The Preview Show: Can I get sacked in the morning?

0:00Hello? Yeah? JT here. Nah thanks Todd I'm making shit loads from the baller league. Welcome to the Football Rumble preview show. It's Friday 2nd January. I'm Pete Donaldson. I'm Jim Campbell. And I'm David Cartl. Good timings guys. Great start to the year.

0:24Happy New Year gentlemen Happy New Year I just loved like David Cartlidge didn't crash the vocals it was a perfect start you know that's just we'd start in the yeah right I'm loving it yes yesterday we kicked off the air by reliving the best moments from our Patreon exclusive content in 2025 you can listen to that Ramble Uncut Recap below this episode in your podcast app and if you enjoy it make sure to sign up to the Football Ramble Patreon Just search for patreon.com forward slash football ramble Or just type that into the top of your Chrome browser If you're a Chromest Maybe you're a Firefoxist as well You'll find it Or you can click the join button on YouTube to get involved Now Wow Wow I had a lovely picky tea last night at gym I had pate, I had cheese I had crackers and Chelsea YouTube As well Which was just absolutely How many picky teas have you had over Christmas though?

1:17It has been, my partner's been ill, so I have just been demolishing everything that's in the fridge. I am very pate-based at this moment. It's the season for it, isn't it? It is the season. And is picky tea a Northwestern thing, David? Because I never really had them when I was a kid. It was never a thing. Yeah, we always used to say, oh, we're having a picky tea at night sort of thing. So that was always it. Yeah, exactly. A little array of beige foods. Some nice bread and some beige foods. So happy New Year to Chelsea fans. Two wins in nine and Mareska's gone. I mean, New Year's Day as well.

1:56One of the days of the year where people are... Oh, fuck off. Gosh, sorry. I haven't been to bed. I thought I'd get away with this. Yeah, but it just never stops there, does it? The chaos never, ever stops. And there are so many angles that we could start this conversation from. Because obviously I've indulged in a bit of Chelsea YouTube as well. Poor old Roy Jennings is not happy. Busy chat. Yeah, he's a lot bumping around in his mind. He wants his club back. Come on, let's see. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, this is not that inconsistent, is it, with what they do? I think, you know, I suppose let's start with Maresco himself, right?

2:33Because some of the things he's been doing are just outrageous, frankly, aren't they? And I actually think, like, a lot of people are like, oh, Chelsea are completely mad, what are they doing? It's crazy for them to do this at this point in the season. but I think like clearly they really desperately wanted to get rid of him if they do that in a situation like this where you know changing managers now is going to be very complicated for various reasons and it's clearly become untenable I mean he was openly discussing you know the situation at Manchester City with Manchester City and I say openly because he had to do that it was part of his contract if he wanted to talk to other clubs he had to let Chelsea know which is extremely unsettling when there's a a real possibility apparently he was there was interest from Juve yeah I don't know if it was if it was the same sort of thing but the feeling at the club was apparently that he was using their interest to sort of leverage to then get a better deal like very very quickly he'd apparently written a book hadn't he or was working on a book and they kind of blocked him releasing that I don't know if it was if it was a football book or a novel maybe he's got some sort of literary ambition as well you are putting a bit too much time into this a body stripper it can't have been about tactics because his tactics are fucking boring he's about he's very defensive everywhere apart from the pitch David I was going to say yeah it has been a mad one and I guess for the wider audience it kind of came to the fore with the oh this has been the worst 48 hours yeah which is also insane so when that came to the fore I think it had been bumbling to the surface for a while and people knew things weren't right we now know that was basically over injuries and this apparent thing that players are going to an independent medical department for checks and to manage minutes and such.

4:12And that particular incident was over Rhys James. And apparently this independent body that Chelsea are going to for injury updates and injury guidance said that he can't play. Maresco wanted to play him and such like that. So things like that get in the way. But again, and like you've just said at the start, this isn't a new thing for Chelsea. Every other manager has found that under this regime. I think it's six managers now since 2022, since Borley came in. So every manager at some point has kind of found this, that other things have been delegated elsewhere, whether it be transfers, be it injuries or anything like that.

4:43We know about Tuchel, we know about Pochettino and these are the coaches as well. So this isn't new. And the next guy who comes in is going to have to deal with that. They're going to have to be a yes man for Clear Lake and for Blue Court basically. I mean, Poch himself, I remember him saying, this is Chelsea's side, not my side. There's a real gap between manager and club, isn't there? And that seems to consistently be what happens around this time of a manager's time. tenure right that that becomes unworkable for a manager who obviously in a lot of cases will know better um because obviously they're a top level football manager but the interesting is so interesting isn't it because the story that has come out is that none of which we can you know independently get enzo's take on sure of course i'm sure he'll put something in a book absolutely a thinly disguised novel about this exact situation there's a there's a lot of using metaphor and simile yeah he's writing an extra chapter now i shouldn't yeah well hold off on Maybe he needed an ending and now he's got one.

5:41He had to just force one. But yeah, apparently he wanted the freedom to essentially disregard that medical team's advice and play players when he felt they were ready, which must be frustrating from the club's point of view, particularly when you have players like Rhys James. He's had a lot of injury problems in the past. Palmer's another one as well. Absolutely. Paul Palmer's got this coin problem as well. We know that everything caught with him. I think it was his public injury that he's had. So that caused him to, you know, to have a setback. So yeah, we can see where he's coming from. So you completely understand, but like the club's frustration there as well with like you know we've got this we've got this recurring problem we think we've found a solution to it with expertise that we've brought in and he kind of wants to disregard that and then of course you've got the 48 hours thing you've got him saying he was too ill to do the post match afterwards which to me felt like come on sack me come on come on it really looks like he had just had enough and wanted to be sacked this is the way Amarim's surely going to have to go Amarim's been desperate to get sacked and it hasn't got quite surely he has to do this and just start not turning up to press conferences it's probably football manager on the PC stuff where you click send that you can't be asked to do the press conference send Cabiero out as like you know kind of essentially plans to get yourself sacked go this is an all time great surely he's left it all out there stitching prawns into the curtain stuff like that I mean like I can't remember the last time there was so much kind of off the record on the record kind of briefing clearly from the club about Enzo not listening to the medical staff.

7:09Can you remember anything like this before? Like in recent memory with the Premier League, a top six club anyway. Definitely not in the Premier League. It happens a lot in Spain. Real Madrid are absolutely right for it. They're constantly in PR wars and feeding out to certain journalists. And you can clearly see there's a certain journalist at Sky Sports who is briefing very nicely for Chelsea and some of his posts are reading like basically PR statements at the moment. And we're going to see probably more of it as well. Look, the transfer window's open. And Chelsea, of course, are a hedge fund now, not a football club.

7:42So they're going to be trading players, as they like to say it, not transferring players. So that's going to be something that occurs as well. And that's clearly another issue Oresko's had. I think he wanted some win now players. I think he said, like, I need some experience in this team. You've got some very talented young players here. They're going to get me wrong, but I want to do something here. I know I want to win something here. And this is the issue. And this is why your Rory Jennings and your other Chelsea fans are very angry. They're used to the culture that Ibramovic brought in at Chelsea, which was win now, be ruthless, but win now.

8:12And they're not doing that at the moment. And I think that's fair enough as well. Yeah, I think so as well. Chelsea fans are probably, and we've said this a few times that it seems to not really change under Clear Lake, that I don't know if they know what they're being asked to get behind. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Because what is the identity of it? What is the purpose of it? Now, it's amazing that they still managed to win two trophies last year. That is incredible, really, despite the fact that the Conference League was obviously going to be theirs for the taking. But, you know, like, is it always going to be like this?

8:41Is there always going to be this churn? You know, for every Cole Palmer, there are three Renato Vegas who are essentially just there to be in a shop window. And Chelsea is a very glamorous shop window that immediately inflates the value of a player because they've been a Chelsea player. It's like when Brazil would call players up just so they could, like, you know, chuck some money on the price tag when they've got to move to Europe. It's got a similar sort of effect to be in that window. And as a fan, like, how do you, connect to a team where half the team are essentially just there as kind of products to be sold later.

9:08You've got this weird situation where there's a surplus and you get this bomb squad situation where you get Raheem Sterling style players who are there but just completely forgotten about. It's mad. And this sort of thing is going to keep happening until they make some sort of concession, surely. You can't have an identity with the club that you support if that's how they're operating. And then throw in everything else as well. I know Chelsea's had big issues when it comes to ticket prices and ticket allocations and such and points what you get for away games and stuff like that. So they've had lots of problems like that.

9:36But it's the players on the pitch as well. They're used to a spine of the team where you saw Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard, you know, Didier Drogba. You saw that as your identity in the spine of the team. You knew that was a winning team and they'd give it everything all the time. Right now, like I said, it is a hedge fund. They're trading assets. There's a couple of assets on the pitch who might play a few games and then they won't be there again as well. They've already, a lot of people, a lot of players they've had have barely kicked the ball, but they've already been sold on. And how many big hits?

10:05They've signed a lot of players. They've spent over a billion. They've brought in a lot of players. How many honest hits? If you were to go through a list of all those players, I guarantee there's only about five or six that you'd say, okay, that's an absolute hit. No, it's true. And also, when you point out the amount of money they've spent, like they've spent a billion pounds, etc., it almost feels unfair to Chelsea fans to criticise the team for not having performed when they've spent so much money because that money hasn't necessarily been spent to improve them on the pitch. It's been spent to then essentially grow elsewhere and make more money.

10:39It's so weird because obviously their net spend is healthy because of how good they are at player training. Yeah, they're bringing great money, yeah, of course. But time and time again, it just doesn't help them on the pitch. It's so baffling. Football is a good place to park your money. It's pretty resilient to market forces. so it's probably going to get worse before it gets better for Chelsea fans. But what will Maresca's legacy be for Chelsea? I mean, put him back in the Champions League, European silverware, you know, Club World Cup. They knew that he's quite thin-skinned. They knew that he was quite an emotional character, so it kind of was a bit of a strange fit for what the brief was yes-man for Blue Corp.

11:20But what will Maresca's legacy be, David? I mean It's hard to see it Because I don't think Chelsea fans ever really loved him And this Man City issue Has always been there Is it just me Or from dear Dot That he decided to be a manager It was always like Oh He's next in after Pep Yeah And that is already And so That can't sit well With Chelsea fans Who are like We're Chelsea We're Premier League We're the Champions League We're not just a stepping stone For some guy And that The relationship was never there So his legacy there Was kind of an indifferent one And he will just be And because of the era that this club is in right now, he'll be forgettable.

11:54I think the last manager that Chelsea fans really loved going back was probably Thomas Tuchel. He was the only one who I think they really liked. And I know there was a few periods where he really stood up for the club as well when they were going through a lot. And I think Chelsea fans really like that and identify with that. So it's been a while now. It's been several years now since they've identified with a manager, never mind the players as well. So yeah, I don't think Maresco is going to be forgotten basically in this chapter of Chelsea, I think by the fans. Yeah, so I mean, there was plenty of names swimming around I very much enjoyed the NBA Golden State Warriors manager Steve Kerr being mentioned what?

12:28I missed that I would very much like to see that but Liam Rossini is obviously the favourite at this moment in time he's not like he's a rock the boat Jim he's not likely to take umbrage with slightly strange transfer policies but it's fair to say Chelsea Chelsea fan TV no happy yeah I mean so he's obviously manager of Strasbourg at the moment who are another Blueco team and quite often have their players cherry-picked away from them by Chelsea. They are currently seventh in League One with two wins in their last nine league games. So it's clearly a kind of, as you say, it's like, oh, he's available.

13:03He's highly rated. He's possibly one for the future. It'd be very easy to get him. It probably won't necessarily rock the boat. Although I don't know about that because, you know, Rosinia seems like a really thoughtful, quite impressive character. He's managed to achieve quite a lot in the game already. I think. And he kind of, he got his shot by performing really, really well in a kind of caretaker role. Yeah. And he's kind of only been in the ascendancy since then. It's one of those jobs where you look at that and you think, I mean, could this be ruinous for him? You know, a job that big so quickly into your career, especially in that sort of environment where it can be a little bit of a basket case and a lot of stuff is out of your control, whereas at other clubs it would very much be within your control.

13:45It can be something that kind of means that, you know, it's kind of one step forward ten steps back but you know right now in the middle of a season it's he's the favourite for a reason obviously you know there are noises coming out of there I suppose Andoni Eriola is another one people are talking about there are no gigantic managers out there compensation for that a lot of Chelsea fans are really gutted but it's like well who's out there who's going to come to Chelsea anyway I mean it's it's Clear Lake thinking isn't it to just get the guy who's already there because they pride themselves on doing things slightly differently from everybody else in ways that sometimes work off the pitch and sometimes create these kind of chaotic situations.

14:27There's Francesco Ferrioli from Porto is apparently in mind as well so that'd be quite an interesting one. He's already denied it. So there's one off the list. So it is very difficult. I don't think Irola will go at this point of this season. I think, going back to Jim's point, I think he might look at Irola, he's like, look, I'm a young, upcoming manager. I've done very well. I want my next club to be the right one for me. Chelsea probably isn't the right one for a lot of managers I think Rosinha is probably going to be the one it's a smooth transition over I don't think Blue Core really care about Strasbourg that much and ruining their season that honestly doesn't matter to them I don't think so he'll come in, he'll be a yes man until the end of the season and then I think they'll try and get somebody bigger they might go for Erola then or they might go for somebody bigger who knows, Xavi's still about as well maybe Xavi, somebody like that might come in so I can see them waiting after the summer for the big appointment so it's a sequestering rather than an appointment potentially when I saw them against Arsenal I thought the way that they sort of they looked pretty good that kind of man-to-man kind of rotational marking was like really really worked for them the way that Mureska had them playing like they like a lot more shot passing than what we experienced under previous managers they were less leaky aggressive and really aggressive which seems to be the way to play football in the Premier League in 2025 slash 6 it is a bit of a shame because I was quite enjoying how they were playing but you know a second poor mid-season slump season well yeah I mean that's it isn't it the exact thing happened last season we started thinking are they in a title race here they look really good they've got real depth they look impressive and aggressive a lot of different ways to play and then it just sort of became very flat and predictable and it all kind of fell away again it's exactly the same thing two seasons in a row it's really strange Richard Keyes David said if I'm a Chelsea fan I want to see JT given a go there's no reason he can't do what Lampard is doing at Coventry with better tools and he's served his time elsewhere I want to see that as well I want to see that I want to see that as well another European place up for grabs does part of you not think though that he would just come in and just immediately be successful against all logic even though he's not managed a team fully before he's got limited experience like when a 10 year old manages to drive a car on an interstate and they go well he managed to get to the next town I don't know how he managed to do that Because it would be so shit if that worked, that makes me think it would work.

16:50Yeah, yeah. Imagine the smugness. Winning the Premier League. Yeah, we'd have to talk about it as well. Trophies! Trophies! All right, then. Well, coming up after this, Sunderland, they've done it again.

17:13Let's see what happens. Thank you, Pat. You're very welcome. and happy new year welcome back to the football ramble Man City's run of six league wins had to end sometime and if it was going to happen it was going to happen at the miserly Stadium of Light Derek Hartledge oh yes oh yes nobody likes to come to the forest yes still unbeaten at home yeah yeah it's incredible I mean R &R roofs will take the man of the match performance but that does give Sunderland a grave disservice David doesn't it yeah I thought they were really really good Sunderland they honestly were they reduced Haaland to very little, which is first and foremost.

17:49When you play Man City, that's the first thing you do. Absolutely. City then, you know, turned to Rodri. He came back and he was excellent, by the way. It's easy to forget just how incredible he is. Some of the one-touch stuff and how he operates under pressure was brilliant. That's why with Man City, I just always think like, people are sort of writing them off as like title contenders because obviously, I mean, they drop points here, but like they've not integrated Rodri back into the side. And he made a big difference. the tempo increased everything there a lot smoother over the transition when he came in so he was excellent they brought in Doc who was well off the bench as well so it wasn't enough Sunderland really organised just what we have become used to seeing from Sunderland a lot of organisation a lot of discipline I think in the position and they were always a threat on the break as well so yeah just another really good point just a really good point it was really important for Mokiela to come back after the Leeds performance which he wasn't great in Lefeuille just dominating everything at like my height he's a wonderful kind of throwback style player yeah yeah I think this is one of those results where it's tempting to look at it and think oh is this a city wobble as you were sort of alluding to there Pete but I think it's more about Sunderland doesn't it they've got points against kind of all of the big teams this season they've got really good results really good performances in there they've been so good at home I remember saying it after the Arsenal game and I'm struck by it every time I see Sunderland at home really they love defending they want to play against Sterling Haaland you know you get teams who approach this sort of thing with fear and they kind of over compensate for it and they don't compete as a result because they freeze a little bit Sunderland are never like that all over the pitch they're just really really front footed in terms of their defending and as you say their organisation just really impressed with them again but I think you know a big part of that has been robbing roofs as well I mean one of the signings of the season what a brilliant bit of vision something like that Yeah, they got him from NAC in the Netherlands.

19:45And I mean, made some saves with his feet. It's very rare that you can say a goalkeeper has a bit of a street footballer about him. But if you're making saves with your feet, I think you can say that. And he's just been absolutely excellent. He's very, very composed. Like I said, he's good with his feet as well, playing out. We played out the back quite a lot and he's very smooth there. He can go along if he needs to. Made some brilliant saves. And yeah, I mean, Xhaka gets all the credit. He's the outfield player, but Roffs has been absolutely unbelievable. I mean, look, there's five or six of those Sunderland sign-ins who will have a shout for signing of the season.

20:13They've all been that good. And the good thing is as well, so much was made of AFCON and the players going away. But Sunderland's navigated this period. And it was semi-finals like two weeks from now. Yeah, but all six of the Sunderland players who are away there have got through to, like out the group stage. So you're going to miss them for a bit longer. And it still doesn't really seem to have impacted the team that much. Exactly. And Odinger, who stayed, already scored an important goal while he was here as well. So they've navigated that period. And the good thing is the players who have come in they've got some minutes and a little bit of sharpness as well so the squad feels a bit more bigger now moving forward for the rest of the season and the Champions League push yeah well I mean like they all speak French basically inter-reiling these days isn't it are they going to strengthen up top in January it seems to be quite keen on doing so I think so I think that's the plan I think they have to look if you've got yourself in this position in the league and you have to say okay how far we can go now you don't look down and say keep talking about relegation and avoiding and finishing mid-table you may as well go oh how far can we take this if we get the right reinforcements in certain players in certain areas and look I think the squad's in really really good shape honestly and it might sound a little bit mad but yeah but why not have a go for Europe the league's up and down very fully there's nobody particularly outside of Arsenal there's no one particularly brilliant who is winning every single week consistently so have a go at it and who knows you might get a bit of luck and you might get in I completely agree and I think the most impressive thing about the football match last night was just the way that they started off not cagey but they were playing quite short and stuff and inviting a little bit of pressure and when they just started going long they were just a completely different side and it's that versatility that nobody seems to have cotton on to yet they're just like well they could change it up at any moment and we have to adjust our positioning every single time it'll be interesting to see in the second half of the season if teams do have had a look at things and go this is how to play against them but like you said there's a multitude of ways they can play.

22:11If you want a physical game, they are very, very physical. If they want a technical game, you've got the likes of Lefay and Xhaka who can play technically. If you want to go long, they can do that because they've got a bigger striker. They brought Broby in, who's a physical presence up front. So they've got a few different ways they can play. And I love Chris Rigg and I still want to see more from him as well. He's one of our own players and I want to see a bit more from him. And he's a super talent. So in the second half of the season, I'd like to see a bit more of him and what he can bring as well.

22:36Yeah, I mean, somebody was saying that the secret to the sort of togetherness of the squad, Jim, was Granit Xhaka going around people's houses. Going around people's houses? He's been visiting teammates' houses, apparently. To see if they're settling in or not. Interesting to know. You do not want to see Granit Xhaka emerging from behind your bins. Did anyone give him the keys, though? Yeah, well, this is it. He kicked it down. Seems he can just get them, though, doesn't he? It doesn't matter. He'll just end up with the door keys. Yeah, I think he is a kind of, despite famously being the little brother in that particular story that we've all heard many times, I think he is a bit of a big brother figure, generally, isn't he?

23:15And even when he was having difficult times at Arsenal, he was still that kind of player to the younger players coming through. And I can't imagine that that has changed. He's a proper leader on the pitch. He was kind of known for that at Leverkusen as well. And yeah, I mean, again, he's been another sort of brilliant signing. That was one of those kind of quite eye-catching transfers in the summer. But, you know, he's taken to that role so well. I think he can't really help but be like that. He's the sort of person, if you were in some sort of post-apocalyptic situation and you happened to be the Granit Jacker at the time, you'd just be like, yeah, make him leader.

23:44That sort of bloke. But it's great to see just how effective it's been. Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, the Sunderland have picked up points against Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Nelson Villa. But a lot of players can kind of raise their games for the historical top five or six. They're playing well against everybody. they're playing beautifully and aggressively and the tempo's there man I'm loving watching Sunderland and yeah a long way of that continue did you see that Gianluigi Donnarumma had a disagreement with Luco 9 at full time Luco 9 at full time let's have a scrap and then Pep Guardiola got involved as well and then I think he denied it in the post which is even better I did not do any of that maybe your 9 was using a camera or something I heard Pep doesn't like those guys incredible stuff.

24:33Well, Man City will be playing managerless Chelsea, the ghost ship if you will, half past five on Sunday. That's going to be an interesting one, isn't it? Because there's a couple of things at play, obviously. It'll be very interesting to see how City respond to a setback, because they've been on that really long winning run where they've looked imperious and kind of closer to their best. They've obviously got Rodri back now. I was going to say, do you start Rodri for that one as well? Yeah, I mean, it'll absolutely be down to his fitness, I suppose. It'll probably feature at least, and we know he improves them.

25:01Come on, Roger, Chelsea are playing unfit players. Yeah, but you get that kind of weird thing that happens, don't you, when a manager leaves, especially when players have kind of been playing on rails a little bit and then they've got no choice really but to just kind of go out there and manage it themselves. Sometimes that leads to really sort of open and expressive performances. So, I mean, this is going to be a fantastic game. I can't wait to watch it. I remember when Adrian Moutou played on rails. So, Pep Guardioli was asked about Antoine Semenyo. He said this. You can also check though on a potential incoming, an Antoine Semenyo.

25:31Are you able to give us any information on that situation as it stands or does it make sense for him to play? You are from Sky, right? From Sky? Yeah, OK. Good. Well, I did have to check that, obviously. You can understand I have to check that. No, I have to be careful what I said. After that, it's completely the opposite. But you're right and you're put in the screen. So that's why I said yesterday before, in the day of the game I write today. So the winter transfer window is completely closed right now. so it's under it so he's saying we're living in opposite land and the winter transfer window is closed but it's really open I don't know I honestly don't know that one Jim he prepped that line and it didn't land for me I think it was just before it was technically open right so he's just been really really pedantic about it I get it yeah that makes sense but yeah I mean he he's just trying to say nothing there isn't he understandably but Semenyo do they have to do they have to Doku and Semenyo on the wings is a problem Filth Yeah it really really is Yeah He'll grind them down He'll grind them down to some really you know just playing square balls and stuff Well Sunday they're going to be playing Tottenham on Sunday You've got to fancy that haven't you David?

26:42Oh absolutely Against Boron Boron Tottenham Yeah Tottenham drew 0-0 at Brentford in the Thomas Frank derby last night the Spurs away and booed Frank when he went to applaud them after the match Lovely image of them waiting for him to emerge from the crowd of players then told him to sod off. You've got to admire that level of hatred. Just be really patient and just keep it there. But yes, this was a very, and this is why I said Boren Boren Tottenham, and this is by their own fans' admission. They were really bored during this game. And you know an aware fans section is really bored when they run through the complete songbook that they have.

27:24Really quickly, yeah. when Martin Joel, Jermaine De Formel, Jan Vertonghen, exactly, exactly. This is how bored they were. They brought Martin Joel. They went through the whole hymn book. There was one notable moment, I think, in this game, which was, I think, Christian Romero was quite lucky to not be sent off. He mis-kicked the ball so much, he took out Igor Thiago as the last man. And then as he landed, he handled the ball, right? The ref gave nothing. Romero just got up and passed it away. it's like yeah fair enough that has to see Spurs off the top of the away win league table I don't know because they were top of it last week so who knows who knows because I mean that's a really telling thing about how baffling this this season is isn't it because everyone's beatable certainly away from home everyone's beatable I just really want to watch not that I want to watch more of Spurs I do actually really want to watch a Spurs training session to see if they do anything outside of set pieces.

28:24Because if you watch them play, there's no cohesion or anything there whatsoever. And it seems very hard for them just to string four or five passes together as a team and find each other. It is purely... And because of Frank and the way that he describes things and his philosophy, it seems everything is very much focused on that aspect of that set pieces. And you just wonder how much work they are doing elsewhere. It looks to me like because Frank is fairly used to playing with respect to the players that Brentford have had over the years, like a lower level of Premier League operator than you might feasibly expect to be at Tottenham.

28:58Essentially, it's all about getting the best out of that type of limited player and keeping things quite simple and straightforward. Whereas at Spurs, in theory, you have better players available and you can trust them to express themselves a little bit more. And it feels like they're playing within really kind of narrow frameworks and people are just figuring it out really easily. Yeah. There's a few managers in the Premier League. that's been leveled out really they've kind of hit a bit of a ceiling alright well coming up after this a human statue is spotted at AFCON

29:39welcome back to the football ramble many thanks to the what I'm calling the bird derby Jim the Eagles versus the Duck Turin it's Crystal Palace versus Fulham the only you've got pate on the brain there seriously I think I've got those worms in the brain too much untreated pork for the benefit of the listener as well he is covered in pate it is all over him it absolutely stinks of it the only game with any goals last night of course Mateta on the 39th minute and Tom Kearney with a peach he had a long time to say himself David but he cracked that one yes yes Marcus Speller did say in the WhatsApp group can we talk about Tom Kearney's warning so we better talk about his wand a lovely wand it is and it's nice to see because Tom Kearney is a lovely lovely player it's been used in every calendar year since 2015 apparently for Fulham that wand I mean that is get one New Year's Day it's not bad is it I hope that doesn't mean he just sort of disappears again and we don't see him until next year but he's a handy player for them and he's been a really really good player for them for a long time so it's nice for him to have a moment like this occasionally yeah I mean there was someone on Twitter a tweet kind of sort of drew my eye.

30:51A man called Fulham Thomas, a man with both keys and grey in his Twitter profile picture. He did put it best when he said, 47-year-old Tom Kearney rubbing his fat cottage balls over Wharton's face for half an hour, but the nerds and Palace fans won't mention it as it doesn't fit their walk agenda. It's like Marcus is in the room with us in many ways. That's pretty much what he was saying. How are you walking if you like Adam Wharton now? Wow, fucking hell. That's a really fell off a cliff, haven't you? I can't believe it. People don't really know what it is. but yeah a solid match all told and thank you very much for scoring those goals for Crying Out Loud because it really was it really was a desert last night Jim just eggs everywhere wasn't it I think it's a lot of tired teams and few are more tired than Palace I think they look I mean I know they're getting Brennan Johnson in but they need him to hit the ground running because they look absolutely knackered down in 10th now as well and that is you know we are just over halfway through the season despite the start they've had Get yourself a European player In this sort of slump And Down in 10th It's actually really hard to predict what type of season they're going to have now It could go either way couldn't it They could kind of turn it around and Kind of make another push for A European place which is seeming more and more unlikely Or it could go the other way Especially with the uncertainty over Glasner I think the window would be big for them Kind of who they can bring in and Whether they can resist any offers for players as well Which is likely to be forthcoming you would think probably for Mark Gay, possibly for Jean-Philippe Mateta as well, as we'll come on to.

32:20Yeah, it's a tricky one because, I don't know, it feels like they just haven't really got the energy to kind of keep, you know, fulfilling their game plan. Yeah. I think the players out there are tired and then they're missing some big players. I know Danny Munyots is out at the moment, really good player for them. Sar increases the tempo and energy every single game and they're really missing those players. And Mateta even, I know he scored, but he also looks a bit just fatigued at the moment. He was walking around for large periods of that game and they clearly need another centre-forward as well just to rotate with him because he's really feeling that as well.

32:55What he needs is another massive scar on his face to rile him up for the business end of the season. So Jean-Philippe Mateta scored and it is being reported that Man United are keen to sign him. He's in his last year and a half of a deal. Man United always sort of launch these kind of little stories into the press, don't they? Whenever a player reaches about a year and a half into a deal. Yeah, I mean, I do not think it's a good move for any striker because you kind of need to get the ball to score goals and Manning Aided strikers do not get the ball. They're not creating anything at the moment, so I wouldn't go there.

33:30Yeah, I mean, he'd improve them and they're not shy about moving players on, so Xerxes could go the way of Hoyland, you would think. And he's 28, so maybe they'll just chuck a big chunk of money at it and it won't work. in a Taylor's oldest time. Kind of the way. Luke's rather uncompromising about his opinions about Johnson. Do you think he's going to be a success at his new club? I think it might be a good environment for him, actually. Johnson's a funny player, isn't he? Because he scored a lot of goals for Spurs last season. Obviously, he scored the winning goal in the Europa League final as well, which is massive.

34:02But he's not really done that so much this season. He's a funny player in that he can be quite frustrating and sometimes he feels a bit limited. But he is good at just popping up with goals, which is absolutely massive. And I think in a team like Palace, who, you know, like to stretch the play, like to play on the counter, he might be really, really well suited to that. Glasner pays two number 10s and he likes one of them to be a creator and that looks like it's Jeremy Pino at the moment. And the other one is usually Sarr. Sarr's obviously away at the moment, he'll come back. So there's a chance there for Johnson to make those runs and be that running sort of 10 who supports the attack.

34:35So it takes some of the burden off Mateta, who, like I said, looks very, very tight at the moment. So I think this could be a good sign. and the fee isn't particularly terrible either. That doesn't upset me. I think that's a good deal for them and I think he'll do well at Palace. I mean, we don't know if Glasner's going to be there beyond this season but either way, I think it's a nice move for Palace and the sort of player that they need to kind of add a bit of energy immediately and long term. He's still a young lad as well so I think there's more to come from him. They need bodies. So, looking forward to the weekend.

35:07It doesn't feel like... It felt like today was a Monday but it's actually a Friday. it's very confusing but Liverpool drew 0-0 with Leeds last night it was their first 0-0 draw in 117 matches in all competitions which speaks to wider problems and jubilations I don't really know it's a good thing and a bad thing I suppose that isn't it but yes that result does mean that Liverpool are now 8 games unbeaten did you see a critique it was missed David it was real 50 pence a piece head stuff wasn't it absolutely incredible stuff it's a surprise because he's been one of the few bright spots so you'd expect him to bag it.

35:43It's such an odd miss that I watched this game live and then I saw in the running order Hugo Ekotike missed an open goal. I was like, did he? I was like looking back at that I was like, oh yeah, I suppose that is what that is. It was just such an odd, such an odd miss that he went back to the goalkeeper. he missed it so hard it made it look like less of a chance. Does that make sense? Yeah. It's one of the classic ones it was harder to miss than actually hit. incredible but yeah they are going to be taking on Fulham at the Cottage Sunday at 3pm Fulham are in talks to sell Adama Traorio to West Ham it's exactly what we need in the most West Ham deal I know the start of getting a striker from the Bundesliga is the most West Ham type deal but Adama Traorio brilliant a friend of mine is a very long-suffering West Ham fan and he predicted this would happen just because it's the thing he wants least in the world.

36:41He was predicting this before Trayloro was even linked to West Ham, and now it's happening. He's, of course, going to be joining Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who's currently away at AFCON with DR Congo. One Congolese fan stood totally still with his right-hand raise for the whole of their 3-0 win over Botswana in tribute to the first Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo, Patricia Lumumba. Just like this, all the thing. incredible he does it in every game apparently can his eyes still follow the action does he rotate towards the when there's you know stuff happening in the other goal mouth I guess he's just got I mean it says here and as I understand it a football round where running order has never been wrong before so I assume he just stands absolutely still for the whole game simply moves his eyes and doesn't even react when there's a goal how do you train for that well I know you train for that you just stand still it's incredible discipline it really is around him everything is just absolute carnage people singing dancing beating drums and things and he is just there still ocean of calm incredible yeah it's amazing it's like on the south bank or something can we add more people into this you know those robot guys with the little sort of buzzer they've got in their mouth that makes it sound like they're moving their joints or the human statue guys yeah exactly just rubbish Charlie Chaplin you can never be good as an actual statue just don't worry about it do something else no good point elsewhere elsewhere in AFCON interesting vibes elsewhere Gabon's government suspended the national team banned Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and also sacked the coach after they got kicked out in AFCON didn't good luck Jonathan do that in Nigeria back in the day possibly I think FIFA slapped a sanction I think this used to be if not regular certainly more common and yeah FIFA were like come on this is definitely like an AFCON bingo card entry everybody had this one one down along with like teams not getting paid or something or a bad play and things like this it's quite remarkable it was read out in a TV address as well on state television yeah just what a way to do it as well I mean to be fair the current president led a coup against his own cousin a couple of years ago so it's it's a bit crazy over there but it's brilliant we're so fucking boring in England seriously when we go to shit tournaments can we have something like this please it's like come on can you imagine Keir Starmer going on TV to go we're shutting down the national team nobody will pay attention nobody will just go it's fucking Starmer he says a lot of stuff yeah the team had to change kit supplies before the tournament because it came out that their supplies were owned by the national team manager some of the crimes not crimes but some of the problems with the actual shirts were that had a non-compliant fabric an unregistered trademark no traceability and massive similarity to the A &S logo and slogan Michelle Mound stuff it's proper like getting high on your own supply stuff these have just been ordered off DHgate or something oh that's 100 % someone's put a personalised order in and they've ever 400 ,000 pounds for that lovely old job those rumours of players handing over tolerant bonuses to their bosses to get them on the plane I mean more of that come on brilliant absolutely lovely lovely bit of payola there but they are cancelled pre-tournament friendlies for the lack of shirts which is you know it's not not what you want to see when you look at all these problems you feel like maybe just sack the manager don't disband the team altogether no but you've thrown the baby you've thrown the Aubameyang out with the bathwater there aren't you really in many ways did you see that new story just to round us off in Blackpool you know like Blackpool have got like a set of hotel rooms that sort of face onto the pitch oh right There was a new story.

40:35Somebody paid 130 quid for a night a night in a Blackpool stadium hotel room. And when the matches are on, you've got to close the curtains. And he was furious. He was absolutely furious. You've got to. Is that like a legal thing from the club? Yeah, it's a legal thing. It's like the alcohol rule, isn't it? Because you can be sipping away at your bedside drinking a bottle of scotch while watching the Blackpool FC play. That's incredible. It seems like you've sort of seen off the only reason to be at a stadium. Yeah. Bedroom, really. It's nice that Brentford haven't done this because there's quite a few new builds in Brentford that overlook the pitch.

41:15And they haven't done that. So Brentford continue to be a really nice club. And don't make people shut their curtains. It's just a weird thing. I mean, oh, good God. All right, then. Let's get out of here. My Biddy Ant will be available to listen to later today. David, you're making your debut. I'm ready. Are you familiar with the game? Are you familiar with the... You can't have the belt because Jim doesn't have it, but you ready? I'm ready. I'm ready. I worry about... How old are you, David, if you know what I'm asking? 39. 39, right, okay. So it's broadly... Probably the same, isn't it? Yeah, roughly.

41:46Because sometimes when younger people have a crack, I always sort of think, do you remember Boglins? Have you ever eaten a Push Pop? Yeah. You know, you're going to struggle here. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I struggle with the newer players rather than the older ones, I would say. But yeah. I'm quite confident David knows a thing or two about Push Pop. I know, but it's just when they're on your head. Well, make sure to subscribe to the Football Ramble in your podcast app, so make sure you do not miss that. Thank you for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the Acast Creator Network.

42:12Thank you, David. Thank you. Thank you, Jim. Thank you. Thank you to me. Bye.

42:26The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network. Thank you.