Szoboszlai’s rocket and Milner’s new milestone – Football Weekly

22:32Lars Sivertsen:Yeah, no, I mean, I am yes-ending Philippe a little bit because I swear to God, this rumour has been happening and I assumed it was made up, just because we know that this is something that can happen when agents are very keen to move a player and clearly Donnarumma had to go somewhere and that they just make up a rumor and make sure it keeps getting reported until an actual club comes in. That was kind of what I was thinking because honestly, it makes no sense. One of the first things Guardiola did when he took over at City was look at Joe Hart and say, you're a perfectly fine shot stopper, but you can't play with your feet.

23:06Lars Sivertsen:So off you go. And that is essentially what Luis Enrique is doing here. Like Luis Enrique is taking the political capital he's earned from winning the Champions League and he's spending that capital on getting rid of Donnarumma. I think there are a few PSG coaches who, if they went to the bosses and said, I want to get rid of this goalkeeper, the bosses would have said, tough. But actually, you know, Enrique now has the clout to make that kind of decision, and he's making it because, partially, in large part, because he wants a goalkeeper who can play with his feet. So for him then to go to Guardiola City is absurd.

23:37Lars Sivertsen:It's really, really weird. And it makes me really wonder, like, what are they doing now with the rebuild at City? It doesn't make any sense. You sounded like you said Guardiola City. Like it's a place. Can you imagine that sort of place? Everything is overthought. Everything is manic and overthought. Anyway, that is fascinating. We'll round up all the transfers on the pod tomorrow, by the way, but we'll try and get through the rest of the football before any transfers happen. And part two will begin at Old Trafford.

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25:47Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly live show. Still some tickets, brackets, the entire top tier available. September the 11th. People in the know have told me that, you know, since COVID, people buy their tickets in the final week. So rush to avoid disappointment. But already a good crowd in. So don't freak out if you have bought a ticket. It won't be just four of us chatting to one of you. But yeah, come on, be a hero. Fill the top tier. Barry, Jonathan Wilson, Nicky Bandini, Johnny Lou. Cameos from anyone we can grab. John Bruin is in negotiations with many others. Great halftime show.

26:26A video that I don't want to be made public, but I'm forced to agree can be part of proceedings too. Tickets purchased by heading to theguardian.com slash footballweeklylive. Live streaming it as well around the world. It's on my Instagram, even on Barry's Instagram now. I gave him a lesson on how to use Instagram yesterday. It was painful, but we got there. Anyway, please come along. It'll be lovely to see you. Let's go to Old Trafford, Man United 3, Burnley 2. Noz, did you have a nice time? I did, except there was a weird situation before the game where you had, for some reason, you had an Ed Sheeran lookalike wandering around the forecourt.

27:03I don't know what he was doing there or what the point was, but he was making himself very conspicuous. and lots of people were taking photos with him. I assume knowing that he's a lookalike, but who knows? The world of the lookalikes is very interesting, isn't it? It is. You're so beholden to how, you know, there are obviously lookalikes that suddenly, the person you're being suddenly gets arrested and you're like, oh, that's me done. Can we have a minute silence for Ryland's lookalike this week? Exactly. Now, look, I don't know how vital you think that penalty is. Scott Parker was like, you know, is it clear and obvious some bloke in a van?

27:39It's a great way of describing Stockley Park. I don't think it matters how big or small the van. The question is, what is Jaden Anthony doing pulling someone's shirt that late on, I think? But still, how big do you think that moment is for Ruben Amarin? I think it's massive simply because there's a scenario where United lose or even draw. And because we've got an international break and there's lots of time to overthink and think about your future, I was seriously worried that Amorim would walk. He's expressed previously that if he didn't feel that he was doing things right, if he felt as if he was failing the team or he didn't have the team on his side, the board weren't on his side or the fans weren't, he would walk without compensation.

28:23And I genuinely believe he's that kind of personality. So that was a major concern. But it's funny because even the Grimsby game, obviously incredibly embarrassing that United lost and even that it was such a competitive game but when it was 2-2 I honestly believe that if United had scored and won 3-2 it could have worked as a bounce like you hit in a day and then you bounce back up even a game like that where you obviously should have won and similarly against Burnley it can actually lead to something and again especially there's so much narrative that can happen before an international break that sort of there's a vacuum so people sort of talk a lot about the last game so I think this is a it could be an important moment and also it was a strange game because I genuinely believe that you can scrape a convincing win if that makes sense because in one respect you could think oh it's 3-2 against Burnley who were one of the favourites to go down and you won by a last minute penalty what's so good about that but I think Manchester United actually played really really well, made loads of chances.

29:32It was a really entertaining game. And yeah, should have scored at least three more goals. So yeah, and again, it goes back to this thing of, if we go back to the Liverpool-Arsenal game, there was a lot of talk, is Liverpool's defence really weak? Are they shipping too many goals? But in a way, Arsenal were the best team to play just because they were so reserved and play so within themselves. And in the same way that you think playing a relegation team would be easier, it's not. I knew that United would play well against Arsenal, and I was worried that United would play badly against or struggle against Burnley.

30:10So it was a big win for me, and I definitely saw reasons to be optimistic.

30:16Lars Sivertsen:Can I just, Noz, you phrase it like you were afraid Amorim would walk. Yeah. Is that a big fear at this point? Like, are you terrified? Like, what will we do without this great manager? Because I just kind of feel after we've had the preseason tour, where you had all the reports that, oh, my God, it's so positive. You know, everyone's so super happy. It's never been this good. And then you're three games into the tournament, and he's lost his head to the point where he nearly sacks himself on air. That just kind of makes me think he might not be cut out for this. And I'm going to make this point now when they've won the game rather than when they've lost, because I still think it's the case.

30:51I mean, it's absolutely a valid point. I suppose the thing with Amorim I think he's the right guy I think he's the right guy and essentially if he fails then I am incredibly worried about Manchester United because that just proves that that like it is literally cursed and everything is wrong and even a guy who came into sporting at a very similar moment where they were constantly failing were being crushed by their own reputation and he kind of cleared the decks and sort of created something from that, in a lot of ways, that's perfect for United now. And if he was to fail at United, and he still may, he will go on to be a great manager somewhere else.

31:34So in a sense, it's almost a meta thought. It's almost a thought of like, you've had all these managers who failed. And I genuinely believe Amorim is different. He believes in his system. He's got a good system that should work. He's a great sort of motivator. And if he fails, then that makes me incredibly worried about who can succeed.

31:57Philippe Auclair:Yeah, I'm really interested to hear that because I think this is the first time that I've heard somebody being convinced that the fact that he's a systems manager is something that can work to Manchester United's advantage. please tell us more because I have to say I'm struggling a little bit more to get my head around this when it looks as if a lot of the problems that Manchester United seems to have had on the field has been because he's been trying to hammer square pegs in round holes so you're telling me basically he hasn't hammered enough is that what you're telling us? He needs a bigger hammer he needs a bigger hammer yeah he does I mean the one big concern I do have with Amorim is the midfield and the way he is trying to hammer Bruno into that hole and again that's a concern because that almost it's a mirror of the way that Solskjaer had this team that worked and then he tried to bring Ronaldo into it and it all derailed because of that and I'm worried that it might derail for Amorim because of Bruno But in terms of Amorim and his system, players play lots of systems.

33:15I think the system is kind of over-exaggerated in terms of the failing. I genuinely still believe it's about the players. And we've had so many managers at Manchester United who have been pragmatists. And in a bad way, they've kind of looked at the tools they've got and they've thought, right, how can we get the best out of these players? and my belief is that the players have had the wrong attitude and have been the wrong profile of players to be at a club at Manchester United and they don't deserve that honour of building a team around them. So that's why I want the manager's beliefs and the manager's system to be the star and the focus and the players learn around that.

33:53And again, the frustrating thing about this season is if you look at the results, it looks bad. But there's been long periods of the season where we've played well, where the system has worked. where the players have been up for it and motivated. I don't think it's a coincidence that so many games this season, Manchester United have started well. I think practically every game they've started really well where the system has been implemented. And then it starts to unravel and then you kind of think, well, is that motivation? Is that sort of how strictly the players are sort of adhering to what they've been told?

34:25And then it starts to unravel and they stop sort of like fitting their role. So that's why, like, and again, like maybe this is me sort of like against or better judgment sort of trusting Cameron but I do see these signs of like when it's working it is working really well and again if you look at how many chances Manchester United create I think they're right up there in terms of XG of everyone in the Premier League and if you look at the goals that we've conceded every shot has gone in yeah but no but it's there's so many goalkeeper errors off the like I don't know is it six goals or whatever they've conceded like or seven like like four or five of them have been goalkeeper areas so you should have got done a rumour that's what you should have done well there are rumours you know emmy martinez didn't play yesterday by the time we finished recording you might have martinez yeah you do not sound a bit like i sounded last season talking about ang but like it's nice to believe it's nice to believe in something let's go to the city ground uh jim says is nuno trying to make the inevitable breakup easier by not beating this west ham side uh lars what a brilliant last six minutes for west ham crescencio somerville sort of spearheaded it, Darren Bowen, like that end of the game, Bowen was great Somerville was great, Callum Wilson was great and like West Ham, if anyone needed this, West Ham and Graham Potter needed this.

35:42Lars Sivertsen:Yeah I feel like that's almost a bigger story than Forrest and Nuno because just from the first two games this season you're thinking this is not going to end well is it for Potter at West Ham, it looked absolutely desperate and then of course you have to go to Forrest away and Forrest's home record is very very strong and you think this is going to be this is going to be bad. And they just kind of pulled this out of not much. I absolutely baffled that this went the way it did, to be honest. But you had Crescensio Somerville come on and make an impact. You had Callum Wilson make a real impact and looking sharp and maybe that being a super sub is a very good role for him.

36:20Lars Sivertsen:And I don't know. I didn't really see this coming. But speaking of systems, Potter's been playing a lot three at the back at West Ham, went to four, went to four at the back here and won a game. So that's interesting, isn't it? Yeah, I think it really is. I'm pleased for him because, you know, it's amazing how quickly you get written off. Maybe he's, you know, he's had quite a long time to be written off. I don't know, but it was big for him. I thought Somerville looked so good when he came on. Pakatar did a lot of, you know, people are calling me to sign me. I'm not interested. Throw away the phone, kiss the badge.

36:57wouldn't it be absolutely hilarious if he signed for Aston Villa this afternoon

37:02Lars Sivertsen:I do also want to I know I want to plug up Jared Bowen again who scores a goal and it's just is he the guy who is the most like trying to pull his own team up by the bootstraps currently in the Premier League I feel like he is like of all the guys he's he's the one who definitely could have been at a bigger and more successful club right now if he'd really pushed for that and if he really wanted that and and so much is on fire and or falling down around him and he is the guy who pretty much every game does something and and and tries to pretty much like on his own pull his team through it and it seems from the outside at least to be like a genuinely heroic character in in the story of west ham right now yeah it's lucky philippe isn't it that i mean he did play well calum wilson but that he wasn't in the marican art in 1984 just as john barnes finished that run and then just spooned one into the keeper.

37:56Philippe Auclair:I was wondering where you were going, but that's great. The fury of Bowen. I've watched it three times this morning and I still don't understand exactly what is going on in that brain of his. What is going on? What does he think? Or is he so surprised to see Bowen doing the John Barnes slalom in the box that, I'm sorry, mate, I'm dazzled. I can't move. What's going on? So who took the shot? in the end does Wilson get in the way is it both maybe I mean the striker's instinct you have to say to Kellen Wilson you know take the chance and then you know worry about it later but it would have been one of the greatest goals of all time you know it doesn't matter it's 3-0 it doesn't matter like just let him do it because the jinking run I mean it's better than Barnes Barnes just runs in a straight line Barnes is like you know Chris Marsden for Southampton against Ipswich I think do you know what it reminds me of it reminds me of do you remember that Michael Owen won the goal yeah he goes on that big long run and then if you notice at the end Paul Scholes wants to take the shot and Scholes is in a better position yeah just the thought of Scholes taking that and shanking it would be amazing this is from Name who says will you be getting a referee to join the pod because they seem to be the most important part of football right now we've done very well to get to 40 minutes in and not discuss them but to Stamford Bridge now Chelsea 2 Fulham 0 the pgmol have apologized to fulham referees chief howard webb got in there quickly to declare the decision made by michael salisbury the var and then rob jones to penalize rodrigo munez for treading on trevor chalaba before josh king scored his first ever premier league goal as a mistake he said the decision to rule out the goal did not reach the high bar of a var intervention it was not clear and obvious it was not a careless challenge it is such a big moment in that game Lars because if Fulham take the lead the whole thing is different on match of the day Danny Murphy said it was the worst VAR decision he had ever seen I don't know if that's true but it's pretty tough isn't it to take

40:04Lars Sivertsen:yeah I think the Liverpool one against Spurs was probably worse on balance but I think it's the most annoying VAR thing possibly because it's also it's a game that a lot of people are watching because it's being broadcast live in the UK. It's a local derby. It's Chelsea, which is maybe not a lot of neutral's favorite team, playing against Fulham, who are quite a sympathetic team. And then you have an academy kid score a great goal in a derby against a team not a lot of people like. So to have that ruled out for something that's also wrong, just emotionally, is that like a full house of things we don't want to see?

40:40Lars Sivertsen:It's so fantastically, spectacularly annoying. So I completely get that. I guess the only thing I have to declare an interest, like I'm Spurs, right? So I can't, last week Spurs go away to Man City and score a perfectly good goal that gets disallowed only for VAR to intervene and put it back on again. so for me to sit and say that VAR has ruined football and I hate it and it's the worst thing ever that would be very hypocritical because a week ago I was quite happy with it but but but clearly these decisions are infuriating and looking at the process of this it just occurs to me and if we can and if a referee if I'm wrong about this feel free referees to correct me I think the way VAR works now is that they look at the incident in the room and they spot an infringement that they believe is an infringement and then they call the reference say hey we believe that this has happened and we're recommending this decision will you go and look at the screen I don't like that process because I think then you're already putting a lot of pressure on the referee to agree with what the guy in the booth is saying I like the concept of VAR but in the sense that you can tell the referee hey you might want to look at the situation again there's something here where you think you might have missed but the second you go we believe it's this it that you then put a lot of social pressure onto the referee to agree with that and you don't really get it does feel too much like re-refereeing the thing because i do wonder what the referee on the day mr jones would have thought if just completely without context he was shown that situation is like do you think this is a foul you need to get involved with without someone saying in your ear that we think it's a foul but also philip it's got to this stage where 10 years ago i'd never have thought that was a foul but now i'm looking at it going i don't know anymore maybe Maybe that is a, I mean, I don't think it is a foul.

42:27Obviously, if you do that turn and your standing leg rakes down the whole shin of an opponent, then that is a foul. But like I'm sitting there going, I don't know. And I don't think it's a fault to say I just don't know anymore.

42:39Philippe Auclair:I think it's the point where, again, like you, I'm a bit, I don't know exactly what to think anymore because I was always told, including by referees, not all contacts are fouls and not all fouls have contact. You know, you can perfectly, the intent to injure a player is a foul for which you can actually get sent off. But if you accidentally and really accidentally in the midst of the action happen to tread on somebody's toes, come on, man, that can't be right. And I don't think anybody can disagree with that. The other thing I would add to what Lars has said about the process. What I also don't like is that the commentators are aware that the process is happening and are telling the viewers.

43:24it's not as if there was like a discreet by the way did you see this no i didn't well

43:29Philippe Auclair:an exchange which you know should happen all the time that's not a problem at all but the fact that it's also made public it's something we understand var is looking at this incident uh really why why is it important to uh to build it up as something which matters in the game although although philippe sorry sorry to interrupt although you know we are constantly complaining that we don't know what's happening. So if somebody is at least telling us what's happening, even though they're not telling people in the ground what's happening. We are complaining that we don't understand why a particular decision has been taken.

44:01Philippe Auclair:I don't think the fact that, you know, the referees are talking to each other all of the time. The linesman is talking to the ref, the men in the middle who are, they're talking to each other. I certainly hope so, because if they don't, they don't do their job. What I mean is that it's yet another way to put the referring on the scene and to make it an important part of the action when honestly, the less we hear about it, the better it would be. That's the thing. It's like it becomes a staged intervention. Oh, Vara said something. That's important. And when most of the time, it's not important at all.

44:35Philippe Auclair:But it was an absolutely shocking decision. And I can understand, I know some people are having a go at Marco Silva because he's very extrovert, shall we say, in the way that he manifests his dissatisfaction. But I think in this particular game, because we haven't got to the penalty decisions, he has every reason to be extremely annoyed with what happened. They could have, it's a huge game. For Fulham fans, it's the biggest game of the season. It is. If you can win at the bridge, my goodness, your season is a good one. Yeah, yeah, no, I totally agree with you. And look, we don't have time necessarily to talk about one of those handballs, which I hate as a law, but I think they may have got it right under the laws, but it is deeply frustrating.

45:17Nicholas Jackson, who knows where he is now, but he went to Munich. They said, come back, please, because de Lapp got injured. And so he's presumably, someone's looking at his flight tracker right now. Who's the representative? It's a former player. You weren't expecting, said planes don't go backwards, which is a great way of saying it. I mean, that is true.

45:37Lars Sivertsen:Unless they're on the ground and they're being towed out of the gate, then they go backwards. The whole flight reversing, you know, beep, beep, beep, back to London would be terrible. Let's go to Molyneux, Wolves 2, Everton 3. Look, Barry did relegate Everton. I spoke to him yesterday. He's now not really thinking that they're going to go down. That little pass, Noz, from Grealish to Dewsbury Hall and what I finished in the Jeff Hurst arc off the bar. They look quite good going forward, Everton. I think Everton have replaced Palace as my enjoyable watch any time they're on now, which I never thought I'd say about Everton and Demois but they're really fun to watch the point I'd make about Grealish is it makes me wish there was some way of limiting squads because there you've got a beautiful player an amazing player and he's showing at Everton and he showed at Villa what he could do and essentially he was hoarded at City amongst all these other players and I know why clubs have big squads because there's so many games and because it's not fair on the players and they're going to get burnt out But I hate the fact you've got the light of Chelsea, that they're hoarding all this talent.

46:43And that's fair enough for them. But we're missing out on watching these amazing players. We've essentially missed out on Grealish. We've missed out on this version of Grealish and it's a pity. Yeah. And actually, do you know what? It's such a cliche, Philippe, isn't it, to say, you know, it's so good to watch him enjoying his football because, you know, and being loved. Because we all want to be loved. And presumably most footballers love playing football well. But like, it's so visible with him, isn't it? You know, his relationship with fans. He's just so like, he doesn't, you really get the sense.

47:11He doesn't go, I'm on a different plane to anyone else. He's like just a bloke who happens to be brilliant and he loves it.

47:17Philippe Auclair:And it's totally infectious. You can see the effect it has on the others. And which is why I'm absolutely stunned because Noswood, your favourite team to watch, do you remember Everton's first game of the season? I wouldn't have said that. It was absolutely dire. Big David Moyes enthusiast. Oh my goodness. But now you think they've got Grealish. They've got the wonderful Ndiaye. I love that player. Absolutely love him to bits. And they've got Dukesbury Hall. So they've got a kind of very unlikely, unholy trinity of quite, I would say not misfits, but players who don't fit in the kind of normal mould.

47:59Philippe Auclair:But we seem to really enjoy playing with each other. And what is also, it's so infectious that even David Moyes seems to be enjoying it. Yeah. And Dibbling as well to come. Oh my gosh, yes. They will be fun. You're right. They will be fun. Appointment to view Everton. Who thought the day would ever come? Wolves the only side with nought points. Perhaps they are doomed. Strant Larsen wasn't playing. He was on his phone in a box. I think he was injured anyway. But maybe he'll be at Newcastle by the end of tomorrow. By the time he listens to this, we don't know. Disappointingly, part three will begin at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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49:54Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Tottenham 0 Bournemouth 1. Mark says, guess you'll probably mention Bournemouth tomorrow. Yes, a very angry Bournemouth fan because we didn't get to them last week. Charlie says, having won the league last week, is Thomas Frank now a fraud? Lars, look, you and I had a lot of Tottenham optimism going into this game. Let's save Tottenham for a second because Bournemouth were brilliant. Scored early, kept Spurs to nothing. Spurs didn't have a corner in the whole game. They didn't have a shot until the 68th minute. Bournemouth should have won this, I don't know, 3, 4, 5-0.

50:26Lars Sivertsen:Yeah, no, they were terrific. They were very energetic. they were very um this thing about almost embracing the chaos a little bit like they are under Irola a team that can put like nice passing moves together for sure but they don't try to hug the possession all the time they're they're perfectly happy to you know be a team that attacks quite directly they try to like win it in in good areas of the field and attack and then they do that really well and they just the Spurs just didn't have a sniff they were they weren't able to do anything and I think it's hard with apologies to the very angry Bournemouth fan I I think it is hard not to talk about Spurs in this game because Bournemouth didn't do anything we don't expect from them, really.

51:04Lars Sivertsen:I think this is what a good Bournemouth performance looks like, and we've seen many of those, and we've given them credit for that a lot. I think it's a bigger story that Spurs were complete trash after a very promising start to the season. Yeah, what's the answer to that? Because you watched the game and you think, well, at some point Thomas Frank, who is very known for changing things, will do something. He couldn't do anything in this game. I was a little surprised by the lineup because we've talked about how Thomas Frank, he's very pragmatic. He changes the plan according to who you're playing against.

51:36Lars Sivertsen:But here you're playing at home. And whilst Bournemouth are good and we respect Bournemouth and we have given them their due now. Please don't hurt me, angry Bournemouth fan. I was surprised to see the sort of against big scary teams midfield of Saar, Palina and Ben Tanker. Those are three very energetic guys, but none of them are very good at passing the ball forwards. In a game where you're kind of expecting to dominate possession and you need to pry open someone and you need to... But then the question is, who is that player now that Maddison is injured? I mean, that's what you're bringing in Xavi Simons for, I guess, to have a little bit more guile.

52:10Lars Sivertsen:But I thought Spurs improved when they got Bergwold on because then you have a midfielder who will transport the ball forwards in a meaningful way. What they've been doing is transfer window Spurs. They've already signed kudus and they keep signing more players who are good at dribbling more so than passing. and they've almost stumbled onto Xavi Simons, who is actually quite a good passer, but they were trying so hard to get guys who run with the ball rather than move the ball by passing. And it seems to be a plan now with Thomas Frank is that we're going to be quite defensively solid and we're going to get the ball to the dribbly boys and they're going to do the dribbly things.

52:42Lars Sivertsen:But I still think passing the ball is important and in this game they really, really struggle to move it forward and I think, yeah, I'm really hoping Simons is the answer to that. And actually you need a balance, right, Philippe? because Bournemouth have David Brooks, who can pass it all, played really well. Alex Scott, who I think is a great player as well. And Semenya, of course, can do everything, actually.

53:03Philippe Auclair:Yeah, and it's the directness which is remarkable and which actually showed in the numbers. Because if you look, Spurs had, again, two-thirds of the possession, actually more than that, nearly three-quarters of the possession. But Bournemouth outshot them by 20 to 5. 20. Yeah. This directness. It's a mixture of subtlety and silkiness because there are some very good technicians in this Bournemouth side, but as well, impact players, quick transitions, and people who run with the ball. I mean, Semenyo is, if you were to do an 11 of the most underrated players, though maybe not for long in the Premier League, I think it would probably, in that starting lineup.

53:44Lars Sivertsen:One more quick thing on Bournemouth, because I didn't do a good job praising them, did I really? I'm too annoyed about Spurs. They did in this game, I believe they had like 28 tackles. I've got the numbers in front of me now. And 28 is a big number. If you look so far in the Premier League, the highest sort of average tackles per game is Wolves, with 23. So like 28 is a lot. And it's interesting because when you look at the lineup, yeah, you look at Brooks, you look at Scott, you think of these as more as technical guys. But clearly, it's a team who are just really getting stuck in and again embracing the chaos in a way that's like they're always a good watch like i i would i would say to to noz and his newfound love of everton i'd probably rather watch bournemouth on a weekly basis as much fun as grealish and india are uh just for a team that is consistently fun to watch and produce interesting football games very good bournemouth yeah also mentioning as well that you know footballers have to do everything right we sort of say this guy attacks this guy defends this guy stands still but they all have to do everything that you have to do on a football pitch.

54:47Interesting stat that Tottenham haven't won the game before an international break since October 2023. That's a fascinating stat. To Villa Park. Palace unbeaten in six against Villa. They're unbeaten in their last 14 games across all competitions, Crystal Palace. Although, you know, I'm not really interested in stats that go across seasons. Another brilliant win for Palace, Noz. Yeah, and again, we talk about systems managers. Like, there's no somebody who has made that armour information work in the Premier League. The way they lose their best players each year and yet they find a way to still play their game, still look exciting, still have match winners.

55:27And you get the feeling that they will eventually lose Wharton, but they will be fine because they've got such a good manager and they do find solutions to the game. So, I mean, I was slightly surprised at the scoreline, but I don't know if that's just a blip for Villa or it's worrying signs, because you do get the sense with Emery that he needs, he kind of needs a constant rejuvenation of players and fresh players in. And obviously they've not been able to do that for financial reasons and financial rule reasons. And it doesn't bode well for the rest of the season, especially if rumours are true and they want Sancho, which I'm not sure he's the answer.

56:11Philippe, did you want to say something?

56:12Philippe Auclair:Yeah, just two things. First of all, I want to go back to Crystal Palace because I hear what Noz is saying, but I am worried for Palace. Because, yes, they've kept losing players like Wilfried Zaha. Remember when people said, you know, when Zaha's gone, that's it, they're finished. No. Michael Ollisay, same thing. Eze, same thing, though we don't know where the impact is going to be. Gehi might have been gone by the time you listen to that, guys. For me, it's a completely different situation to, for example, a Brighton, where this is part of the policy. In the case of Crystal Palace, this is not part of a policy.

56:48Philippe Auclair:This is part of a necessity, which is not the same thing at all. and you can hear that Glasner, who is quite clearly a very, very fine manager, is frustrated by what is going on. So I'm also wondering, okay, you've lost all these players over the last few years. You're going to lose a few more. You could also lose your manager, which is why I am not as confident. I wish I were because I do enjoy seeing them play with him, especially as a manager, but I think there's a problem. And for Eurston Villa, one of the things, yes, there is this phenomenon of, it's like a stone being polished by a torrent over time.

57:31Philippe Auclair:And there's a moment that the stone is completely smooth. And when it's smooth in football, it's not that great, to be honest. You want the angles, you want the sharpness and you lose that sharpness. But there is also the problem that there have been problems within the club because of PSR. And that Emery also has the feeling that his hats have been tied behind his back and that the recruitment is not what it should have been and so on and so forth. And that's not contributing to a very nice atmosphere, to say the least. Sunderland-Bretford, Lars, a lot of grappling in this game. This was the holding law at play.

58:09Lars Sivertsen:It seems to be, but I mean, what a great win for Sunderland. This stuff really matters. I mean, for the newly promoted teams to kind of get going and get some points on the board, it's super, super valuable. It was another game where, like we saw against West Ham, they're dangerous when they put crosses into the box, Sunderland, and they managed to get a win from there. and I want to reference a bit of a stat here from my very good friend Peter in Dallas who points out that this season's crop of promoted sides have combined 13 points after three rounds which is more than six times better than last season's promoted trio had they only had two points between them after the third round and Southampton of course only got 12 all season so 13 points already for the newly promoted teams which is heartening right it makes us feel that maybe there will be some kind of relegation battle uh this time yeah yeah totally delighted for them nice time for Isidore they have a baby and then uh play and score the winner in the 96th minute uh the next day but I do kind of agree with Keith Andrews I thought the I thought that I thought they should have had two penalties where Nathan Collins was rugby tackled twice and actually the penalty that Sunderland got wasn't quite as grapply but you know I I haven't lost any sleep over it uh Leeds nil Newcastle nil not a lot happened and we just have time Philippe for to talk about Jean Neves' hat-trick, which was unbelievable.

59:32Philippe Auclair:Oh, my goodness. It was incredible. So the game finished 6-3 to PSG, played in Toulouse, and you can imagine it was rather fun. It was even more fun than you can imagine with the 6-3 because PSG, and I know Lars and I were talking about this before the pod, they're becoming annoyingly entertaining and good. And they were so entertaining. At times, I could not believe it. there were six or seven PSG players not attacking in the box of Toulouse, in Toulouse. They were a kind of anti-Arteta machine, you know, that the way they were deployed. It was crazy, leaving loads of space open. They don't care.

1:00:14Philippe Auclair:They're going to score. And they scored, and Joao Neves scored probably, I think, I've been really thinking about it, the greatest ever hat-trick scored in French football, in French league football. I know it's not, strictly speaking, a hat-trick because it's not left foot, head and right foot. So thank you, old pedants, I know that. It's not a perfect hat-trick, it's still a hat-trick. It's still a hat-trick. The first one, he receives the ball after a bit of a kind of billiards, air-all billiards, if there is such a thing. The ball lands to him, it's his back to goal. he chests it in the save movement whack, overhead kick in the corner.

1:00:57Philippe Auclair:You think that's pretty good. Seven minutes later, after a clearer and better structured attack he receives the ball is back to goal he chests it and in one movement another overhead kick and even better than the first one. They're not chinners they're absolutely met with the power of the foot and meant everything. So you think, my goodness, two overhead kicks in seven minutes. One more to go. And the third goal for me is even better. And it's not an overhead kick. He receives the ball quite a long way from the Toulouse goal. And what he does is about 25 yards out, my favourite skill in football, he cuts across the ball with the outside of his right boot, catching it with the laces in such a way that he's imparting exactly the right amount of spin so that it ends up in the top corner.

1:01:56Philippe Auclair:I've never seen, you know, I've never seen a hat-trick like this one. Usually there's always one which is like, okay, from one yard out, a kind of nugent goal. But there wasn't in this particular occasion. And it was, I mean, Joanneves, what can you say? And PSG were just wonderful. The game was crazy. Penalty for Toulouse. I think it's I can't remember the name of the Toulouse player takes it Chevalier stops it and really good stop but there's been encroachment so the penalty has to be retaken and the penalty is retaken by Christian Caceres another player and Chevalier stops the penalty again it was that kind of game and then in the end Toulouse scored two goals within a single minute in added time I mean honestly guys I'm really pissed off that Ligue 1 is not really available in the UK anymore I mean which I think is a shame Tells you everything you need to know about the state of French football When it comes to broadcasting You have to use those special passes and so forth But it's not on one of the main broadcasters any longer Which is an absolute shame because Believe me this was the game of the weekend for me And the hat trick of the weekend And the hat trick of the year and probably the hat-trick of all of French football history, at least in the league.

1:03:18Perfect, Philippe. What a wonderful way to end. That will do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Lars. Thank you, Max. Cheers, Noz. See you. Thanks, Philippe. Thank you. Football Weekly is produced by Silas Gray. Our executive producer is Neil McVeigh. We'll be back tomorrow.

1:03:41This is The Guardian. I am in you. Me.