Coast? Very South Coast. Of Spain. Very, very South Coast. I'll get much more South. They're the true South Coast. That's why people don't like them. Maybe that's it. From the South Coast. Intimidated by the Gibraltis again. Tomorrow night we've got some big hitters. Germany versus Netherlands. Portugal versus Wales. England don't play until Saturday night though. So we've got a lot of squad chat until then. We will preview that game, of course, on Friday. We've got to lift ourselves, Vish. We've got to lift ourselves. I'm holding everybody up here. I'm more push. Could we, much like a lot of the England players, Could we withdraw?

6:12Is that a possibility? Yeah, because of load.

6:15Luke Moore: Load management. No, strap on a Johnny. We're going in. There have been some fresh England call-ups. Oh, why do you only say horrible things like that when I'm on the show? Which makes me guilty by association. I listen to shows that I'm not on and you're relatively boring. Ah, relatively. Oh, I'm moving up. Yeah. I'm moving away from absolute. I don't like what international football does to you. Do you not? No. Again, I... It's like sunny delight. Why do you all... People think it's an act, but it's not. You all make me feel like Don Henley. Yeah, okay. You know, the boys of summer have gone and I still love you.

6:45There'll certainly be nobody on the road and nobody on the beach, that's for sure. That is for absolute sure.

6:49Luke Moore: Go to Gibraltar and we'll find out. Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford, Kobi Manu and Tino Livermento have all pulled out of England's squad to face Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic this international break. Do you want me to give you a list of those five, which of them is acceptable and which of them isn't? Go. Declan Rice, that's fair enough. Load management. Yeah, Cole Palmer, it's fair enough. He's got a chronic injury. I would say Rashford, Maynew, and Livramento have all got a brass neck. Rashford did sort of limp off, didn't he, against Fulham, I think, or he was seen limping.

7:19Luke Moore: Or is that the whole act? The very fact that he's in the squad anyway is a shambles. It's the same with Livramento. It's a shambolic decision. Tuchel has gone totally rogue. In my view, I'm still not over Tuchel's ridiculousness in the semi-final. Yeah, I'm with you on that. Rashford was at the World Cup, though. You've gone straight to that one. Yeah, but he's been... I mean, you've watched May United this season, right? Yeah. He's played. We've all watched him. And he's kind of looked a little bit lively occasionally, but simultaneously doing nothing. Well, that's exactly what Tuchel wants from him.

7:54Kobe is the one who was taken off by Manchester United on the weekend for tactical reasons. Didn't feature at all in the World Cup. You'd wonder if he wanted to make a play. That's why I think Mainu's got a brass neck. Because he's probably hurting a bit from not featuring at all in the summer.

8:12Luke Moore: Tuchel said that, you know... And it's a chance, right? It's a chance against some good courtly opposition. Can we at least agree Liv Morento shouldn't be in there? Is he still a footballer? He can't stay fit. He doesn't really play. And there's loads of better options. Maybe he's a great lad. Maybe. Yeah, maybe he's a hoax. Do you remember that little girl? A hoax. Do you remember that little girl who took photos of fairies in her garden? It could be that. I don't know. Is he one of the fairies in this situation? Maybe. Yeah. Okay. He's sometimes on the left of the garden, sometimes on the right.

8:43He's back in both sides.

8:44Luke Moore: Tuchel might be into seeing things in the garden, like fairies or whatever, and he likes them pointed out. Are you broadly always going to be supportive of Thomas Tuchel? Right. Here's my take. Strap in, everyone. I don't think he should have got sacked. Obviously, he didn't get sacked. That was... I understand... He should have been punished. Yeah. And you're aware that he might like that. That's why he shouldn't be punished. Yeah, fine. He should be praised. And he didn't... What about when he's being punished by Daniel Farker? Would that cancel it out? Oh, Gordon Bennett. Oh, hold on. During the day.

9:17Luke Moore: During the day. As you know, I'm not into illegalities. It's not illegal about it. Daniel Farker, you need to punish Thomas Tuchel. You tend to tell me that Farker would keep to the right side of the line. You do not punish England coaches for calling up T.I. Liveramento. home. If anything, they should be rewarded. Yes, but surrendering against a rival, then maybe. How can it be illegal if it's on TV? Well, streaming is not TV. Anyway, give us your take. I think that it would have been counterproductive to sack him, just because ultimately, England, they went far in the World Cup, and getting to a semi-final is no mean feat.

9:54Luke Moore: And I think the players, it was a happy camp under him, other than Kobe Bainer. Who else? Who else? takes over from him. I think with Tuchel, feet firmly under the desk, what happened against Argentina was a disaster. We all know that. My hope is, and I said this at the time and I'm gonna say it again, Damanol, is that it was so stark and so obvious that what happened, that it's kind of like you need to make plans for that never happening again. A little bit like with the penalty shootouts. Now, of course, Southgate lost the one against Italy, the one we would have all wanted. but their record in penalty shoots against Southgate was far better than what we'd seen before because again it was so obvious, it was so stark, it was an area that needed a lot of attention.

10:39So there's a lot to build on from what Tuchel did in the World Cup.

10:42Luke Moore: Yes, again, but despite it being a disaster and ridiculous, again I'm not going to go into it, this is boring, but if you look back at the matches and how the substitutes went and blah-de-blah-de-blah, I can understand why he was drawn into thinking and doing what he did but of course everyone knew it was not the right thing to do so I think again sacking him would have just been a setback for England he's also arrogant about it though wasn't he he's calmed down a little bit about it in his first interview back for this camp he said I don't know why you're asking me about this I'm paraphrasing here but I don't know why you're asking me about this 99 % of people I speak to never ask me about the Argentinian I think he's trying to move on from it.

11:25Yeah, but it's fucking bollocks.

11:27Luke Moore: Well, fine. I mean, that's... Again... It's gonna form everything that he does from now on. I think rightly. But I do think... I mean, I'll throw this to both of you. Obviously, there were reports immediately afterwards about discontent around his decisions in that game. Even last week, there were reports about players still not trusting him, this, that and the other. And then the spate of pull-outs. do you think, I mean, I don't personally think the two are linked, but that feels like something that is quite a big problem, because just purely on how the sausages are made, there's no way they would have reported that without A, like a decent amount of information, or B, sensing the way the wind's going with this situation.

12:10That's interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah, I get that, but look at the pull-outs.

12:13Luke Moore: So Declan Rice, we get that, and Rice will be England captain after Harry Kane. So Rice is always going to be there for England. Cole Palmer spoke about his injury. He's got a chronic injury. Yeah, and so that one is more understandable. And Palmer said that he was in a tricky position going into the final weeks and months of the season where he's not feeling quite right, but he knows a World Cup's coming. And he's thinking, but if I kind of play on through this, I can't fully play as myself. So that's the situation there. Rashford, as I say, some are saying that he picked up a hip injury after the Fulham game.

12:47Luke Moore: Kobe Mainu, there's something perhaps going on there. And Thielen and Liveramento, as you say, chronic injuries and whatnot. So really, it's Main who is the one we're looking at. Main has been all right this season, but hasn't pulled up too many trees. Although I rate him, and I think I would, generally speaking, I'd have him in the England squad. So I think, looking at those pull-outs, I don't think it says an enormous amount. You're always going to get your wicked whispers and what have you. So, you know, Tuchel is very honest and very bold in his press conferences. There's no doubt about that.

13:23Luke Moore: And that will always, you know, he's playing on the edge, if you like, in those press conferences. I just think he always comes across, I just think he comes across as a bit of a tourist. I just think he comes across as a bit of a kind of disconnected tourist. And this is not me saying that, oh, it's because he's German or because he doesn't get it or whatever, because I think that's lazy to say that. I do happen to believe that the England national coach should be English. but separate from that, I think it's perfectly possible to really dial in and connect and be a big part of it and all the rest of it.

13:55But I think some of the comments he makes, some of the decisions he makes as well, and something about his manner, it makes me feel like he's quite disconnected. And I think the comment about the Argentina game that he made in the press conference, he's a little bit dismissive. He's kind of a little bit aloof as well. is some of his decisions are also just odd. And they were odd, you know, going back to before the World Cup. I mean, the World Cup, he kind of rescued it a bit and it started to get going and it was fine.

14:23Luke Moore: The full-back situation. I think the right-back situation is a really interesting lens through which to view it. He doesn't pick Trent Alexander-Arnold. Then he picks Gerald Kwanzaa, who he's picked again for this squad, but who he picks as like an auxiliary right-back and then just thinks, I'll rely on Rhys James. So some really weird things about how Rhys James will play and all the rest of it, it'll be fine. It obviously isn't fine. Rhys James misses three games. He has to play Gerald Kwanzaa as an auxiliary right back. Leaves Trent Alexander-Arnold at home. Kwanzaa gets sent off against Mexico for a challenge in the right back position, basically because he's not a right back.

14:59And then off the back of it, England have this glorious defeat again.

15:04Luke Moore: Well, it wasn't even glorious. Yeah, a disgraceful defeat if you want. And then they just picked Trent anyway. after the World Cup. He's 28 now. It's a bit like, well, why? So, I don't understand the rationale to why all those decisions happen. But you could say, you flip that, I mean, oddly, Trent has, some people have got him down as a midfielder, but you could say, he's learned from that and he's picked a right back. He said, didn't he? Come on, though. Hang on, you're saying that he hasn't picked a right back and that was bad, so he's now picked him. So it took an experienced coach who's won the Champions League to go through that experience to think, I need to pick a specialist right back who wasn't injured all the fucking time.

15:37I mean, it's nonsense. Perhaps. It's nonsense. Tuchel did say that, oh, perhaps I got it wrong about Trent. And I did find myself - He's flip-flopped so many times on that. Yeah, yeah. Your mention about the disconnect there, part of me feels that that was why he was brought in. And maybe he's leaning a bit too much into that particular trait that he has to seem so blasé in press conferences. because truthfully, behind closed doors, I would hope that he's constantly thinking about that Argentina game. Oh, he will be. I've heard that about that. Yeah, exactly. Well, because he's a professional.

16:10As you've said, he's managed at the top level. He's all about problem solving and problem-based learning, I suppose. And that was a huge problem. Perhaps the first time we really saw how exposed he was in terms of his approach to that game. The thing I'm a little bit wary of, though, and it does feed into the Trent Alexander-Arnold stuff, is I wonder how much he might also be pandering for change, for the change that has been demanded. So he was asked about, I suppose, essentially chaos. And he said, maybe I have to compromise in my wish for control for a little bit more chaos. Embrace the chaos and maybe it brings out the best of us.

16:48I would believe that from an Ange. I'd believe that from another manager whose CV suggests that they can do that. I don't necessarily believe it from him. and obviously chaos is relative, isn't it? Maybe Trent Alexander-Arnold in a right back who can play midfield is his version of chaos. I'm just a little bit wary about how much he's going to change and whether that's ultimately good. Listen, you talk about you don't believe he should have been sacked after the World Cup, which is fair enough. That's a fair enough viewpoint. Ultimately, he should have resigned. I mean, the way that they came out of that game, given what he stated before the World Cup and given how he was talking about this is what we're here to do.

17:25We're here to put another star on that shirt. This is the task I've been given. and I'm not here for a long time, I'm here for a good time type thing, and then completely reneges on that by getting another contract before the World Cup even starts, which, by the way, was bananas by the FA, and then the manner in which they went out, you have to resign. You have to resign. You have to at least offer your resignation because you have singularly failed in a totally disgraceful way to deliver what you stated you were going to deliver. To me, that's dictionary definition of resignation material. Again, hear me right.

17:59But what is the point of him carrying on with this? Why are we expecting to sit through another two years of this? It doesn't make any... There's no point.

18:07Luke Moore: Well, look, again, let me state I'm not a Tuchel defender. I'm not having a go at you. No, no, you're not. I'm making the point. But I don't want to state my position here is I have sympathy with what you're saying. And if Tuchel had have resigned, I wouldn't have been saying, oh, come on, stay on, stay on. And look, you always have to make the best decision with the circumstances. and if it was toxic under Tuchel if it had gone really really bad and you think, you know, my point is well who next? You shouldn't then kind of just keep him for the sake of it I think that that Tuchel like my hope is there's no point in going over what you've just said there because you've said it all my hope is that he has learned and my hope is that he wants to stay because he loves doing this job and you might think that's really fanciful and naive and stupid, fair I understand, but that is my hope.

18:56Luke Moore: But look, Tuchel, I think, for him and his personal pride, rightly or wrongly, wants to stay in the job and he wants to do something. And what is, you know, a home Euros, or partially home Euros, because obviously the other countries in these islands are involved in hosting as well. I think he really, really fancies that. And I think he wants to right the wrongs. I think he does as well, but I don't think it's about him. I take your points, but in many ways, you're kind of emphasising what I'm saying. it's not about him this is an international job which is about much more than him and I think you could also by the way talking about fucking weird decisions the fact that he didn't call up Morgan Gibbs-White is a joke as well it's a ridiculous thing he did it in the end though didn't he?

19:37kind of forced into it

19:38Luke Moore: so fine but then who do you take out this is the problem in that area in particular where you have Bellingham in there you know Morgan Rogers as well Cole Palmer was in the squad up until this moment Ebereche Eze who I would have him behind probably Gibbs White in that particular role, but as an experienced international player. There's no way, with current form, there's no way on earth as he gets in the head of Gibbs White. No way. Well, Gibbs White is in the squad then. He has been called up as an afterthought. So you give Tuchel credit for that. I think he's the top English scorer for the last year or something.

20:11He's in the Premier League. He's got amazing stats, Gibbs White, and he's been brilliant again at the start.

20:15Luke Moore: And he's also not just been playing in the centre, actually. He's been playing a bit on the left for Forrest. That was going to be my next point. is going to be that calling up Rashford ahead of him in this situation, given that Gibbs White can play wider as well, it just smacks me if someone doesn't fucking watch very much football, doesn't fucking care that much. Like, what are you doing? It's a really, really lazy thing to do. It's quite hard, though, to play Gibbs White on the left, say, if you're going to pick a phantom left-back in Liveramento. Maybe he was factoring that in. Yeah, it's true.

20:45Yeah, there's a lot of work to be getting through. Probably play Gerald Quantah there.

20:48Luke Moore: Presumably you are pleased that Gibbs White has eventually known the squad. Yes, I am. He deserves to be in there. Yeah, James Garner also been called up to replace the five absentees. I like him as well. I like Adam Morton as well. I know he's not in there, but I like Adam Morton as well. So, you know, who else do you like? Elliot Anderson. Love Elliot Anderson. Yeah, he's in there. I'm pleased for that. We can go through this if you want, but... The squad is down to 24 players. It was 27, it's 24. Which is weird, because I think you could probably... You should better find room for Adam Morton there, in that context.

21:16Luke Moore: Yeah. Where Walton's like, come on, Klopp's picked 44 players. Sorry, Vish, why don't you guys have been quite critical of Adam Walton? Is it you? I don't think it was critical. I would have had Walton probably in the World Cup. It's easy to say it's gone now. I don't think Walton's done enough this season. Bear in mind, there's obviously strong competition for places. I think that, you know, often we sit here, well, I'd have him in and I'd have him and I'd have him. It's like, well, who are you taking out, though? And that's where the balancing act can be quite different. Well, five players taking themselves out.

21:45Luke Moore: I mean, he could have been called up, I grant you. I mean, Alex Scott and obviously now James Garner, they're probably occupied, a different profile of player, of course, I get that. I think he just doesn't really fancy Adam Morton and what he brings. Yeah, I also think he, clearly as a manager, doesn't see the England squad as, say, places to be filled. There were clearly 27 players that he liked and thought were good enough, and when he had to call on alternates, there were only two other people he thought were worthy. Which I think is actually quite good. Didn't he also pick Ingemoa ahead of Gibbs White?

22:17Yeah, I mean, he's more, I mean... I know he offers you something different, but even so... Gibbs White playing on the left is a very different kind of left winger than... True, that's true.

22:25Luke Moore: But I don't think he thinks of Gibbs White playing on the left, you know, what we saw in the World Cup, and he portrayed this, of course, and we've gone over that, but what he wanted, play like a Premier League side, he wanted pace and wingers that are going to run at fullbacks and centre-halves, which is why you had Rashford and Gordon, and that's why Nani Madueke got in. and Saka as well. That's what he wanted. And I understood that. That is not what, you know, I don't know if you play on the wings, you know, the likes of Gibbs or whoever brings down there. Now that's where maybe he's thinking, should I mix it up a bit more?

22:58Luke Moore: I don't know. But Rio Ngomua fits that. And Ngomua, you would hope, he's very, very young, of course, you would hope that he would be able to provide a bit more of a threat, I don't know, whatever than say somebody like Rashford, you know, because Rashford, we know what he brings. And I think what Rashford brings is, is somewhat of value, but we know he is quite hit and miss. So, again, who are you kind of taking in those positions? And that's why I don't think he's going to look at Gibbs White as playing on that side. No, Gibbs White, for the record, Gibbs White is unquestionably much better in the number 10 role and through the middle.

23:30And that's where he plays the majority of his games. It's probably where he's played almost all of his games this season, if not all of them.

23:35Luke Moore: And also as well with the way Kane likes to play, it gets very congested in there. So that's probably another reason why Tuchel wanted... Players, you're going to be wide, you're going to be high. Again, betrayed that in the latter stages of the workout. Which is the whole point of this. Yeah. That's the thing. The overriding point of this entire thing is that we've said this so many times when you're England manager it's such a weird kind of dichotomy because it doesn't actually matter what you do really in the Nations League with respect. Qualification games for big tournaments group stages for big tournaments.

24:11Of course it's a disaster if you go out in the group stage. Yeah, I understand. But generally speaking, this is common or garden stuff. It's like what you should be doing. What it comes down to is a really rarefied atmosphere at the very top when it's possibly even half an hour in a massive knockout game. Do you have the credentials, the minerals, to go and say, this is what we're doing. This is how I'm going to get this team over the line. That's what his whole tenure is going to be judged on.

24:37Luke Moore: But the only bit where I have a little bit of, a teensy bit of sympathy with Tuchel is the fact that England have done that a number of times over the years and the problem for him was which is why we've changed minds and the problem with him is he fed into it and it had worked for him against Mexico with very differing circumstances and he even did it against Norway because when he brought on Saka and Rashford against Norway it didn't actually have the effect he hoped against Argentina he was thinking I could do that but actually you know what the back five and the backs of the walls and all that has worked and that's where he was stupid because everybody, certainly on my phone contacts, WhatsApp groups popping off, everyone knew it was a bad idea.

25:17This is why international breaks aren't good because we remember the pain. That's definitely part of it. Why don't we try to forget about it? Well, let's look ahead. And who brought it up again?

25:24Luke Moore: He was... In the great autumn international break of 2026. We're in danger of undermining such an amazing festival. We were all trying to move on but Luke is dragging it back. Yeah. All the way to Atlanta. Yeah. Yeah. It's my fault. But we can't play there because this is just a European thing now. No, exactly. We can't face Argentina. The crucible of football. We can't play those big, nasty boys of Argentina. Bigger boys. We're not going to let you in. Although Enzo Fernandes will probably inexplicably score for Spain on Saturday. What I don't understand is why Valentin Barco, who's at best, it was an incredible cameo, but he's a bit part player for Argentina in the summer.

26:02And he's getting booed all the time. Why isn't Fernandes getting booed every time he touches the ball?

26:06Luke Moore: He's moved to the Republic of Mancun. Yeah, but they should be booing him as well. Do your bit. They should be, shouldn't they? Chelsea fans are at least booing their own players. It's difficult for Man City fans who will turn the other way, jumping up and down. That's true, even though he signed him. They're all facing the wrong way the whole time. And he did score a lovely free kick as well, didn't he? Yeah, it was a nice one. Very clever. Quick of mind. Very sneaky, isn't it? Very cuntish free kick. Almost as sneaky as some of his domestic behaviour, I would say. Very sneaky. Careful on that.

26:31I wonder if he sang a song after that. Could have done, couldn't he?

26:34Luke Moore: Horrible man. well look Gibbs White's in that's something that we do know Jarrod Branthwaite is in as well a highly rated defender he spent a bit of time in Germany in the summer trying to address his injuries because he's been in and out of the Everton side with that this is a real chance for him because he's got one international cap which was you've got to go some to be in and out of the Everton side this season I was going to say more for Everton's sake for crying out loud Jarrod but he's in the England side I get it I get it I think you know the way Everton they don't always manage it but the way they clearly want to play and the way they're capable of playing is being super tight at the back you know you think of them as being like solid pros at the back keeping goals out clean sheets all the rest of it Jared Branthwaite I think has played every minute so far this season the Premier League he's obviously 24 coming to that age now we expect him to really kick on alongside an old war horse an old stager in Tarkov and so I get it I do get it I understand why he's been called up I think he deserves to be called up Thomas Succo is reportedly also considering calling up Max Dowman to train with the squad do that of Ingemar as well I don't understand why you have to give him a play he did in the summer yeah with Josh King you can still do it I love Josh King very smiley boy as well nice to see him enjoying his football yes exactly but not as good as Gibbs White according to many no exactly but maybe one day he gives what will lose his place to Josh King.

28:06So if he's got a train with the... I suppose if you were Arsenal, he'd be a bit annoyed about that because England's next to games after the Spain game are away from home. Yeah. So do they, presumably, they come back? Would he travel or would he stay at St. George's Park? Yeah. Putting the cones out.

28:19Luke Moore: Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, away to Czech Republic and then away to Croatia and then at home to Czech Republic. Is he still on his mum's passport, maybe? Good point. You can't do that anymore, by the way. You used to be able to, but you can't now. So he has to sit on someone's lap when he flies. Yeah, he can't go. He's like in his own seat, exactly. It's one of those little extra seat belts. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not getting in the cot. You have to. You have to. Get in the England cot. Imagine if you're one of the older players, one of the older players sat down on the different arm, and be like, oh, fucking hell, they've got a kid.

28:47I was thinking... Could be crying all the flight. I was thinking that Harry Kane could legitimately... Because Harry Kane is, what, 33? And when does Dalman turn 17? New Year's Eve, isn't it? Oh, right, it's all right. It's New Year's Eve. So he could literally be his dad.

29:02Luke Moore: It could be. Yeah, Diamond 17 New Year's Eve. Why didn't you choose Thomas Tuchel? You would have had to do the maths. Yeah, but it's not the same if it's a manager, it's not a player, is it? Yeah, that is true. Let's hope we see Anthony Barriga getting interviewed. Runs on, runs off again. He was great, wasn't he? Yeah, it's like Wacky Races. I wonder how much. What did you say? He's the most intense man you'd ever meet. He's the kind of guy, you'd be in a pub with him, having a laugh, and then he stops. Then he'd just go, what are you laughing at? Yeah, then he just runs off and jumps on a bus.

29:34Luke Moore: Then he runs away, yeah. Why does he jump on a bus? He's run away with no explanation, like he's just pissed in his pants. Oh, fucking hell, I've got to get out of here. Yeah, stop laughing, man. Oh, dear. Right, coming up after this, a few more years of Mikel Arteta's madness.

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32:40Luke Moore: Thank you so much for being with us. Just firstly, give us a sense of what you're up to today. I'm up to really supporting England. I've just finished off an advert for Budweiser, which has been very interesting. and I think one great thing about supporting England is you can support England from all over the country, not just at the games but in pubs and bars, just enjoying a nice glass of Budweiser. Welcome back to the Football Ravel, everybody. That was Sir Geoff Hurst, England World Cup winner, hat-trick hero, advertising Budweiser with every sentence. He's made it obvious there, hasn't he?

33:15Luke Moore: You can have some Budweiser's. You can have a nice glass. Stop saying it, they've not paid. Yeah. They're not paid to be on here. There's no such company called Budweiser's. is there? No. It's like people who call Asda Asdas. Why did they do that? I don't know. I'm not sure. Yeah. I'm not sure. I don't know either. Mikel Arteta has had a contract extension. You see, while the international break happens, club football does continue, despite what I tell them. But yeah, Mikel Arteta has agreed an improved new contract with Arsenal. His current deal was due to expire at the end of the season. Why have they announced this in the international break?

33:48Touch and go for a minute there, wouldn't it? Or we might leave. They're ashamed of it. Dust that. Dust that.

33:52Luke Moore: No one want to know about that. He's like, why are we hiding this news? It's not bad news. If we announce it during the international break, he doesn't have to do one of those mental press conferences. That's what it is. The New Deal is expected to take him at least into his 10th year at the club. Proper legacy stuff. He's one of the off stages of the Premier League now in terms of managers. He's earned it, Luke. He has absolutely earned it. A lot of people have been critical of him. Have they? What? Critical of his personality, which is, let's be honest, irritating. Yeah. But not critical of his managerial skills.

34:20Luke Moore: I think they've been critical of Arsenal's performances up until they won the league, even when they did win the league, you know, the style of football. You always get that noise, though. I don't know. I'm not saying I agree with them. I'm not saying I disagree with them. No, that's interesting for our listeners. Yeah. Anyone else you don't agree with or disagree with? You finger-gunned Luke there as if it was cool to pose on the fence. Exactly. That's a cool thing to do. I think he's earned his new deal. I think it's not really news, this, or anything to be interested in. Have a good producer, Tom, for putting it in the running.

34:50Tom, this is not really news. This is something only Arsenal fans are interested in. Tom, you've lost the news. That's a great reference. This did make me think about what Arteta's next move in management would be.

35:07Luke Moore: It made me think that as well. It's going to be Barcelona, isn't it? If he's truly North London forever, he's sorted out one North London club. Yeah. Come on. Exactly. That's a really good point. What do you think of Barnet? How are Barnet doing? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, well, do your research, mate. They could be doing better, let's say it's the same. It's within your constabulary, Mr. Arteta. Exactly. Please sort it out. That'd be so good, wouldn't it? You're either North London forever or you're not. Exactly. Oh, look at Tom trying to get back on board. Barnet are top of League Two. You can't delete it.

35:38Luke Moore: You can't delete it or add to it. Barnet are top of League Two. I'm getting rid of that. I'm making an executive decision to delete that from the running world. Pompey, are they in League Two this season? Get fucked. Banter. Get fucked. I know they're in League One. Banter again! Double banter! Totally bantered me off. It's the international break. Because the reason I thought that, and then Barcelona immediately came to mind, but I wondered, like over 10 years, we've seen a few different styles of play. This, what they're in now, what you were alluding to about criticism of the style of play, will stick with him.

36:09Does he become, not quite Simeone, but a manager who is characterised as only being this kind of percentages, set pieces, style manager. Why?

36:22Luke Moore: Because where does he go? You can't forget what he did a few years ago. Yeah, I totally agree. And also the way they played against Chelsea, for example. I don't think I agree with that general assessment. No, that was just literally something I was positing from nowhere. To me, it feels more... Because you can't get any help from previous to Tom. No one's going to help you. for me it feels like my reading of last season is just that they were doing everything they could to get over the line exactly get the monk of the bag get it done and I don't imagine Arteta is philosophically aligned with that as a die hard kind of you know coach of that style like one thing it is forgotten about I think last season when we look back on it in terms of how Arsenal did it is kind of that almost everyone was doing it and it's just that Arsenal were the highest profile team who were effectively going to win the league doing it for parts of the season.

37:13And the aggregated marginal gains aspect of last season with throw-ins and set-piece. Everyone was kind of doing that. The general talk, if you remember, before it kind of focused and zeroed on Arsenal was that this is a bit of a boring season generally. And then people really laser focused on Arsenal because they were the ones who were going to lift a trophy for doing it. Yeah, and people forget that the season before last season, Thomas Tuchel in an England press conference, maybe about this time last year, maybe in February of that season, addressed the fact that in the Premier League, there were so many more, the onus was more on scoring from set pieces and that it might be something that England would have to adopt.

37:49And he was quite open about that because the percentages, I think, of Brentford in particular were quite stark that it obviously came across his radar. Yeah, I think that going back to the Arteta contract thing, he's obviously going to start a new deal. He deserves a new deal. It's great news for Arsenal fans. It's great news for Arsenal. Their big ambition now will obviously to be one step further in the Champions League, right? That'll be kind of what he's judged on or maybe if he can go beyond being a, you know, say one season, one, that's a bit harsh, but more than one Premier League title.

38:18That's really the task now. Well,

38:20Luke Moore: they'll have a chance for a period of domination. Exactly. That's exactly, they're on the cusp of, they'll never have a better chance. Yeah. So I think, and he can also write himself into, he can write himself into Arsenal history alongside Wenger and Chapman and, you know, I don't think you do that by winning one league title, but you probably, you obviously do in the Champions League because they've never fucking done it. Interesting you went for Wenger and Chapman. Spanning a lot of time there. Because that's what Arsenal fans would probably claim. Like Wenger's... Georgie Graham. Another man.

38:47Luke Moore: Wait, great. I mean, he was North London forever. He's great. He's great. Georgie Graham, great. I've got no beef with him but I think generally speaking those two are the ones, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Shouldn't forget Bruce Rhea. Move on. Right. Let's move on to Jose Mourinho. More from the Jose Mourinho fallout. We mentioned on Monday show that he brought printouts of screenshots to Real Madrid's post-match press conference after they lost the Madrid derby to Atletico. And he was claiming that Atletico should have been given two red cards in the game. Again, I have enormous sympathy for him with the second one in particular.

39:25Luke Moore: Cristian Romero going in on Jude Bellingham. The fact that it's Cristian Romero really far. It's personal. There should have been a light flashing there. The only thing missing in that situation was Valentin Barco running on slapping Jude Bellingham. Yes, exactly. So that's one all. The second one for me was a red card. Yeah, yeah. Technically being Christian Romero's un-gentlemanly conduct. Yeah, so... Just by being... When he wakes up in the morning, bang, red card. I don't know whether I'm... Maybe I am kind of relishing this. I'm team Mourinho here. But La Liga's president, Javier Tebas, always nice to hear from him.

39:57How is he still doing this?

39:58Luke Moore: Who's challenging? We're going to get to Infantino in a minute. How long has that been? Yeah, just... Carry on, I'll look it up. when you're hot, you're hot. He's responded by saying that claiming there is a refereeing conspiracy against Real Madrid is like living in another galaxy. And you know what he means by that? It's like, are you joking? Do you know how much our profit margins fall when you or Barcelona win the league? We're on your side. Yeah. Well, as I said, I thought there should have been at least one red card. But Atletico responded by posting on their X account a video showing a sheet of paper coming out of a printer with a hashtag in the English translation, stop referee harassment now.

40:38Luke Moore: What a response. I think it's broadly speaking really good behaviour by Maria to come up bringing printouts. It's so old-fashioned. He's back. I can imagine all the kind of Gen Zers in the office. Gen Z. Going, you want to do a printout? Definitely want to do a printout. How does a printer work? Print it out for me. I'm taking it in a hard copy. Who's printing this out for Jose? We've had a paperless office since 2018. Go and get a printer. Print it out. He went to Snappy Snaps and paid with cash to get it. I love that he's done it. The Dean Halson red card was definitely a red card, by the way.

41:16Luke Moore: Yeah. 100%. What do you think of the other ones, though? Do you think he's got a point? I agree with you. I think the second one, yeah. Yeah, that's what I mean. I don't think he was moaning too much about Halson. But ultimately, what Mourinho will... Or Shithalson, as they now call him. What we've got with Mourinho and what we've had for some time is nothing can ever just be either a legitimate alternative point of view or a mistake. Everything, so you know he's now in the realm when he was like it at Fenerbahce and he's been like it for a while now. Everything has to be part of some wider conspiracy against Jose Mourinho PLC.

41:50But he's like a populist leader. He's not like one.

41:53Luke Moore: He is a populist leader. This is obviously a pattern of behaviour against stuff. He's basically legitimately claiming, like seriously, with a straight phase, there's a conspiracy against Real Madrid. It's like Nigel Farage saying the elite's this, the elite's that. It's like, what? You're projecting this. When it comes down to being manager of Real Madrid you're probably going to get on the right end of quite a lot of stuff. Everyone is against the Kings team. Exactly. Exactly that. But I also do think there's a bit of distraction in there, right? Because Barcelona have started the season really well, they've been unstoppable.

42:28ball. Madrid, what are they, in fourth or something now? Because Betis are doing so well. They lost to Betis, didn't they? I think it's part of the old Mourinho playbook as well, which is, look at this over here. Don't worry about that. Look at this over here.

42:40Luke Moore: But that's what he's been reduced to. But he's always been a bit like that. Yeah, but he did it with style and backed it up with results and trophies 20 years ago. But relative to his career now, that's a small portion. Oh, no, it is. There's a stage at Manchester United, do you remember when he talks about the number of people that have won Premier League titles in the league? Yeah, I remember. Have a bit of respect. Three, yeah. Two for everyone else, three for me. And it was like, you've timed that really well given the number of retirements in the last few years. But I'll rate that though.

43:14Luke Moore: Yeah. Again, for the record, him bringing out the printouts is great. It's great stuff. And if he's doing that just for us, we thank him in all of a sudden. My point is though he's always had that type of behaviour in his locker. When he goes into Chelsea in 2004 he's basically saying to them we're Chelsea we're not Man Utd we're not Liverpool they all fucking hate us they all think we don't deserve to be here we're going to show them kind of thing. It's all a big us against them it always has been. But when you get the results it does look quite spectacular. It looks better doesn't it? It does look better.

43:43Luke Moore: I think we can all agree on that.

43:51Luke Moore: Hey guys, it's Joe. It's Kevin. And this is Nick Jonas from Hey Jonas. Do you remember growing up when it felt like every teacher had a favorite student? Everybody knew who it was. Well, I was homeschooled, so I like to think it was me. A class of one. Congratulations. But we're not here to talk about favorite students. We want to talk about a teacher's real favorite. Kleenex tissues. According to Teacherless, Kleenex is the number one facial tissue brand trusted by teachers. Kleenex Ultra Soft tissues are silky soft to help prevent skin irritation. And now you can take them anywhere with Kleenex Snap and Go.

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45:52Luke Moore: A man who's in the results business is Gianni Infantino, of course. He has proposed an external review of how Fever operates. Presumably he's going to do the review himself. It's going to be by his external market, so it's going to have to be his brother or his cousin. No, it's him with a wig on. His wife's best friend. Well, that basically means he's doing it off the books. Yeah, exactly. Unlike other FIFA dealings. Hey, the external review will then come back with potential improvements. How FIFA... Just potential. If we do need some improvements. None of it's binding. Yeah, none of it... We're not sure we do need improvements at this point, but if we do...

46:28Luke Moore: They scrubbed out the word unlikely before that. He said he's also suggesting a consultation on how FIFA's decision-making can be further strengthened. Suggesting to who? You won the fucking thing! Exactly, yeah. I love it. I absolutely love it. Again, if you're going to be... We have to fight the person that's done this. It's just like a fucking hot dog. If you are going to be accused of corruption and all the rest of it... Lean into it. Give us a laugh. Lean into it. Exactly. You know what I mean? You either have your regular corruption, which is just simply depressing, or you have this, which is depressing, but we get a little bit of a giggle out of it.

47:02But what I don't like about the Infantino era is the sinister nature of it. I know what you mean. Under Blatter, it's just corruption as you expect. It's exactly what you expect. It comes as part of doing business. It's how it goes. With Infantino, it's got a lot more sinister.

47:16Luke Moore: Yeah, I mean, if Blatter was off for a big lunch, if you look through the keyhole, you would just see a load of old boys having a big old lunch, laughing and rubbing each other on the back. On the back, right? Gianni Infantino, if he's off to have a big lunch, you look through that keyhole, whatever you see is scarred for life. 100%. Naked person sushi. Honestly, you remember the film Labyrinth? It's like that, but like adults and... Pan's Labyrinth? No, Labyrinth. Come on. Marcus is firmly ensconced in a different era to Pan's Labyrinth, mate. David Bowie. All right? But it's like that, but sinister and sex.

47:57Are you saying sinister and sex? Alan Partridge, where have you been? Warning, this film contains scenes of a sinister nature and sex. You remind me of the name. You look through the keyhole, Vish, and it's just sinister and sex. You make it sound good. You make it sound decent.

48:22Careful there may be petting. Heavy petting. Heavy petting.

48:26Luke Moore: Extremely heavy metal petting. Are you saying that when you walk into FIFA HQ and you go towards Infantino's office... Don't do it. A little worm pops up and says, if you've gone that way, you've gone straight to the castle. There we go, you see. But I agree, it is just sinister and sex. There you are, you see. Finally we got to the bottom of it. Isn't it strange? It's always quite unpredictable, the things that really tickle Marcus. Yeah. I wouldn't want to be tickled by him. Would that fall under sinister or sex? It is depressing. It is depressing. What about if he's only wearing those really big white trainers?

48:58Luke Moore: Honestly. Jail time, you'd get that for me. Here's a sad prediction for you. Okay, sad? Is it sinister? Oh, sinister. Sexy? No, nothing sexy about that. Just sad. Gianni will only be wearing a pair of trainers when he comfortably wins the election in March. Yeah, I think it's a very low quality prediction, that. Yeah, no, he's gonna win it, isn't he? Because there's nobody standing against him. Because everyone... I mean, the last time a FIFA president lost an election was Sir Stanley Rouse in 1974. Oh, beautiful British candidate. Hey? That shows everything you need to know. I mean, Rouse... Bloody eyes and tenions behind that, was it?

49:35I'll tell you what. That sounds like a Eurovision stitch up.

49:38Luke Moore: Yeah, I mean, if we wanted a bit of jingoism, then Stanley Rouse was your man back in the day. Stanley, if you're listening, we're on your side. We've got your back, sir. Died in 1986. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, I mean, yeah, there's no candidate that's going to run against him. There was talk about the Canadian chap who's in charge of... Can't have a Canadian. I don't know. Mark can't. He's showing that they've got a bit of... You elect them to power, they do mad shit, some of them might black up, and then they go out with Katy Perry. That's always the way. It's always the way. Which part? The Katy Perry bit, obviously.

50:18Luke Moore: Right, I just wanted to clarify. You go out with a woman who thinks she went to space. It's crazy. We're asking for trouble. I should call you sweet little nicknames though, like Firework though. Do you want an interesting little... Say no if you don't, but do you want a little interesting bit of trivia about why Sir Stanley Rouse was ousted in 1974? I mean, I know why. Okay, well don't answer then. Go on. It's because of his pro-apartheid South Africa stance, which pissed off all the other African nations, and then he got ousted by and lost to Jael Havillage. Jael Havillage. I mean, that was the tip of the arse joke with Rouse.

50:50Luke Moore: Rouse was... I mean, just to... I'll take it all back, fuck Rouse. Yeah. Do you know what I love about this? Producer Tom really wants to move on. No, we're doing a deep dive now on the 1974 ousting of Sir Stanley Rouse from FIFA. Because it's international brain. He wasn't corrupt, but he was a colonial old bastard. And that was his problem. We've also just defeated Tom. He's just put in the run. We can drop Portugal Wales if you want. No, we're doing it. I said at the top, Portugal Wales is tomorrow. It's true, we'll do it. And we deserve to talk about Portugal. Let's move on to Craig Bellamy then.

51:17Luke Moore: We can move on to Craig Bellamy. I don't think Infantino will be at this game because Portugal's not one of his strongholds, is it? Although they are hosting the World Cup. Yeah. Yeah, so it'll become a stronghold, yeah. Interesting that stuff about Rouse being born in Montford near Lowestoff. Which is in East Suffolk. Hey, do you know what? In fact, he will be in Portugal tomorrow. He'll be looking at hotel rooms, ready for the World Cup. I may be. Which week do I want? Maybe he's visiting Madonna. Is she still in Portugal? I didn't even know she was in Portugal. Let's talk about it on Uncut.

51:46Luke Moore: It's Craig Bellamy's first game in charge of Wales since he had conversations over the Burnley job in the summer. Bellamy said it had been reported that talks broke down, but he insisted that it was his decision to turn the job down. He said, I had a decision to make and I made it. He's straight talking. Well, it's a very important point he has to reiterate because part of his pull as Wales coach, certainly for a lot of the players as well, is that... The bomber jacket. Well, he wants to be that and the bomber jacket. But like, there's no better place to be. I'm going to make this the best place.

52:18and if you're, you know, casting glances elsewhere, then you're skewing that a little bit. So he has to make out that, like, no, I didn't want it. Yeah. I spoke to them, yeah. Yeah. I went in, I went in. I know the club. Some of my old stuff was there. Yeah, I went to Turf Moor, had a chat, and I was checking after them to see if I got the job. I didn't want it. Is Vincent still here? No, he moved up. He was gone, yeah. I'm going to make it the best place to be, well, by which I mean I'm going to lose on a quite heartbreaking penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina and not qualify for the World Cup.

52:45Craig, where are you going? You're digging up all the old hurts, aren't you today? Well, just as part of it, it's part of the context, isn't it? Is it? How's that part of the context? They've not qualified for the World Cup. He's been courting other jobs. And now he's trying to double down and say, no, I'm here, I'm loving it.

53:00Luke Moore: Well, I'll tell you why that happened. It's because he, like so many people, thought it's only the Nations League. But now it's come about, he's thinking, do you know what? This is a proper competition. Yeah, it's the last chance we're going to get for competitive football for a while. In it to win it. Yeah. I do like the fact that, of all the stuff that we say to kind of slag off the Nations League, not you. I was going to say. I do like the competitive element to the actual games themselves. You see. The massive, it makes a, I mean, it's too much football going on. There's too much international football.

53:24You didn't come up with it. Why are you smiling like that? Exactly, exactly. Oh, yeah. Take responsibility. They all laughed at me. I don't know what team I'm on. I like the game. I like the fact the games are, are actually competitive because even the qualifiers before the Nations League was, was, was, was with us. Even the qualifiers, you know, probably nine times out of ten would be shit. Right. Whereas now you've actually got some competitive games against other good teams.

53:48Luke Moore: Yeah. Vish, what do you like about the Nations League? I like your shirt. I like the way you've done your hair today. It's lovely. I just like your ideas, really. Strong ideas, man, you are, mate. Are you doing Johnny's external review? No, I could do. It wouldn't take long, let's be honest. Technically speaking, Marcus might well be the only person in the country that is genuinely supportive of the Nations League. Yeah. Because I think if you polled it, get a polling company to poll how unpopular this international break is at the moment it comes. I think you're probably looking at high 90 % people hate it.

54:23Luke Moore: Really? I think this is going to be long enough that you're going to start detesting it. It's going to wilt. It's going to start to wilt. Yeah. I don't think so. I think I'm going to absolutely love it. You know, like that video of Hillary Clinton passing out during the election campaign. That's going to be you at the end. Marcus is on record in saying he thinks it should be the other way around. There should be three weeks of Premier League football, and the rest should be international. By the end of this international break, you'll be like, Mitch McConnell will have to wheel you in, and you've got to do a bit of waving and thumbs up.

54:51Lovely.

54:52Luke Moore: Lovely. If only I knew who he was. You can't do a thumbs up now, even. Yeah, I can. There you go. One for the camera. You can. One for the camera. Give it three weeks. Poor old Hillary, though. Did you see that former Wales captain Ashley Williams has been appointed as a part of Bellamy's backroom staff? That's good, isn't it? I met Ashley Williams three or four weeks ago. Very nice man. What was the contact? I think it was in the Talks office. Okay. He was in there. Very nice man. So I wish him all the best. Two fine strapping centre-halves just chatting away. He was a much more magnificent specimen than me, mate.

55:20Do you think? Oh, mate.

55:21Luke Moore: You're being very, very truthful there. The big news is, of course, speaking of strapping chaps, 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo has been included in Portugal's squad for the Nations League. They want to win it again, Vish. They want to win it again. They won it last time with him. Well, yeah, I mean, as you mentioned the World Cup's going to be in Portugal guess who thinks they're playing in that well he said he won't wink wink yeah come on that'd be outrageous you know I don't think I will unless you want me to no we don't want you to I might then I'll do it he said that he said it in a way that was very much felt like it was up to him yeah and it is and the good thing is that your old man is now managing Portugal isn't he oh is George Jesus back yeah love that yeah love it come home yeah He said to me.

56:06The only other man...

56:10Luke Moore: Please, you've got this 41-year-old up top. We need to replace him. Hey, old boy's up top. Yeah. The only other man in football with your haircut. Do you think? Yeah, I think so. Other man? I'm in football. Well, you know what I mean. You know what I mean. Football-adjacent haircut. He's got the exact same haircut as you, but grey. Who's got your barnet, then? No one. Yeah. Lawrence Fox. No, he's not into football, is he? Also, can I just say, I take the Lawrence Fox stuff all day long. but one thing I would say is that he is he is quite severely receding and I'm not I'd like people to make that point if they're going to say it so why did you buy a new Pompyshaw and get Fox on the back after Megan Fox ah fair yeah or Michael J Michael J Fox he's supporting Michael J Fox he's outstanding money raising for Parkinson there you go something we can all get behind finally it's been reported that the former Chelsea owner Todd Bowley tried to sign Ronaldo during his second spell with Manchester United yeah I can believe it yeah He's probably had a fucking sticker book out.

57:08Yeah, I've heard of him. He's not a shiny in real life, is he? He is, actually.

57:15Luke Moore: I bet he is. I bet he is. Ask Brasel, he's the only one who's got near him. That's why Ronaldo chucked his microphone away. In the river. He got too close. He got too close. There we are, everybody. Look at how enjoyable has this been. There's so much more. We've got another one. Is it seven weeks? We've got so much filler. What are you talking about? Yeah. We basically dug up a dead man to talk about for ten minutes. We've had a bit of filler. We put him back when we read his history. We've had a lot of killer as well. Fair. It's been a struggle for me, I'll be honest. It's been a real tough one.

57:44Luke Moore: Yeah, but that's the age we are. It's been a grueler, baby. That's the age we are. Have a drink before the show, not after, as I always say. Thanks for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the Acast Creator Network. Friends of the Ramble, don't go anywhere. Keep listening for Ramble Uncut, where we're going to be talking about all this kind of bollocks and more. If you're not a friend of the Ramble, sign up now. Patreon.com forward slash football ramble is where you can find it. Thank you very much, Vish. Cheers. Thank you, Luke. Thank you very much. And thank you, the Nations League.

58:17The Football Ramble is a Stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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