Arsenal swoop for Eze but where will he fit in? – Football Weekly Extra

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24:19Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. A few tickets still are available on September the 11th for Troxie in London. My live Insta videos are doing very well, Barry. I go, hi, Podfans. Max here. Barry's here too. and then I push the phone to one side and you're not there. I'm really enjoying this joke. I don't know if anyone else is. Maybe we should arrange to meet up or maybe you could do a video where I am there. Yeah, we were on a bench, me, you and Michael Gove. It wasn't arranged, but we should have done the video there. Anyway, the panel, no Michael Gove on the panel, I'm sorry to say.

24:53Jonathan Wilson, Nicky Bandini, Johnny Lou, cameos to come. I bumped into John Bruin at the bus stop and I told him an idea that he's up for. So hopefully he'll come and do that. Tickets can be purchased by heading to theguardian.com slash footballweeklylive. It's live streamed around the world. So all of you listen to this, you have no excuse. And if you get the online stream, you can watch it any time that week. So you can, you know, it can be perfect. You can tailor it to all your needs. theguardian.com slash footballweeklylive. Palace Forest in the Europa League Administrative Era Derby. This could be fiery.

25:29Matt Hughes writing in The Guardian. Crystal Palace in talks with Forrest and the Met Police over the provision of increased security for Sunday's game. Palace supporters understood to be planning a protest over Forrest's perceived role in getting them demoted to the Conference League. Palace play Frederikstad tonight in a Conference League playoff. Be interesting to see if Eze and Mark Gahey play. Will, you saw Forrest in the flesh at the weekend. They were very good, weren't they? Yeah, as Seb was discussing before, Brentford were impressively awful for the first 45 minutes. But Forrest, as previously discussed about Chris Wood wondering, and I spoke to a few people thinking, is he really going to be able to carry on?

26:07Not the quickest, etc. Quite easy to find out. And it turns out if you just leave massive gaps in the defence, he's really good at exploiting that. But Gibbs White, after a summer of uncertainty, was incredible. you know drifted all over the pitch to pick up the ball and the pockets of space that were given to him and was excellent and then ellie anderson i think was the other standout player for me in central midfield you know first time pass was really good and then you look before the match they were parading amari hutchinson and james mackety who in their own ways had very good seasons last time to give them more options in the final third i'm sure by the time the game comes around they'll be closer to signing a fullback so yeah really exciting times for them the only problem they've got is the Europa League coming up as discussed and that is quite difficult for teams to manage when it's first time around a lot of those players aren't used to twice a week games but if you look at what they've got available and they were a lot better on the ball than last season kept possession better and that's part of the plan because last season playing on the counter-attack that's quite energy draining keeping the press etc so if you keep the ball more you know hopefully in theory you're not as tired and if you're playing twice a week that's quite a useful trait to have and yeah they've done really good recruitment they've not panicked in previous year Dan and Doyle looks like an excellent winger to replace Alanga you know say Hutchinson's a really good player so I've saw quite a bit of him at Ipswich and I've seen a lot of McAtee and you know they're players that can play in different positions which Nuno wants he likes his wingers.

27:45McAteague, on the right, can play as number 10. Yeah, by the end of the window, I think Forrest will have a lot more depth because at the end of last season, that's what costs than the Champions League players, I'd say, very tired in the end. But yeah, they've managed to adapt their style a little bit different and they'll be, you know, very confident going anywhere, I think, this season. They can stifle teams for one and score goals for two. You know, Chris Wood has got backup. I think Arwen E might go, but they've got Eagle Jesus and I'm pretty sure, and the new lab from Rennes. So yeah, I think they'll be pushing to...

28:20I think they'll do really well to finish seventh again, but if they can finish top ten, that's an incredible season considering the addition of the Europa League. Agreed to sign Douglas Luiz as well on loan from Juventus. Another good signing if he plays like he did for Villa.

28:34Max Rushden:It will be interesting to see if Evangelos Marinacos turns up to this game. you would think the sensible option would be for the first owner to stay away. But given his personality, I would not be surprised if he does pitch up to inflame an already potentially incendiary situation. Does he have a sensible option box to tick? I'm not sure if that's in his makeup necessarily. Arsenal leads a bit more of a spotlight on Jokeres, I guess. I mean, there'll be lots of positivity around Eze, providing that all goes through Seb. But going into this game, one team played really well last week, Leeds, and one team played really badly, Arsenal.

29:15I mean, they both won 1-0, but it'd be quite interesting to see how Leeds approach this as well.

29:19Seb Hutchinson:Yeah, and I think for the whole season, even though Leeds won that game and watched it on Monday, I did still get that itchy feeling, the football itchy feeling, that it was, you thought, Leeds, are they going to be able to score enough goals against Premier League sides this season to win enough games. There was a little bit of concern about that, but Ellen Road is going to be huge. And even David Moyes spoke about that atmosphere, maybe with the influence of the referees' decision as well. And it was, as many people have said, it was so good to see the promoted sides get off the mark. It actually feels like a massive Saturday in terms of a lot of the teams who people are fancying to go down.

30:01Seb Hutchinson:and this is one of the first early tests as you can see for the for the three o 'clock theory I'm only going to say that once it's tongue twister because it's the teams that win those three o 'clock games this Saturday that I think will stay up and I'm basing it purely on that I'm going to go I think if Brentford can beat Villa they're staying up 100 100 100 it's made it's tailor-made for Brentford it's absolutely made for them so I'm putting my marker down if they win now Burnley Sunderland now that should finish as a draw if they're both going to go down but if Sunderland win at Burnley I think I'm backing them to stay up all day long because Leeds are at 5 30 and they're playing Arsenal and it's on live on telly and it's this early in the season absolutely routine Arsenal victory and it will be it could be a situation where they've where after all the doubts about Jokeres last weekend considering I don't think he's fully fit and also they're playing at Old Trafford and Arsenal have never played well at Old Trafford ever this would be the day when it all clicks if Mendy looks amazing in midfield he's dictating the game I understand he was ill at the Man United game as well and these are now this will be the thing that we really want to see about us we know in the big games they're tough to beat and they're unbeaten on this long run will they in home matches funnily enough just steamroll teams or not it's something that Liverpool did pretty well last season and Arsenal probably need to and I I think that would be the one that makes people think actually Arsenal, the real deal, will be how they perform in a lot of these home matches.

31:31Seb Hutchinson:Are they just going to roll teams over or not? Or is it going to be a struggle? Are they going to look like they're going to struggle to break sides down? And this will be the first test of that for Mikel Arteta's side.

31:41Max Rushden:Vaz, any other games pique your interest? I suppose West Ham-Chelsea play on Friday night. West Ham played diabolically badly in the second half against Sunderland last weekend. they've got some very tough fixtures coming up this one then Forrest away, Spurs home, Palace home Everton away, Arsenal away that's their fixtures before the international break and on the evidence of what we saw last weekend not much evidence to go on admittedly but also last season under Graham Potter you would see them struggling to take more than a couple of points from those games, I think. I don't really expect them to beat Chelsea, but I suppose we get more of an idea of how bad they are because they did look really slow and leggy and sluggish and unmotivated against Sunderland.

32:40On to Fitbar. Barca Jim's saying, amazingly, I think I sound more pissed off than Ewan normally does. Fair to say there isn't a Celtic fan who's not as angry as Rangers fans were the night before. The unhappiest football city in the world, I reckon. So yeah, Celtic do 0-0 with Kairat yesterday. Kairat from Kazakhstan in the Champions League. So 40 million quid in Champions League qualification. They've got to go three and a half thousand miles. The night before, Rangers lost 3-1 at home to Club Bruges. I guess getting that consolation might actually make a big difference. But Bruges are not a bad side.

33:13I did like Perfectly Cromulent saying, should Russell Martin quit football management and go on and be a villain on Emmerdale? as he has the look for it. And I hadn't ever considered that, but God, he does. He looks exactly like a bad guy from Emmerdale, doesn't he? But, you know, another one of these press conferences from Russell Martin where he said, before change, there's pain. It's another song lyric, Barry, but that is, it's disastrous. You know, I think you go, oh, we've got to beat Club Brugge. Club Brugge are quite an experienced Champions League side, actually. I don't think it's easy, but still being 3-0 down after 20 minutes is not great.

33:44Max Rushden:I wasn't surprised Rangers were beaten by Club Brugge. Not at all. And the fact of the matter is, I think Rangers will be better off in the Europa League because if they go into the Champions League with a team that plays like that and that plays like they have been playing in most of the games so far this season, they'll just get slaughtered every week. The manner of this defeat was dismal. They conceded the opener after three minutes. It was a mix-up between the centre-back, Nasser Giga, who's on loan at Rangers from Wolves, and Jack Butland, and an exquisite finish from the Brugge guy, Romeo, Vermont.

34:28Max Rushden:But the mix-up between the two Rangers players was... It's the stuff of, as I said yesterday, the what happens next round on a question of sport. and no one would ever guess if you stopped the footage just after the Rangers shot that led to the Brugge counterattack. Second goal was someone slotted home completely unmarked from a corner and the third was a soft one as well. So the 3-0 down after 20 minutes. They got the consolation in the second half, But there was a visible stream of Rangers supporters leaving Ibrox, heading for the exits after 20 minutes of this game. They're not having Russell Martin at all.

35:17Max Rushden:They didn't want him in the first place. He's done very little to convince them that he's the man for the job. They lurched and stumbled through the previous two qualifying rounds against Panathinaikos and Victoria Pleasant. They got found out badly in this game. difficult to see them turning around and Rangers have been burning through managers quicker than Watford in recent times now obviously they have new owners the 49ers who took over in June they appointed Martin I suspect they will be patient with him but it is difficult to see how long they can stand firm in the face of such obvious fan fury at their decision to appoint Martin.

36:02Max Rushden:Two of their next three games are against Kruger away and Celtic. So let's see how those go for them, I suppose. Obviously, you look at Club Rouge and Rangers and compare and Club Rouge have sold about 70 million quid's worth of players this summer, which shows their sort of long-term strategy, clever recruitment and whatnot. And then Russell Martin keeps saying it's a long-term project, but three of the back four are on loan. That's not very long-term. So you can't come in and say, oh, we've got a big lengthy plan. This is what we're thinking. and say there'll be pain in the start and whatnot, when those defenders are almost certainly going to leave because I can't see they can afford Max Ahrens and whatnot, even though Max Ahrens isn't pulling up any trees.

36:44Whereas Bruges have a long-term strategy, they've recruited well, they build players up to sell to the next level, which what Rangers should really be doing because the Belgian and Scottish League are on a par as much as that might irritate fans of certain clubs. But there's none of that. You look at some of the expensive signs they've made in the past, like Giannis Hadjou who's gone nowhere and done nothing. People are trying to build up. It doesn't really happen as well as they probably should. And that's the nature of it. If you want a long-term plan, you've got to make it a pretty sturdy one.

37:17Russell Martin's long-term plan at Southampton was to get into the Premier League and then just keep playing the same way, get beat every week. And that was a cunning plan. Whereas I think he might need to be more adaptable than just saying he has a clever plan. Meanwhile, this gold has drawn with Celtic, Barry. Were there any highlights to pick from?

37:34Max Rushden:I watched this game and I saw Celtic against Kyra from Kazakhstan, a team I've never heard of. I had to look up where they were from. And it was a very toothless performance from Celtic. They had a couple of scares. Kyra, they have some teenager who's on his way to Chelsea. He was good. They sent a couple of shots whistling past the woodwork. and I suppose Celtic's lack of action in the transfer market is infuriating their fans. We all know how wealthy they are. They're sitting on huge amounts of cash, but they haven't really done anything to replace Nicholas Kuhn, Kyogo Furuhashi. Jota is out injured long-term with another ACL.

38:22Max Rushden:So Adam Eda is basically their number one striker and he's just not very good. He works hard, but he's not very good. He has not been in the conversation with big clubs signing elite number nines. Let's put it that way. So Celtic fans are very right. And Brendan Rodgers looks totally fed up and as if he almost doesn't care. The Ryan Loftian qualities of Adam Eder.

38:51Seb Hutchinson:Did Barry say a teenager on their way to Chelsea as if that narrows it down? It's a good point. There's just a funnel, isn't there? There's just a big global funnel of teenagers just landing. A blue co-drip. Yeah. That'll do for part two. Sani Rydivadula joins us in part three, and we'll talk about more.

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40:52Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So look, we talked about Morecambe quite a lot and we mentioned Panjam Warriors taking them over and saving the club. First thing he did was sack Derek Adams, who had stayed with the club throughout the crisis and helped players out financially. Sani Rudirajah has basically become the Morecambe correspondent for all football and he joins us now. Are you all right, Sani? Yeah, I'm all right, thank you. Funnily enough, not in Morecambe. I'm actually in the hotel opposite St James' Park, having done Alexander Izak voxes yesterday. And I'm off to Sunderland, the Academy of Light, this afternoon.

41:23Very exciting. Good stuff. Well, let's talk about Morecambe then. So the first thing I did was sack Derek Adams. You spent some time with him and around the club and how loved he was. It seemed like, it seemed from the outside, a slight misstep from new owners that we're not totally sure about. Yeah, the universality of football that a new owner can come in And no matter what situation the club is in, sacking the manager and bringing in your own man appears to be the way to go, even when it's the manager who's been working essentially for free. You know, last time I was there, one of the staff that anonymously told me they'd be homeless without Derek Adams.

42:03They'd paid their rent for the past two months or so. You know, he'd come to all the players and said, I'll help you out if I can. And he's a club legend as well. You know, he's the person who guided them to the most successful period in the history. And he's come back, I think, four times now. So when you think that post-takeover, they're essentially starting with, I think they had five players, barely any resource at all. You'd think perhaps he's the person to steer them in the right direction. No, we're going to get rid of him and bring in a new man who is his own history maker as well in Ashveer Singh Johal.

42:41Yeah, tell us about him. Well, I'm going to call him the British Asian Will Still. That's what I'm going to give him. I can say that. I'm pretty sure I can. I have done now. So he's 30 years old, started his career as a volunteer at Leicester with the community side and then got a role there and then worked from the under-17s all the way to under-18s at Leicester. That's not very far, just to be under-17s. right now. Under sevens. Under sevens. Okay, right. Okay, right. Okay.

43:19Under sevens. That's GCSE. To under 18s. And then went to Como. And, you know, it's funny how, like, footballers and coaches, they're all connected in ways we don't know. He says he knows Dave Chaloner at Stockport because they did their pro licence together. He's one of the youngest to have done the UEFA Pro licence. But he went to Como to be Cesc Fabregas' assistant, which sounds like the dream job. And then scourge of all Guardianistas, Brexit, meant that he had to come back because he clearly didn't have whatever he might have needed to carry on working there. So then he took over at Notts County B, like an in-between between the under-21s and the first team and helped bring in some youth players.

44:07he left that in the summer and 99 % sure it pretty was done a done deal that he was going to take over at Morecambe when Panjab Warriors was supposed to in the summer that didn't happen he even reportedly gave an interview to the BBC saying what his plans were at Morecambe and then Panjab Warriors didn't take over Morecambe which seems like an awkward situation to be in because Derek Adams was still there so now he's come in he's brought in Lee Tomlin um technical man uh a technician that he was in the EFL. His first coaching job, just finished being a striker coach with Sheffield United. So he's a new manager and he's bringing in a first-time assistant as well.

44:45So on paper, this sounds like a huge risk, but he is the first seek to ever manage in professional football. He's the highest ranked British Asian manager in the top five leagues. So I suppose I've got skin in the you know when you get a story you get too close to a story i suppose that's kind of where i've got with this especially as a berry fan in the situation there like i've got lots of levels now where i want walk them to do well and the fact they've got a british asian uh manager and being british asian myself oh you know i hope he does well but i am like well this guy he's come from nowhere he's only 30 years old is this a huge huge risk for a football club that essentially is starting from scratch been suspended and i'm going into the national league I mean, this is such a gamble.

45:33I mean, he could be amazing, but he could be a disaster. And my one worry particularly is he's brought in an assistant with no experience as well. I would have thought maybe a wiser head there. So I'm a little bit worried, but I am hopeful as well. Do you know what? There's something quite interesting about the way football works in the sense, and I think about Ange Postacoglu, that it shouldn't be that how he does or did will make a difference on future Australian coaches getting work. but it is just the way football works in the same way that if this guy is successful more people might go oh you can hire a british asian coach and so that so like you want it to be successful for that reason and that's that he shouldn't have that responsibility right he should just be a bloke who is good or who isn't and i guess actually bigger than all of that is for morgan fans not necessarily bigger than all of that but it's nice that morgan fans can worry about who their manager is like that's a that is a stress that is totally different to will we exist yeah and that point you make it's essentially something that we all carry I'm sure Seb would relate to this as a commentator as well when you are uh not the typical uh white man in any job I suppose you've got that extra element like if I if I mess up on air and I have done on telly my ethnicity my background will become a factor in the conversation around it so Ashveer Singh Johal has all that on him as well Yeah, you're right.

46:53If he doesn't do well, rightly or wrongly, it sets us all back, which is a horrible situation to be in because if he was white, it wouldn't make a difference. So that's a huge weight. I missed out, by the way, he also had a spell assistant managing with Colo Tori at Wigan, which when I saw the comments online, people asking Wigan fans, how did he do? Well, he went like, well, Colo was one of our worst managers ever in history. So it's hard to judge him off nine games. but yeah it is funny what you say about talking about football because it was really funny I had I had this as a scoop right I was sitting on this story and I've got my editors saying can we can we publish this can we say you know Sky Sports News understands and all of a sudden I'm messaging like the head of media from on the one hand going like weeks early going all right mate can I come round today like I mean you know I know everything's going really badly but you know we're going to be there with Sky, we're going to get the cameras there.

47:47Can you get any fans there? Can we get anyone? Blah, blah, blah. And you know, that whole, like, we're both together trying to do something good to then this adversarial conversation where he's like, can you please not publish this story? Can you just hold off the embargoes at nine? So it's amazing how football works like that. And yeah, the fans finally can talk about Morecambe on the pitch. They're playing altering on a Saturday. There was talk of the game not going ahead because they didn't quite have the insurance and the players are only just coming back and whether they could train or not that seems to be resolved tickets are being sold at the moment so yes they've got a match to look forward to ultimately no slouches either in the national league so it's going to be difficult for them uh but yeah when you think where my team were with berry and the 20th of august was going to be the deadline where morcombe were probably going to be expelled now they're okay i mean we've had bigger questions about panjab worries in the future and you know the background there isn't maybe gives me as much confidence as it could do.

48:46But for now, Morecambe are safe. And that's an amazing thing when you think where they were. And it's the best case scenario, given where things were at. Yeah, good reporting from you, Sammy. Well done. I sounded patronising, didn't mean to be. There was a full round of League One and League Two midweek fixtures. Stevenage, the only side with maximum points after four games in League One, after the league Port Vale away. Cardiff, Barnsley, Bradford, Huddersfield, Luton, Lincoln, making up the chasing pack. Plymouth look to be in real trouble, Stanley, don't they? Lost all four of their games and only kept to the bottom by Peterborough, which is sort of a bit of a surprise.

49:20I think not the top 20 had Peterborough struggling, but generally people think they shouldn't be as bad as they are. Did you see the Plymouth Argyle fans TV, like in-house TV clip that came out? Excruciating. So good. So good. Talk us through it. Yeah, so they've got the whole like club presence or whatever and a TV screen and then they've got Tom Cleverley there ready to have a chat about the match that just happened or whatever. And they think the feed isn't live. So they're just there waiting. And he's like, and at one point he gets on his phone and he's like, hello, is the feed good? And the person who's videoed this is like zoomed in on Cleverley.

49:58And you can just see like his body language is like, why am I here? I was at Manchester United. Manchester United, I was at, what is going on? And eventually, after ages, you can just tell. You know when you've upset a manager and they've got to stay there? Eventually, he just unplugs his earphone and walks off. And he will live the whole time. At League 2, Crewe have 12 points for four games. Only side with that 100 % record. Grimsby in second place with 10. Fan of the pod, Harrogate keeper James Belshaw, your mate, Will, had another brilliant game by all accounts on Tuesday, beating Barrow 1-0 at home.

50:37So well done, James. No, I watched that. He did very little, to be fair. Oh, really? Is that right? Yeah, Barrow were pretty mediocre. Harrogate's front three looked quite good. Ellis Taylor, Steve and Duke McKenna and Sean Mikulski looked quite lively. I mean, yeah, pretty dreadful second half to watch, I'd argue. But yeah, they're unbeaten in four, which is incredible considering their budget, etc. I tweeted out a video of Colchester's kickoff at the start of the game, where obviously a lot of teams do this, as you know, puns out for a throw-in. but I only got one because I missed the first one so the kickoff happens and he boots it out for a goal kick but the ref says okay no no sorry I wasn't ready so then he takes another kickoff and he boots it out for a goal kick and then after one of the Cambridge goals he boots it out for a goal kick right and it's not like PSG where you think the opposition might then play out short and you can press him in all Cambridge are doing we've got a keeper who can kick it 100 yards we just kick it back that way anyway we won 2-1 so I was delighted finally we'll finish with an email from Nick.

51:37Nick Evans says, Hi Max Barry and Car, I've been listening to the pod for decades, been a great companion during some difficult times. Most recently accompanied me through a period of feverish delirium as I was laid up with dengue fever. However, whilst listening to the Premier League preview episodes in and out of consciousness, I had a surreal vision of Barry's disembodied head floating above me, like Holly from Red Dwarf, repeatedly insisting that Everton would get relegated. I'm a little traumatised by the incident, but I have bought tickets to the live show hoping that seeing barry in normal human form will give me some kind of closure many thanks nick you're you are uh you're so constant barry you're now in people's dengue hallucinatory dreams as a floating head maybe that's what you'll be in 100 years time that's what this will be your head floating around with hot tape yeah i can only apologize i don't

52:24Max Rushden:think anyone needs that me hovering all my disembodied head hovering over them while they're sweating and shaking. The last thing you need is me hovering over you telling you, Hamilton are going to finish 19. The key is that he survived, isn't it? If he died from all of this, that can't be the last thing you see. You know, your giant head. So, you know, maybe that was the moment when he went, he saw the light. You were the light. That's when the fever broke. I mean, imagine just sort of hearing Baz just constantly talking about Kazakh football. You never guess he's going from from Kyra Almighty to Chelsea this week.

53:05Seb Hutchinson:Almighty, did you say? Thanks, everybody. Yeah, they're called Kyra Almighty. Oh, they're Kyra Almighty. There we are. And the Almighty, the real Almighty Barry, who actually, it turns out, is the man you see when you see the light. His floating head there saying, you know, come to the light, come stay with me. Anyway, that'll be for today, clearly. Thank you, everybody. Thanks, Will. Thanks, Max. and thanks to my brother for bringing in a coffee from Justin Morehouse's coffee van in the park. Yeah, I'd love to Justin. Thank you, Seb. Thank you. Cheers, Baz. Thank you. Thanks, Danny. Cheers. Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

53:41Our executive producer is Danielle Stephens back on Monday.

53:48Max Rushden:This is The Guardian.