Saints stun Arsenal and what now for Slot after Liverpool’s painful exit? – Football Weekly

27:45And if City were to win the league, he'll have ended up being a massive part of that as well. He might have played more because he won't have played everybody the same number of times to get his votes in. He might get double votes from people. Obviously, Harry Wilson.

27:57Max Rushden:Well, then you'd have to give it to Mark Gay because he's played and beaten Liverpool five times this season. That's a good point. You were coming in, John?

28:05John Brewin:I was going to say, yeah, Cherki, Gwehi and Semenyo, all players that Liverpool heavily linked with and didn't sign. That's painful, isn't it? Really. That is. Yeah, well, a big week for Liverpool. they play PSG of course we'll cover that on the midweek pods and that'll do for part one part two we'll begin at the London Stadium

28:35Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly West Ham two leads two leads winning four two on penalties John this was brilliant this game wasn't it?

28:44John Brewin:Oh the true cup of dreams the magic of the cup it's funny you said start with that I just thought this game would never end that that's part of it and I didn't want it to end either it yeah it had it all didn't it um and funnily enough when you actually looked at those two team selections you thought do these managers up for this but what we saw from both sets of players and managers is both going at it cup style throwing everything into the into the match and producing a classic comeback. You know, obviously the thing that will be on the back of the newspapers this morning is the pictures of West Ham fans locked out, having departed, which is absolutely magnificent.

29:34John Brewin:I mean, you know, was I saw one of them, one fan was showing it to his mate on FaceTime. so his mate is outside the ground and he's watching through his mate's FaceTime which is wonderful. Technology is wonderful, isn't it, at a time like that? And it's just so good that we are introduced to someone we've never seen before. Someone who didn't even have a Wikipedia page. Finley Herrick. But it being the FA Cup. Yeah, I mean, for the narrative, he needed to win. He needed to, you know, that save needed to mean more. I mean, AJ does say, Did anyone tell Barry who the West Ham keeper was at the end of the match?

30:12You would be forgiven, Barry, for not knowing. Like, if this is Hollywood, he needs to win the shootout.

30:20Max Rushden:Yeah, when he came on, I presumed West Ham would prevail and he'd be the hero. Obviously, he saved the first one from Joel Pirro, and you're going, oh, what a start to your career. is more or less his first action on his debut is to save a penalty in an FA Cup quarterfinal shootout. But sadly, it ultimately wasn't Finlay's day and it wasn't West Ham's day. But this match was absolutely terrific. I couldn't really get my head around why the West Ham fans were leaving because even though they were 2-0 down, they never looked quite out of it. No. And I wouldn't have left If I was a West Ham fan, they didn't look down and out or dead or buried by any means, even though they were 2-0 down.

31:12Max Rushden:And I'm just wondering, I'm not sure, was Danny Dyer at this point?

31:21John Brewin:He's got more screen time than he did on EastEnders, didn't he? I mean, it was... Yeah.

31:29Max Rushden:So, yeah, Danny, obviously, Jared Bowen's father-in-law, was at the game and TNT's obsession with cutting away to him was almost bordering on the creepy by the end of it. Yeah, a fantastic game of football. And I think neither manager will have been too fussed ahead of the game. Neither manager will have been too fussed about winning it. But by the end of it, I'd say West Ham's players, if not Nuno were definitely gutted to lose it. Do you think Leeds deserved it, Danny? It's also hard to tell. You know, you're 2-0 up in the 92nd minute. You sort of feel like you deserve to win it. But like every time, the game was basically cutaways of Jared Bowen hitting the post and then Danny Dyer and then Jared Bowen hitting the post again.

32:20And, you know, Lucas Perry had a brilliant gaming goal. I know he's part of the team. Do you think Leeds just about deserved that? That's a tough question because it did feel like a West Ham hit the post. every five minutes or if they weren't hitting the post, they were having a goal disallowed. I mean, Bowen's a very prolific finisher, isn't he? But it just wasn't his day at all yesterday in the game. I think when you're 2-0 up and you chuck it away with the amount of time that there was left, I think it's difficult to say that you deserve it. But out of the two teams, I think it's less of a distraction for Leeds.

32:56They're better placed in the Premier League. If West Ham get to that semi-final, does that become a little bit of a distraction to them staying up? I expect Leeds, with a couple more wins or even just one more win and a few draws, will be okay. I think it's a really, really nice thing for Leeds and Daniel Farker. I've actually really enjoyed watching them all season. It seems a strange thing to say about a Leeds team, but I found them quite likeable this season. Under him, they've got an honest set of players that really work hard and play for the badge. They've recovered from adversity really, really well.

33:28At the start of the season, both the players and the manager, the manager was in a lot of trouble and the players rallied and got him out of it and they managed to string like a consistent run of form together. And I thought at one point they were going to comfortably stay up. I still think they will stay up. And to stay up and maybe have one or two trips to Wembley as well, I think Leeds have had a really, really brilliant season and the players and the manager deserve a lot of credit.

33:50Max Rushden:I think Leeds are far from safe. I'm not saying they'll go down, but they're really in it. I think they'll just about have enough. The only thing is that they lost Anton Stack yesterday and Joe Roden. Don't know how serious those injuries are. Stack, who has been brilliant for them this season, looks like that could be him gone for a few weeks. I'm not sure how that wasn't a penalty, by the way, that Max Killerman challenge on Stack. It was so late. I mean, it's because he got his shot away, isn't it?

34:23John Brewin:He really wanted to give away a penalty. I mean, that was a penalty, wasn't it, the first one? And then the second one, there could be no doubt. Does anyone else think, sorry, that De Zassi was a high foot? Like, I think, was it strike? I can't remember who sort of pretends their heads hurt, but if he really goes down like a ton of bricks, I think that goal is disallowed because his foot is, I mean, I'm glad it was given, but like, I think it's a high foot. Was not the clarification, which I think, hilariously, Peter Walton I think messaged Fletch during the commentary to tell him why it stood we don't get to see it we don't get to hear Peter Walton on the telly anymore but he still him and Fletch are still great mates and they're still tight are they yeah yeah still tight but I think the word is that because the high boot was in front of the head then it can stand okay so it wasn't So it hit the high boot first.

35:25John Brewin:So there you go. Leeds, I was going to talk about Leeds being in the FA Cup semifinal for the first time since 1987. And I just about, well, I do remember that because they played Coventry, which is the 87 FA Cup final and was probably, if you're old enough, was the all-time classic, wasn't it? But I was looking at the team and, you know, I buzz off this stuff, but the Leeds team of that day where they lost 3-2, classic. Day, Aspen, Adam, Styles, that son of Nobby Styles, Ashurst, Ormsby, Richie, Sheridan, Pearson, Baird, Rennie. Now Leeds fans of a certain age will feel shivers thinking of that team.

36:08John Brewin:Billy Bremner was a manager. You know, that's the classic. And that's when Leeds are in the second division and trying to fight their way back. Yeah, very evocative. Very evocative. I cried after the 87 Cup final yes sorry John despite being a Manchester United as you know I always have a sort of sneaking admiration for sort of the Leeds thing you know just the fervence of that sort of Yorkshireman thing but yeah I'm delighted that'll be a big day at Wembley won't it Chelsea Leeds yeah really good yes absolutely that's a great tie yeah Ian says how as a West Ham fan how do you bounce back from a loss like that I just want to take my son Daniel to one big game before I'm no longer able to.

36:50His GCSE calendar made Prague a no-go. Of all the exams to clash, it was maths and he wasn't allowed to go. And I really thought an FA Cup semi would be the big game I'm looking for. I'm pretty down having been denied the opportunity it was so close. You'll understand when Ian Rushton is in full Cambridge kit at a Papa John semi-final in a few years. But to get me over the angst this evening, can Barry tell me to man up and point out that Friday's game at home to Wolves is just as big a game and we should bond at that before the sun goes back to uni the following day you guys have helped put smiles on faces in very difficult times this isn't one of those but the pep talk from you guys will be the perfect medicine go on then barry i mean it is to be fair wolves on friday is absolutely enormous for west ham

37:32Max Rushden:yeah i don't really like that phrase man up but um i would not take my son to to the wolves game because if you're taking him, if it's the first time you're taking him, they will lose. And obviously we don't want West Ham to lose that game. I don't think it's the first time. I mean, his kid's done his GCSE. You presume they've been before. Maybe it might be wrong. I don't know. I didn't read into it that it was his first ever game. No, just he wants to take him to a big West Ham game, which is, you know, they're all big, you know, actually, just have a nice time. But yeah, I would love it. I would love it if Wolves beat you because I'd rather Tottenham weren't in the relegation zone when they go to Sunderland on Sunday.

38:22Let's go to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea 7, Port Vale 0. Dave says, can you please talk about Port Vale as little as you did on the previous show on Thursday? And what you want, Dan, from a lower league side of your stuff, hold out and battle and keep it tight. And this was done after a minute. Yeah, it's a dismal start, isn't it? the whole week goes out the window with that start. Obviously, you expect Chelsea to beat Port Vale. I don't really have much to say on it. They just got completely outclassed, didn't they? The levels of the two teams showed. I mean, Chelsea have spent£10 billion or whatever they've spent and Port Vale haven't spent anywhere near that.

38:59You would expect Chelsea to batter Port Vale, but the whole game is dependent on the start and Port Vale's start was just absolutely awful. with a goalkeeper who's actually on loan from my team, Villa. He had a horrible day if Emi Martinez departs in the summer. I hope it's not Villa's plan to put him in goal. I don't think it would be because he had a real tough day at the office, didn't he? He had to just completely outclass Port Vale. Chelsea were very, very, very comfortable. It's just what Rossini needed, I guess, off the back of the time that they've had recently.

39:31Max Rushden:I think Liam Rossini really missed a trick in this game because after all the grief he got following Chelsea's exit from the Champions League, I think when Chelsea went 6-7-0 up, he should have started performatively sending notes out onto the pitch with instructions for his players. That's a big miss that is from him. Yeah, I suppose the interesting story with Chelsea, John, is the suspension of Enzo Fernandes, who dropped for two games. I don't think that happened when we did the pod on Thursday. I think we talked about Enzo and Cucurella sort of saying, I might be happy playing for a big team in Spain.

40:10But it's quite interesting they didn't just drop in for one, isn't it? They could have easily gone, he's dropped for this game because we take this seriously. But they dropped in for the Man City game as well. And they are in a fight to get into the Champions League.

40:23John Brewin:Yeah, I think the biggest problem for Chelsea is that they won this game too well so that they actually, what's the focus on? Ah, we'll go back to the Enzo thing because that's a bit more interesting. than rolling over a struggling EFL team. Is that like a, that's one step beyond hitting it too well? It's a whole game of winning it too well, is what you're saying. It's a new footballing thing. Right, okay. If anything, Clive, they've won that too well. If anything, Clive. Yeah. If anything, Max, they've won that too well and it meant that, yeah, we returned to the, you know, if they'd fought out an FA Cup classic, you know, plucky port veil, the veil throwing it down to them.

41:06John Brewin:Maybe the Enzo cloud would have dissipated, but it remains over the club, of course, because you can't play against Manchester City next week. I don't understand this decision. I don't understand why you would seek to harm your team by dropping one of your best players. It seems fairly unprecedented to me. I mean, you've had stuff in the background where famous old managers have taken players out, but they've not formally told the press this guy's out for two matches. And okay, you missed the Port Vale game. No one would have noticed that. Could they not just give him a big fine or something like that?

41:51John Brewin:And he's been internally disciplined and we all know that. And the other thing is, it being Chelsea, who made that decision? And who, you know, and Liam Rossini, as is the case, and we've talked about this quite a lot, no one else comes out and explains the decision. Liam Rossini has to explain the decision that possibly, in fact, very probably, wasn't his decision. So, yeah, collectively, we've got, no, come on. Who's made that decision? It speaks to a club where, you know, we don't know who's running it because there are so many people that are putting their oar in and it looks weird. and also them falling out with Enzo Fernandes, presumably the reason I did that they might sell him.

42:37John Brewin:Well, what does that do for the price? So I don't understand the decision at all. Yes, but being Chelsea, it will be a year of everyone on podcast saying, we don't understand Chelsea, and then they win the FA Cup and qualify for the Champions League. That's sort of the most Chelsea thing to do here.

42:55Max Rushden:Yeah, Barry. When Everton spanked Chelsea before the international break, Enzo was really bad. He didn't play well at all. He kept giving the ball away. He very performatively criticises his teammates on the pitch. And I'm not sure he'd be that big a loss in the game against City, to be honest. Is this not where the Chelsea model falls down? Just a little bit. so they buy these players and then they expect them to grow in value. Enzo Fernandes was over 100 million. Like, you're not going to make a profit on that player. And certainly if you're operating with internal bans, which is one of the strangest things I've ever heard, it's almost like Chelsea thought, we've not been in the news for a few days.

43:40Shall we just announce that we've got an internal disciplinary procedure going on? There's a reason that nobody else does stuff the way that Chelsea do it. And that's another example from her.

43:51John Brewin:There's two arguments there. One is that Enzo was bought in that initial phase of the blue coat ownership where they just splashed a load of cash and then they changed their approach. They don't really do that anymore. And then the thing is, and this is the accountant's answer, is that his amortization level will be, I'm falling asleep already when I'm thinking about it. But, you know, it's the accountancy principle that actually we can make a profit on him because his immortisation level is, or whatever it is, you know, that they can flog in. But I agree, Dan. It is, you know, yeah, it is silly.

44:27John Brewin:It's silly. All right. That'll do for part two. By the way, download the Guardian Women's Football Weekly tomorrow. Reaction to the Women's FA Cup quarterfinals, including Arsenal, getting done at home by Brighton. And we will begin part three with a bit of Fitbar.

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45:25Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. It's a fit bar corner then. And Barry, it is very tight at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

45:33Max Rushden:It is indeed. So Rangers beat Dundee United on Saturday 4-2 to go top of the league on goal difference ahead of Hearts having played one game more. Fast forward to Sunday lunchtime when Hearts went to bottom club Livingston and could only draw 2-2. So that took them a point above Rangers but I'd imagine Hearts would very much view that as two points dropped. It was a weird game because it started in lovely spring sunshine and ended in lovely spring sunshine. But at some point in the middle, there was basically a snowstorm. Storm Dave arrived. Yeah. Yeah. And I think when Hart scored their second goal to go, I think they went 2-1 up.

46:26Max Rushden:Yeah, there was sleet, snow, sideways rain, the very best of Scottish weather. But that abated and it was grand again at the end. And then later yesterday, back in third place, Celtic went to Dundee. It was their fourth match in the city of Dundee this season. They'd lost the previous three under three different managers, Brendan Rodgers, Wilfred Nancy and Martin O 'Neill. But they finally got one over the line yesterday, so they beat Dundee 2-1, made heavy enough weather of it again. Talichi Iheanacho came up with the winner in the 81st minute. And so, Hearts are topped by a point from Rangers and Celtic are two points further back.

47:20Max Rushden:Everyone's played 32 games, so after the next round of games, I think it is, they have the split. So, top six, bottom six, and everyone has five games left. So, it's going to go right to the wire. it's looking like Rangers are going to win it. But who knows? Who knows? Yeah. Also, Easter is big in the EFL. Full round of fixtures happened on Good Friday. Full round of fixtures today. So we won't necessarily preview them because most of the results will happen by the time it's out. But John, Roy Hodgson winning his first game in charge of Bristol City, beating Charlton 2-1 at the Valley. Afterwards, he said, there were a few five-minute periods where I thought this is fantastic.

48:00And there were a few periods where I was saying, what on earth are you doing here? Charlton did miss a lot of chances, writes producer Joel, Charlton fan. But even he was pleased for a resplendent Roy in sunglasses on the touchline.

48:11John Brewin:Oh, he looked amazing, didn't he? My previous favourite wearer of sunglasses on the sideline was Louis van Gaal. I think at Norwich about 10 years ago. You know, the elder statesman of football, you know, needs to wear his shades in a sort of spring day, doesn't he? Welcome back, Roy. I'm not sure Bristol City fans were necessarily, their longing for him had been particularly strong. But hey, I still can't get my head around that story other than Roy's continuing love for the game. But well done. Well done. Yeah, there was a really brilliant tweet. You know, someone, some football account tweeted, you know, Roy Hutchin wins his first game as Bristol City manager in 44 years.

48:58And someone quote tweeted and says, just shows the value of giving a manager time, which I just really enjoyed. Millwall scored a late winner against Middlesbrough to put them into the top two, which have got games in hand. But what an amazing achievement it would be for Millwall to get into the Premier League. Coventry beat Derby 3-2 on the late game on Friday. So they are 11 points clear with six games to go. Oh, do you know, we didn't do, which we should do, we touched on it, but the Cherokee Eketike shirt debacle, Barry, because, I mean, of all the meltdowns people have had, I mean, I did like the fact he put a Liverpool shirt on while sitting on the bench while the game was happening.

49:43That in itself is funny. But I do like the obsession of, you know, it is just the biggest crime in football to swap shirts until long after the game has finished.

49:56Max Rushden:Yeah, so if you swap shirts with a player after a game and he puts on your shirt and you put on his, that's perfectly acceptable, I think. But apparently, if you're both substituted and swap shirts, even if you're made to play for the same national team, putting on your opposite number shirt while the game is ongoing and you're sitting on your team's bench is very much a no-no. And that's what Ray and Shirky did. He put on Ekadike's shirt. Someone sitting behind him, I think it was one of the medical staff, had a word and then he promptly took it off again. But it did prompt quite the meltdown from fans of both clubs, I think.

50:39Max Rushden:But for this outrageous act of disrespect, I thought it was kind of funny, to be honest. Is it not just him saying the game was done? It's like the game, you're saying we can't do it until the game is finished. I think that game was probably finished at the time he did it. Yeah, probably. Some fun Samir Nasri news. Thanks to L 'Equipe for this. I don't know if you've seen this. Samir Nasri is a tax resident in Dubai where taxes are virtually non-existent. He is suspected by the French tax authorities of actually residing in Paris, according to an investigation by Les Echos. The detail that led to his arrest, more than 200 home meal orders placed through the Deliveroo app.

51:22and producer Joel writes did somebody say just is which you know is quite a good play on words thank you Joel for that it does remind me of I can't remember which army you know some secret submarine you know nobody knows where it is and then it was they found out because someone just some I think it was a French sub somewhere in the Pacific some soldier on Strava gave it away by just doing a really odd run as the submarine was just sailing through the Pacific Ocean. Italian football fans are being encouraged to put their national team's World Cup qualification failure. Wow. This is exciting. What on earth happened there?

52:03I sat on the... It wasn't me. That was me.

52:07John Brewin:I sat on the remote control and it suddenly started belching out some sort of... What were you playing? I don't know. Europop. That was really good. Is that the sort of way of saying the pod is done? That's your way of saying... It's a bit like Ray and Cherky putting a shirt on, isn't it? It's just saying, I've had enough of this. Let's put the music on and maybe they'll finish. Oliver on superstition says, very surprised to hear Sunderland fan Barry goes out of his way to be polite to magpies. K-Max says, Barry's thoughts on the Irish Hurling League final? What did you make of it, Barry?

52:37Max Rushden:I didn't see it and I don't know who won. So there are my thoughts on the National Hurling League final. Yes, Guardian Hurling Weekly, shitting bricks with that kind of review. And Owen, this is good from Owen. If you could stand by your phones, please, gentlemen. Specifically the Football Weekly WhatsApp group. Dear Football Weekly team, says Owen. Obligatory thanks for all the content over the past years. Although I have no plans for a vasectomy, I have recently been referred to an orthopedic surgeon for what my GP calls a surgical solution to your knee issues. So I do plan on keeping a pod to see me through it should it be a minor procedure.

53:12However, those platitudes are not the reason for this email. Full disclosure. I have had some correspondence with Barry in the past about some pedantic corrections to his minute by minutes, my corrections, and advice on the best watering holes in Burr, his advice, where I regularly find myself for work. In this situation, though, I do not have confidence in the email actually reaching the remaining members of the team should I send it directly to his account. To the meat of the matter, while watching a TV show here in Ireland, I guess the show is irrelevant, but it was a home renovation show where the person involved is a primary school teacher, hence the footage of him with his pupils.

53:43A young figure appeared from a school in Kilkenny. Given the popularity of Kilkenny as a stag and hen destination, I immediately wondered if Barry had potentially passed through the town at some stage and sown a wild oat or two and perhaps has a relative in the area. I shall leave it to the team to decide on the level of likeness, which I felt was uncanny. And hopefully this young man has a long and storied career ahead of him as a sports journalist, chicken slaughterer, amateur athlete. Regards, Owen McGrath. and he sent us this photo to which we have to ask, is this the unknown son of Barry Glendening?

54:20Your thoughts, please, gentlemen. Wow. Wow. That is incredible. What? Isn't it? Young Baz. Must be, what, 11 years old? What do you reckon? Somewhere about 11 in there? Yeah. Or maybe a bit primary school, probably 10. 10 years old.

54:39Max Rushden:He still looks like that, doesn't he? I'm sweating a bit there, Max, because I have been on a sag too in Kilkenny. Okay. Where I may have made a new friend. Okay. But it was way more than 11 years ago, so. Right, okay, I see. If that friendship had yielded, shall we say, dividends, the child in question would be very much an adult at this point. And I think I would have been careful anyway. so uh but yeah i was starting to get very nervous

55:16producer joel sent it to me and i was like he was like this is fine for the end of the pod i think i think it's fine unless this is barry's son and then you had a fictional one for a while but you know now it's good to put a face to your fictional son uh anyway uh that will do for today thank you everybody um and uh you know you've got a lot of all that money you've raised for the marathon and it has to no go on child support, Barry. So, you know, it's still helping the children in a way.

55:40Max Rushden:It is going on child support, Max. I'm supporting sick children. Of course it is. Not that I like to talk about it. No, but we're above 50 grand. So, I mean, you, not we. You are above 50 grand. We, we. Very much a we effort. Yeah, thank you, everybody. And that'll do for today. And we'll be back for the Champions League Wednesday and Thursday. But for the time being, thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you, Max. Thanks Dan Thank you very much Welcome to Fatherhood Thank you Barry Thank you Football Weekly is produced by Silas Gray Our executive producer is Joel Grove We'll be back on Wednesday

56:28This is The Guardian

56:33Thank you.