Blimey, O’Reilly: Carabao Cup glory for Manchester City against Arsenal: Football Weekly

22:41You got questions about Chicago? Me too. I'm Erin Allen, host of the Curious City podcast, where each week I answer your questions about the region. From mysteries like, is this building haunted? To questions like, what happens to birds that get stuck inside O 'Hare Airport? We get into the answers every Wednesday. Then on Thursdays, come back for a deeper dive where we pull a thread from Wednesday's questions to uncover even more surprising and hidden layers. Listen to Curious City wherever you get your podcasts.

23:22welcome to part two of the guardian football weekly luke says has a team ever had a parade before losing 3-0 at home before um spurs nil forest three and dan the fans you know they they gathered in thousands with flares they had a cup final atmosphere they welcomed the team bus and you sort of have to give Spurs fans credit. They did an unbelievable, considering what they've been served up all season, they were going to have a protest and they decided not to have it because this game was so important. It just gave me even more hope and now those fans have got to do it again sometime because it didn't work.

23:56You know, this is an absolute disaster.

23:59John Brewin:You've got to give the Spurs coaching staff, manager and players credit as well for completely dissipating any good feeling within 45 minutes of a game kicking off as well because I saw all the statements coming from the fans in the week and obviously things have been very, very fractured at Spurs and I thought, fair play, because sometimes when things are going wrong at a football club, sometimes as fans you have to try and do something and I think the Spurs fans try to do that and Spurs had obviously had a couple of decent performances as well. They got the 1-1 at Anfield which not many people would have seen coming and then I watched them on Tuesday or Wednesday whenever it was they played in the Champions League and thought they played really, really well and then suddenly they turn up on Sunday to play A couple of the things that were really good about what you did, the managers just completely decided to rip that apart.

24:43John Brewin:Xavi Simmonds was Tottenham's best player. How can he then not play on Sunday? It beggars belief that you would take away, it's so Spurs, that you would take away something that was one of the best things about your team against a high-level side in Atleti in the Champions League and then not do that same thing again. Van der Ven at left back. Like Spurs are just the, all round, everything factored in. Spurs are just the strangest football club that's ever existed, Max. I mean, well, Chelsea might want a word with you, but I don't disagree. And Dan is so right, Seb. Tactically, it's mad. It's just, what do you, like, it was such a good, like, again, the Athletic game, they actually could have got something.

25:26There were moments in the Athletic game where they were, you know, they had a great chance. The Teller had a chance, Parade had a chance. You think they could have actually won that tie. They didn't. But take that approach and play a team that have won twice all year. I know that's infinitely more than Tottenham have won this year, but it is like, just do that. Yeah.

25:45Seb Hutchinson:It's funny because people are saying this about Amorim just before he departed. Something would go well and then he would change it. And people say, why are you doing that? And that to me is a sign of a manager in trouble because to play a centre-back out of position, to play a midfielder out of position. We spoke about the injuries, but some players were back for this one. That's what's interesting. They've been getting players back. So then you're looking and think, what can they do from this situation? Now, I think the draw against Liverpool was more about Liverpool. Said a lot more about Liverpool than it did about Spurs.

26:19Seb Hutchinson:The Atletico tie was done. I think at Atletico, if it had been tighter, they might have turned up a bit better. Yeah, maybe. And I found yesterday, and I am going to diverge onto Forest, because you are going to ask about them, but I think that also played, that was a really interesting marker because I, at the start of the season, didn't think Forest would go down. As the season's gone on and the managerial changes have happened, I've been worried for them and I genuinely thought last weekend that they needed to probably get a win over Fulham, but that's not easy. And you looked at the fixtures, you thought this is going to be tricky.

26:52Seb Hutchinson:This could be the thing for them. This could be the moment where they keep themselves up. They're still in the Europa League and Villa could still be the team that helped Spurs out again as they did this weekend. But just to go back to Spurs, it feels as if everybody's feeding in this circle. So supporters tried after the game in midweek to give a boost, to give the feeling. The players give it everything at the start of the game. But I think we can apply this to so many teams. As the game goes on, those doubts creep back in again. And you can see by the time, once Forrest took the lead, it was done.

27:26Seb Hutchinson:The game felt done. yeah and Spurs were actually okay in that game Spurs were good and then it was such a soft goal to concede and that and look we obviously must send our condolences to Igor Tudor and it is more important than football you know to find out he'd lost his father and and have to rush back and we send our love to him but and so it seems really sort of awful to say but he needs to get sacked but you know in footballing terms John they've got two weeks now Tottenham and they surely they have to do whatever it is. I don't know what it is. I can't say Harry Rennapp again, because every time I mention it, Lars sends me a barrage of messages going, he's 79.

28:06And the professional footballers are elite sports people. Stop being an idiot. But even still. Yeah, I mean, it is difficult to talk about

28:17John Brewin:considering Igor Tudor's personal circumstances, which is just horrendous, isn't it? And unfortunately, Tottenham may have to make a decision that goes against sentiment really here. Though, again, we ask the question where and who is making this decision? Because that is the issue that we've got at Tottenham is that since the departure of Daniel Levy, that there is a level of disorganisation at the club, a complacency crept in. we just don't know who's making these decisions. I mean, people will come forward and say they are in the case of Johan Langer and stuff like that, but we just don't know how it's happened.

28:59John Brewin:And, you know, the fact that Igor Tudor is, we think, the appointment of someone, Fabio Paratici, he'd actually left the club. I mean, that speaks to the... I mean, that's just classic Tottenham, as Dan says. This, you know, club was running off, you know, almost like psychedelic patterns of behaviour. and it is crazy. That performance and the confidence within that team, you would have felt after beating Atletico in Madrid, there would be confidence but it's so easily sapped, didn't it? And then he got Jesus. And then, I mean, I think it's Andy Reid on the Sky commentary talking about Morgan Gibbs-White's goal and he's just saying, I don't know how he's been allowed that amount of space to score and it's true.

29:45John Brewin:It's just that, how, I mean, he's just there and it is so easy for him. And it being Tottenham, of course, who was the player they wanted last summer? Morgan Gibbs-White. And it all just feeds into this total disaster that there is a really good story of the season to be written there. At the end of every season, the club reporters of clubs will do that this happened, that the Spurs journalists are going to have to do a 10-parter because it's been, whatever happens, if they stay up, it's been absolutely amazing. And we're all rubbernecking it, aren't we? I cannot not watch something. I'm in it.

30:27John Brewin:I'm in it, John. You're rubbernecking it. I'm there. I'm going to get the fire brigade to cut me free. It is worth saying what a brilliant result that is for Forrest. I think the relegation, now I'm looking at all their fixtures, clearly they're not out of it, Forrest. The run-ins are fascinating. That ball from Nico Williams was brilliant. and of course that would give them so much confidence. But, you know, there's a long way to go. And West Ham are mercifully below Tottenham in the Premier League for how long? Well, at least two weeks until West Ham next play. Because they went to Villa Park, Dan, and actually, like, this could have been 10.

31:04I mean, it was 2-0, but Villa were... Will you tell me how much this was Villa being brilliant, how much this was West Ham, who we thought had kind of turned a bit of a corner were appalling.

31:13John Brewin:First off, I feel incredibly guilty for kind of everyone that isn't a Spurs fan that Villa decided to sort themselves out against West Ham. Because if West Ham had managed to be Villa and Spurs dropped into the bottom three after that result yesterday, you know, it would have been absolutely box office, wouldn't it? And West Ham were bad, but in 2026, Villa have played lots of other teams that have been bad and not managed to get a result. Villa played really, really well in a weekend where other results have been very, very favourable to them as well. they're the only team that are kind of gunning for Champions League that have picked up three points.

31:47John Brewin:That feels like a huge, huge moment in the season for us. It feels like a big turning point. Kind of pre-game recently when Emery's picked his team, there's always been something there that I've not liked and that I've wanted to unpack and unpick. He picked the team that I think most of the fans would have wanted at the weekend. He picked the players that have been in form. Did a bit of the opposite of Spurs in that the players that played well on Thursday, who maybe aren't regulars like Jadon Sancho, He kept them in, because it worked on Thursday. He went with it again, and I think Villa took a little bit of confidence from Thursday.

32:19John Brewin:I think there was the shoots of recovery against Lille, and they brought it into this game. In the first 10-15 minutes, I thought, right, we're on it here. McGinn makes such a huge difference, not just to the crowd, but I think to those around him as well. The players just seem like they've got a new lease of life with John McGinn in the team. He's the standard bearer for the football club. He's been there for so long, and actually, he's a fabulous footballer as well. and Villa could have been 3-4 up at half-time. West Ham probably, you would say that they've done something strange tactically in that Tadebo's gone down in the warm-up and they've obviously planned the whole week to play a back three.

32:55John Brewin:Tadebo gets injured and they've ended up going to four at the back and they looked like a team that hadn't worked on that formation in the week. It was 2-0, but it honestly was a 2-0 trounce and West Ham were never in that game. Yeah, Watkins scored, Dan. He still looks rusty, doesn't he? Are you surprised he's not made Thomas Tuchel's 80-man squad? No, I don't think he can have any complaints in all honesty. He's had a poor season. He's had the odd good game here and there. Yesterday was one of those games I thought he played really well. But overall, I just don't think he can say that he's had the consistency or the performance level this season to justify being selected.

33:36John Brewin:You could probably look at it and say, has he done more than Solanke this season? Arguably. But he just hasn't been there. Unfortunately for him, he set himself such high standards under Emery and scored so many goals, got so many assists. They haven't been there this season and the performances haven't been there either. In previous kind of bad runs he's had, he's always still chipped in with assists. There'd been nothing in some of these games, but it was good to see him play. Yes, I think he deserved to play because he came on and played well on Thursday, like I said about Emery doing the things of keeping the players in that did well on Thursday.

34:09John Brewin:but at the moment I don't think he deserves to be in the England squad unless he suddenly hits another five, six goals towards the end of the season. I don't think he'll be in the World Cup squad. Thursday I went to the Lille game and I was chatting to a few Villa people before the game. They were saying how Tammy Abraham, a lot of the fans wanted him to play and it was the right selection. But the difference when Oli Watkins played compared to Tammy Abraham in that game, his movement, he is a really... And obviously the team ticks better with McGinn in the team, that's for sure. But Watkins played really well there.

34:44John Brewin:And I thought it's unfair that he's not in the squad, considering there's probably a few players in that England squad that I would have doubts over, Solanke included. Another thing I want to say is Sancho. Emery is the master at reviving and turning over players that other people have given up on. And if he's getting a tune out of Sancho, then he really is a genius. because, you know, so many, considering he's been at City, he's been at United, he's been at Chelsea and they've all thought, this guy is so talented. Let's get the best out of him. We haven't done it. And even to get the slivers of Sancho that we've seen, it feels like an achievement.

35:21John Brewin:I mean, he's so talented. Yeah, I think the other night, there was one point where he just ran the ball out because I don't know why he ran the ball out. And then the next minute, he set up a goal. That's just, you know, incredible player for many reasons. The thing that surprised me and the thing that Emery has got out of him even though the productivity maybe hasn't been there he doesn't half work hard. I've not seen that at the previous clubs. He's been that like defensively he's been very very astute. Sancho helping out his full back. I think he's got another level or two that he can go and obviously productivity is probably the next phase for him but at the moment on a free transfer I'd quite like to sign him if he's going to be working under Emery.

35:59Seb Hutchinson:Dan I don't know how you feel about this because I've followed Sancho since he was playing for England under-17s. And from a talent point of view, he is right up there. But I've always felt physically, he doesn't have the physicality to get away from players. He can beat a man, but then he can't accelerate away. He hasn't got that, say, a power that maybe an elite winger would need to have to really make a difference at that end of the pitch.

36:24John Brewin:Yeah, I think that's fair. I think sometimes there's a misconception about Sancho, about what type of player he actually is. he works incredibly well in tight spaces. I know Villa scored the goal the other night where he was kind of running onto the ball. It was a great pass from Emi Martinez. But actually, the way Villa play with the number 10s, you want to be giving him them ball in the tight spaces because he can wriggle his way out of it. His passing's quite intricate. He works well in those kind of small spaces. And I just think he's been a really good player. I think Villa revived Rashford's career on loan from Manchester United.

36:58John Brewin:Like John says, does seem to have this knack of kind of rescuing people. and if Villa get, I don't know whether it's a good thing for him or not if Villa qualify for the Champions League. I don't know what gives Sancho more chance maybe of staying at Villa but he started speaking about Emery and the club with quite a lot of love recently. John McGinn's been really good with him apparently as well. It'd be interesting to see what happens to him in the summer and what Villa do, what Villa do with him, whether they've got a chance of getting him permanently. Worth mentioning, Mavropanos making a number of goal line blocks.

37:27Luke, I think it was Luke who got in touch to say, is Mavropanos now more ball than head? with reference to, you know, when Haaland left one on him. And look, West Ham's next game is at home to Wolves and it is on the Friday night. So they are the first game of the weekend. And, you know, that feels absolutely enormous for West Ham. So if they win that, they would no longer be in the relegation zone. Leeds still in trouble. They drew 0-0 with Brentford. Rob, can anyone possibly find anything interesting to say about Leeds-Brentford? Well, look, we just don't have a lot of time and we should do...

37:59I mean, Brentford are, like they could get into the Champions League. And we'll talk about them alongside Everton in part three.

38:08You got questions about Chicago? Me too. I'm Erin Allen, host of the Curious City podcast, where each week I answer your questions about the region. From mysteries like, is this building haunted? To questions like, what happens to birds that get stuck inside O 'Hare Airport? We get into the answers every Wednesday. Then on Thursdays, come back for a deeper dive where we pull a thread from Wednesday's questions to uncover even more surprising and hidden layers. Listen to Curious City wherever you get your podcasts.

38:48Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Vicar says after this weekend's action, should you reintroduce the Everton Cup? And John, this is really interesting now because we sort of looked at the six teams going for the top five places. But then now is a bit of a jump. We were just talking about Villa. They're on 54. Man United will get to are on 55. And then there's a little drop down. Liverpool on 49. Chelsea on 48. Brentford and Everton on 46. I guess you can't discount, I don't know, Fulham on 44. Brighton and Sunderland on 43. Seems unlikely. But Everton beating Chelsea 3-0. They could get into the Champions League.

39:21And it's odd, John, because I haven't noticed them win any games this season. I don't know when they've done it by stealth.

39:28John Brewin:And we spend so much time talking about Beto and Barry, don't we, as these, you know, hapless strikers. And both of them, every time I'm on the pod, they seem to have scored. So someone's doing a good job. And I think it might be David Moyes. I think David Moyes is one of those coaches that is mischaracterized as sort of, you know, last of the dinosaurs or whatever, but actually is a very progressive coach in his own way. and has been, you know, you think back to him back in his days at Preston, he was, you know, the guy who was having lots of ideas. And obviously there's old school values there.

40:06John Brewin:But he knows how to set up a defence. He knows his way around midfielders. He will give creative midfielders their head if they're willing to work for him. And he's also quite good at getting a tune out of strikers that aren't actually very good that the club can't really afford to buy them at all. You think back to the days of Dennis Stracquilersi and he managed to get a tune out of someone like that. I mean, he's a... Okay, David Moyes has had his failings in his career, but Everton... Sorry, John, you're going to have to remind me. I pride myself on knowing random footballers. On who? Dennis Stracquilersi.

40:41I'm good at that stuff as well,

40:42John Brewin:and I don't remember him. You've lost me. He was an Argentinian that I think was signed in some element of desperation. We're talking about... well, in Moyes' first time in charge. And I think he managed to score like one goal or something like that. I'm going to have to look it up, aren't we? Here we are. I've got him. I've got him. Dennis Strakulasi. Everton on loan, 20 games, one goal. I mean, he may have played for many clubs, I presume all in South America, because I don't recognise any of them. Yeah. But there we are. That is great. Thank you for introducing me to Dennis Strakulasi. Do carry on.

41:16John Brewin:I love that we don't have time to talk about Brentford, but we've got time to talk about Dennis Reckwood. David Moyes has not been lucky with the strikers he's had to work with and yet he's still doing this fine job. I suppose one thing we should say about that, the Hill Dickinson is a young stadium, yeah? But I think that was the first night we've heard it crackle as they wanted it to underlight. Yeah, brilliant. David Moyes, a guy that just keeps coming back for more and keeps showing us that he's actually a really, really good manager and he's at the right club, the club that he probably should never have left in the first place.

41:54Yeah, I mean, and the Beto finish, you commented on the game, Seb, the Beto finish is the first one. Amazing. Brilliant, absolutely. Like, it's brilliant. And then the Indy goal, I mean, that is in the top corner. You couldn't place it in the top corner if you walked up with the ball in your hands. What did you make of them? What did you make of Chelsea as well?

42:13Seb Hutchinson:Well, on Everton, I think while I was covering the game, that was what kept crossing my mind. I'd covered their previous game against Arsenal. They played so well in that game. They should have scored a couple of goals even. But Arsenal obviously gave them enough resistance for them to not be able to get the result they needed. Chelsea gave them no resistance in this particular fixture. And Beto's finish reminded me of the Fernando Torres finish in the Euros final in 08. I love finishes like that because the moment he left his foot, you think maybe the spin of the ball might take it wide, but it never does.

42:47Seb Hutchinson:It always just nestles just exactly where you wanted it to go. And Jai's finish was you couldn't get it more into that top corner without it kissing the woodwork. I said it was in the postage stamp. I don't think stamps get that far into the corner. I just thought that was chef's kiss, an amazing, amazing angle to see it where it placed in the end. And everything went right for Everton in the game. I thought they were fantastic. And it sort of moves on nicely to the Chelsea situation in that David Moyes is at a club where, as John mentioned, results can pass by and the vast majority of football fans who aren't, say, Everton supporters, this applies to Brentford, this applies to Fulham, they're not going to know if you've lost or won.

43:37Seb Hutchinson:It doesn't really affect the swings and roundabouts until they look at the league table and go, oh my God, Everton are down there or Everton are up here. If you manage Chelsea, you know every single result is going, people are going to go through it with a fine tooth comb. And that's the reality of it. You have to go through that. And if that happens in more than one game in a row, then obviously the spotlight comes down on you and everybody's going to be honing in on everything you say, everything you do to try and get it right. And so many managers at clubs that are investing and competing for trophies have to go through this.

44:13Seb Hutchinson:Eddie Howe's in that situation, but he's coming out with the, inverted commas, excuse of why he can't get to that next level. And that certainly, when you're watching Chelsea, you're thinking, so many of these players cost so much money. But they were bought for money with the idea that they would hold that value, maybe even increase it in times gone by. They're not finished pieces. They're not players that are going to get you over the line. In games like this, where you are away to a side who are tough to beat and you require experienced players in your team, Chelsea have no experienced players in their team at all.

44:51Seb Hutchinson:They've got players who've done well in recent years, but that leadership is not there, especially as Rhys James is injured. And they felt rudderless on the pitch. Little moments here and there during the game where you could see players' talents. but they look a lost side and you wonder even if whatever manager they bring in I think the whole structure of the club needs to change of what direction they're going in because the direction they're going in they will not be competing for the major honours anytime soon. The direction Liverpool are going is interesting Dan isn't it? A defeat at Brighton we should talk about Danny Welbeck because he's not made the Tuchel squad it's perhaps unlucky you know when we're talking about Calvert-Lewin making it and Ollie Watkins not making it and I think he's scored more than any other Englishman in the Premier League this season.

45:39But on Liverpool, they weren't great in this game. And I think, I don't know, you just thought after that Galatasaray game and you're like, this has clicked now and they're on it and they weren't.

45:51John Brewin:I think they've had that moment quite a lot of times this season, Liverpool, where they've won a game and then they've followed it up with an abject performance and 10 Premier League defeats for Liverpool now. No one would have seen that coming at the start of the season. They were so astute with what they did last season, winning games, and they never really looked in any trouble at all. This season, every time I've watched them, by and large, they've looked in trouble. And there's just so many basic issues there that you'd think Slott would have fixed by now to be in the end of March. And the same kind of things are happening that were happening in September.

46:27John Brewin:He's not adjusted. The distances between the players in every area always look off in terms of the distance between the centre-backs and the full-backs, the distance between the defence and the midfield. I watched them and they just looked like a mishmash of players. They've got a lack of intensity. They're quite passive, which all the things Liverpool weren't under Klopp. And then when they go behind in games, he makes subs that nearly always make them worse and make them even more unorganised. like this has happened so many times this season and it's felt like nobody really wants to take charge and take hold of the top four or the top five to get in the Champions League.

47:09John Brewin:Liverpool, I can't see them doing it if they continue making the same mistakes that they've made all season. Yeah. I mean, we talked about that England squad, John. Liverpool, even if England won't or might, but Liverpool miss Alexander-Arnold, don't they? I mean, maybe you're always better when you're not there, right? and maybe he wouldn't have changed this season, but he just feels such an absence of that creativity. Conor Bradley was supposed to be the heir apparent, but unfortunately has suffered an injury. Frimpong from the very first game, actually, from the Community Shield, did not. He was clearly a very different player to Trent.

47:46John Brewin:So they've lost that creativity and the players, and I think we talk about this almost every time, Dominic Zobislai has to drop back to right back because, so your best player playing right back, well, they had that before maybe with Trent, but it's not working when Zobislai is going there or having to drop there because it's a waste of his excellence. It's interesting. A player that I know both you and I are a fan of, Florian Wurtz, is now getting stickers and not being effective enough. You know, you're in that territory of floating like a butterfly, stinging like one is sort of the description of Stephen.

48:26John Brewin:You know, it's just not happening for him. But again, he needs the players around him. They were unlucky that Eketike gets an injury early, but they just don't have the players now despite all that money. And, you know, this shows you, you know, we've had a weekend of Eddie Howe complaining about not being able to buy players, but Liverpool and Manchester United in the past have shown that you can spend as much money as you like, but if you don't spend it on the right players, then it doesn't work for you. And Arne Slott, to me, every time I hear him speak, he's defending his own record. That's not a good sign, is it?

49:08Four wins in five for Brighton. I mean, and Herzler was under real pressure into that little run, Seb. And two for Danny Welbeck. I mean, we've had Danny Welbeck's good, that conversation, so many times. Are you surprised that he hasn't, you know, because by all accounts, he's a really good clubman as well. You know, he's good around the place, but he's also really talented. Are you surprised he's not made that squad?

49:29Seb Hutchinson:I am because obviously the squad contains a thousand players. So I would have thought he would have got into that mix. He ticks all the boxes for that striker, that player that you want in the squad, knowing that Harry Kane's going to start every game if he's fit. Somebody who's going to just be... Danny Welbeck's the sort of person who just gets on with everybody. Every player that's with him, he's one of the most popular players. Older players love him. The younger players love him. And he's just had one of those careers where, in the way, when he came through, people thought he's not the sort of player that would still be at his best at this age.

50:02Seb Hutchinson:But he's actually shown that if you look after your body, having gone through all the injuries he's been through, that you can still get that time at the back end of your career. In a weird way, if you are available for every game for season after season, you can get burnt out, I think. But if you have injuries here and there, maybe your body's not been through enough of that game time to think, actually, I can still go on now to play into my mid-30s. And he's showing that. I am surprised he's not in the squad. It could be a timing thing because he didn't score the goals just before the squad was announced.

50:33Seb Hutchinson:That might have helped. But he certainly seems like considering the other strikers brought into the squad, I think he could have certainly been considered. We'll round off the top five chat with Man United in just a second. But I wanted to talk about Newcastle-Sunderland, Dan, because A, it was more recent. I can't really remember the Manchester United game. It was so long ago. And, you know, Newcastle fans sometimes feel we have an agenda against the club. And look, no Wilson, no Barry on this pod. So that is something at least. But it is impossible to understate how big a result this is for Sunderland.

51:04And doing the double over Newcastle in their first season back in the Premier League and have such a good record against them. But that is absolutely enormous.

51:11John Brewin:Yeah and look Sunderland have it's felt like they've tailed off like they've almost done that thing where they've got to safety and then kind of took the kind of foot off the gas a little bit but they could have gone under yesterday against Newcastle bearing in mind they're not completely free flowing at the moment going 1-0 down made a mistake for the goal which is one of the most bizarre goal kick formations I've ever seen in my life the way he ran onto the ball I don't think we'll ever see that again I'm not sure that's going to catch on at all Sunderland could have gone under but they didn't somehow after that first half it was Newcastle that ended up going under and they've obviously had that basketball match with Barcelona in the week I'm sure there is an element of fatigue there but they can't be losing that game and then Eddie Howell's comments after the game I've got some sympathy with them around PSL which probably won't be a popular opinion with listeners but Newcastle season has just been bizarre the whole way and there's lots of teams that have had bizarre seasons as we've spoken about earlier.

52:11John Brewin:But I'm not sure when you've had the kind of outlay that they've had in the summer and you've probably made your team worse that you can come up and peddle the PSR excuse. I think Newcastle have coasted by this season on the fact that they're struggling in the league but they were still in the Champions League. They're not in the Champions League anymore and their league position is pitiful. Yeah, I mean, it was a basketball game but very much the fourth quarter was just a sort of Harlem Globetrotters basketball game worth saying. Brian Broby, Broby, Broby said, very similar physique to me was my first observation.

52:44But what a brilliant, one of many, but like a brilliant signing for Sunderland.

52:50Seb Hutchinson:Yeah, people forget how old he is. He's only 24. And that Sunderland side had a lot of youth in it. You know, Talby's 20, Chris Rigg starting in that game, local boy who just, I thought, put in a fantastic performance, particularly in the second half. Diara Siddiqui these are all very very young players even the goalkeeper Elborg's only 22 but they had the energy they had the legs on Newcastle by the back end of the game and a figure like Brobby is certainly somebody even when he was you know he's been he's been in Netherlands squads they clearly see somebody who can be that different focal point for somebody up front he is somebody who we were talking about Beto earlier Brobby can pin defenders he can make it really difficult for them but he's also shown And when he gets a chance, he can take it.

53:37Seb Hutchinson:He's a penalty box presence. And he scored some big goals this season. But this was the biggest. You could see him at the end. He was praying. He was hoping. Can we just win this? Because he knows down the line in years to come, there was a cutaway of Ryan Taylor in the crowd. And this is a guy who scored a free kick in this fixture. And it's still talked about by supporters. So from a Sunderland point of view, They'll still be talking about this because they're on an, I think, 11-game unbeaten run against Newcastle now, which is just astonishing when you think about it. Their season, when we look through the league and we see so many people saying this is a poor league season, the quality's not great, the Premier League's dropped.

54:23Seb Hutchinson:But the Premier League has been so competitive, it feels very condensed, it feels like any team can get a result from any team. and for Sunderland to be in that scenario and find themselves where they are, they will be one of those sets of fans that in the happiness chart, is there an argument to say they're top? Possibly, yeah. Talby, the youngest player to score for Sunderland against Newcastle in the Premier League. The pressure is on Eddie Howe, John. Like the fans booed and there's a lot of online pressure but in the stadium they've been behind Eddie Howe. I mean, it would still be a massive risk to replace him, I think.

55:01John Brewin:Yeah, I think so. And I think that he's earned the right to give it another go, you would say. There is this idea that Eddie Howe lacked support from those above him in the club last summer when all the Alexander-Izac saga was going on. I think the signing of Volta Marder, as much as we may enjoy him, is now seen as a mistake. A mistake, actually, that, of course, Eddie Howe and his nephew, wasn't it, that was involved in the recruitment team, he'll have to take some of the blame for... It always sounds like his nephew would be about six. But he's in his 30s. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. His nephew is just...

55:41John Brewin:He's tall. He's really tall. Let's buy him. That's what I'm going to do. He's a lot of work experience. Yeah. That's what I've been hearing from... I was at the Newcastle game at Chelsea the week, just chatting to some of the local lads about that. And listen, Eddie Howland has a good relationship with the local press there. I think that counts for quite a lot. The thing is, Howe's built something there. It's just that he perhaps hasn't had, and he can blame PSR if he likes, but he hasn't had the support to take it to the next stage. I think that's fair to say. Should it start going wrong next season, then yes, he could have a problem.

56:12John Brewin:You know, when Anthony Gordon scores that goal, you're thinking, right, okay, this is it. And then the second half, a bit like the Spurs thing, a bit like Arsenal, they just don't show for the second half and Sunder deserve that. And, you know, Mr. Brobby is, yeah, I've really enjoyed watching him. I saw him play for Ajax a few years ago and he was absolutely hopeless. And now I'm watching this guy thinking, wow, he's great. So there you go. What do I know? It's important to say the derby was overshadowed by the reports that Luchero Gautrado had been the subject of racist abuse from home fans.

56:44The ref Anthony Taylor stopped the match in line with the league's on-field anti-discrimination protocol. It was early in the second half. Premier League match centre said the incidents in St. Jesus Park will now be fully investigated. We offer our full support to the player and both clubs. Racism has no place in our game. Newcastle said we're aware of a report of racism made by a visiting player against someone in the crowd during our Premier League match against Sunderland. Our stance is clear. We do not tolerate discrimination of any form. We'll work with the authorities to fully investigate and we'll ensure any individuals are identified and held accountable.

57:14Bournemouth 2, Man United 2. Quickly, John, you were there. Did you have a nice time? Really fun game this, wasn't it?

57:19John Brewin:It was a really exciting game, yeah. A little difficult for those of us that have to work to a 10 o 'clock deadline thanks to 10 minutes of added time. And obviously a lot of VAR chat. Now my view is that the referees probably got this right. I didn't think there was enough in the Ahmad foul. I mean, you could see why. And you could see why VAR would not interfere with it. United got themselves in a good position and let it slip because Bournemouth are so difficult to play against when they're on it. Maynou versus Alex Scott, another one when we go back to the 80-man England squad. Why Alex Scott wasn't in the squad?

57:58John Brewin:He's been Dumbas' best player this season. I really like him. He's brilliant to watch. He glides like, you know, the socks roll down or whatever, gives it a slightly 70s, 80s feel, which I think we all buzz off. but him against Maynou Scott had the better game I had to say he is an excellent player I know Seb's seen quite a lot of him as well Wow Thomas Tuchel was at Wembley yesterday and I think had to sit with a load of journalists fielding questions from him about that it turns out it wasn't that bad a result for Man United but it did show that the weakness within the squad that they've got Casemiro got booked quite early and then couldn't put himself about as he quite liked and then they lost control the midfield.

58:41John Brewin:One more thing I actually should say, Cunha, this guy, is being red hot for United recently. I had my doubts about that signing but he's looked really, really good. Thank you, John. Fulham beat Burnley 3-1 in what I would suggest is the first really pointless game of the season. Burnley might have had a chance to survive. My apologies. Fulham were bound to be in that game, weren't they? I mean, you could have looked at the start of the season and gone, maybe this will be the first one. But Burnley, I guess if they do something, if they do stage a great comeback and I have introduced them to pointless at this point I will forever apologise

59:15Seb Hutchinson:I'll just give one point on the Fulham game obviously Raul Jimenez his father passed away really emotional at the full time whistle but his penalty record is exceptional the best there's been in the Premier League 14 14 in 14 yeah 14 question marks about his run up I think it's just about okay isn't it I just don't know what the rules are on the run up that's exactly it nobody knows and I don't think it's defined enough in that particular circumstance I think if you stop just before you strike the ball right then that's a problem but he stopped several times in the run-up I mean we've seen players do it in the past Pogba and but he didn't he didn't stop just before striking and maybe that's how he got away with it we send him our love and our condolences finally Ross got in touch to say dear Max Barry and the other illustrious members of Football Weekly are right listening to this latest episode as I sit here in two pairs of boxer shorts excess padding and feeling rather sorry for myself more importantly it's come to my attention by my good friend phil that i completely forgot to listen to the podcast as i had my vasectomy this morning as a long-standing listener of the pod i feel i've let you down i've let barry down indeed i've let the recently singed tubes in my balls down uh a dull ache of regards ross thank you ross we accept your apologies go and get it done again and listen to us i'm about to have one

1:00:34John Brewin:and that's not filled me with confidence. Oh yeah, okay, well good luck. Can you do the pod while having it done? We were suggesting that I film myself having it done and it's the halftime show of a live show. I'm really dedicated to this podcast, but that does feel like taking it to quite the extreme.

1:00:51Seb Hutchinson:Do you have to pay for it or is it on the NHS? NH, NHS. I thought you were suggesting, Seb, for the first time ever, I use Do You Know Who I Am to try and get myself a free vasectomy. Promotion. I'm not after a hummer. I just want to versectomy. Anyway, that'll do for today. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, John. Thank you. Cheers, Seb. Thank you. Thanks, Dan. Thank you, Max. Football Weekly is produced by Taiya Papula and Jesse Howard. Our executive producer is Daniel Stevens. EFL pod on Tuesday and then international pod on Friday after all those playoff games featuring the home nations.

1:01:32Seb Hutchinson:This is The Guardian.

1:01:41You got questions about Chicago? Me too. I'm Erin Allen, host of the Curious City podcast, where each week I answer your questions about the region. From mysteries like, is this building haunted? To questions like, what happens to birds that get stuck inside O 'Hare Airport? We get into the answers every Wednesday. Then on Thursdays, come back for a deeper dive where we pull a thread from Wednesday's questions to uncover even more surprising and hidden layers. Listen to Curious City wherever you get your podcasts.