Scotland stumble towards World Cup as England aim to book place – Football Weekly

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:30I'm sorry, Barry. Also, all hail the Faroe Islands, three wins in a row after stunning the Czechs. How good. Closer to home are Nottingham Forest lining up Sean Dyche. If you're going to deny us Ange in the Premier League, at least getting Dyche back would ease the blow. Stevie G says no to Rangers, while Jack Wilsham might be going to Luton. And then we'll be joined by the founder of Grenfell Athletic, a football club set up in the wake of the tragedy that killed 72 people. There's a new documentary out called Beacon of Hope, the Grenfell Athletic story, and it's a beautiful film. As always, we'll answer your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

1:02on the panel today barry glendennig welcome hi max hello jordan jarrett brian morning mate and from not the top 20 george ellick welcome thank you max that's all right uh let's start with uh scotland beating belarus uh barcer jim says i for one welcome our play out of shite but get three points overlords um barry i bet you and we're sweating after his confidence on I mean, as soon as he said that Ewan, with the possible exception of his predecessor as Guardian golf correspondent, Lawrence Dunnegan, is the most pessimistic man I have ever met. So when he voiced his utter confidence that Scotland would swap Belarus aside, the alarm bells started jangling in my head immediately.

1:50and I think it would be fair to say that in this international window, Scotland have absolutely robbed six points from their two games. Like robbery. They should have lost against Greece. They beat them and they were very lucky to beat Belarus. They won. That's the important thing. I think Ewan said in his match report, we will never speak of this game again and that's probably a very wise policy. I mean, considering they won, Steve Clarke afterwards said, I was really, really disappointed with my team. And they were, it is fair to say, abysmal. And they were just lucky that Belarus aren't very good.

2:38There was some shocking defending, some real midfield lethargy. Belarus had, I think, 22 shots. they had a goal disallowed they scored one but Scotland got over the line and that's the important thing they're guaranteed a playoff place at worst but I did notice in the comments section under Ewan's report a lot of Scotland fans even though they may qualify for the World Cup they're not happy with the manner in which Clark sets the team up he's too defensive they say there's too much lethargy there isn't enough imagination attacking verve but I just don't know which is more important just qualify no matter how you do it or qualify and then go to the World Cup and get knocked out in the group stage again which is probably what will happen because Clarke is unlikely to change his ways at this stage I think Jordan if you haven't qualified since 1998 surely it's just get there any which way right you take what you can get yeah although to barry's point um a lot of scottish fans that i know after the last what was it euros the way they went out it was um it wasn't good it wasn't pretty and they they were a bit annoyed they were kind of being patronized about just getting there and being at the party but not but not really contributing and um and and you know showing their nation in the best possible light has there been a bigger two fingers to premier league football than Scott McTominay.

4:14Because his resurgence in the last two and a half years, I just think has been phenomenal. Hands up. I wasn't a particularly big fan of his. I thought he was a fairly average Premier League midfielder. But he's just gone on to be this like absolute beast. Like MVP in Italy. You know, he can't stop scoring for Scotland. I just want to give him his flowers because he's a player that I was very down on. But since then, he seems to have just gone on to incredible heights. Is that two fingers to the Premier League or just to Manchester United, I suppose? um that's that's the question me everybody yeah yeah i mean look there's a couple of things george one of all the var bits in this game were belarus a little unlucky is that i mean it is sort of a foul on mctominay but it's not clear and obvious is it no well that's i mean the clear and obvious thing is something we hold var to and it's the threshold that should be met but we know very well that isn't always the case and they like to meddle in far too many uh and i agree like if if it's down to the letter of the law the way that the ar should be implemented then i think they were unlucky um but it's funny this with scotland how like as barry says six points over the international break two poor performances certainly in in sunday night's game or sunday afternoons game luck on their side in terms of officiating too but you know they're on the on the brink of qualifying for for the world cup next next summer and you've got you know steve clark who became their longest serving ever manager yesterday you know in circumstances where it wasn't much of a celebration because there's concern about the performance level.

5:43McTominay is clearly the poster boy, but you look through their whole team and it should be a much better, certainly attacking force than they currently are. And the crucial thing is, yes, they are, you know, they've secured their, at least a playoff spot in terms of qualification, but they're level on points with Denmark. And if they don't get past Denmark in the last two games, then they're going to end up in a two-legged playoff in order to get to the World Cup. And I think Scotland fans probably feel like the way that they're playing, the chances are in that two-legged playoff they're going to play a team who are probably better than Greece or possibly Belarus I mean certainly Belarus possibly Greece and they're unlikely to get through that so it might look good now in terms of finishing the top two but there's still a long way to go to get there and they're going to have to improve certainly in the November break and then and then onwards to the playoffs unless they can get past Denmark and fire their way straight to the top of the group.

6:30On that so in the next round Scotland go to Greece Denmark played Belarus. And actually, so Denmark, they're level on points. Denmark's goal difference is way superior. So the thing is, Barry, as long as they avoid defeat against Greece, whether they win or draw, it will come down to having to win against Denmark. And like, it's not inconceivable, right? If memory serves me correctly, they played pretty well against Denmark and Copenhagen. Drew could have won. I mean, bad performances are not the norm for the Scottish side. They've had two bad performances in this window that got away with them.

7:06And Demerker. All that. You know, I would give Scotland every chance of beating them at home. I thought Ben Gannock-Doke, at least, is a bright spark, isn't he, in there? I didn't think he played well last night, actually. OK. I mean, no one did, but, like, he did one nice turn, didn't he? He did a nice turn, right? I'm clutching. I'm clutching. Look, Northern Ireland, Barry, are level on points with Germany and Slovakia, right? they beat Slovakia 2-0 lovely goal from Trey Hulme lobbing it over Dubravka who'd just gone for a bit of a wander they played Germany tonight at home I mean it is a stretch but imagine if they win it them playing Germany and Wales playing Belgium these two very difficult games but just imagine Windsor Park getting up for it scoring and then just parking the bus Northern Ireland have got themselves a good team there some lovely young players coming through Shea Charles great The massive ball ache for Northern Ireland tonight is that Conor Bradley's got himself suspended for this game.

8:07He picked up a cheap booking. I don't know if it even was worthy of a yellow card, but it was needless booking. He got against Slovakia, so he misses out, and he was the standout player against Slovakia. But, look, they've no business beating Germany, but stranger things have happened. and the stranger things have happened to Northern Ireland so I wouldn't completely rule it out. Just to follow up on what Barry was saying, I think this Northern Ireland team, if you're not focused on them, and why would you be unless a Northern Irish? But it's a really, really exciting generation of talent coming through for Northern Ireland, many of whom are currently playing in the EFL, mainly in the Championship.

8:48But in Try Hulme, who's 23, he's played a lot of football for Sunderland and is now a Premier League player. In Shea Charles, as Barry mentioned there, who's one of the standout players in the Championship. Ethan Galbraith, who's gone to Swansea, has been the signing of the season so far in the EFL at 24, a brilliant ball player. Isaac Price, who is a goal-scoring attacking midfielder playing for West Brom and has been their best player so far this season. Deveni, who we all know from his penalty exploits for Crystal Palace, who's an exciting young player. Conor Bradley, as Barry mentioned, but even Brodie Spencer, who's a young right-back at Oxford, who I'm pretty sure will play in the Premier League at some point.

9:23but these are all this is a nucleus of a squad who are all in their early 20s who are all playing regular minutes and I'm pretty sure we'll certainly have the talent to play top flight football and even if it doesn't come off for Northern Ireland this time around this promise I think is the beginning of something really special and it wouldn't surprise me at all if this is a, you know golden generation might be cursing it but certainly an exciting team to follow in the next few years You can't say the same for the Republic of Ireland, Barry? No. Oh, I don't even want to talk about this. Oh, it was sad because you've done so well and Kelleher saves that Ronaldo penalty brilliantly and you think, at least you'll get a point here in Portugal.

10:06Yeah. Point might even not have been much use, but it was heartbreaking. They played well. I'll give them that. They went to Lisbon. They set out to not lose. They lost. to an injury time winner from Ruben Neves. Remarkably, that was his first goal for Portugal, which surprised me. And he scored it wearing the number 21 shirt, which he inherited from his pal, his best mate, Diogo Jota. That was Portugal's 28th attempt on goal. I think Ireland had won. Portugal rewarded a penalty, which I thought was harsh. in those handballs you hate. Ridiculous. Delighted to see Cristiano Ronaldo miss from the spot.

10:59That was the only bright spot of the game, really, for Ireland. But I have to take my hat off. They're a very, very limited team. They played as well as they probably could have against this team of superstars away from home. And, yeah, got caught with a late sucker punch. In England's group, Group K Albania won 1-0 away at Serbia. so that is a huge result for them given the rivalry and the historical and political tensions between those two countries and a huge win in the race for the playoff spot below England if that's not getting carried away England five wins from five scored 13, haven't conceded play Latvia tomorrow night because of that Serbia-Albenia result they can get their World Cup spot with a win against Latvia your thoughts George I know you're covering a lot on the improvement in England in the last two games?

11:49I think it's been very obvious, hasn't it? I mean, to start with under Tuchel, I think it was underwhelming. The results were definitely good. There was a decent performance against Latvia at home where we only won 3-0 and probably on another day it could have been a few more. But basically, since taking the lead against Serbia, we've looked brilliant. I was there on Thursday night and even though it was a friendly and even though certainly in the second half it felt like a friendly, I was completely taken aback by the way that England approached the game having gone 1-0 up where England scored within two or three minutes and the relentless pressure and pressing from a team full of Premier League players playing in a friendly in a game that they basically knew they were going to win having gone ahead like Morgan Rodgers just never stopped running in the entirety Thomas Tuchel was out at the end of the in his technical area effectively leading the press from from the dugout it felt to me like a group of players have completely bought into certainly the out of possession work that Tuchel's demanding from them and that is exciting because even though I'm a big Southgate believer and will argue with anyone who tells me he did a bad job, there's no denying that we were a very boring team generally when we went ahead.

12:55It was pragmatic. We looked to kind of manage games rather than continue. Whereas I felt sorry for poor Joe Roden and Ethan Amper on Thursday night who just wanted a second on the board and couldn't get it. So yeah, it feels like there's been a bit of a shift. It's still pretty frustrating. we'll have to see who we play in the March friendlies at Wembley but it still feels pretty likely that the next time England face a team of the quality of a you know Spain or Brazil will probably be in a World Cup quarterfinal if we get there which is not ideal prep for Tuchel not to manage an England match against a kind of top tier team until the major tournament but it feels like there's been a huge shift and also I think good on Thursday that we saw an England team who were able to be really effective in terms of chance creation, goal scoring without Drew Bellingham and Harry Kane in the squad.

13:43So yeah, things have definitely, I think, turned in Tuchel's favour. I just find the whole overall criticising and questioning of Thomas Tuchel's decisions really interesting slash funny because I look at it like this. You've flown in this apparent world-class chef, right? Who's got this really successful restaurant, cooks these really good meals everyone loves on the continent but you brought him into your fancy London restaurant because this restaurant has got lots of potential but since 66 hasn't quite really got the reviews that you really wanted to get and this chef's got a different way of doing things but you brought him in because he's the guy right and I just thought it's worth I'm in the camp of a handful of people that doesn't believe nations should have foreign managers but that's just that that that ship has sailed but you brought him in you've gone against and George's Park project.

14:37Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he might put a certain particular pepper on a meal or a certain sauce that's a little bit different. And you're like, I'm not quite sure about that. But just let the guy cook. Let the guy cook. You've brought him on the premise that this guy is the winner. I like George. And you won't find a bigger Gareth Southgate fan than me. But the narrative was, oh, he's a nice guy, unifier, but can't quite win. So we're going to go the opposite way. We're going to get the guy who might ruffle a few feathers, but he's the guy that's going to win the thing. So let the guy get on with it.

15:09Like, he might make a few decisions that you might not agree with but just trust the guy that you've brought in and paying a lot of money to. You've brought him in because you feel he knows what he's doing. I just find the constant, should he drop Bellingham? That's poor. The formation, the football. Just trust the guy knows how to win tournaments. He's going to win you a World Cup. We'd all be out of a job. Well, I was going to say, you've got to say something. We can't just say, well, good on him. He's picked them. That's good. Bye. Fair point, fair point. But my overall point is the constant just kind of biting.

15:39And I just find it really, really funny that you wanted a guy that could win. This is the guy you've put your faith in that can win. So just kind of let the guy get on with it and just trust that he knows what he's doing. I'm just wondering if George let Thomas Tuchel down by sitting in stony silence for the 75 minutes before leaving early to beat the traffic. Baz, you'll know better than most people that you can't make noises in the media centre, can you? I couldn't get up and start. I certainly wasn't launching any Mexican waves either, though, from the press box. But, I mean, you know, it's been covered.

16:14But I think Tuchel's fully in his right. It's quite refreshing to have a guy. You know, I actually agree with Jordan. In an ideal world, I think international football should be showcasing the best homegrown talent. And that should be both in terms of players, but also in the dugout and coaching staff. That should be the way that it is. But it isn't. and I've got no issue at all with Thomas Tuchel being our manager because it isn't but I think it's almost refreshing to have a guy who unlike Southgate who was kind of woven into the very fabric of the FA and therefore probably couldn't really make comments like the ones that Tuchel made after the game to have a guy who basically is already he signed a contract after the World Cup it's very unlikely he's going to be our manager after the World Cup regardless of what happens he has no real affinity towards English football he has no you know loyalty towards the FA to have a guy who can come in and not really care if he upsets a few England fans not really care who he upsets and put it right and I there will be a focus you know not in the qualifiers in November but there will be a focus in March because of what he said in the two friendlies ahead of the World Cup as to what the atmosphere is like and I'm pretty sure that there will be fewer paper airplanes there will be a genuine attempt for England fans to go and enjoy themselves and make a noise because what should be said is that the Wales fans you know I commented on this on Twitter and I had a lot of England fans say what do you expect it's a friendly like it doesn't matter well Wales fans and obviously away fans are always going to be more vociferous but they made an absolute racket for the whole second half and they were three nil down in a friendly so if they can do that what why can't we find a way even if it's to collect two three thousand England fans and stick them next to the away fans and then the rest of you know the 77 can be can be a family area just find a way to ensure that there is a part if you want to be a match going England fan and you want to go to Wembley you can be amongst like-minded people and and create a bit of an atmosphere choirs from the home counties that could happen does anybody i wanted this and we've done that we've done this like and every every outlet i've heard has done it or written it feel like slightly uncomfortable with the sort of narrative about jude bellingham being just a bad bloke and i feel there's like a lot of conjecture around it and i just wondered if anyone felt that was you know i mean he fine because the you know rumors are rumors but i what you think George because he spoke this weekend about his mental health and I would say that Drew Bellingham speaking about his mental health in the last week or so a it's obviously a very positive thing that a young footballer can feel like they can do that but secondly it's probably a bit of a message from everybody involved effectively to remind people that this is a young guy yes he might be a superstar and yes he might have the job that all of us would crave and yes he might have a bank balance that all of us can dream about but that doesn't change the fact that he is a human being where criticism and personal drives and assumptions about his character are going to hurt him and upset him and we as a nation we know that there are footballers in the past who have been treated in a certain way that has impacted their both their professional and personal lives in a negative way so no one really knows the truth and I would definitely say that not just with Bellingham but in any case we shouldn't be making assumptions about negative traits of personality and anything else about a player.

19:19I think it's very telling that Bellingham gave that interview and we should both read it and what it says, but also maybe between the lines too. I think there's two things going on here. I think there's one side whereby I agree with you, Max. I am a little bit uncomfortable with this narrative building around him that he's a troublemaker. From what I hear, the England players absolutely love him. He's not an issue with any of the England players in the camp. But there's this thing, I think, in the English kind of mentality of, we don't like people that are very confident. We don't like people that kind of go above their station.

19:50He's a very confident young man. He's very confident in his ability. He's very vocal about how much he wants to win. And we see that on the pitch. I think that that doesn't chime well with the way that the English like their footballers to be. He's not a humble guy. And I think, so what? The fact that we're members of the media and the press here, he doesn't do interviews with the media, is frustrating to me because I'd love to speak to him and sit him down and have a chat with him. I think he could be quite an interesting person. But if he doesn't want to do interviews, then he doesn't want to do interviews.

20:21That's just something that we have to just, we have to suck up. However, I do think there's a world in which Thomas Tuchel doesn't take him to the World Cup next year. I think he probably will, but it wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't part of that squad. Because if Thomas Tuchel, going back to my earlier point, feels that despite having this phenomenal talent in his team, actually isn't what he wants this team to be or to play. He's a great blancmange. And Thomas Tuchel is making a bolognese. Doesn't work. There you go. And both are delicious. But maybe what he wants to do isn't particularly correct.

20:54And just finally on Bellingham, I would say that I think the reason why Thomas Tuchel doesn't want him is because we're in this era of system managers. And it's a little bit similar to Bruno Fernandes. You've got this phenomenal talent that wants to do everything. We've all been to school with that guy at school that can get the ball from the goalkeeper, beat four players and score a goal. In systems, that doesn't really work. You need to know where your players are going to be. I remember the Euros being there last year. He'd be at left back sometimes. He'd be at right wing. He'd be centre mid.

21:22And I think that's because he knows he can get the ball and do something. But in a system, I'm not sure that, in fact, it doesn't work. And that might be the reason why, that lack of discipline, that might be the reason why, you know, I have this kind of nagging feeling that there could be an outside chance that he actually shocks the world and doesn't take him to America next year. Wales play Belgium tonight. A win could take them to the top of Group J after Belgium and North Macedonia drew 0-0 on Friday. North Macedonia top on 12 points. Belgium have 11 from 5. Wales 10 from 5. North Macedonia have played 6.

21:56Such an enormous game, Barry. Yeah, massive. I wonder how Ellis is feeling about it. On the day, this Wales side can be very good. We know how good Belgium can be. We know how bad Belgium can be. It's a hard one to call. I think Belgium probably should win, but it would not be a massive shock if they didn't. I was pretty concerned about the way the Wales certainly in the first half were on Thursday. Like, yeah, it's a friendly, but Craig Bellamy came out and spoke a lot before the game about how important it was for many reasons. Because it was England, because they had the Belgium game, because they needed to basically set the tone and that first half an hour was as poor a performance as I can really remember seeing live in terms of comparison to the opposition.

22:44England were able to cut through Wales at will whilst Wales were basically unable to get out of their half. And given the quality of the opposition in terms of individuals against Belgium is similar to England in many ways. Obviously important that they were better in the second half and they created a couple of chances and forced Pickford into a couple of saves. but they're going to have to be far, far better than they were on Thursday to get a result tonight. Hugh says, could the Faroe Islands possibly qualify for the World Cup? Pablo says, please discuss the Faroe Islands in which there are 7 ,500 men aged between 18 and 40.

23:20Produce a squad that's mathematically challenging for qualification. Is the Nations League growing fish out of minnows? It's their third win, Jordan, an unbelievable scene. Yeah, it was great. Some good finishes as well in this game. So really good goals in this particular game. And yes, that that jumped out to me is that the Emirates Stadium at full capacity has more people than the population of this nation. I love those sort of stats. And yeah, I think you're right, Max. I don't think they will do it. But I think this particular game, they had a momentary, celebratory 90 minutes to kind of get through there because they believe, you know.

24:01And if you don't have a belief in football, what do you have? Yeah, absolutely brilliant scenes, weren't they? Before we end part one, producer Ty has done some research. So it's the first time a producer has done research for the pod in decades. So I'm going to read it out regarding the people who've scored the most goals ever, if Erling Haaland is to catch them. Arthur Friedrichsreich from Brazil scored an unconfirmed 1 ,329 goals in 1 ,239 matches between 1909 and 1935. Lagos Tisci, Hungary, who played for Budapest Honved, excuse me, Wilson, for the pronunciation, scored 1 ,917 goals between 1953 and 1971.

24:43So, you know, he's got some work to do. That is based on research by the RecSport Soccer Statistics Foundation, the RSSSF. So thank you for doing all that work. And that'll do for part one, part two. and we'll begin with possibly Daishin and Ange out

25:05Welcome to part 2 of the Guardian Football Weekly from the BBC well-placed sources have indicated Sean Dyche is a candidate to replace Ange Postacoglu who took over from Nuno in September it's one of those sentences Barry that at the start of the season you can't write well, in October Sean Dyche will be the favourite to replace Ange at Forest but here we are So, yeah, it is ridiculous that Ange might get sacked after, what is it, seven games, several of which I think Forrest have played quite well in. But this is the world we live in now, or the football world, and it is a fact. I think he's only won one of the past 17 Premier League games.

25:50He's been a head coach of either Spurs or Forrest. so that is clearly not sustainable. His style is the polar opposite of Nuno's. Sean Dyche is kind of similar to Nuno, but not as good or not as effective. If I was a forest fan, I'm not sure how I'd feel about all this, but

26:21Dyche lives locally not that that matters but he's loyal number two Ian Wohan has got rich forest heritage he played under Brian Clough Steve Stone I think who's also on Dyche's coaching staff he has forest pedigree so the annuals appointment just looks like it's not going to work out They've got Chelsea next, and if he even makes it that far, if they lose that, which they probably will, one imagines he will be gone. He looks like a dead man walking.

27:02I mean, you'd imagine Dyche will probably keep them up, which already this early into the season, that'll be a win for Forest fans, I think. I can't think of that many occasions of a club making a succession of decisions to completely destroy something that had been built so well. Like it's to go from Nuno to Deich via Ange is one of the most crazy managerial successions I've ever heard in my life. You made it sound like, you know, you made it sound like, you know, you're driving from Cambridge to London via Glasgow. go what are you doing that for yeah that's basically it i can't understand the decision making when you appoint a manager like ang a surely you want to do it with some kind of pre-season like rather than right just after pre-season when the players who were successful under nuno have been drilled over the summer to continue playing that way and then you've got someone coming in saying right we're going to move up our defensive line 15 meters further forward we're going to complete twice as many passes and then when you do that surely you understand that there are going going to be teething issues it would be absolutely ridiculous for Ange to come in at the time he came in completely change the way that they're playing football and also in games of football at the same time I don't understand what Maranakis was expecting to happen but then just like six weeks after you go and appoint a guy to completely shift the playing style and change the playing ideology to then move on to someone who will take you kind of backwards behind where Nuno was in terms of playing style and and then when you consider that i don't think there are any there's probably any premier league club who if they were hiring nuno would sat nuno for dice the whole thing is even if and i'm a i'm a sean dice fan i think there's a fair chance he'll do an okay job there but even if he does an incredible job the process still absolutely stinks and i can't believe if i was a forest fan you'd be you know you'd be livid steven jarrod's ruled out the possibility of a return to Rangers.

29:05Danny Roll is in pole position, George. You obviously follow him a lot at Sheffield Wednesday. Good idea for Rangers? Good idea for Danny Roll? Is anyone, is taking the Rangers job a good idea for anyone? I don't know. I mean, I thought that it was a good job for Russell Martin to take, so I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask about this. But, I mean, Ryan is someone who, in his time at Sheffield Wednesday, has shown himself to be incredibly effective. And, you know, the job he did at Wednesday where he came in mid-season and took over a club that were effectively like they were already relegated after a disastrous appointment in the previous manager in Cisco Munoz.

29:42Even though it's a very different environment and different club, different league, there are massive similarities between the two jobs in terms of having to come in and immediately turn things around. So in that sense, I think it would be good. He's someone who definitely deserves a crack at a big job. He's someone who, when things were going well, was immensely popular at Sheffield Wednesday. but he's also quite an abrasive character too where I can imagine if things don't necessarily start well then with the passionate range of support there could be some issues there so it feels like it's a bit of a boom or bust appointment if it goes through it could be brilliant but at the same time if it goes badly it could be spectacular George could you give us a little pricey of the championship for us with your EFL hat on Coventry leading the way it's really interesting I think yeah it's really interesting Coventry look the kind of class team at this point they topped the league they have scored an absurd amount of goals their goal difference up to this point is already plus 20 which when you consider we're kind of in mid-October is a phenomenal stat but it all still feels very open Borough have started well under Rob Edwards the relegated teams haven't looked great Leicester, we still don't know what's happening as to whether or not they're going to get a points deduction but they've started the campaign pretty well under Martis Fuentes Ipswich haven't started of season too well but are slowly improving albeit helped by the fact that they're they're 1-0 down away at Blackburn Rovers down to 10 men in the 80th minute and the game is called off due to a waterlogged pitch and they get to replay it in December which as you can imagine has upset Blackburn Rovers fans quite a lot and there are a couple of teams who are struggling that we wouldn't necessarily have expected to struggle Norwich have just eight points from nine games so Liam Manning coming under some pressure after their Derby Day defeat in the in the old farm on the Sunday before the international break, losing 3-1 at Portman Road.

31:31Southampton and new manager Will still haven't really got going yet. 11 points from their nine games down in 17th. Birmingham, who started the season so well, now have only scored, I think, eight goals from their nine games on 12 points. So it feels like, you know, often we always say this, everyone always says the Championship's the most unpredictable league in the world. It absolutely isn't. I mean, it's much more unpredictable than the Premier League, but generally parachute payment teams do well and teams who have been recently promoted out of League One do badly. This season, it feels like it's way more open because the perceived good teams aren't necessarily as good as they normally are and you know Sheffield Wednesday are clearly a team in in a lot of trouble and we'll have to see what happens there in terms of if they can find a well if they can find somebody who can buy the club off off Chancery fingers crossed but if not what might come otherwise in terms of administration and points deductions and the rest of things but you know they picked up six points so far from their games and you know their their rivals Sheffield United are rooted to the bottom of the table but generally there's some of the poorer teams that we thought you know relegation favourites.

32:27Preston are I think fourth favourites relegation. They're currently sitting fourth on 16 points. QPR are in that vicinity and they're currently in sixth. So maybe this time it's true. Maybe this is the season where the Championship truly is unpredictable. Barry, what do you make of Jack Wilshere to Luton? I don't really have an opinion on it Max. Is that allowed? You're allowed an opinion? You can be completely indifferent. You can be indifferent to Jack Wilshere. If Jack Wilshere takes over as Luton head coach, he will do so with my very best wishes. Jordan? I'll just say briefly, as an Arsenal fan, it's good to see him getting his first managerial position.

33:03And Luton fans can correct me if I'm wrong here, but it feels like the sort of club that will give him a chance to really get his hands dirty there and, you know, put his imprint on that club and do some good work. So it feels on the surface like it's a good, that's a good first job for him to have. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, Luton are a club in League One who still get parachute payments. So as a manager, I think that's probably quite a good job to take. He also comes in in October when the expectation for promotion after a poor start to the season has dampened a little bit. And I think that's probably why Luton have gone down this road.