Manchester United beat Arsenal … has the wobble begun? – Football Weekly

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:30Elsewhere, another last-minute winner for Bournemouth, piling more pressure on Arna Slott. Spurs are sticking with Frank, but could they be dragged into a relegation fight? What about Palace? Their wretched run continues. While West Ham and Forest both win, just making it a little tighter down there. At the top, Villa won away, while City get back on the train. Semenyo's good, isn't he, Barry? And Harry Wilson is still on for player of the season. We'll answer your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

0:56On the panel today, Robin Cowan, welcome. Good morning, Max. hello will olman good morning max and from the racing post mark langdon hi max uh let's start then at the emirates arsenal 2 manchester united 3 sam says it would be pretty harsh for united not to offer carrick the job when he eventually wins the league it was a great game mark one of the best of the season and look carrick has beaten city and arsenal his first two games in charge and like when you add that to what he managed in his last interim little spell it's incredibly impressive yeah fantastic start I don't think you get too excited in terms of the long term and kind of right let's give him the job now no no like I think you know United have been here before and you know maybe made that mistake but you can't do any better than what he's done putting people in positions that they feel comfortable in it's clearly boosted confidence like the energy that's return to the team just looked so lacking under Ruben Amarin particularly in those final stages Fernandes in the rightful position it's weird isn't it because like you just assumed that the Manchester United manager would know more about football than the kind of general person on the street and yet I mean nearly all of us were going Fernandes can't play in this deep role he has to has to be closer to the striker and it turns out that kind of we were right and Ruben Amarin was wrong the fans are right behind it and yeah it was it was just a great game it was a really exciting match and I think it was last week I'd been talking to a mate and just be moaning the quality of the Premier League I think since Christmas a lot of draws a lot of nil-nils I don't know if that's just the kind of the teams I'm watching maybe instead but it did feel quite dull and so to have a game like that and between two you know sort of giants who don't like each other as well I really enjoyed it.

2:45Was it Barry? It sounds like a conversation you could be having with Barry at any given time in the last 10 years. Look, Robin, two brilliant goals. I mean, Dorgou's is thrilling, isn't it? That's what you want from a goal. Yeah, it's kind of also to carry on from Mark's point about Reuben Amorim because Dorgou was clearly wasted as a wingback. And now look where he is. And he still, he was referred there to Cunha because he's still pretty good defensively. Fantastic goal from him. And also the Cunha one I mean, you know, some people would say when you look at the XG, they had three shots on target.

3:18They scored with all of them and it was 0.73, I think, Manchester United. But in terms of Cunha in particular, we've seen him do that a lot, haven't we? It wasn't that surprising. That was a gorgeous strike. The Amrim thing is almost like it's almost seemingly it's like he's trying to be in the producers, like doing the producers style thing. Like he went in and failed on purpose to get this huge payout. He's gone the Mel Brooks route. it's all it's kind of seeming like that more and more now he's like what what was he thinking he's got us all i mean i suppose i suppose it'd be interesting to see will how they do against you know what they got fulham i mean spurs who the hell knows west ham like teams that are less likely to just be a like they picked they picked city off and they picked arsenal they played how you'd expect to play against those sides be quite interesting when they are expected to have the ball.

4:08Yeah, but at the same time, Carrick's coming up with this cunning plan of playing this young lad called Kobe Maynou from the academy. I mean, not many people had heard about him. Amaroum hadn't. No one had told Amaroum about this fella, who's decent on the ball and whatnot. So, yeah, that's club knowledge that Carrick brings. It's DNA, isn't it? It's DNA. Obviously, he's got the momentum, which Amaroum never had. Players seem to like him, which Amaroum never seemed to have. So, they can adapt. You look at the bench yesterday, Kuna came off the bench and did what he did. Sesko came off the bench and did a job.

4:42They've got options, they can actually change it up. Caracol have a different plan against these teams rather than going, yeah, let's play it last week when we lost and see how it goes. Okay, well cheers Ruben. They are a bit more malleable with this set up. There's lots of voices involved, Steve Holland, Johnny Evans, Travis Binion, a very smart appointment that does know the club but is regarded around the country as a very, very good coach. Who's he just for people who aren't across it? He was the under-21s manager at United. I guess he still is, technically. And he was brought in by Fletcher because Fletcher had a lot of time for him.

5:21You speak to a lot of people in the Championship that have been wondering if he'll make the move to become a manager in his own right. And so the smart appointments, and it's having all these different voices, whereas I think, I couldn't say 100%, but I think a lot of Amarim's staff were disciples of Amarim and agreed with everything he said, whereas I suspect there's a bit more of a discussion now. Hence why nothing changed Amarim, whereas now it's difficult to leave out people like Kunio or put Dorgou in where he hasn't played before, but they're making these decisions. Fine, Fernandes is where he should be, but no one was really going, yeah, tell you what, Dorgou could play there or Mbwemo's going to be the best number nine by himself.

6:01But he's really doing that role. They're really quick on the counter. As I say, I think they will have a different option against these other teams. And that's it. And Mark said it, just players wanting to play, happy. Other times, I reckon, couldn't you be in drop by Marin? Probably would have been pretty upset, whereas now he comes on and he makes a difference and that's what he wants to do. And Robin said, that is the goal he made at Wolves. I did a lot of Wolves last season, always doing that. I guess finally, on these points, the defence seems to work. Harry Maguire might even earn a new contract, which is amazing.

6:35He was incredible. And this is it, just everyone playing in the right roles, being happy, playing sensible football, and it unnerved Arsenal enough that they got on top in the end after a very difficult spell. They saw United went behind, but they dug in and they turned it around. Yeah, Konya does have that, oh, sod it, I'll just score a goal. you know he did that for Wolves so many times didn't he and uh you know it was great to see him do it here I mean to Arsenal then Mark I mean uh Ale says chicken's coming home to roost you'll never convince me Arteta isn't a waitrose pulis uh which is a great line and look they were ahead but and Zubimane gave St.

7:13Buemma the opener but it had been coming like Fernandes had got through twice and there are there are now and of course Arsenal are still in the best position out of all the teams in the Premier League in the Champions League like the season is still good but because of what's happened in the last two years you can just feel the terror and the panic yeah there is this sort of maybe feeling that they almost want it too much and like there's every time they don't win it like oh no that you with the same thing's going to happen again but i think you hit the nail on the head a moment ago max like they're in the best position they are still four points clear they've won the champions league league phase they're in the semi-final of the league cup and a goal up against chelsea they're in the fa cup fourth round with an uh you know a decent enough draw like anyone would swap with where arsenal are but because of what's happened previously there is just this this feeling uh two points from the last three premier league games of those there were two nil nil um draws and then an own goal and a set piece and you know that they are scoring and do score a lot of goals from set pieces and um you would and we've it's not the first time I've said this you'd want to see more from open play but they are so brilliant at set pieces it doesn't you know I don't think it really matters where the goals come from because this is not a fluke how many goals they score from corners so now I think it's just part of their kind of DNA and the remit so I wouldn't be panicking too much United are a funny old side that they they are capable of of beating anybody and then losing to anyone so I wouldn't panic I don't know if that kind of doesn't really sort of fit into the narrative of what you're supposed to say about Arsenal but they've got a great squad I would disagree with the Arteta Poulis reference like you know he's a good manager they've got good players just one of them games where it didn't go for them I think what you know they they they really deserve to be one they were up they give a silly goal away which they don't normally do um yeah I wouldn't go to um sort of two-footed on arsenal here i don't think fair enough fair enough that's a shame sorry but robin uh no that's okay i um it does say something about the you know the whole point of loving football that even some of these fans can't enjoy when mark has listed where they are in all the competitions and even they are like finding this stressful like why do any of us do it to ourselves oh well it's it's the rush isn't it i just was like yeah we're kind of a bit masochistic aren't we i mean I think Mark makes the point that if Man City were four points clear, I would say it's done, it's done, wouldn't we?

9:46That's the thing. But because it's Arsenal, it's almost like, and it's been so long, we kind of don't trust them until they've got the title in their hands. Now, I wouldn't compare this, the comparison isn't totally comparable, but Leicester City in 2016, everyone kept saying they're not going to do it. They're not going to do it, it's just not going to happen until, you know, I don't know when people started to say they're going to do it. But it feels a little bit like that. Now, I'm not comparing the two, but I think it's just because of the recent history of Arsenal. That's kind of where we were.

10:18So it's kind of like we're not going to trust them until they basically got their hands on the trophy. Just one other point I want to make on this game. I think on a notebook of places I'd least like to be, a six-yard box from an attacking Arsenal corner. my god can you imagine how claustrophobic it just looked awful i was just thinking oh wow yeah no it's a right it's a tube at rush hour isn't it yeah oh yeah it is the piccadilly line out of 8 45 and no one making eye contact they're all just but they're exactly pushing and pulling each other without looking at each other can you all move down can you can you all move down please and you're all thinking it but no one says it you're you're absolutely right i suppose like the way of I suppose, Will, the nature of the defeat, because when they get it to 2-2 from a corner like that, you think there's only one winner here.

11:09And when Kunja scores, nobody wants to see Ian Wright sad. There are lots of listeners who wouldn't mind Arsenal messing this up, but no one wants to see Wrighty sad. I would say, Will, Arteta has been impressively calm this season whenever there's been a setback and there haven't been many, and I thought he was again this time. This is it. They are in the dominant position. They do have a very good squad. I mean, you watched them against injury midweek. They made seven changes and pretty easily beat a very good Serie A team. These moments happen and we're looking at it, and it is. It's a negative at the moment, two points from nine.

11:43That is bad when you're top of the league and you should be winning. They've got the upside that City are so inconsistent. I don't think anyone's really backing them at the moment to put a run together, but obviously they do have that capability. The main thing here is just how you react, and that's it. If it carries on for another couple of games, then we can start asking questions. losing at home to United you've got to say next few games we're going to be at it admittedly midweek they're playing against Kyra Almighty where I suspect there'll be some random people in the team but when Premier League comes back next week they've got to be at it, they've got to make a statement and say look we're not bottlers fine, we've lost a game, we've drawn a couple 0-0 etc and they've got to change the mindset because I think you look at that Zubomendi mistake he didn't pass it to Rice first of all and the second thing is he could have just opened himself up and he had loads of space to go forward and it just seems a little bit nervous a little bit tense that they need to get that out of the system and maybe hopefully for Arsenal and their fans that losing a game like this will change it they'll think a bit more positively they think we actually do need to be on the front foot a bit more because I appreciate how good they are at set pieces but if someone actually does manage to find a way of stopping those which everyone else will copy then they they could be in a bit of trouble so i think they just need to be a bit more on the front foot a bit more aggressive and take a few more risks you look at united you say the xg's 0.72 absolute stunning finishes from distance and whatnot and obviously a mistake maybe you know you need a bit more of that a bit more risk taking that they're probably not having at the moment dave says what did you make of the arsenal liverpool game yes i did announce arsenal playing liverpool in the intro to last thursday's pod and mentioned it again during the pod fortunately neither none of the panelists were listening to me neither was the producer or the exec producer so it's a root and branch review it's like basball something's gone we've all gone complacent who knows what's wrong with it um but you have my apologies i did a very mournful social media apology which hopefully got all the haters off my back but yes look it just shows that I hope you weren't photographed out enjoying yourself, Max.

13:51Oh, you know, Robin. At no point was I photographed out anywhere after the hours of 4pm. And Max, it showed, Max, just how forgetful that Arsenal-Liverpool game was about two weeks ago. I know. It completely slipped your mind. I was more concerned when Max kept saying about how well Stiginger-Bjornaby would be up against Amders-Limpar. It never got better than those times, did it? Ben says, I think you might be doing an Anna Slott related voice note. I mean, it can't surely be that time. But Liverpool lost at Bournemouth. That joyless unbeaten run is over. But perhaps they wish they were still on it.

14:29Robin, should we be on Anna Slott voice note watch yet? That would surprise me a lot. I mean, I know it's been underwhelming. Obviously, they had a very underwhelming 13 match unbeaten run that was ended. And this felt, I know Liverpool fans felt this was very familiar to them. And you've got to say, having fought back from two goals down, to lose from a long throw, that's tough to take, isn't it? In the pissing rain as well, that is really, really tough to take. And yeah, I thought that was a good scrambled goal. But then you sent us the WSL2 goal, the Sunderland winner, which was even better.

15:03I went on for about 10 minutes, then everyone having a swing, trying to put that in the goal. Absolutely glorious. It was so fun. I couldn't work out, Mark, if that was a brilliant finish from Adelaide at the end of it. Or if he just got lucky? I thought he meant it. I didn't realise that was a debate. I thought it was an outstanding finish just on a slot. One of the most interesting things for me is that I'm not inside the stadium. Liverpool fans are not calling for a slot to go. But I definitely feel like there's a large section to the fan base, like even regular match goers that are wanting him to leave but don't necessarily want to be that aggressive and make it toxic inside the stadium.

15:47And I'm not sure that's been picked up at a national level, which is quite surprising for a team of Liverpool's size, really, that I think Slott probably should be under more pressure, given the way the fans are feeling about him at the moment. Not just the results, the football has gone very negative. I know this was a 3-2, but generally speaking, he seems to have really lost his way and is unable to turn it around at the moment. Just another mess, really, from Liverpool. They disorganised, was it six, seven minutes, to make a substitution, which left them down to ten men. They're making a lot of mistakes and just don't look as cohesive as they were, obviously, last season.

16:29But I'd be surprised if they got rid of him just because he won the league last season. But I'd be equally surprised to see him still there next season. Wow, that's interesting. surely that gives you some grace doesn't it and these players have time to gel and of course we've talked a lot about diogo jotter like mo sell has got a lot of uh criticism will uh for not really performing he wasn't great again in in this game but but sort of van dyke has van dyke doesn't get criticized because he's a rolls-royce but he seemed very much like a rolls-royce in park didn't he i mean i'm doing this game football is always about little moments and as you say he He doesn't get criticism because he's seen as so reliable.

17:06And let's be honest, he generally is. But at the same time, he spent the summer trying to find Marguerite to slot in as a left centre-back. But yeah, those moments where he wasn't even under any pressure. That's the thing. It's not like someone was really up against him. He just lost what he was doing. They're sort of quite confused. And when your captain's doing things like that, when he's the spokesperson for the team, he is the leader, he runs the team meetings when he has to. When he's making mistakes like that, you must sort of think, oh no, we're in the excrement here, aren't we? You know, he's saying difficult conditions, difficult team.

17:45And that's it. It's problematic when you've got senior players not doing well. And you saw what happened with Salah when he wasn't in the team, when he was dropped. So he really went for it. I don't know if you see Van Dijk wouldn't act in the same way, I suspect. but yeah when you've got senior players not doing their part people that you've relied on last season when you look at you know all the tight games that liverpool won it was because van dyke was really good at the back and salah had a moment of genius and there was a lot of those a lot of one goal margins and that and those things make a big difference look slots had a lot of problems to contend with the season of injuries also shows how difficult it is to integrate four new players it's really hard even if they're excellent because they won't play in the same position Although someone would say Sunderland have done it amazingly well.

18:33I don't know why it's different, but maybe it is. Well, look, I've said before on here that Sunderland have done really well and it is the most difficult thing when you've got a whole new squad. But I think probably more out and wanting to get quality Liverpool have got players that probably don't fit into the system as well, whereas Sunderland ball plays for each position perfectly. So Virts has not really found a role yet. He's sort of been moved around, left, centre, and he's trying to learn what the other players want because he's clearly an exceptional player. He's got those passes in his head, but probably not the players running off to find them.

19:07And when you buy a number nine that's now got a broken leg, turned up on fit, etc., it's difficult. I think Slott will get to the end of the season and therefore he'll get the summer and the start of next season. I think what he's telling from Friday where it looked like Robertson was going to go and Liverpool seemed quite happy about it, they thought, actually, we need him here. he's going to stick about because we need experience we need bodies and we need calm heads in a you know a tricky stage even though maybe they were doing right by robertson because he deserves to go on his own terms of what he's done for that club it was really unpopular among the fan base because of how loved that guy is and so i think it is a stroke of luck even if he doesn't play that much football for liverpool that they've managed to keep keep him mark just on bournemouth i mean dr tottenham are amazing aren't they they don't have to west ham or a run now bournemouth they're unbeaten they did lose on penalties in the cup to newcastle but you know in the league they're unbeaten after that victory they've got injury problems as well i mean like the pass through to jimenez for that goal was brilliant and like two injury time wins you know against tottenham and liverpool in the last few games i just and suddenly you shoot up the table they're four points off the european place yeah i i sort of never worried about them when they were dropping coaches is outstanding uh you could maybe swap the two coaches i'd like to see what he would do at Liverpool for instance just in terms of stylistically yeah I think they're a really well run club they know what they're doing from a recruiting point of view Will was talking there about kind of integrating new players but Bournemouth lost so many defenders in the summer and to top teams as well so it's been difficult I think for Areola and they have conceded a lot of goals but it's meant for exciting games they always play on the front foot they're always trying to score goals Semenho goes in January in they're still able to beat uh liverpool 3-2 so i i think that you know that's a it's a great sort of effort from them to to not be in that relegation conversation because when you lose that amount of players in the summer as they did i think lesser teams and lesser coaches might have sort of found themselves in and around that bottom three all right that'll do for part one part two will begin at Turf Moor.

21:21Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Burnley 2, Spurs 2, Dr Tottenham, not even Dr Tottenham could give Burnley a win. Will, you were there, and in your report you said Burnley deserved this. I only saw the highlights, but it looked a bit like Burnley's draw at Liverpool, where, you know, if Liverpool take their chances, they're out of sight. If Tottenham take their chances, they win this comfortably. Or have I been duped by the edit well i mean if anyone takes the chances and they're out of sight max i think but yeah both teams have numerous opportunities at times good spells i think burnley have performances in them and every post-match press conference from scott barker involves the phrase fine margins unfortunately they're generally on the wrong side of them which is just a difference in quality they have that they don't have maybe the killer instincts etc that's required you know They're looking very composed and organised, considering that they've prized that.

22:11I think they scored 23-22 for a kick-off. You've got to look at Spurs, where you're playing three centre-backs against a team that don't create much. It's very negative. Pretty mediocre football. When they did score, that was their best spell, I'd say. They started dominating midfield. Danso or van der Ven were getting in there to add the extra man, and that got them on top. much about that team at the moment. Zabravka did make some saves, but there was nothing to inspire much confidence that things are going to get any better playing against a Burnley team that, let's be honest, are going to get relegated.

22:47And when you go 1-0 up, again, in that spell of good performance, really, a Champions League team should build on that. They should have that ability to go on and kick on and go, right, fine, we've got this lot. They've not got much about them, no offense to Burnley. but they didn't it was sort of similar with Newcastle a few weeks ago although Newcastle were going to win they had a bit more about them and just sort of dropped off the defence was all over the place Brozier got through a couple of times there was a bit more invention from Edwards and Anthony misplaced a lot of passes but yeah Tottenham just couldn't really cope with a Burnley team for long periods and the crowd got on them but yeah Burnley just tired again and you know there is a bit of bottle with Romero and that header is a big bullet.

23:36But I'd say a draw was the fairest result. I don't think everything could go away. They'd absolutely dominate. Thomas Frank might disagree. Sure. I mean, if they can't cope with Burnley, then can they cope with Man City, Man United, Newcastle, Arsenal next, Mark? Are you surprised Thomas Frank is still there? Yes, I am. I think the fans have now made it very clear. When you lose the away fans, that really is like you feel like it's the end point but clearly it's not but you know i think they nick the birmingham song of sideways and backwards everywhere we go when every time the ball was passed backwards thomas frank your football is shit thomas frank we want you to go you're getting sacked in the morning like and this was at points when they weren't even losing some of this so um it's clear that uh the fans feel like they've got to make this noise and make it's so toxic that Fenger Kessian the new CEO has no choice but to make a change I think from his point of view he's thinking I he's he's new into the job you don't want to just listen to the fans every time something's going wrong because you could be in this position in six months time and you do need to give a manager a period to to make things better I just don't think this one is going to make things better just in terms of this game like I felt Totten should have been winning at half-time but conceded another cheap goal and the second half was a mess really I felt from both teams, the just chaotic football that lacked structure.

25:09Mick says, Mark, who would be your pick as the next Bears manager? Irreola would be my first choice if he was willing to leave Bournemouth and go to Tottenham in the summer. The obvious answer outside of that is Pochettino to come in in the summer. I'm not sure it will work second time around I think this is a completely different kind of feeling but until he has another go I feel like there'll be some fans that'll always be calling for him to come in again I think in terms of obviously Frank's failing Poster Cogli won the Europa League but failed I mean they're very different managers it's quite obvious I think the problems really are also above the coaching the recruitment's been bizarre for a long time.

25:56So I appreciate the fans are rightly upset that the football's pretty mediocre on the front, but somewhere recruitment needs to change. A lot of, it was why they wanted to say Robinson. They'd spent so long by an inexperienced player that were very talented, obviously, but just not consistent enough because that's the nature of human players. Something needs to change and need to have a different mindset at the top. It's great signing, you know, the best 19-year-olds in Europe, but there needs to be something else, that team. I mean, you look that they're having to bring in Bersouma for his first start of the season after I think he'd won some appearance the week before.

26:29Yeah, there's something wrong with that recruitment. It's just a bit all over the place. And I think if you're going to change the manager, that's fine and understandable. But I know I appreciate Direct Football's gone to Fiorentina. But yeah, something else needs to change in the setup and maybe the only chief exec might ponder that and do that to make a positive step going forward. Because if you just keep changing the head coach and everything else is the same, and nothing's really going to change much. Jim says, after Oliver Glasner failed to secure an early release from his contract by calling out the board, is he now committing to doing it the old-fashioned way by losing lots of games of football?

27:05Palace won Chelsea three. I mean, you wonder, Robin, if Palace and Spurs could get dragged in given what happened. They've got a little bit of a cushion. They're on 28 points, West Ham on 20. Maybe that's too drastic a thought, but it is sort of all going wrong for Palace. Yeah, it's really sad. I mean, they will finish 12th Because they always finish 12th. Of course. Somehow they will. That's where they'll finish. But no, I mean, I think that's not a bad point. Like it could really, it might be forced into getting rid of him a bit early. I'm assuming he won't get a huge amount because his contract was up.

27:37So then maybe they could find something to see him on his way. But no, it is really sad because it just wasn't, what was it, like five, six months ago, they were at Wembley lifting the trophy. and yeah i think i think it's difficult after glasden did what he did to kind of everyone to get back on board and just forget about that yeah yeah and uh all right let's do this i don't love you anymore and i never have and then the next day go well i'm just emotional it's fine yeah i didn't mean that really uh so yeah i think it is tricky um so maybe if if they can find someone who could come in a bit earlier and be their next their next guy i don't know who that would be at this stage uh it's very very difficult i mean they weren't actually that bad in this game against chelsea they had their chances but yeah maybe again jean-philippe mateta he was he should have scored he wants to go yeah it's all it's all kind of yeah it's all going wrong and yeah mark gay's a huge miss he's such a classy operator and yeah no win in 11 now after such a great start to the season so yeah it's just really sad because because it just seems like palace all the time they they usually sell one player per summer someone really really great to watch like elise eza but now they've got a bit too far and maybe yeah they just need to rethink things a little bit poor old brennan johnson what do you make of the palace situation i think that i think they could get dragged into a relegation battle um you know mateta wants to leave guys wants to leave tiny squad still in the Europa Conference so the matches will pile up again in the new year West Ham fan texted me yesterday saying we've got them on the penultimate weekend so they're thinking can we get to within three and turn that into like a cup final like Wharton lack of discipline getting sent off now he misses a game I think if there is a manager out there that they're sort of happy to take a chance and I would I think I'd roll the dice because Glasden doesn't want to be there and like the players will be looking around thinking if he doesn't you know he's meant to be the leader if he doesn't want to be here why why should they run through brick walls for him anymore and they did last season the atmosphere as well at Sellers yesterday I don't know if that was just from TV but it looked it sounded really flat for you know what would be a big game for Chelsea coming to sell us so um yeah there's big problems at Palace at the moment yeah water misses that Forest game next week but obviously the players that are there wondering well why do I want to play for this manager that doesn't want to be here Mateta clearly they need to sign players and who's going to be that attracted to them when they'll be challenging I don't know Bournemouth who have a strategy for when players leave whereas Palace at the moment don't seem to get sort of gone it's like I don't know must be someone we can sign then that's it if you players going to well I don't I'll sign now for Glasner for a few months but then I don't know who's in the summer he might not fancy me etc they're going to struggle to bring players in and especially when you know and then your key man's wanting to leave now and Mateta yeah I think they're really in a bit of a you know bit of a tight situation and they got to sort of make a decision one way or another if they do just go right Oliver you've got to go we've got to have a bit of a more of a plan and have a bit of a you know the new manager bounce because at the moment it just seems short of it Bournemouth lost defenders.

30:55We've got James Hill who's come in and been fantastic. He's had, you know, they signed years ago and had a couple of loan spells out. Whereas Palace, it's just a bit like, yeah, Gaze gone. Someone, with that bloke that's been on the bench all season we didn't really like, he'll have to play. And that's it. I mean, it's, yeah, I know it's a business plan but it's not, it doesn't seem the most effective one at the moment at Palace. Yeah, meanwhile, talking of business plans that we don't know if they're effective or not, Chelsea, like, Rossini and Robins had a good start, hasn't he? Won four out of five.

31:19the only defeat was to Arsenal he's managing without Cole Palmer I really hope he gets back to full fitness because that's a blow if he's really affected by his injury but Esteveu comes in and he's really fun isn't he? Oh yeah he's great value to watch yeah no two wins in the Premier League for Rossinia I mean against Brentford and Palace so possibly teams that you'd expect Chelsea to beat but no it's been a very good start you know I think he's sort of in danger of becoming a bit of a figure of fun with his sort of LinkedIn speak but if he keeps winning then then then then um then that's all good but yeah it's just so hard to judge these Chelsea managers isn't it um he's clearly a nice guy and he he kind of it seems like quite emotionally intelligent so I'd like him to do well um because he seems like he has good intentions and doesn't like the bomb squad and the concept of that but yeah it's just like I don't I don't really know what what these what what what success for Chelsea I don't know signing a load of players and then you know getting a profit and maybe winning the odd trophy I suppose that is I mean, it's fine, isn't it?

32:21But there's still protest against the ownership, isn't there? And so the mood's just an odd one. Just an odd club. Odd club. Yeah, we've said that a lot of times, but I think it's a perfect answer. Yeah, look, big game against Napoli. Antonio Conte's Napoli on Wednesday night in the Champions League. There was marked some exciting VAR. Darren England with the biggest, you know, sort of observational off, you know, bit of chat. It was the first time one of them had been a human and actually said, look, let me just, I've got to explain this, right? and he also did it with a bit of like you know like he teased him a little bit because he thought oh it's not accidental and everyone goes well it's not a penalty and it is a penalty but it turns out that after all that he was wrong anyway um but but by all accounts he didn't he didn't want to give the decision and VAR really sort of lent on him to do it about about you canvo's arm being in an unnaturally bigger position i mean actually bollocks was it but the the twist where the accidental and the Palace fans start cheering.

33:16He said, I have always been a traitor. And you're like, yeah, Darren England's a traitor. I knew it. But you're right. I mean, you read the laws and I think you'd struggle to make that a penalty. As Darren England said, it was accidental and his arm was by his side from point blank range as well. Yeah, wrong decision. Yeah, odd. look, it's got title bomb because West Ham won and Forest won. Let's do West Ham's win first. Three wins in a row in all competitions. On Nuno's birthday as well, the ready Brett Glow will be back after the dying Jedi look that he's had recently. And Robin, they blew them away in the first half.

33:58Played some good stuff, scored some good goals. How odd? You don't see that at the London Stadium. No, although actually the last West Ham game I did was when they won against Newcastle at the London Stadium. And yeah, they hadn't, I don't think they'd won since. Yeah, again, I kind of, I do think they will stay up. Could I say, let's say they will, because it doesn't, no one will remember this. I think Nuno is a really good coach. He's extremely awkward to interview and talk to because he really doesn't like talking to, well, maybe just me, but like just generally. He's a man of few words. Famously hates Robin Cowan.

34:31Yeah, he just hates me. But I find it quite, it's quite getting a blood out of a stone talking to him. But I think he is genuinely a good coach. and again he kind of he really places a lot of emphasis on on the mood and trying to get everyone sort of galvanized and things Somerville scores for the third game in a row you know he's had a really stop start um time to his career at West Ham he's clearly a very good player they've still got Bowen and yeah no I think I really do think they have a they have a chance it looks like they've you know they're investing in January and yeah I do rate him I just do rate Nuno quite highly as as a coach I mean the best thing about this game was when Fernandes hit the bar and there was a there was a fight going on during that that was great who was it it was mavropanos and uh aldorete and it's absolutely brilliant isn't it because they're just doing the rutting stag as this absolutely amazing shot it's like it's like they're not actually players it's like they're just you know they're just sort of come in from like a suburban high street on a friday night just got exactly just to chin each other while this glorious piece of football is happening around them it's absolutely amazing isn't it i mean i mean i mean willie's fernandez first strike was brilliant wasn't it i mean to almost get two of those in one game it's very impressive it's the standing position like there's you know you know when players come on to it you expect him to absolutely you know whack it towards goal but he's you know pretty much stationary he gets out his feet and boom and he obviously did the one later on and uh hit the bar but yeah it's it's incredible technique to just get that you know your traction engine going with a moment's notice it's yeah yeah no wonder the goalkeeper i think the goalkeeper's a bit surprised by it and that's you know he got a hand to it for the goal but couldn't keep it out because you know to get that it's not the greatest uh uh um testimony for a goalkeeper is it surprised by shots it's like obviously we go you know go back to lars last week we talked about xg these people aren't taking these shots, are they?

36:27Because they're worried about it. Yeah, I mean, obviously the goalkeeper shouldn't be surprised, but that's it. These things come to shock and now, obviously, the only problem for West Ham is that every time Fernandes gets the ball 30 yards from goal, the London Stadium is just going to shout shoot and he'll probably oblige and he'll never score another one again. That's the sort of general rule for these things. Really good in midfield. I think without Paqueta in there, maybe there's a bit more structure and maybe that's helping. and it's useful having strikers on the pitch, which West Ham have not really had for a lot of the season.