Manchester City on the march as Arsenal drop points at Sunderland – Football Weekly

26:07And he goes, no, that's not true, which is mildly unfortunate. But, you know, good research from everyone. And also, look, I mean, it may be rewarding for Thomas Frank that the Spurs fans booed all his substitutions and they all went and did something quite useful. Yeah, that was brilliant. I think it's worth mentioning about Thomas Frank in that in his previous managerial roles, it has taken him over 10 games to get his teams playing the way he wants to. So Spurs are now on what they've played about 15 or so under him. he's a proper manager I think he's the real deal Thomas Frank just from just from prep that I've done for when he was at Brentford the sort of stuff that he does watch interviews with him and the way that he talks and the thing is I think he's a people person you've got far too many in the game at the moment who are failing because they know it all on the paper and on the screen to show the players but they cannot interact with the players and I think that him and his staff have got that ability as well which is the key Yeah, no, I have faith.

27:08I think he's very good. Let's go to Stafford Bridge. Chelsea 3-Wolves 0. Not necessarily the game. It was a very straightforward win for Chelsea. The biggest story is Rob Edwards. Wolves expecting to announce his arrival very soon. Three and a half year deal. He wasn't in charge for Middlesbrough's 2-1 win over Birmingham at the weekend. Borough say they're disappointed. Apparently compensation for£2 million has been agreed. Barry, Wolves are eight points from safety. Middlesbrough are in the top two in the championship. What do you make of his decision? Well, obviously, I have no real insight into what has motivated his decision.

27:38I presume it's a combination of getting paid more money, the fact that Wolves are in the Premier League and he has history with Wolves. He played for them. He used to coach their youth team, I think. I believe his family live in Telford near Wolves training ground. so it's a combination of those factors only time will tell whether it's a step up a step down or a step sideways uh i would say on face value it's a step sideways at best and if i was a middlesbrough fan i would be pretty fed up with him if i'm honest and i'd say if i was steve gibson who seems to be one of the better chairmen in football i would be very angry with him but these things happen.

28:28As Roy Keane famously said, if you want loyalty, get a dog. It's interesting because when you first see it, you think, what on earth are you doing? He's actually got Middlesbrough going, even though a couple of times after the game he's got a little bit Alan Partridge with some of his interviews, Rob Edwards and the Middlesbrough fans who are proper Northern, looking a little bit strange at his antics on the side of the pitch when they win. However, they're winning. I think the key here is, like Barry said he had worked as an academy coach I think he was assistant to Kenny Jackett I think it was so he obviously wants to go home to one of his homes so I can understand that but you only have to look at the table and look at the squad to realise that this is going to be difficult I think a key thing is one of his assistants Adi Vivish he isn't going to Wolves with him from Middlesbrough and those in the know know that he has a massive part to play how successful Middlesbrough have been and he's not going to Wolves.

29:28Was he the brains behind Mark Robbins at Cobb? Yes. Is that right? Unless, I mean, that may be doing Mark Robbins. No, yeah, but he is very good. You need a good, number two, I mean, quite a lot. You know, you need somebody who is different to you in terms of thinking, you know, like diversity of thinking. You need someone who, and a lot of football managers get people in who are their mates that they've had for years who do not. go in my opinion you shouldn't do that or what about this and they don't they just have people who who laugh at their jokes and and then you just become a caricature of yourself seen it a lot at Leeds over the years that's what's happened in the background so you need somebody who's a little bit different to you who will who will sort of but he obviously it is is a very very good coach very well respected and a lot of people think that a lot of stuff he did at Burrow was you know was down to his work that's why obviously I mean And for me to get Barry to laugh at one of my jokes, it's next to impossible.

30:28So, you know, that's why I have a number two. We're different people, different views on the game. I'm quite pleased because he's not sat in the dark and in a pit, that man pit. Now we've got him under a little bit of light and he's brushed his hair. Unbelievable. I have not brushed my hair in about 15 years. You can't tell. Anyway, nice moment for Malagusto to score his first ever goal in the 98th game. and Estavao is good, the Chelsea reports. Will, Aston Villa 4, Bournemouth 0. Did you see this coming? I did speak to someone after the Forest game against Bournemouth. Bournemouth 1, he said, Bournemouth really don't look very good at them.

31:04You know, didn't play very well. And that actually maybe it's, they are a little bit brittle about them. You know, it's a very young squad. I'd say lost a lot of players over summer. You know, really done well to compensate for that with a recruitment. I saw them at Leeds and they weren't very good that day, so Mennie was very poor. I think, obviously, yesterday, one problem was it thrown a little bit off guard by the head injuries early on and Smith having to go off, and that changes things. But I think Irea Ola said they were pretty awful in the first half after that. Not much about them lacking energy.

31:41Obviously, a very good free kit from Buendia. Do like a straight run-up and straight over the top. Always an enjoyable one. and Arnaud's strike was really good as well. But yeah, Bournemouth, I don't know if it's a little bit of high energy starts the season's caught up with them, a little bit tired, a little bit leggy, maybe even mentally fatigued from everything they've had to take on board with the changes and stuff. But they're doing very well. They've set a good foundation for the season. And let's be honest, Aston Villa are no mugs. They've had difficulties with balancing domestic and Europe, but that squad, as you see yesterday, I know Watkins missed out on England's squad, so he looked a little bit more alive than I've seen him recently.

32:26The sort of classic point to prove to people more senior and missed the penalty. Really, really good save from Semenya's penalty by Martinez. He made another cracking save with a deflected shot, so he easily could have had a couple of goals. it wasn't a complete you know roll over in the second half but um yeah i just think maybe there's just to say it's been quite an intense start to the season that might have caught with them and you know villa just find the stride and those two things meet and it ends in a kind of dominate domination from villa on their part yeah i i wonder barry i guess there are so many teams in this division that are good and if you arrive and you are playing well and the other team just have a slightly off day there will be i think a lot of teams that have good little runs and then bad little runs.

33:16Yeah, Villa are a decent team. They're brilliant at home. I think they've only lost one in 24 Premier League games at home. Bournemouth are an undeniably good team. I think this scoreline flattered Villa a little bit. They did deserve to win. Bournemouth were rubbish in the first half, but they missed two very good chances, missed that penalty as well. And then up until near 80 minutes, Villa were only, in inverted commas, 2-0 up. Bournemouth probably should have scored and then the game got away from them. I don't think they were as bad as the 4-0 suggests. We spent a lot of the last pod talking about how good Dan Byrne's head is.

33:57I was thinking this watching this game yesterday. All the lovely things we said about Dan Byrne. And he looked like a fan. Well, he is a fan who'd won a competition to play for Newcastle against Brentford. Yeah, it's interesting. Brentford won 3-1. They have an identical record, Lucy, in their first 11 games as last season. And when you consider who's left the club, you know, including Thomas Frank and Wisser and Buomo, that is mightily impressive. But yes, Danburn is slower than Django Batara would be the sort of conclusion to this game. Yeah, I think that Newcastle have just shown in parts of this season that, you know, the injuries to defence, particularly to full-backs, Livramento and Hall is so important because Dan Byrne does brilliantly, whether he fits in at left back or whether he's playing as a centre-back, whatever.

34:49But as soon as you get him in a foot race with someone who's quicker than him, it's difficult. He's like six foot whatever, six foot 20. It's very, very difficult for him to catch up. But Newcastle, they just look a little bit meek and mild yesterday, didn't they? They didn't, you know, Brentford, they've got that model that, you know, they were convincing us that whichever manager was in, they'd still play exactly the same. And it looks like that is what's happened. They're leaning a bit more on set pieces. Michael Coyote, I love him. He's great. Not just like, I think Keith Andrews called him the best long throw taker in the world.

35:25And they scored more than double the number of Premier League goals from throw-ins than any other team. So they're using that to their advantage. But players are playing well. Thiago's playing well. He's got them going as a group and they're just relentless. Everything they do, Brentford, particularly at home, they're just absolutely relentless and Newcastle just weren't a match for them. And it's disappointing. You know, you look at the Newcastle fans away from home. They haven't won in 10, two points above the relegation zone. Barry, you'll be pleased. But I think Newcastle fans, just a little bit of a worry now, just a lack of threat.

36:00They're getting themselves up. I've done some Champions League games at home and the atmosphere is brilliant. They play really well. they haven't managed to get Valtomada keeping him going. He started off very, very well, but it's like Eddie Howe said, it's like getting a brand new team together because the player at the top of it is not Isak and he's completely different. Obviously, if Vista had been injured, they would have shared the minutes I would have suspected, but Valtomada plays different and the whole team has to get used to that and they just don't look the same. I think you have to ask questions about Eddie Howe regarding Newcastle's away form.

36:38This is the third game in a row they've lost away. Brighton, West Ham, now Brentford. It was so obvious Byrne was going to get sent off yesterday. Why wasn't he replaced? He got booked. Then he was very lucky that he fouled Utara in the penalty box, but Utara was incorrectly booked for simulation. Then he gave away the penalty and got sent off. Dan, you know, we're criticising Dan Byrne, but he's playing out of position at left back against a very pacey winger. Lewis Hall is on the bench. He is a left back. Why not start him? To be fair, I think he was changed. I think Lewis Hall was just there ready to come on when that thing happened.

37:21Fair enough. Sandra Tonali kept giving the ball away yesterday, but he seems to be undroppable. Joe Linton is not playing well. But he keeps getting started instead of Jacob Ramsey. So I do think while he's a very good coach, Eddie Howe was largely responsible for what unfolded yesterday and at West Ham. All right, that'll do for part two. Part three will begin at the City Ground.

37:58Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Forestry leads one. I mean, we couldn't be more across this game. Lucy and Will, you were both there. We sent you both to the big one. It is, Will, a massive win for Forrest, isn't it? Yeah, first win in 10 in the league. First since the opening day against Brentford, actually. And also, don't want to say this to Nottingham Forest, but I was there for both, and they're the only times I've seen Forrest this season. So if Mr Maranakis wants to pay me some money, I can attend all home games. yeah I mean the first half I would say was completely devoid of quality really you know two teams struggling for confidence Leeds were sort of gifted the opening goal and it was a really good finish from Leeds but that was probably the best thing that happened was Nemecha's goal and to give up you know the equaliser you know two minutes later is pretty pretty criminal on their part and of error but obviously you can see that the foundations of having to go from Nuno to to now very Dice-ian football, where the defence was very solid yesterday.

39:03Nemetri, apart from obviously taking advantage of the defensive mistake against Milenkovic, and Murillo got absolutely no change out of them at all. Couldn't cope with the physicality, really. You know, spent a lot of time sort of moaning at the ref, but just didn't really have any ability to compete with them. And then it got to the hour mark, and I think everyone could see that Leeds were there for the taking, and Dice thought, yeah, I've got, you know, you look at that bench, some great players on it. So went with Arweni over Eagle Jesus, who I don't think is a proper number nine. And so probably made a lot of sense having Hutchinson on the right.

39:36And Morgan Gibbs-White was getting a bit more influence in the middle and things like that. And then Doy had a really good game. There for the take-in and once really good cross and header for the second. Just to lift, I think the city ground until that point was really flat, I'd say. And it's definitely not always the case. They're still sort of working out how Dyche will play and things like that and that lifted it and then once Jack Harrison had to come on at left back and gave away the penalty again against Hutchinson who has really not done much since he's arrived at Forest for a big fee yeah obviously that was game over but big important changes from Dyche sorted out the defence that they had very few problems yesterday and at the same time made important changes at a crucial point and they're all all the right decisions so you know plenty of positivity to take out of it.

40:26And after Interoperator, they've got Liverpool away, which is tricky. So if they'd lost yesterday against, say, a dreadful Leeds team, it would have caused big problems. But yeah, the green shoots at Forest are there. Yeah, I mean, I thought it was going to be really exciting, two early goals. But like Will said, it was just lacking in quality. And I think you've got one proactive manager in Deitch who thought, we can win this because this is crap and we can win this and put three subs on. And then a reactive manager in Daniel Farker, who then thought, oh, shit, I better put my subs on. But it was too late by that point.

41:02And Forrest had gone 2-1 up. But Leeds, because they didn't, it's a balance with Leeds. They brought all the recruitment as being sort of big and physical and run all over teams. But at some point, you've got to pass the ball. So you've got Tanaka, who physically probably can't stand an away game, but he's technically very good. So when they try and get the ball at the back and they try to build up, they look up and it's like, right, well, we're just going to go diagonal from right to left. So all Forrest did was just drop the winger and went, thank you very much. I mean, they got a goal out of it, Leeds, but Forrest just, there was various points where Forrest could have defended better.

41:38But all they did, Leeds, was just go from back to front, diagonal, didn't try and really build from the back and pass it because they didn't really have the passes in the middle. And it was easy for Forrest. But what Leeds fans are saying is that one of the most important positions in the club in recruitment, they've got somebody who has not very much experience in first-team professional football and he's been at the club for years and it's such a key position. What have they been doing? Are they just sort of cleaning up? Yeah, well, who knows? But I think if you were to keep Daniel Farker, who actually looks like he's tried to adapt the way that Leeds are playing, he's changed the formation slightly, the recruitment, trying to get more physical runners in there because obviously the experience he's had in the Premier League where he didn't do that well with teams, he'd noticed the physicality, the difference.

42:31But I just think that they needed to really, really back him in the summer and they haven't. And you're seeing the fruits now and the run that they're on now, Villa, they've got Chelsea, they've got City there, they've got Liverpool. It's, yeah, it's not a happy fan base at the moment. It's interesting you talk about physicality because you'd sort of think if there's something the Championship would match with the Premier League, it would be physicality. It wouldn't be its ability. Or is it finding physical players who are also technically good? Do you see what I mean? Like the championship, you should be able to match the physicality if nothing else, right?

43:05Yeah. I mean, the thing is, Leeds is that they passed the championship to death and they had the pace in wide areas in Dan James and Nonto. Dan James came on as a sub and instead of going on the left-hand side where Savona was really struggling, the right back for Forrest throughout the match against Okafor. He put him on the right and it was a little bit too late. Nonto, I think he's been training, but he's not entirely fit and he sort of lost a little bit of what made him good. So they basically had the four best wingers last season in the Championship. Solomon went back to Spurs and I think Ramazani's left as well.

43:41So they haven't quite got... The squad doesn't look technically as good as it did last season in the championship where they pass teams to death and just use that sort of pace in the wide areas as well. So, yeah, it's not good. Sean says, can we un-relegate West Ham now? They beat Burnley 3-2. Two wins in a row, Barry. Are you un-relegating them? Not yet. No, I'm certainly un-relegating Forest, I think. But I think it's too early to un-relegate West Ham. They only, inverted commas, beat Burnley. But any win when you're in the position there is a good one. There was a big, big protest before this game by West Ham fans who actually got...

44:23You often see protests where people have a fake coffin, you know, to symbolise the death of the club or whatever. And the West Ham fans actually sprung for a real coffin, which I was quite impressed by. I'm presuming it was empty. They didn't just, like, borrow it for a couple of hours. Do you think they ordered the coffin like pretending someone had died to order the coffin? Like someone had to go and order it in a I need a coffin way? Or do you think they just told? I guess you can just buy a coffin if you want one. I mean, there's an undertaker near where I live. I might drop in later today.

45:05I don't think you can, Baz. I don't think you can just go in and buy a coffin. No, I think you might need a certificate. Do you need a certificate to buy a coffin? I don't know. I presume there's some undertakers among our listenership, if they'd like to clarify. Yeah, it was a good win for West Ham, who went behind to a very good Zian Fleming header. The only setback for them was that Freddie Potts went off with what looked like a hamstring injury, so they might be missing him now for four to six weeks, you'd imagine. Luckily, there's an international break to take up two weeks of that. But a good win for them.

45:41I'm not on relegating them yet. Fair enough. Yeah, Martin de Bradford didn't have a great time in goal for Burnley. But Alfonso Arreola just let one in as well just sort of for the goalkeepers union, didn't he? But look, nicely Callum Wilson scoring a very Callum Wilson-y goal and nice to see Carl Walker beat us. He looked very happy when he scored a goal. Yeah, something like 10 ,000 people in that protest with the coffin. Everton hadn't beaten Fulham since 2018 when Marco Silva was their manager. They beat them 2-0, Will. Fulham one point above the relegation zone. Marco Silva was pretty scathing afterwards says it's not good enough at all we didn't cope it's a moment for us to blame ourselves and cliche alert look at ourselves in the mirror yeah i mean it could have been far worse with the amount of disallowed goals knocking around as well yeah you know full and really struggled injuries have taken the toll or sort of lack of investment in the squad is problematic which will frustrate silver you know everton actually you know did some good business in the summer and you know started to it's really showing now as well probably the difference in the two squads you know a fantastic uh assist from Irabunin for Idrissa Gay um no need to try and score yourself and you can sort of dummy it against your own foot I don't know what you call that but a fantastic a fantastic moment good for the uh fantasy football managers they'll get the assist points from that no I think Dewsbury Hall gets the assist interestingly not that I care but someone else said it on most of the day or something yeah I did say But yeah, apparently.

47:07But do carry on. Well, yeah, considering Tarkowski trying to sort of thrash the ball through the net and whatnot. But yeah, I think Fulham are just sort of in a little bit of a malaise. After a few quiet weeks for Everton, they seem to be back at it. Grealish, Dewsbury Hall's looking fantastic. Which, considering he had next to no football last season, was a problem. But yeah, I know, really, probably again a tale of two summons of recruitment. that Everton seems to have evolved after sort of difficult times whereas Fulham have rested on their laurels and I think what they signed Kevin and that's it I mean how much can you rely on a man named Kevin to change everything so good they named him once Kevin at Fulham Barry at Everton Barry had actually not a terrible game Barry the highlight of actually the game was Dewsbury Hall's disallowed goal where he kept celebrating even though the liner was right in front of him with the flag up going this goal is disallowed but didn't stop Kiernan just going I'm going to celebrate this one For Fulham, it's coincided with when Postacoglu went from Forrest, the Fulham sort of dip has coincided with the word on the street that Forrest wanted the short-term managers to the end of the season and then take Marco Silva, who Marinakis knows, in the summer.

48:21And I don't know whether that's a coincidence or not, but it just seems to have coincided with Fulham just not playing as well or getting the results and Marco Silva not happy with the way his team are playing. Yeah, he's had his head turned, so he's not looking at the pitch. And so that is a problem for Fulham. He gets his head turned a lot, doesn't he? He does flirt a lot, bless him. But he does stay a bit, you know. Yeah. He's just a bit of a bad boy in EastEnders. But actually, he's always loyal, but he's just occasionally, you know, he has to sort of sheepishly come back. Bad boy with a heart of gold.

48:55Exactly. Like Jimmy Corkill. Yeah, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it, Sharon. Palace nil, Brighton nil. Any thoughts, Barry? So Brighton got a penalty and then it was overturned. And Jorginho Ruter was booked for quite correctly for a dive. And I think apart from that, yeah, nothing. Fine. David says, no questions, probably too raw to discuss on the pod. Love to Lucy for all that nonsense she's had to deal with in recent months. Always love it when she's on the pod, especially when she's giving Barry some stick. Yeah, look, we've chatted about this before, Lucy, about what you want to say, what you can say, what you can't say about the Joey Barton case and you in court.

49:32but I just, he's been found guilty of six counts of sending grossly offensive social media posts aimed at you, Ennio Luko and Jeremy Vine, who'll be sentenced on December the 8th. Just how was it? How are you feeling? I don't want to say what I want until after the sentences and obviously trust the legal process, but what I will say is it's been traumatic and harrowing a couple of years. And I still cannot and couldn't at the time and cannot get my head around someone who I've never engaged with, I've never met, want to try and sort of destroy my career and and in terms that in my life as well I think anybody who's been at the hands of like a any sort of bullying or harassment will know how traumatic it is and you know it's just relentless it was relentless for about six months but it's gone on for two years and it's not just a local thing it's right in the public eye from someone with over two and a half million followers you just can't escape it really when it comes down to it it's you know just because I was a female doing the job, somebody thought that I shouldn't be doing.

50:32I don't know if any of you have ever been a witness at a Crown Court trial, but it's so, so stressful. You get, when you get cross-examined, you are on trial, basically, deeply, deeply unpleasant. And I just think, I think the message is that, you know, online abuse isn't trivial. I know that, you know, unless you're at the heart of it, it's very difficult to explain, but words do have power you know when they're used maliciously it's causes real harm but i'm glad it's over i'm really pleased with the outcome and and i hope that's the end of it yeah and it must have been so hard to go through with the case i mean there must be so many times you thought look i hate this but i can't be bothered to like you say be cross-examined like you're you know a defender throughout the two years i had to keep going because i think you've you you've got to protect the women to come you got to protect the women in the future I think that's how I looked at it and also why should I take that sort of relentless bullying and harassment somebody has to stand up but you know when you get into crown court and you walk into a crown court as a witness and everybody's in their jury judge and you're just like wow this is this is real this is you know and it's tough but like I say you when you questioned it is you're on trial I was basically trying to justify why I had my job, which was really, really unpleasant.

51:55But, you know, hopefully I trust the legal process so far and hopefully the sentencing will justify what's happened to all three of us. All the usual freedom of speech advocates, let's call them, on X, are up in arms and seem outraged that someone could be convicted in a criminal court for what they say is hurty words it's not just that is though like as you've outlined it's bullying it's harassment and you're being subjected to it at the hands of someone you've never even met who has a huge amount of influence their argument that he's been in some way hard done by i think is nonsense anyway lucy look all power to you and uh thank you for being good and being on this pod and making it better you know as long as you don't show us up too much you're very welcome uh uh to be on as many times as possible um slightly different subject uh ronan says is this the greatest snow goal of all time i put it in the chat i don't know if you've seen it an overhead kick scored by atletico ottawa by david rodriguez in the canadian premier league final played in an absolutely ridiculous amount of snow that uh goal made it 1-1 ottawa went on to win 2-1, so well done to them.

53:16But, you know, orange ball and snow. Ah, that's beautiful. You can't beat it. So thank you for bringing that to our attention. And that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Barry. Thank you. Thanks, Lucy. Thank you. Thank you, Will. Thanks, Max. If you've listened to all of this, go and vote for us in the FSAs, because otherwise we'll, you know, just do the right thing. Thank you. Football Weekly is produced by Joe Grove. Our executive producer is Danielle Stephens.

53:47This is The Guardian.