Manchester United mauled and sorry Spurs mark Premier League kick-off: Football Weekly

24:52And it's not particularly a fancy bit of skill, but it's just something you would expect him to lose that ball last year. And he was full of running. He probably should have scored at least once. And if he's sharp and he's in a bit of a run, Newcastle will go 3-1 up. But I think with that young side, and it was young, they've replaced Tonali and Bruno, an 18-year-old. make his Premier League debut and Lewis Miley, a 20-year-old, played as that midfield double pivot. And Newcastle will make mistakes and there will be stuff that's imperfect and people will have to live with that. But from what we saw yesterday, it's going to be really fun because, I mean, Alanga looked to different players, I say, Whistler looked to different players.

25:34So it's almost what we can expect. There'll be moments of disappointment of being flat, but it'll also be an exciting ride. From a Liverpool perspective, Barry, I thought before Gakpo scored, they really sort of had grown into that game. Or not? Maybe not.

25:49Max Rushden:I'm kind of surprised. That's not something that occurred to me, I must say. I think if I was a Newcastle fan, I know many of them approached this season with trepidation bordering on dread. Apart from the obvious disappointment of going down to a late penalty, I'd be very encouraged and optimistic on the back of that result. I thought they were good. I wasn't hugely impressed with Liverpool. I think Newcastle probably deserved the win, but they do seem to find ways of messing up from winning positions against Liverpool at home, don't they, in the league? I did think it was a penalty, but I think if it hadn't been given, I'm not sure VAR would have intervened, but anyway, it was given, so it doesn't matter.

26:38Max Rushden:Liverpool were OK, but I don't think they were any better than OK. Lars?

26:44Lars Sivertsen:I disagree slightly. I think they created many more chances and had many more shots in the game. I think what struck me with this is just how far up the pitch they play now on the Arreola. And both of the goals come about from counterattacks when they're just not covering spaces very well. The first one was particularly egregious, right? Because you lose possession on the edge of the box. And both your central midfielders are in Newcastle's box. Both Soberslay and Grevenberg have made runs ahead of the ball. And if you lose the ball then, you're screwed, right? There's nothing there. Ilanga is so good when he has space to run into.

27:17Lars Sivertsen:That was why he was so perfect for Nuno's counterattacking Nottingham Forest. Then he goes to Newcastle last season and ends up in so many situations when he has to square up against a fullback and go past them, and he's just not great at that. But when he has space to burst into, he is absolutely brilliant at that, and he had situations where he could do this. I think the amount of chances Liverpool created was pretty promising, thing but I think the high wire act of you know being that high up the field is is something you have to work on Iriola I think rejected the idea that they were too cavalier he said the point about that first goal is that they should have finished the chance because of course they did have some food shooting chances there maybe but I would like to see like if they're gonna if they're gonna be that high up the field I think you need to tell tell your central midfielders to to show some degree of responsibility because they can't both be ahead of the ball at the same time yeah It was a very Florian Wirtz performance in which he did a lot of small things well.

28:10Lars Sivertsen:But then Isak continues to be a little bit of a non-entity up front for Liverpool. And that is a problem. Yeah, he did whack one. Almost into the away fans, which is quite hard to do at Newcastle. I thought Jacquet looked quite good. Liverpool have had an improved bid for Jakub and Minta. They rejected bid 60. Brighton wants 70. I was about to say, God, these transfer fees are ridiculous. But there's no point in saying that. A word on the Kevin Keegan tribute, Sam, because they looked great. Yeah, it was beautiful. and credit to the, I think it's the War Flags group who put it all together because basically it was entirely around the ground and it included the Liverpool fans as well.

28:42So it was black and white with the number seven in red, but then the Liverpool fans above them had the name Keegan. I mean, for someone just to sort of unify football supporters like that is very rare. It was, yeah, it was a lovely moment. A lot of the entertainers were back. So Les Ferdinand was actually, I think he was working. so he was in the press box and there was a lovely moment actually when Newcastle got the first goal. Someone managed to run in and just completely innocently and were just celebrating and hugging Les Ferdinand and he had a big smile on his face and you're like, how's this bloke got into the press box?

29:16You look across and it's because the steward who's meant to be on post is hugging a supporter. It was just a moment of joy and Esprit was back in town and there were photos of Esprit and Nobby Solano out partying, which would be some party the night before. But I just, yeah, it was lovely. And, you know, there was a message in the Gallagate, a quote from Keegan about dreaming and people basically who often dampen dreams but haven't got a reason. And I think it's a bit cliched and whatnot. But it was football. It was a reminder that football can and should be fun and about taking risks and about being vulnerable and it being OK to make mistakes.

29:59The game went so far towards being absolutely perfect and it just being rigid. And actually, particularly in Newcastle's case, because of where they are, they've just got to have a little bit of fun and bring the enjoyment back. And they certainly did that yesterday. From a Newcastle perspective, they just need to make sure they can try and do that when there isn't such a... There was a lot of emotion behind it, right? And that can get you up for a game. So they have to do that in games where there isn't that level of emotion. But Keegan's family were there and it was beautifully done. On Friday night, Arsenal beat Coventry 3-0, and there, Barry, is the title.

30:32Max Rushden:Yeah, I mean, it couldn't have been a nicer introduction to the season for Arsenal. Comfortable 3-0 win, no injuries, no controversy. Everyone played pretty well. Declan Rice and Mikhail Saka started for them. Christos Tolles looked good on the left wing, new signing. Miles Lewis-Skelly, whose future, I don't know if it's still in doubt, but it was up to quite recently. He was very good, I thought, at the base of the midfield. For Coventry, it was a chastening return to earth with a bang after the joy of their promotion. I think they only had four shots in the match. Seven players from last season in their starting line-up, and they were made to suffer by an Arsenal team playing with a fair bit of swagger and strut, I would say.

31:27Max Rushden:But, you know, it's as difficult an assignment as Coventry could have had for their first match back. They didn't totally disgrace themselves, but they were poor. We'll get a better idea of what they're made of when they play Hull next weekend, I guess. Well, I was going to say, you know, fifth place Hull, is it's tricky, isn't it? The games are tough for Coventry. I mean, Lars, for Arsenal, so much talk about would they play with a bit more style and with the caveat that it's Coventry and Coventry were quite helpful with the first two goals. They did look more entertaining. It was a fun... And I can't work out if actually Arsenal probably were quite entertaining at some points last season and I've completely forgotten and every game was just a grind.

32:12Okay, then this was nice. A couple of nice

32:14Max Rushden:Champions League group games they were right okay decent but like this was nice right this was good football was entertaining it was fun and i think you've made the point before if odegaard is fit they're going to be naturally

32:25Lars Sivertsen:just more entertaining to watch yeah it's it's fair listen i'm being a little harsh i think they were extremely grindy in the last third of the season because i think they realized okay the sort of passing game is not flowing but our defense is brilliant and we can score goals from set pieces so arteta just kind of doubled down on that to secure the league and champions League finals. You can't really complain about it because it worked. But they weren't great to watch for a lot of that. It's such a weird chicken and egg thing, which is like did they play stoddier football last season because that's something they decided to do and because of that Odegaard and Saka didn't look as much fun as they usually do or were they just not able to play as good football as they want because Odegaard was injured because Saka had injuries that neither of them had their best seasons.

33:12Lars Sivertsen:I honestly don't know the answer to that. I do know that Martin Odegaard looked a lot more like his old self for Norway during the World Cup. And he looked a lot more like his old self in this game. So maybe this is him kind of overcoming his physical issues a bit. And if he's back to his best, Arsenal will typically look very differently. Because he can connect things in that attack in the way no one else in that squad really can. So I thought this was great. I was thinking a lot about this. It's only Coventry. because when I was watching United lose the hole, I had a plan of coming on here and saying, ah, but you know, playing these newly promoted teams on the opening day of the season, you know, it can be very difficult.

33:49Lars Sivertsen:You know, they come up with full of enthusiasm and belief. And then I look back the last sort of five, six seasons and I could really not really find any examples of these big upsets. So maybe it is actually an easy thing to do. Watford beat Aston Villa back in 2021 or something. aside from that it just wasn't so maybe it is actually quite an easy thing to do we spent so much of the weekend saying yes arsenal were great but it's only coventry i guess that does ring raise the question of united were bad and it was only ho i mean yeah it's very unfortunate yeah it's possible isn't it um we talked about solace a bit after the community shield sam and he does look like and i really like trossard right i was surprised that they sold trossard i thought Or, you know, he was like a really underrated, very clever player.

34:38But Solis sort of looks like he's got all of that and then a bit more. Yeah, and right club, right time. I was asking a Norwich supporting friend about him and he just rolled his eyes. It's remarkable how he's like, well, he never did anything for us. And that just, he's gone away, turned himself into a, well, he already was, but he's got that first team experience. He was just likely down the left. I like you. I mean, I think it was the start of last season, wasn't it? Trossard was on this run where you're thinking, well, actually, he's prolific and he's a starter for Arsenal. And then he goes and you think, OK, so what are they going to do here?

35:14And he was just dangerous from the left, from the start. And they'd said he'd shone in pre-season, he shone in the community shield. And he'll prove, what did he cost them? Because I know you were talking about transfer fees. But in relative Premier League terms these days, to buy a starter who's got to improve the champions for 35 million quid is quite some doing. Credit to Arsenal's recruiters. Quite where it leaves Martinelli. I'm not sure. Ian Wright seemed to be a little bit unhappy with the way he's been treated. He was talking about it afterwards. And it's a weird question, isn't it? Is that just elite professional sport?

35:54I mean, how does it work? you've still got to deal with human beings and we don't know, like, if he's been told he's been left out of the squad then I don't know, the manager has every right to do it so we'll never know the ins and outs of it but I think it just shows how ruthless elite professional sport can be Man City 2, Bournemouth 1, two late goals for City I mean, that, Barry, for Maresco is absolutely enormous, that turnaround

36:14Max Rushden:Yeah, they probably deserve to win I mean, Mark Gay missed a very good chance to score from a header then was given another free header at a corner and put that one away. And then they won courtesy of a goal that was initially ruled out for offside but overturned by VAR. It was an odd-ish city line-up, you presume. They kind of have midfielders, you know, just a big box of midfielders somewhere in the back of the training ground or a skip full of them, you know, behind the dressing room. But in this game, we had Mark Gay playing in midfield Phil Foden lined up on the right which is quite unusual and Nick O 'Reilly playing as number 10 it worked, they got away with it but Bournemouth gave them a really good game and I think people were probably expecting City to win this far more easily than they ended up doing Gay in a sense made it interesting Lars, I think Ledley King did that and did it really well for for england sometimes and for and for tottenham so you know it is possible to if you are a ball playing center back to be a six and you're sort of defensively minded so you you sort of naturally hold your position better i don't know if that is mareska's long-term plan i mean bawadi's coming in for 100 odd million yeah they're bringing in

37:41Lars Sivertsen:body at uh 85 million pounds or something 100 million euros he is 18 so you want to be a little patient with him but uh i would expect this and i would expect one more signing in midfield to be honest because you can't have like is it anderson kolatich and buadi as your three guys for the season that seems a little thin i mean they've been pushing for enzo mareska no well they already have enzo mareska yeah they've been pushing for enzo fernandez well for him yes yes the the push was successful enzo fernandez which would make a ton of sense i thought this game for me i watched this uh quite carefully and of course they had some chances in the first hour as well erling missed a couple of chances he's just didn't get the rhythm quite right in this game i thought and they had some chances from crosses but they were very turgid uh in in their passing game i thought really until ryan shirky came on i mean ryan shirky made such a huge difference when he comes in and maybe he is maybe they're being careful with him because he was at the world cup maybe he is someone who is because he's such a wild card he's a little bit difficult to integrate into the sort of passing system that maresco wants to have but he makes such a big difference to them like in and his vision and his ability to see things um i i hope going forward that maresco will trust him because it became a completely different game after he came on and and he almost won he more or less wanted for them i thought were you one of the marco roses of fraud school or not i wouldn't say fraud okay so he is one of these sort of high pressing guys from the red bull he has a red bull past i believe and his teams have had a tendency to kind of burn out like he gets them to press very high and run a lot and then everyone gets tired and things kind of go wrong that seems to be the marco rosa trajectory there's also a couple of examples of players like the one season erling played under him at dortmund suddenly he started getting muscle injuries that was right that was a concern at the time and kunku i think got some bad muscle injuries under rosa as well so i think there are some because he really does push them like normally but then again here's the thing about coaches just because you've done things one way at one club does not mean that's the only way you know how to set themes up but I'm assuming you bring him in to follow Irola because he has this sort of front foot let's press let's cause chaos approach and I wonder about the longevity of it because you burn out the players to an extent and I think that's happened with him but he has also had moments when he seems to have played well yeah and they could have like Clive has a really good chance I think to make it to doesn't he which you know could change the game and City Way is still hard, isn't it?

40:08My only thought about Erling Haaland having his hair cut because obviously far too much hair time has been wasted on this. I don't think it's a good time to lose your long hair when hair pulling is sort of so en vogue.

40:19Lars Sivertsen:It's true, but they have changed the rules now. It's been made very specific. There has to now be significant yanking or whatever they're calling it for it to be a red card. If it's an accidental thing, it's no longer going to be a straight red. Maybe that's what Erling said. He saw the gig is up. It's not going to be as easy this year. significant yanking does sound like a not something you should google also as well anyway that'll do for part two part three we'll begin at portman road welcome to part three of the guardian football weekly I thought that deserved better that googly bit at the end of part two but you know you win some you lose some I actually googled it immediately and the results are underwhelming Iveswish2 Sunderland won A humiliating defeat on the opening day, Barry.

41:07Are you OK?

41:08Max Rushden:I'm fine. I'm fine. It was a bad defeat, but probably a deserved defeat. Sunderland gifted Ipswich two really cheap goals with sloppy passes out from the back. Sloppy passes in their own third. The first from Luka 9, the second from Omar Alderete in injury time. He had replaced Luke O 'Neill, who didn't have a good time of a low performance from Luke, I would say, on this occasion. And obviously, Jack Clark came on in this game for Ipswich, and I was just thinking, oh, I have a bad feeling about this. And he won the game for them with a typical Jack Clark goal. But I think this was very much the Julio Nciso show.

41:59Max Rushden:He was brilliant for Ipswich. Now, him being Paraguayan, I would have expected him just to walk around the pitch kicking people and arguing with the referee on the evidence of what we saw in the summer. But he focused on playing football and he was the standout player on the pitch. He was brilliant. You're not going to get that performance from him every week, but Ipswich certainly got it on Saturday and that is why they won. Tip of the hat to Nilsson Angulo, who scored a brilliant free kick for Sunderland. But I have no complaints about this one. I think Sunderland deserves to lose. Yeah, it was brilliant.

42:37Sam, you look poised. Ipswich, it could have been a really... Losing the manager at McKenna after five years, it could have been and still could be a really difficult season. But they've almost gone the opposite of Coventry. I think they only had four regular championship starters playing. I think teams are now looking, it's been said before what Leeds and Sunderland do and there's all this talk about the physicality of the Premier League and the step up and like you'd think there wouldn't be that much of a difference like in terms of physical professional athletes between the championship and the Premier League but there clearly is I went to Wigan and did some like pre-season training with them for an article and they're in League 1 I was surprised how some of them were actually they looked they just didn't I don't know I'd expect if you walk if you look at the Premier League sides a lot of them you're just like walking around with giants and it just wasn't like that.

43:27So maybe there is something in it. And they brought in, so this forward Emerson, I mean, they spent a fair bit of money by their standards who, let's be honest, and without disrespecting him, no one had, well, I certainly hadn't heard of him. But I was looking him up and he sort of won the second highest number of aerial battles in Ligue 1 when he was with Toulouse. He'd been in Turkey before that and hadn't really done anything. So they picked him out. him and Cisco combined well for that first goal and O 'Neill knows Cisco he managed him when he was at Strasbourg and he was a real creator there so they've gone down the route of almost wholesale changes to the squad and they've they've started pretty well I do think the big physical difference

44:08Lars Sivertsen:between the championship and the premiership is yeah there's been a tendency for people to sign a lot of tall boys recently but I think the speed is the thing that's completely different so I spoke to a defender once for a promoted team who told me he wasn't the fastest defender in the world he told me like the differences in the championship I can see where my striker is going and I can follow him whereas in the Premier League like they are all much faster than me so I have to guess where they're going and just kind of go after them like there is a and I thought Norwich like complete digression and I know we're running probably long today but like the first I think the first goal Norwich Coventry conceded against Arsenal was such a welcome to the Premier League moment because they make one small mistake and just bang, it's a couple of passes and you can see the goal immediately.

44:49Lars Sivertsen:It's so fast when you make. I also spoke to another midfielder who arrived in the Premier League who said that he looked around so much his neck hurted after a couple of months of the first season because usually you're used to having a second when you get the ball, but now you have to always know where is the space you can take the first touch into so you can orient yourself because you just have so much less time than you're used to. So I think that that is the big change. And maybe from trying to bring it back to Ipswich, bringing in guys like NC So, who is very technically clever, bringing in Lukic, who's played for Fulham before.

45:23Lars Sivertsen:I think having a few guys in there who know this stuff is very, very advantageous. Yeah. Also worth saying, I watched Cambridge beat Wigan. I saw Wigan play on the opening day. They were 3-0 down after about 60 minutes. They did look pretty unfit, if you ask me. So, you know, their preseason compared to a Premier League one is probably a sign, isn't it? to Everton then. They beat Palace 2-0. But as that, Palace should have been ahead, shouldn't they? And Ketya drew a brilliant save from Bigford. Mateta hit the post. And then Everton, probably quite comfortable for Everton after that.

45:53Max Rushden:It was, yeah. It was quite comfortable for them in the end, but they could conceivably have been 3-0 down before they scored. Kieran Dewsbury Hall's goal was brilliant. I thought Illumin and Jai played really well. He set up their second across that. Kieran Abari headed home. Good to see him off the mark early doors in the season because he had a rough time of it last season until he didn't, I suppose. And Jai could have had another one as well. He was denied by a good Dean Henderson save. So I think this is one of those Seb Hutchinson three o 'clock on a Saturday wins that, you know, it's nice three points in the bank, good way to start the season.

46:35Max Rushden:I wouldn't be too down if I was a Palace. I wouldn't be too down on the strength of the performance if I was a Palace fan. I would be slightly down on what appears to be going on off the field, where, with suggestions, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ishmila Sarr both want out. And obviously, Wharton is presumably the subject of a lot of offers, even though they insist he's not for sale. He was brilliant in certainly the first half of this game. Yeah. The Mateta thing is odd, isn't it, Lars? I don't know if you're completely across it.

47:09Lars Sivertsen:No, it's weird that he's starting, I think. We had this drama with Watkins not being available, presumably because he wants to move. We don't actually know that for sure. We've been told to call him. I don't think he'll pick up the phone if I try. But with Mateta, we know what's going on. He's tried to have his contract annulled. There was an optional extension in his contract that Palace triggered, and he's gone to FIFA to try to have it thrown out and not been successful. is it weird that you're starting first day of the season with a guy who like is desperate to not be there anymore uh leading the line maybe he is a top pro and it doesn't affect his performance at all but uh or maybe this is just a massive diss at jrgen ston lausen who is the norwegian uh second choice striker that they would rather have a dude who's trying to leave the club through any means up front than than our boy ston lausen i don't know yeah an annulment is very henry the eighth isn't it?

48:05It just feels, you know, quite an annular contract feels like a sort of odd thing to try to do. He needs to set up his own religion.

48:11Lars Sivertsen:Is that what he needs? The Church of Mateta. Yeah, Mateta needs to break away. The Church of Mateta. One of the key tenets is that you can leave Crystal Palace whenever you want. Of course. And you're pretty good at holding the ball up as well. Take note. Hopefully Richarlison will join the religion and learn how to hold it up for the first time in his career. Hayden Hackney and Harrison Armstrong, I see sort of a young English midfield there. They looked very good, didn't they? and there was Andy Burnham I imagine we'll see him about 5 million times as you pointed out on the radio yesterday will he also be embraced by Peter Reid every time that's what I want to see Reedy becoming Minister of Sport we'd take it Forest Nill Leeds 1 Sam, strong thoughts on this or no strong thoughts on this?

48:52Strong thoughts is probably a stretch but I like Leeds this year I think they could be a team that will really benefit from not being in Europe they might be I think set up to be in that cycle of all right all you do is if you're a team that isn't in and around the top four or five you push to do the best you can to get into Europe and then you have a load of Europa League or Conference League games and then you struggle because you're playing Thursday Sunday and the teams that haven't got that are there to take advantage and I think leads with having signed James Trafford who didn't have that much deal I think he made one very good save I think he's a top quality goalkeeper Harry Wilson it's a good free kick that should cells do a little bit better um a two-person wall from that angle it's near post i don't know it was a poor free kick to give away i thought the the challenge um on the edge of the box like you just running basically run into it but it's not really a challenge at all it's just one of those as a manager you think what are you doing but they nicked an away win and i do believe it's the start of what will be quite a good season to be a leeds united fan james trafford didn't have

49:55Max Rushden:a whole lot to do in the game but on his post-match interview and match of the day he looked like a a ham actor straight out of central casting, delivering a Shakespearean soliloquy. I don't know if anyone saw it. I thought it was terrific. Did he have a rough? What was he wearing? What made him look so Shakespearean? No, he was just a lot of grand hand gestures and saying, you know, people worry too much about winning and losing. Just have a go. Have a go, young man. Is that what he sounds like? I really enjoyed that. yeah i don't think i've ever heard him speak before so i i want more james trafford interviews but um yeah but yeah i think this was probably the least entertaining of all the games played over the weekend okay well look nice to know james trafford is john gilgood uh let's get him on the stage for the chelsea is uh tonight we'll talk about that on tomorrow's pod uh nice to Anthony Gordon getting two assists for Barcelona last night.

51:00Some great EFL stuff. An amazing goal from Don Ballard for Bristol City. We'll talk about that tomorrow as well. We'll finish with this email from Kieran, which came via me a long time ago. But dear Max, Barry and friends, I'm writing this as a brother and best man. It's a former poly teammate of Max's, an all-around nice guy, Pat Kelly, who's getting married to the wonderful Morgan next August. After opting for a smaller wedding, they decided to make up for it with two big celebrations, One in Teesside, where she's from, and one in Peterborough, where we grew up. It was only when I recently had a look at Pat's side of the guest list for the Peterborough party, I noticed something rather alarming.

51:35Namely, there didn't seem to be many names on it. A sobering realization soon followed. Perhaps my brother simply doesn't have that many friends. As a brother and best man, I naturally felt compelled to do something about this. So I thought, who better to invite than the very same group of people he spent so many hours listening to over the years? Now, Max, as a proud Cambridge United fan, currently living in Australia, I appreciate flying 10 ,000 miles just to spend a Saturday evening in Peterborough may be a little ambitious. But seeing as he once generously covered Pat's playing fees when he was a skint student at university, perhaps it's only right that he finally returns the favour by paying for your flights.

52:06And Barry, should that not be enough to tempt you, as most of our family will be making the journey from County Mayo, I can personally guarantee both the Guinness and Tato's will be in plentiful supply. Should any of you actually fancy attending, I'd be delighted to provide the full details. That said, with the pair of you already preparing to spend the World Cup together in America, I appreciate there may be limits of how much time two grown men can reasonably spend in each other's company if peterborough pushes things beyond that limit then a shout out on the pod and one of baz's famous marriage predictions would be every bit as appreciated thanks in advance keep up the excellent podding get best wishes uh kieran uh so yes kieran and morgan barry please uh no no no pat and morgan it'd be terrible if morgan ran off with pat's brother at this stage of proceedings pretty early on.

52:48But Pat is a very nice guy. So sorry, he sent this before the World Cup. He sent this ages ago. But the wedding party, I meant to time it for last week because the wedding was on Saturday. But now we can't go to Peterborough because it's late. But I forgot to read this out. So they are now married. They are wed. It's already happened. Has the party taken place? Yes. The party in Peterborough has taken place.

53:11Max Rushden:All right, because I'm just worried. I don't know if the male contingent if it was before or after they won the All-Ireland. Because if it was after the All-Ireland, I would imagine the male contingent all turned up wearing red and green jerseys, drunk as lords before the proceedings had even kicked off after their historic win. I would obviously like to wish Pat and Morgan all the best. You have a better idea of what Pat will be like as a husband than I do. probably the best husband of all time after yourself presumably ahead of myself I would say but yeah well done Pat thanks for listening and come to the old boys game next year please but that'll do for today thanks everybody thank you Lars thank you Max thank you Sam you're welcome thanks Max cheers Barry thank you Football Weekly is produced by Matt Bentley Viney our executive producer is Joel Grove we'll be back tomorrow

54:13Max Rushden:This is The Guardian.