A nine-goal thriller at Fulham and Romero rescues Spurs – Football Weekly

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:30Henderson James' Park, one of the worst overhead kicks of all time from Christian Romero. But an overhead kick all the same, earning Spurs a point. Not losing seems huge for Thomas Frank, especially after a controversial penalty. All we want is consistency, Clive. A good win for Everton too at Bournemouth, who aren't quite as good as Bournemouth normally are. There's a World Cup draw to look forward to. And then David Conn joins us as the families of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster have said it's a bitter injustice that no police officer will ever be held accountable for a catalogue of failings set out in the final report of the police watchdog after a 14-year investigation.

1:01There will be no justice for the 97. This is the Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Barry Glendening. Hello. Hi, Max. Welcome, Will Unwin. Hello, Max. And good morning, Johnny-Lew. Morning. Now, let's begin at Craven Cottage, shall we? Fulham 4, Manchester City 5. And I suspect like a lot of people, Barry, I was watching Spurs-Newcastle and then i saw it was for and i was sort of flicking between two and it was 4-1 so i sort of gave up on fulham on this game until someone in the whatsapp group mentioned this is a bit lively and i was like well nothing there can't seriously been any jeopardy in this game but what a ludicrous sort of well the whole game was ludicrous but that comeback was mad yeah bonkers i mean sod's law dictated that this was the game to which i devoted the least attention while the games were actually on.

1:52I, in an act of masochism, sat through Bournemouth. Neil Everton won in its entirety. But they were giving the updates from Craven Cottage, and when Manchester City went 4-1 up just after half-time, like you, I thought, well, that's it, it's done, dusted. But a brilliant comeback by Fulham in a game that had nine goals and most of them were bloody good goals. I think Docu's spawny deflected shot was probably the worst of them. I've ranked them in order of what I think were the best. Interesting, so have I. Okay, well, I will go with Chuck Wasey, number two. It will be Foden, number one. Haaland, Smithrow, Rinders.

2:45foden number two chukwase number one and doku wow okay i've gone foden one the outside of the box into the top corner smith rowe because it was a diving header too iwobi harland rinders chukwase first chukwase second foden second doku is the worst that's my ranking right so we're agreed dokus was the worst yes we're agreed we're agreed on that yeah um ian says was that the best kevin inspired comeback since the gerbil helped revive TVAM. There is something, Johnny, about a home crowd when they feel a comeback is on. You know, almost like the opposition are just sort of helpless. There's nothing anyone can do.

3:26This is just going to happen even if it ultimately didn't. Yeah, there's this great camera shot, I think, later on, deep in injury time of the Fulham fans and they're all having so much fun. I think, you know, you go to a game like that, you're expecting Manchester City to win. You're not expecting too much out of that game in terms of points but i think every fan who was at that game is going to remember that forever that's one of those games that hey do you remember when we came back from 5-1 and they'll remember that more than you know most of the wins that they'll have this season it was a like a really startling kind of comeback a great moment i think one of the key moment underrated key moment is when um is when nico gonzalez comes off i think gonzalez comes off at either 5-1 or 5-2 he comes off and he's an underrated sort of player because, you know, partly because he's not the best, you know, he's not even the best Nico at City and also there's another, he's arguably not even the best Nico Gonzalez in football.

4:24But he's been really quite important for City in the absence of Rodri and they bring him off for stones and I think if he's on the pitch, I don't think those last two Fulham goals happen. I have a theory about City's defending which is that if you look at how a lot of those goals are being scored. I think they are almost trying to pace themselves a little bit too much across the season. I don't think there's enough aggression from them in the first phase of defending. They are letting teams have a lot of shots around the box. If you look at, they're taking an extra touch in the box. If you look at how Nunez against Leeds, where Calvert-Lewin gets in, there's just a little bit of, I don't want to say laziness, but there's a little bit of laxness to them.

5:07I don't think it's tactical so much. I think it's the fact that Guardiola is so clearly trying to pace them for a long season physically that I think some of that is seeping into their technical defending as well. DW Zed says, City fan here, is it normal to feel angry after a win? You're a City fan, Will. Do you think, you sort of think if it's 2-1, if they're 2-1 up, it doesn't happen like 5-1 up. I mean, you can't say it's a dangerous scoreline, but there is something about 5-1 where whoever you are, you just think, well, this is done. Yeah, a few cigars might have been brought out and lit up in defence.

5:41I mean, it is problematic that Matias Nunes can't defend. And Pep keeps going on about how he could be one of the best in the world. I'm not quite as confident as him in it. Every time that someone got it on the wing, and there's numerous people, they just knew that they had him. And, you know, easy crosses into the box. And I think just the general sense of panic there, that's what's frustrating you're supposed to be arguably one of the best sets of defenders expensive Diaz Guardiola really good defenders it was just constant panic just trying to get the ball clear in the end and Guardiola watching the clock it was I mean it was mildly embarrassing considering what's available that they just couldn't cope and I was expecting an equaliser for quite a while because City weren't really getting out apart from then inexplicably Guardiola having one cleared off the line himself because that's what you want your sense about doing in the 90th minute.

6:38So you're getting through one goal because everything's all right at the other end. I don't need to be there. It's fine. I'll just get up the pitch. So yeah, and it has been quite consistently bad. You know, as you mentioned, which I mentioned against Leeds, some of the errors that led to goals there with Nunes again, just terrible defending, Guardiola for the penalty. They just don't look confident. Guardiola keeps saying he can smell good things are going to happen this season. but I think unfortunately the overriding smell of shit in the defence might be problematic for him eventually. Upside is forwards look all right at the moment.

7:10People other than Haaland have started to score because prior to the weekend it was Haaland had got 14 and everyone else that had scored had got one. So yeah, Foden's finding some form. Doku obviously adding a goal to looking a very dangerous player on the wing is helpful. But yeah, that defence doesn't scream title challenge at the moment. In Josh King and Chukwazy, Barry, I mean, Fulham have two of the most exciting young players I've seen for a while. Josh King has made such an impression this season that I now no longer do a double take when I hear his name being mentioned as a Fulham player, thinking it's the other Josh King.

7:47He's a very exciting player. Has he got his goal yet? I know that was a thing for ages. He kept scoring his first Premier League goal and then they kept being disallowed by VAR or being offside or whatever. So I don't know if he's got that yet. It's a milestone for him to look forward to, like the milestone Haaland reached last night. He is really exciting. Chuck Waze is a really exciting player. Kevin, I think, did start really well. I'm not playing as well as he had. I'm not sure how many opportunities he's had. I thought the two goals Chukwueze got last night were really good, really high quality.

8:30I don't know much about him, I must confess, but he's a delight to watch when on form. Yeah, he is. His first, especially, was a brilliant finish. Maybe I was wrong to put it down at number six behind Rinders. I just liked the move from Haaland to Rinders. On Haaland's 100 Premier League goals, Johnny, quicker than any other player. So he's got it in 111 games. Shearer got it in 124. Harry Kane, 141. Aguero, 147. And Thierry Henry, 160. We are witnessing history here, Johnny. The stat that I saw was that if you look on the list of the 100 club, as it was in the Premier League, his closest challengers, the guys he comes up next, are Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba, who I think a lot of people would have in the conversation for greatest Premier League forwards of all time.

9:24They've played more than twice as many games as Erling Haaland. Erling Haaland is literally twice as good as them. I mean, in terms of his goal rate, you have to go back to guys like Dixie Dean and Brian, like Jimmy Greaves doesn't get close. That's how good he is. Now, a lot of factors you can talk about. You can talk about City's financial dominance. You can talk about state ownership. You can talk about economic stratification. You can talk about the greater protection that strikers get from referees in the modern age, you know. But I think you can only talk about that stuff to a certain point.

9:58At some stage, you just have to say this guy is a real, genuine, one-of-a-kind player with an absolutely unique set of skills and a set of circumstances that are perfect for him. And by the way, a very impressive fitness record as well. Yeah, he's good, isn't he, Barry? Yeah, I mean, for the tape, the whole of the Lou family came in during that answer. and a bit like one of those News 24, you know, someone's doing a serious bit about, you know, the bonds market in Japan, and then, you know, just like children running in the back. So, you know, we are now on video, Johnny. I don't know if you...

10:32She's just draped me with a Chinese banner. Yes, I mean, that is true what Johnny says, isn't it, Will? I mean, it's sort of when... And it's interesting that Harlan still has not answered everybody in how good he is. I don't know if that's ridiculous. I'm just pleased I locked my daughter in a padlock room earlier, so I should be safe for this answer. Yeah, I mean, you still get a lot of the nonsense around, oh, he only takes nine touches a game, and he's not as involved as he should be. I mean, as anyone in football will tell you, the hardest thing to do is to score goals. And as it transpires, he scores a hell of a lot, an incredible rate.

11:14That's all you can do. I mean, it doesn't matter what else you're doing in the game. It's not his fault that the rest of him can't defend or anything like that. And it should be pointed out, he did get a really good assist last night with what he can do, you know, hold off the defender's spin, turn, lovely ball through. It's not like a complete one-trick pony. It's just his job is to score goals, and he does. You can't really criticise the rest of it when your scoring rate is so incredible. And the thing is about him, I mean, the only disappointment I mean, probably is that last night. Should have had more.

11:45Threw on goal, hit the inside of the post header, hit the post. But yeah, incredible player. You know, you speak to anyone about him. Incredible work rate, commitment to football, etc. He's not just living off natural talent. He puts the effort in. He knows what he's doing. He gets better every season, which is quite impressive, considering what's gone before. And he just has it. And he puts that fear into defenders. and the defenders are actually quite worried that he's not involved in the game because you don't know where he's going to pop up next. You think you've got him under control and then the next minute he's gone, he's through.

12:20He's outjumped you or whatever because they think, it's all right, we've got early care. His concentration levels are something I've not seen in a striker. When you're not getting service even, you can just drift out of the game. People think he drifts out, but he's always involved. He's always trying to do something and eventually it comes off pretty much every game as the stats show. Without wanting to detract in any way from Erling's achievement, I feel I should stick up for players who applied their trade in the top flight before the Premier League began. Sunderland's Dave Halliday got his 100 goals in 100 games.

13:00Some debate it might have been 101, but it was certainly fewer than 111. Dixie Dean got his century of goals in 105 games and Arsenal's Ted Drake did it in 108. So Haaland, for me, Clive, is fourth on the all-time list, not top. But there you go. Noted. Let's go to St James' Park. Newcastle 2, Spurs 2. Absolutely terrible first half. A kind of all-right second half between two not particularly good teams. Newcastle were a bit better, Johnny, had more shots, but didn't create all that much. Spurs only had two shots on target. So, I mean, I guess for Thomas Frank, just not losing is enormous after the week they've had.

13:47Yeah, it was a huge moment and a huge moment that happened in very slow motion. I mean, Romero, he is so pumped after scoring that first goal, that bullet header at the near post, getting ahead of Dan Byrne. and when he scores the 95th minute equaliser that saves a point and very possibly saves his manager, he's almost a little bit embarrassed about it. Obviously, everyone's mobbing it because, as you see on the replay, it comes off his shin. It is one of those moments that you think, how has somebody not cleared that? It goes through two or three Newcastle players who are probably expecting it to come a lot quicker than it does.

14:29and these are moments that potentially, potentially turn seasons. I think Frank has attracted quite a lot of unfair criticism for some of the performances have been bad but I think the calls that you see people saying he's out of his depth or that he's been found out, which I think is very premature. Spurs have not been playing well. I think there are a lot of mitigating factors there. Most of all, I think actually, people talk about the injuries to the front four. I think the midfield is just not anywhere near good enough to protect a defence that you would say on full strength is a very, very strong, you know, one of the best defences in the league, certainly one of the best centre-back pairings.

15:13But they are not getting the protection from the, you know, Bentoncourt and Sarra are not giving the protection they need. And so they are getting exposed. You know, they are conceding, again, a lot of shots from, you know, dangerous areas. They're not defending the edge of their box well. but this is you know they did show a little bit of progress here they were rocked in the early part I think they came into it played some quite good football towards the end of the first half and then Newcastle were then basically able to they brought on I think it's Bruno at half time and they brought on Anthony Gordon and Ilanga and you know the strength of those reinforcements they were able to change the energy of the game Ian says any chance Dan Byrne can open the batting at the Gabba this week watching him leave Romero's overhead kick was exactly the technique Zach Crawley needs to adopt.

15:59Carl, is it possible to get a negative rating on the Trevor Sinclair spectrum? As Kieran says, as you mentioned, has an overhead kick ever been slower than Romero's? I mean, I suppose, Barry, he does well to get up. He's on the floor, he gets up, and then... But it is, just the amount of time it takes to go in is sort of hilarious. Yeah, his technique was good, but it was undeniably a shinner, and it bounced on its way in. But it seemed to, he got lucky insofar as there was just this narrow gap in a crowded penalty area. And he managed to steer, unwittingly I suspect, steer the ball through that gap.

16:40I don't really know if Aaron Ramsdale should have done better or not. But it did look like just everything slowed down as this ball pootled inexorably into the back of the net. And look, it's the fourth minute of added time. Not really the time to debate the quality of the goals. And this look of all the Newcastle players were starting to looking at each other going, how did that go in? But it did. And they will be gutted over that. I'd say Eddie Howe was sick, you know, because Newcastle should have won that game, I think. Do you know when a defender or someone who doesn't score very often whacks one in from sort of 25, 30 yards, and for the rest of the season, the fans, whenever he gets the ball in that position, just shout, shoot!

17:29I think whenever Romero's up for a corner now, there should just be sort of chance for a replica of that overhead kick. Because if he can do it there, you know, he can keep doing it. I think that could be his trademark, the sort of you know grandmother overhead kick i like to describe it as the other big sort of moment from this game is newcastle's penalty bent and kill on dan burn i know i'm not objective this but not even the newcastle players really appealed for a penalty t says after over two years of arsenal pushing and barging on every corner why does the referee clamp down on pushing and barging start with penalizing spurs for it i mean that's not quite but there have been others i did look at dale johnson who knows the laws of the game he says obviously there's a question of consistency over holding decisions for me with the current guidance including no mutual holding because Benton Coeur has absolutely zero interest in the play and only opponent means this is a fair intervention but Barry I'm not sure I agree I think Dan Byrne is whole it's not a headlock people saying he's got Benton Coeur's head in a headlock but he's holding his head I don't know I I thought this was really really harsh and and that sort of consistency thing you sort of think in fact even on on monday's pod we were we were basically praising the chelsea defenders for doing this against arsenal no i don't think we were okay my initial thought was it was a penalty and the more i look at it now the more i think no it wasn't i think it was very much six of one half a dozen the other but i think it was probably given because benton cur initiated that the pulling and dragging and because the ball was heading towards the area where Dan Byrne might have got it if he hadn't been impeded but I do concede that it did look by the end of it Byrne had him in something of a headlock and his momentum appeared to cause both of them to to fall over but in terms of consistency this happens all the time when corners are being taken and it's hardly ever punished yeah i was surprised it was given but i i think you could argue yeah it was depending on which team you support you could make a decent case for it being a penalty or not being a penalty does anyone remember the daily mail's short-lived hands-off in the box campaign.

19:52They ran over several back pages, maybe about 10 years ago. The scourge of defenders grappling in the box has to be, they got Dermot Gallagher, I think they got Martin Keogh, and they got a lot of prominent names in football to denounce this. I don't think it was a penalty because I don't think Romero has full control of him. Sorry, Benton Coeur. I don't think he can get out of Dan Byrne's headlock. He couldn't look at the ball if he wanted to. But I think on a more general point, everyone says, oh, you know, you've got to police this, you know, this grappling in the box. It gets out of hand. I think one of the consequences of that is that if it becomes harder for defences to deal with a set piece, you end up with the stultifying set piece ball that we've seen in the Premier League this season because teams simply see it as an opportunity to create chaos and they know that the regulations, the current regulations, will be on their side so so that for me is is reason enough to to i think give a give a lot of this stuff a bit of a pass yeah i don't know what you think well i just sort of think it just is so much harder for the defender because obviously if an attacker commits a foul it's just doesn't matter it's a free kick and so it's just so weighted in and as as as johnny says you know he can't he can't get out he can't at one point he's like he's you know if the phrase is he can't look at the ball because he's in a headlock from the the attacker you sort of think maybe it shouldn't be a penalty yeah you had jamie carrigan sky said it wasn't a penalty jonathan woodgate was on the radio saying it wasn't a penalty to two of the best center backs you know over the premier league probably know a bit more of what happens in the box and a lot of people yeah but isn't that very much defenders union because that's three center halves ex-center halves now i've heard saying it wasn't a penalty.

21:47But their centre-halves, of course, they think it wasn't a penalty. Because they... I mean, Dan Byrne would think it was a penalty. Yeah, it's a four. Dan Byrne just got up and went, if you like, can I have one? I'm not too fussed. I think if you look at it, it's a bit of grappling. I think Benton's problem is he gets wrong side at one point, so it looks a bit worse. but I mean as you say I think it's just one of those ways it's a dangerous game if they're being given especially on review if it's given by the referee and he doesn't change his mind fine etc that's the mad thing it's like how is that reviewed how have they sent to review anyway I just want to ask Will a question on Newcastle which you sort of think of really firing Newcastle as they were against Everton you know win that game like and they're just not Tottenham are not quite at it sure but Newcastle aren't quite at it either I mean they were quite at it in the second half you know those changes did create a bit of momentum, a bit of energy that was completely lacking.

22:46Without Bruno Guamara in the starting line-up, Newcastle don't win. In the nine games he's missed over a lengthy period, they've not won a single one, which shows that he's quite important and probably more important than Tonali and maybe he should be on the pitch from the start. I know it's a difficult schedule, etc. Also, I think the game in general at the start, Newcastle were the more positive and then it sort of settled down into absolute derf. But then Gordon is another one who hasn't been at it all season in the Premier League. Turns up in the Champions League, so fair play to him, did really well there.

23:23But I think Newcastle got to hope that's a turning point for him, coming in and making a big impact, looking dangerous throughout. Really cool for the penalty in quite difficult circumstances where obviously it went on for a long time. And then even after that, it was sort of the bizarre situation where he did take the ball originally and then Valtibar got involved and then he got the ball back. But, you know, it was always those sort of comical situations of, no, no, I'm taking the belt. No, no, I'm taking the belt. I think it's just a team in Newcastle that are really finding the schedule quite difficult because of the squad.

23:55Yeah. It was just another deft assist from Volta Marley. Yeah. Anyway, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll begin at the vitality.

24:12welcome to part two of the guardian football weekly uh michael says how pleased was barry with his declan rice zinger at the fsa awards yes we are the champions thank you to everyone for voting don't ever let us down again um you were there barry you brought the house down with your victory speech well it's not really for me to say that i did that it seemed to go down well it wasn't so much a speech as the whole says victoria dervisher um asking me questions and then me proceeding to answer completely different ones. But I got a dig in at Declan Rice, who won Player of the Year and turned up to collect his award in person, which is always nice when a player makes the effort to do that.

24:53It's not always possible for them to do so. Alessia Russo won Female Player of the Year, but she was busy on England usually, so she couldn't be there. Really good night, put on by the FSA again, as always. and this year they did it in the most awful circumstances because the FSA chief, Kevin Miles, who sort of starts the evening each year with a kind of state of the nation address, was absent because his son very tragically died last week. So that kind of put a downer on the whole evening. Kevin's a lovely bloke. His staff at the FSA are lovely, lovely people. They're very tight-knit. So for them to be able to put on such a good night in those awful circumstances was hats off to them, I suppose.

25:46It was a good evening, nonetheless. Our thoughts go out to Kevin, who's a friend of the show, of course. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, wonderful guy. And you have our deepest, deepest sympathies. Back to the Premier League. Bournemouth 0, Everton 1. Andrew says, Bournemouth look lost right now. could they get dragged into relegation trouble? Barry, you, as you said, sat through the whole of this game while the entertainment was happening elsewhere. What did you make of it? It wasn't great, I have to say. Bournemouth are in a real rut now. They've lost four and drawn one of their last five games. They started this one quite well.

26:24They had a couple of early half chances. Then Everton started to take control. Both teams missing that killer final ball. Anton Semenya had probably the best chance of the first half, but was denied by Pickford. Everton had a series of corners at one stage where it looked like they might score. Alex Scott headed on to his own bar. Tiernan O 'Barrie was denied by a combination of the post and Petrovic in the Bournemouth goal. Bournemouth had a goal disallowed for offside, a croupy goal disallowed for offside, but it was a pretty poor first half. The second half, Tierno Barry missed another decent chance after a ball ricocheted his way.

27:05He was denied by Petrovic. And the goal from Grealish took a horrible deflection that completely wrong-footed Petrovic. I'd say Everton probably just about deserved to win. It wasn't a good game. The one thing I did notice in this game is Jack Grealish, Illiman and Jai and Kiernan Dewsbury Hall. Everton have a brilliant front three operating behind Thierno Barry. But they seem to have just completely given up on Barry and they're almost operating as if he's not there on the field. Much like we do on this pod, I guess. Yeah. Very good. I don't want to pick on him because Beto is no better. I think Beto has got one goal this season.

27:51Thierno Barry still hasn't scored. yeah I very much get the impression that those three are working look let's not give the ball to him because he is not going to do anything and the chances that did come his way one was from a ricochet and the others were from corners so yeah that's kind of interesting to see and you wonder how good Everton could be if they had a decent striker but they don't and they need one I think that was Barry had his first shot on target of the season last night which isn't great. So he's getting there. He's getting there. He did have a goal disallowed at the weekend, I think.

28:30Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Adam did say who will score a Premier League goal first, Barry or Barry. I mean, you know, Barry has a better chance, but you never know. Barry might make it. Johnny, it's the World Cup draw on Friday. You wrote a big piece about Gianni Infantino's quite cosy relationship with Donald Trump. Are you looking forward to the Peace Prize and the draw itself? Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting one, isn't it? We used to look forward to, I mean, World Cup draws used to be so much fun. I guess a lot of people will still have, you know, fun. Oh, yeah. I'm still looking forward to, you know, all the groups and all that stuff.

29:02You know, that's fun. Yeah, the pots and the permutations. I've just had an email drop into my account from FIFA, from the FIFA press office. I think star-studded entertainment lineup announced for the final draw. Global icons Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart. Live performances from Andrea Bocelli. village people and global music superstar Robbie Williams. So, you know, I'm sure a lot of people will have a good deal of fun. But obviously it is hard to escape the shadow of, you know, the fact that it's taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, which is one of those institutions that has pretty much been Trump-washed.

29:41He's installed himself as the president or the chairman or something and installed board members that are all Trumpists and turned it into his little opera house. The fact that even now, six months from the tournament, we're not entirely sure which cities are going to be hosting which matches because Trump is still threatening to take games away from cities. He's threatening to invade co-hosts and Infantino is chuckling along when he jokes about it. It is a World Cup like no other. And I think for a lot of people who like the World Cup because it's almost a little bit of a change in pace, a change in tone from, from, you know, the rest of football, it is increasingly beginning to look as chaotic as everything else, to be honest.