Chelsea dagger for Guardiola as Arsenal move six points clear – Football Weekly

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:30Excited for the emergency voice note at the beginning of today's pod. Johnny says, I bet you've already recorded the pod. Doing the voice note now? Question mark? Yes. Depot, voice note time? Yes. Pat says, I can guarantee Max and Co finished recording Guardian Football Weekly 20 minutes ago. Tommy, I really hope you aren't being woken up for a voice note, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Thank you for your messages. You're ahead of us. But, you know, we like it because it's the constants in life. So this pod does discuss Ruben Amarim. and actually what we say is pretty relevant even if we didn't have the sacking news we will do a special on this tomorrow but for the time being here is the podcast and it's still good even if it doesn't have this breaking news we'll cover that tomorrow i hope you enjoy it thanks bye hello and welcome to the guardian football weekly and congratulations again to donald trump for winning the inaugural fifa peace prize has anyone checked on gianni before matters of world security the Premier League.

1:27Did Pep get out-tacticked by a nether who managed a game before Callum McFarlane? Chelsea changed things at half-time and scored late. Four points dropped in two games. And it's Arsenal who were the ominous ones. A match-winning performance from Declan Rice at Bournemouth. Also today, a first win for Wolves. Not ideal that it comes in the 26th part of the 25-26 season, but they blew West Ham away. Things look grim for Nuno. Harrison Reid couldn't have got it any more top corner if he picked it up and placed it there as full-and-draw with Liverpool. A hat-trick for Thiago as Brentford continue to impress.

1:56Where does Ruben Amarim's post-match sit on the all-new Maresca scale? Will Spurs ever not be booed off again? There are comfortable wins for Villa, Newcastle and Brighton. Not a great afternoon for Wilfred Nancy. Rangers blitz Celtic in the second half. We'll do all that plus your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

2:17On the panel today, Barry Glendennig, welcome. Hi, Max. Hello, Seb Hutchinson. Hi, Max. And welcome, Nick Ames. hello max uh right let's uh begin then at the etsy hats manchester city one chelsea one callum mcfarlane the chelsea caretaker head coach what a game to have to take charge of rye says was this graphic really necessary and he just put it up manager head-to-head guardiola games played including today a thousand and eleven wins 723 trophies 39 mcfarlane games including today one wins nil trophies nil so it does seem a bit silly but it's the interesting think barry is maybe mcfarlane kind of got the better of pep in this game yeah i think he did um i think it's a far better result for chelsea in crisis of a sort than it is for man city who've now dropped four points in the last two games and i thought it was interesting that in his post-match interview on match of the day at least pep took serious exception to the accusation yeah that um there had been a shift of momentum in the second half of the game because he hadn't noticed one.

3:29But I think everyone else did. And I think the person who asked him the question, I didn't get who it was, was bang on. But Pep wasn't having that at all. Was at his most condescending in answering the question. But I think Callum McFarlane and Chelsea did a number on them. They rode their luck a bit. Manchester City probably should have put the game beyond them before they had the chance to grab that late equaliser. But the little switches McFarlane made at halftime certainly changed the momentum of the game. And I think Chelsea probably deserved a draw in the end. In a kind of reverse so-so good of Pep, the fact that he completely denied that it changed means that it definitely did change, Seb.

4:18That's what I inferred from that post-match interview. Yes, I think that Manchester City, they never want to be in a position where they're sitting really deep defending a lead. Even when they played Arsenal earlier this season, they defended pretty deep for much of the game. But for some reason, in the last few minutes, they pushed up the pitch and tried to almost look after the ball and take that threat away. And that's what caught them out in the end for that equaliser. and we've spoken this season you know my belief that Man City would pip Arsenal to the title was his freedom of attack and having an excellent goalkeeper in Haaland up front now that the attack was free but it felt on this occasion I think because of the injuries that he didn't put a natural winger on the pitch obviously Savino wasn't available Bob's not not available Doku was on the bench but it did make me think he wanted to control the game in the central area and look after it and keep the ball away from Chelsea.

5:15But the one thing about Chelsea is it doesn't matter really how well or badly they're playing. They do have good players and they will have moments in every game. And when they're playing in big games, their young players get really up for the match. And it felt as long as they kept it within one, because they were on the back foot a bit in the first half, they were going to have their moment in the game. And it's funny even that by the end of the match, the fact that we're talking about McFarlane being in a position where he did do a number on Pep really because he changed his system in the second half he swapped players around he he took off players when he needed to he recognized the game state it was is masterful but the one point because I won't go into all the details of the game because that will take away any point maybe Nick has to come but I well maybe I shouldn't feel that way but I feel that it's interesting that McFarlane he has a past at Manchester City and it fills every team whatever team I seem to be covering they have a 10th in Manchester City at some point.

6:12It's like they are the foundation for all the coaching in English football at the moment. Even when I did Cardiff, it was the case with them. And Chelsea have it running through their veins and just their players and coaching staff. And I wonder when Pep does walk away from this, if that's probably the thing that he takes the greatest pride from. Because that imprint on the English football system will be something. And especially when he takes the England job after the World Cup. I mean, it didn't sound like it yesterday. is the only thing i would say and look for form and file and nick which is now he may go on to be the most successful manager of all time we may never hear of him again but like it was that it was a really lovely moment at the end where like reese james is pushing him forward and saying look this is on you well done you and it and it must have been such an art just a human odd human experience i know he's coached matches before but it must have been a really odd day for him yeah you've gone from I don't want to say nobody but relative unknown to hero in the space of a week you know in all the headlines and as Seb has said they totally deserved it I thought his introduction of Liam De Lappe in the second half made a big difference De Lappe did his bustling thing but with a bit more composure could have scored nearly got on the end of a move for the goal I thought they were getting behind City very easily lots of very well executed two or three past moves um largely foundering at the feet of pedro netto it has to be said um who um who got in a lot of good areas and then kept even making no decision or checking back on himself but no i i um i i think they played it very well and look i i i doubt we're gonna be hearing that much of him in in terms of a frontline coaching position in the future we've got you know chelsea's extensive scouting mission for a new manager seemingly coming to an end maybe even today with uh with liam rosenia but no what what a moment to have on on your cv for as and when you may be looking for that senior position you have the inside track on liam rosenia seb yeah i think it's probably one of the best i work with his dad leroy pretty much every week and leroy himself played at you know in the top flight for west ham and Fulham and a man who's managed himself in the past so a great foundation for Liam as well but I always got the sense with Liam when he was coming through he was he was good speaker he was good analyst of the game players speak really highly of him and it's been really interesting in the media this week that some of the say younger pundits who have had more of a connection have probably met him probably spoken with him have given him really high praise and defended him whether we get into the position of management and managing Chelsea in particular that's something else and that will be discussed over the whole way but I felt for my I wanted to talk about the idea of because when you say when I sit next to Leroy every week his pride in how well his son is doing in terms of the progression and and reaching a point that he couldn't reach in his coaching career but seeing your son do it in many ways is better because you can sit back you don't have to live that pressure per se you live a different type of pressure and if Liam if it goes through and he becomes Chelsea manager it will feel like such a huge moment and we ask we always ask in this country for British managers to do to get opportunities but when they get them we say are they ready for them you just have to let things pass and then you can talk about it afterwards and we'll see how it goes because Potter worked his way to that situation and it didn't quite work out for him and that may happen for Liam in the end but the foundation is there and we will see it feels like he is the right manager for that group in a weird way looking at McFarlane yesterday see how he was with Rhys James how Rhys James was with him they are young players and maybe we're thinking about it differently that maybe young players nowadays quite like a young manager around them maybe they feel more connected maybe they don't need that older manager to tell them you got your boots on the wrong way who knows but if it works for Chelsea then we can say that's a masterstroke can't we and one thing to add I might be going against the tide here but under good authority Leroy's told me that it's Resenia and I may be the only person in the media he might know he might know and he said like most people do they say well people just said Resenia and you know I can't go around correcting everybody so I'll just go around with it but because he's told me it personally yeah i have no excuse now don't i okay fine i look forward to my two sons attaining a level of podcasting i never could in the same way and just sitting back and just enjoying it vicariously uh nick you politely had your hand up yeah no i i um i wish um name was any very well in that job i i think as as we've seen before at harlan and then lately at strasburg he's is an excellent coach he always comes across fantastically by the way and seems like a genuinely decent proper football person and i'm very pleased to see someone like that in charge of chelsea to be honest but i think we do need to acknowledge the company man slash strasburg thing because it just it just doesn't and this has nothing to do by the way whether there's any personally at all this is the situation he has ended up in um it doesn't sit well like he's done a very good job at Strasbourg, backed very well by Bluco, obviously, who owned both them and Chelsea.

11:34I think they're seventh in Ligue 1 now. I think they were seventh in Ligue 1 last season. Maybe out by a spot, but I think that's about right. And I just think treating a club like Strasbourg of that size as a cad rank for Chelsea players and then managers as big and high profile a post as this, I mean, it's a long and separate discussion, but for me it's not right at all. Yeah, Strasbourg fans are already mega pissed off with Blue Cup's involvement in their club, even though Blue Cup have invested a lot of money. But I wonder if the Chelsea hierarchy are getting the yes man or the company man they think they are, because I don't know Liam Rosiniar, but I know he's a very thoughtful, articulate man with a lot of strident opinions, some of which he has aired in the guardian from time to time so if um todd bowley and chums think they're getting a company man who do their bidding i'm not so sure that'll be the case but we will find out yeah i he wrote an article about trump didn't he so it'd be interesting if he'd been you know there to win the club world cup and donald had wandered up to you know take a medal alongside him more on uh uh trump of course later for city said look this is two points dropped again so four points dropped in two games slipping a little bit away from Arsenal it's still a lot of football to be played but you know that is not ideal and I don't think it's I don't think we could say it's too early anymore I think we've done that we've you know we're halfway through the season now so we're starting to look at patterns and take something from it it's of course it's not done at all of course Manchester City can go on a run as they often do because I still feel they always threaten the goal all the time and you get the sense maybe Arsenal might have a game where that doesn't happen for them and they drop points City had only drawn against Arsenal before that draw with Sunderland that was their only draw this season so they're used to being in a position where they they beat teams you know most of the time so they could get on it when we look at the fixtures ahead and we've been doing this all the time we we try to think oh that's going to happen that's going to happen but we know we can't really do that I mean you think Arsenal playing Liverpool this week, Arsenal could win 4-0 because Liverpool implode, or Liverpool could nick it and win the game there very easily.

13:57They have good players, as Jamie Carragher said yesterday. So it's going to be interesting. And the fact that Arsenal do have this, it's been a while relatively, compared to other clubs who've spent a lot of money, that tension will get across to the players at some point. So whether by the time they face them at the Etihad, then that might change things. But I think the thing that has reared its head, which I will say, is what I thought might be Arsenal's problem. And it's probably every side's problem is injuries and fitness. And we've talked about the Club World Cup. There was a slight legginess about City yesterday.

14:36It wasn't a surprise that defenders went off injured because they're playing every week. I'm not saying that City have a small squad but the number of injuries affecting teams is affecting all the games and it would be amazing if we could just click our fingers and say everybody had everybody fit for the entire season what would the table look like but obviously we can't do that I was going to allude to exactly that kind of squad thing because I think this is the moment now over this sticky and intensive winter period where we are seeing the benefit of the depth and durability that Mikel Arteta has put together I think at Bournemouth he brought on off the top of my head I think he brought on Saka, Jesus, Merino definitely and I think Trossard four incredible subs Ebayese didn't even get a minute it hasn't started since since the Wolves game a while ago isn't really in in favour right now someone like Ethan Nguaneri no one near it nowhere near it whereas City you know for AFCON reasons for the injury reasons you mentioned I only had Doku really to bring on the other day and it wasn't a dissimilar case at Sunderland a few days previously either and I just think it's this period now if Arsenal do come out of it still six points clear or so after the Liverpool game it will have completely borne out the squad that Arteta has put together and the impact that people thought that might have, I think it's proving quite key.

16:05Yeah, and Barry, Arsenal are, you know, they won at Bournemouth and Bournemouth were good in this game. This was not an easy game and Declan Rice had an absolutely brilliant, I mean, just everywhere, but like those two sort of Lampardian arriving late finishes. But his whole all-round game was just brilliant. He scored the two goals. Obviously, they were both very well taken and he just seemed to be five or six Declan Royces on the pitch. He was everywhere, making important interceptions, making important tackles, getting the ball forward, scoring the two goals, of course. And he was imperious throughout this game, as was, I thought, Martin Odegaard looked very much back to his best as well.

16:50They're two young senior players, if you know what I mean, and kept their heads and composure during what was a hard-fought win for Arsenal. Bournemouth didn't make it easy for them at all. Even Gabriel made that uncharacteristic error to give away the first goal, but they didn't panic, and he popped up to score the equaliser to cancel out his mistake. and my only real concern for Arsenal at the start of the season I think was a potential lack of mental fortitude and it was tested to an extent against Bournemouth and they passed with flying colours I thought I'm not sure how much more it is going to be tested but so far so good for them Yeah, Matawake was excellent as well and another example of their depth Talking about their depth even like they brought on as Nick said Saka, Jesus and Trossard Kai Havertz was giving the day off because they were trying to manage his comeback from injury That's nice Would he go to Bluewater?

18:06I wonder what he did Yeah, Madawege had a really good game You wonder if Man City delayed the Semenya deal just long enough that he would play this game against Arsenal Fraser Forster has signed a six month deal at Bournemouth doesn't feel like for like with Semenya but let's see what he can do I guess out there. Bournemouth, interesting 7-8, 11 without a win. But in the last couple of the games, they've looked better than that. And on Wednesday, Dr Tottenham arrive at the Vitality. To fix all their problems, all their woes. I feel for Bournemouth because every time you see them, they are in games against all the teams in the league.

18:42You think they drew with Chelsea, the Manchester United game, which I covered, was the game of the season. And they have this ability to score goals against everybody. And that's with a team that's lost so many key players. And what I like about them in certain games is that they, even yesterday, they're 3-1 down in the game, but they're still going for it. They're still pushing for it. It feels like a Premier League thing anyway to be like that, that sides don't just throw the towel in. But they just need to turn that corner and get the wins on the board. Because they're picking up points, that's helping to stave off any idea that they're going to drop into the bottom three.

19:17And I don't believe that they would have that threat anyway. I just still think they're too good for that. But you want Iriola to get that win. Obviously, if you're a Spurs supporter, you don't. But you want them to get that win because it feels, again, to back up what they're doing in terms of trying to replace the players that have left and give new players a chance to show what they can do. And we saw that. I mean, Kruppi's been one of those clutch players this season for them. Scoring, he's going to, by the end of the season, when they do the Premier League season review, Premier League years, he's going to pop up two or three times in that for sure.

19:53I think the Leeds game, Manchester United, obviously the goal in this game will probably still make the edit even though they lost the game. So we'll see with Bournemouth. And of all the Bs, the well-run Bs in the Premier League, I think they're the one that this season, probably people haven't noticed that they've been on this long run, but we still need to give them the credit, the way they compete against the best in the league. yeah and look if you don't have a good season we were saying this you know about you know it's not a bad season last year wasn't a bad season to be bad because of the bottom three were so bad it felt the same although we said about west ham and they can't afford to be bad because they are one of those three aj says what if jake steinberg was too positive with respect to west ham after his seven minute soliloquy on the disaster there wolves first win of the season their 20th game John Bruin called this we're on the radio with him the if we can't win this derby it's a really nice way of phrasing this both teams going if we can't win this we are totally screwed and actually Barry Wolves looked really really good with the it was only West Ham caveat of course yeah and that is a big caveat it was a really good weekend for Arsenal and it was a really really good weekend for Wolves because they won all the teams above them lost I was thinking they couldn't could they could they i've now looked at how they it they could but they won't i think they need two points a game the best part of two points a game you know certainly a point and a half a game from here on in but they played well in this game but the west ham caveat can't be stressed enough they can't play west ham every week much as their fans uh what requested that uh through the medium of song and I don't think you can overstate how pathetic West Ham were in this game.

21:50I don't want to take away from Wolves because when the latest score flashed up and I saw 3-0, it was like, whoa, crikey. I did expect Wolves to beat them. I didn't expect them to be 3-0 up by halftime. And when Wolves went 2-0 up, you could almost see the players visibly swell with confidence. like wow this we're 2-0 up in a game of football this is incredible started pinging the ball around that that kid matthias mané was superb ran the show for wolves but west ham were pathetic and it's not just that they're a bad football team but that was a football team that wasn't even trying that seemed to have given up thrown in the towel uh jacob had an article um yesterday stating that it seems Nuno isn't particularly liked around the ground, which isn't that important, but he seems to have a very distant relationship with his players.

22:51He seems to completely ignore quite a few of them. I thought he was nuts to take this job when it came up so soon after leaving Forrest. He's only won two out of 15 games, but I do know they've brought in a player that's his signing and they're about to bring in another so does that mean he's secure in his position it's west ham so it's impossible to tell yeah yeah his ready brett glow from forest has definitely disappeared and he's back to dying jedi isn't he very much so it is it's sort of quite extraordinary nick isn't it i mean the interesting thing with this recruitment in january will be is is any of it good because their recruitment for so long has been so bad you almost presume if West Ham buy someone it won't work is my instant presumption yeah and they've they've just um spent or are spending I think around 20 million pounds on um fairly young Brazilian striker from um from Gil Vicente I think it is in Portugal who has has a good record but I I tend to think that in this kind of scenario the Portuguese market is one that tends to see a struggling English club coming a bit um at this time of year I I may be proved wrong but their um their recruitment has has been scattergun unthought through and pretty weird at times for for years now i think we're way beyond the point at west ham where you point the finger at any manager you're we're way way way beyond beyond that point it's a job that makes fools of anyone um the ludicrous thing of course is that they're you know we're talking about them as dead suits for relegation or something but that only four points off it's Forrest I think at home on Thursday Forrest who had been on a decent run and he quite fancied to get out of it have now lost I think four on the spin they seem to have had a few stinkers in them they didn't really show up at Villa the other day and so so they're only one result away from that glimmer of hope and maybe one or two signings away from it but just based on all the evidence of the last half decade or so So it's hard to see things perking up very quickly.

25:02Yeah, Tuesday that game. Seb? Yeah, you scared me there because I'm doing that game. First day, fuck, damn it! Just for Seb's interest, it's tomorrow, mate. Yeah, it's tomorrow. I got scared. Also, to one final point on West Ham, they've just sold Luis Guillerme, right, who they signed for£25 million, I believe? And he's barely played for them. He's had injuries, I think he had a back problem. And now they've sold him, I think, about£16 million or something. So they made a loss on this young player. And the whole point of buying those players is that you sell them on for hire if you're West Ham, I think, in that position.

25:36And that's just another example of their poor transfer policy. Yeah, so that is it. Absolutely. And we have a pod on Wednesday morning, so we will lead with whatever happens at the London Stadium between West Ham and Forrest. But it could be quite a stressful watch for those sides involved. I think Forrest will batter them. Yeah. I mean, that's what I expect. but Forrest haven't we'll get onto them in a bit but you know yes I mean it is West Ham if you can't win this that is you know that is the West Ham way currently isn't it it's just when Forrest lost against Man City I thought they played really really well I was thinking there's no chance in hell of these this lot getting relegated if they can play like this on a semi-regular basis even though they lost the game I thought they were brilliant and I thought they deserve something I'll be very surprised if they don't beat West Ham quite comfortably and they should finish above West Ham given the quality of their squad.

26:30There's no doubt about that. But as I said, we'll get to Forest in a bit, but we'll start part two at Craven Cottage.

26:44Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Fulham 2, Liverpool 2. Archie got in touch to say, please refer to Harrison Reid by his full name of the Ginger Iniesta tomorrow. Thank you. Will Jeans from The Athletic saying, 514 different players have scored in the Premier League between Harrison Reid's last two goals in the competition Nick it is an absolutely amazing strike it's absolutely perfect what an incredible hit and I mean you I heard on on a slot afterwards explaining it in terms of Liverpool's setup from throw-ins and and stuff like that maybe with a bit of a nod to their having ditched the set piece coach a little while back but but i'm sorry you you cannot legislate for that it's it's not even a case of having the euphoria of a seemingly 94th minute winner 95th minute winner and and and and then switching off it it's just a player who never does this picking up the ball in an area where he never really shoots from paying in the most perfect and clean top corner strike that you will see in the entire season and fair play you could see that harrison reedle almost didn't know where to run he was kind of he looked delighted but but he also looked really really surprised if you look at his face and i mean i i i think that goes for tens of thousands of us who were watching it to be honest but yeah wonderful moment from a player who has barely played in the league this season i think is starts of all come in the Carabao Cup, if I'm not mistaken, barely come off the bench, seemed like a dead set to maybe go to the Championship this month, maybe still will be.

28:26But fantastic. And, you know, Fulham, much as Liverpool improved, I think, in the second half and quickened their passing up a couple of decent goals. Fulham were well worthy of the point. They're just a team that is ultra-competent and stays in games and even if you feel like you haven't i don't know how to put it even if you feel like you haven't seen them for periods in a game they're always still there um just not always producing moments like that it was incredible and he did say he did it in training but i'm you know and everyone's like do you do that in training i've always liked him as a player and the ball actually said it just sits up just just as he strikes it it just almost someone just tees it up for him it's like it's perfect well i just feel like we should dedicate the rest of the pod to Harrison Reid and I don't think Archie would mind that at all because you spoke about Iniesta comparing him to Iniesta it was like the Iniesta goal against Chelsea the way he struck it but from further out it was it was just a beautiful goal and he's got he's got such a great name as well I can't work out if it's an estate agents or a lettings company or a financial advisor sort of men's oh yes middle-aged men's clothing isn't it that would be on Fulham you know Fulham Palace Road or something.

29:39Yeah, yeah. I get what you're saying. And I think I commentated on his last goal as well, I think, against Villa. I might be wrong. It was that long ago. And I remember going to the game against Forest, whenever that was, over the Christmas period at some point. And the Fulham support was saying to me, I'm worried today about, you know, we've got players unavailable. We might have to start Harrison Reid, you know. I just think, this is how football goes full circle. Even seeing Iwobi yesterday in, I think, Nigeria training with Chikwesi and telling him about Harrison Reid's goal, which equates his reaction.

30:10It's like, what? What are you talking about? And I just think that's just magic. It was quite telling, because when the goal, when he struck the shot and it went into the top corner, Sander Berg was standing nearby in the penalty area, and he just put his hands to his head in total disbelief at what he'd just seen. And the reaction of all the players was quite telling. They were obviously delighted for him. also completely shocked that he managed to pull that off but um i must confess i didn't even know harrison reed was still at fulham so what a way to announce it he'd moved on somewhere else i mean i suppose it is a salient salient reminder that all these people that we say are hopeless or whatever are actually really quite good at kicking a football um but what did you make of liverpool's performance nick i felt in the in the first half it was the fairly ponderous and slow and slightly turgish stuff was seen in in their previous game to be honest um it's it's obviously not where they want it to be availability wise i mean you um you had gacpo plowing a bit of a furrow up and up there didn't you you've got a salad obviously away ekatike i think it's his hamstring isn't it didn't make it you've you've got a terrible injury that is that suffered and and they just looked very devoid of ideas they they just towards the end of that first half i thought started getting a bit of joy in behind down that inside right right channel and i thought maybe maybe they'll get get a bit of joy second half and then to be fair they did quicken it up um after harry wilson's goal which um we had to wait a while to have confirmed but he's he's on fantastic form by the way we should mention we should mention harry wilson he's he's absolutely on one and it was another very good finish they quickened it up i think they deserved the equalizer from verts which similarly we had to wait a while for but i think he'll have been pleased that counter that's now a couple of goals i think and an assist for him in in fairly short space of time and maybe takes the monkey off the back for him a little bit after that investment i thought he worked very hard and played quite well all game and then you think they've won it it was an absolutely delicious delivery by Frimpong, by the way, for the goal from Gakpo, which went in off some part or other off his body.

32:33It was very similar to the ball from Gusto, actually, for Man City, from which Enzo scored. Two absolutely wonderfully teased, right-footed deliveries from there. And I felt, yeah, there was enough in that second half, given the personnel, to think, okay, we've got a bit of rhythm going, maybe we'll snatch three points here. and then it wasn't to be for reasons that we discussed but i felt it was in short a performance of of two halves from from them but we're nowhere near seeing what they can or should be capable of that's partly because they're just not playing well enough and partly i think because the availability is not great at the moment just on the uh the vets goal obviously loads of controversy seb about whether that's offside or not because it didn't quite match up with the way the grass is cut but there is every chance that the grass isn't cut in perfectly straight lines i don't know no one seems to have mentioned this you know maybe the fulham groundsman wanted to gaslight everybody by just cutting it at a slight angle but everyone's just convinced that the mown lines have to be exactly straight you know that's not he's not mowing them with like var lines is he he's just mowing the grass in a kind of straight line anyway um i just sort of no one no one no one's ever yeah i've thought that but no one's ever said that out loud yeah i just did so that it's mine no you're free to use that in the wherever you like to discuss this podcast with your friends you may use that as your own it was great great to see that goal count because we've had years and years of these offside by a toenail nonsense and you know now i i think i saw someone put it on social media like now we know that level is actually level and should be a goal and i think that's exactly it and hopefully common sense prevails a bit more like that in future because too many goals like that have been ruled out unless arson menger has his daylight idea away which is possibly the worst idea and anybody who thinks it through and still thinks it's a good idea like oh dear we've lost arson anyway uh leeds one man united one i love this game barry i thought it was a good fun yeah it was quite entertaining both teams missing quite a few key players and you saw that the paucity of experience on the man's United bench.

34:48They were missing Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Cobby Manu, missing Mount Delic, Diallo, Mbwemo, Masraoui and Leeds had Ampatou, Joe Roden, Dan James out. I thought it was a pretty even contest. A draw was probably a fair result. Brendan Aronson apparently is not particularly popular with Leeds fans. I wasn't aware of that, but this has come to pass in recent times. I thought his goal was very well taken. Bit of a boo-boo by Aidan Heaven, but Aronson, if he's not chasing down what should have been a lost cause, then that goal doesn't happen. I suppose most of the attention will be on Amorim's quite chippy post-match press conference.

35:39in which I don't know whether he was promised things that are now not going to be delivered or if he was told what his role would be and that's now changed. But it certainly seems like him and Jason Wilcox, the director of football at Manchester United, have fallen out. And as we saw at Maresco, these battles tend to end one way. Amorim, the one thing I would say is he strikes me as someone who doesn't care whether he gets fired or not. And that's quite a nice way to be, isn't it? Jamie Jackson writing that Amarim's future is in the balance with the head coach's strained relationship with the director of football, Jason Wilcox, a factor in what is viewed as an unpredictable situation at the club.

36:24How does Stuart Ripley feel about him? That's the big question. Yes, so Amarim said, I just want to say I came here to be the manager, not the coach. In every department, the scouting department, the sporting director, they need to do their job. I will do mine for 18 months and then we move on. I just want to say I'm going to be the man of this team, not just the coach. I was really clear on that. That's going to finish in 18 months, and then everyone is going to move on. That was the deal. That is my job, not to be a coach. If people cannot handle the Gary Neville's and the criticisms of everything, we need to change the club.

36:53Good news for Gary Neville after Jamie Carragher got a lot of coverage in the Mo Salah situation. It's interesting, isn't it, when managers call out people in the media. Obviously, Gary's an ex-player, but it just shows the traction and influence that these things have, and that these things do get through to them. eventually. I agree wholeheartedly that he basically he's been given a good contract. He's probably recognised the fact that Manchester United really don't want to sack their manager and pay them out. And so he's got a free pass really in his eyes. So he's thinking I'll stick to my philosophy.

37:24If I do get sacked then the next potential employer knows what I'm about and that will do me. What I found extraordinary and obviously when this game was on I was at St Andrews so I didn't watch the whole game but having seen Manchester United several times in the flesh over the last month it seems to be when you think they're on to something then Amerim will change it and go against that completely you think oh he's changed his formation this is working or he's selecting that player that's working and then he'll flip it around and I've never seen a situation where almost everybody universally was in disagreement about him taking Xerxes off at half-time of the Wolves game.

38:04And then we're waiting to find out, was it an injury or was it tactical? And in the post-match interview, straight away, he just says, tactical. So it's fueling everybody. And obviously, Gary, we're covering the game with him and we're doing his podcast after. And I told him and his face when he found it was tactical. It was just like, it's just not right. It's just not right. It shouldn't happen. And I wonder now, because who is still for him? Obviously, there will be players who he's selecting who would be happy as the manager still. But you look around and just think, any other manager in the league would probably feel they could do better than him right now.

38:41So he seems to know, well, what else can I do to get sacked? I'll just keep going and being myself, and maybe other employers will see this and happy days. Got to ask what United are doing, though. Well, what both parties are doing? because firstly he was appointed as head coach not manager that was the announcement now correct me if I'm wrong because I may be but I don't think any of his immediate predecessors were appointed as head coach he and he was appointed by Man United in a bit of a departure as a head coach now traditionally not always but usually the head coach is operating within the structure ordained by the club we are a club that plays this way you come in you do that but the club knew they were getting someone in who would only play 3-4-3 and still wants players for what he described as a few days ago the perfect 3-4-3 still looking for players for that and the club knew that's what they were getting so in mid-flight for jason wilcox or whoever to be telling him we don't want to do it this way we need to do it another way from the information we have available to us that seems very very strange and it seems like very very muddled thinking it seems almost to me like they did what United have done for the last 10 years and picked the shiniest you know accessory the guy who was doing doing a good job and getting glowing light ups at sporting and never really thought about it properly if It feels very muddled.

40:11It feels unnecessary from all parties. And Amarim is now throwing his toys out of his pram. And I just wonder also whether it's funny that this has happened for different reasons, but in similar ways with him and Mureska in the space of a week or two. I wonder if, and it's probably not a conscious thing, but I wonder if there's a kind of kickback against the fact that managers have to front up every week and explain these decisions that are being taken by sporting directors by data gurus by owners by by by people above and around them every single week and we're not going to hear from jason wilcox he won't be giving a presser in a few days time um we don't hear from the guys at chelsea at these big clubs where there's such enormous structures now and you have so many high power people making decisions it doesn't all fall on the manager who is the one who takes the rap sorry head coach whatever um who is the one who who takes for that week and week out that is not a particularly original point but i think it's just interesting in in these two cases the manager is pushing back a bit because you know there's a lot going on above and around them that they really are not answerable for i i think we we why we don't hear directly from jason wilcox i think we do hear from Jason Wilcox.

41:33He uses, you know, preferred favourite journalists or pundits or whatever to get his views across. Maybe it's personal because he could never fit in a perfect 3-4-3, isn't he? He's in a 4-4-2 every day of the week. To the Hill Dickinson, Everton 2, Brentford 4. Let's talk about Igor Thiago, Barry. He didn't score at all in December. He's now on 14th of the season, though, with this hat-trick behind only Erling Haaland. and he wants to lead the line for Brazil at the World Cup. And there are so many Brazilian number nines in the Premier League, you feel like he might be the best one of them. He was certainly the best one on the pitch yesterday.

42:12What are the odds that Beto and Tierno Barry both score in the same game and Everton still manage to lose it? That's quite something. But Igor Thiago, yeah. Yeah, he's certainly making a case to be the Brazilian number nine of choice for the English top flight. I'm not sure what the competition is elsewhere. While you say he had a dry December, he got his hat-trick yesterday. Erling Haaland's having a bit of a dry patch himself at the moment. So it was a really good hat-trick. He's a very, very good player. I think a lot of people think Brentford signed him in the summer. He's actually been there since the summer before, but I think he missed most of last season, if not all of it, through injury.

43:00But he's really, really good. This was another good win for Brentford. Keith Andrews is making fools of a lot of people who thought the combination of an inexperienced manager and Brentford losing Thomas Frank and several key players would spell doom for them. They're doing really, really well. and it was a bad defeat for Everton. But they're still in that mix, that very congested mix in the middle of the table where one or two wins can send you up towards the Champions League places. But yeah, another good win for Brentford. Yeah, four points between Chelsea in fifth and Crystal Palace in 14th.

43:46Brentford seventh at the moment. That'll do for part two. Part three will begin at Villa Park.