198th Manchester Derby, Chelsea’s Moment of Truth, Spurs–West Ham Misery, and Arsenal’s Title Pace: Big Weekend Preview 01/16/26

0:00You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network Suboptimal Radio.

0:11It's Friday and a whole Premier League weekend. The wonder lies ahead of us. Respect to the Premier League scriptwriters dropping their Manchester Derby episode on us while Manchester City are praying they can still cock a fist. Manchester United are praying they haven't fallen and can't get up. It's devious business. Plus, Deitch versus Arsenal. Royal Rumble. All Liam Resenia's vibes against reality and Jack Grealish and his thighs return to Aston Villa. What could possibly go wrong? We're living in blessed days, all that, and Chicago Bears glory. Hope and shattered hope to come. And to break it all down, on Big Weekend Preview, the shows that tells you all you need to know to enhance your viewing pleasure this weekend by answering your questions sent in via the link in the description below.

0:58It's a joy to welcome the AFCON of football minds. straight out of North Yorkshire, the Crown Prince. It's Mr. Rory Smith. I'm not sure given the standard of games in this year's AFCON that that's necessarily a compliment. Roar, we don't look for the football. We look for the delirious crowd scenes. I think we are expecting that very much on Sunday in that incredible final between Senegal. Please give us our best Everton players back. Oh, and the hosts, Morocco. But Roar, we're here to talk the Premier League and you're getting the Manchester Derby this weekend and I'm jealous. I am, yeah. It's a curious fit to the Manchester derby because whereas the Merseyside derby, the North London derby, they're passionate, they're fire, they're kind of fervour and wildness.

1:41The Manchester derby is all of those things, but no one's quite sure if they're on the right side anymore. Because for so long, City were the underdogs and United, this sort of unassailable titan. And now those roles are reversed and we're still not quite used to it. We will break down this game in just one moment. But quick plug before we do, we have interviews with Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, new up over the past two days. And today, an incredible conversation with Golden Globe winner, Wagner Moura, Narcos Pablo Escobar, sad meme, star of the quite majestic secret agent who is football mad. I love being with him.

2:20It's up on our YouTube right now. But let's dive in to question number uno. Hey, Rog. Jake from El Paso, Manchester United fan. If we lose to City this weekend, who will be the new, new, new interim manager at United? God bless Jake in that incredible city of El Paso, which I think is number one on my list in terms of cities I've never been to that I would most love to go to. Maybe we could go and do a live show there, Roar. But as Michael Carrick takes over at Manchester United, The weekend starts off with, as I said up top, really the wicked chaos of the 198th Manchester derby at Old Trafford, Saturday, 7.30am Eastern Time on USA.

3:03Manchester United once again delve into their big bag of fading musty glory, tap into their DNA. Welcome back, carrot. And we'll learn if there's such a thing as the interim to the interim bounce. Really reminds me all of it, of the office joke with Dwight Schrute demanding that he's the assistant regional manager, not the assistant to the regional manager. But United have deeper problems than just job titles. Carrick, familiar face, 464 appearances for United, five Premier League titles, a Champions League during that time, former club captain, middling managing career, I think it's fair to say.

3:39A 46 % win rate as Middlesbrough manager in the championship. It's his job for now to the end of the season. He's the Manchester reality that we glom onto. But Raw, before we kind of adjust to that, just being the new norm, the new fixture, the new face, I do want to be honest. I don't know how it's been for you, but the United front office debate between Carrick or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, both lovely human beings, but just the lack of ambition, the lack of planning, the kind of confusion, the mist that's descended upon the club. I just feel a sadness, an embarrassment. It's like seeing an old person kind of fumble for lost coins on the floor.

4:20What do you feel? How do you understand it? And what's success for Michael Carrick in this salvage mission? Yeah, I'm a little bit different, Roger. I think in the circumstances, I don't think appointing Carrick is a terrible idea. I think most clubs in that situation would probably return to a former player, someone who's a little bit of a kind of palliative to the fans, someone who makes everyone feel a little bit better, who connects you to a golden past. For a six-month gig and then appoint someone permanently in the summer, I think there is a logic there. It's Manchester United, so it feels like nostalgia and romanticism, but I do think it's a logic.

4:58And to be honest, I always thought Carrick was quite a good manager. I thought he did well at Middlesbrough. You've got to remember that that is not a club that has tons of resources. And he turned them into a team that was competing for promotion, which was an improvement on where they were. There was certainly a point where he kind of looked quite promising, to be honest, Carrick. I think the bigger issue is that you now worry if United are at the start of this cycle again, where maybe he gets them in the Champions League. Maybe fifth place gets you Champions League this season. Maybe they win a few games in March, April, and the club starts to feel like itself again.

5:30and at that point they give Michael, or they feel the pressure to give Michael Carrick the job full-time. They feel the noise of 100 former Man United players in the media saying, it's got to be Michael Carrick, Michael's at the wheel, give him a blank checkbook. How big's the statue going to be and where's he going to go? And that is the problem that United fans have had for so long, that they keep getting themselves caught in this cycle where they're not making rational decisions, they're not making kind of emotionless decisions, they're not doing what's best in the long term. they're reflective, knee-jerk, emotion-driven.

6:03And I think it will be a test. If Carrick does well, or does quite well even, it will be a test of this new sort of minority ownership of Ineos and Jim Ratcliffe, his regime, Omar Barada, Jason Wilcox, of how much they can resist that siren call of the past, Rog. 17 games to perform, essentially triage, qualify for the Champions League, as you say. If I were Michael Carrick, I'd honestly be tempted to pick myself in midfield for United. First step could not be harder. Pep Guardiola's boys who are trying to almost re-energise their title charge. We are recency bias. The tip one whoop-ass in the FA Cup which kind of masks the dank truth of three straight damp squib league draws before that.

6:48City are currently six points behind Arsenal. I spoke to Phil Foden this week. Actually quite fascinating. This is my man who's won the title. Is it six times already? he's only 25 it's kind of an incredible sterling career he's seen fire he's seen rain also in that time even he talked about the extra pressure he feels going onto the field right now because of the drop points and that need just to basically stay in touch with Arsenal obviously I don't focus too much on Arsenal what they're doing but you do start thinking about the league and thinking every game we're playing now could cost us the league there's that extra pressure we know now going into the next game it's a must win game because we've had a few draws now so So when I come back off the back of that and try and get back to winning wins.

7:33Whole interview, Wilfield Foden is up on YouTube. But raw, Foden said this is the moment in the season when he starts to look at the table and take things very, very seriously. City suddenly have Anton Semenya, who looks, by the way, and plays as if he's been at Manchester City for years. Two goals in his first two games. Erling Haaland in the middle, hungry after going scoreless in his last six, which is forever in his terms. And Doko, that front line, that front three, I mean, I would say demigod. I'd say demigods would quake to face it. As we pod news, Mark Gahey is incoming. Just a complete refashioning of that squad over the last 12 months for Pep Guardiola.

8:18But still, we have to ask, what is the real City? Because I am old enough to remember Raw. Was it three seasons ago? City were the exact number of points behind Arsenal they are now in this exact moment with the exact same number of games played. And they ended up strolling the title by five points. Yeah, and that would be the threat. That would be the fear for Arsenal, I think, that City do feel as though they could have that sort of run in them. But to be honest, Rog, we've not seen it. And I know that there's a lot of excitement around Semenya and he's been brilliant in those first two games.

8:49Those first two games, neither of them in the Premier League. And Gei is the best available defender. I saw him described as today. He is the best defender they could have feasibly gone and signed. By the way, that's a Liverpool fan saying, yeah, just the best available defender. He's a phenomenal footballer. He's an incredible leader. He is, and he's obviously an extra kind of high-quality player to go into that squad. I'm just not that convinced they needed him, Rog, particularly, to be perfectly honest. They do appear to be trying to build some sort of super squad. They spent, what is it,$600 million in a year.

9:21If I was a bit more cynical, I'd be saying they're building a side to make sure that Pep Guardiola gets a golden farewell. That's what it looks like to me. And perhaps even starting to kind of retool for the post-Guardiola future. But the reality is their last three Premier League games, as you say, were draws. They've allowed Arsenal to slip clear. They had the chance over Christmas and the new year to kind of put the pressure on, to make Arsenal panic a little bit, to bring back all those ghosts of a few years ago. And they haven't done it. so you wonder whether City at the moment are still a little bit more potential than reality so tie this up for us Roar you're going to be there tomorrow morning early doors what kind of game should we expect?

10:01I think Manchester City will absolutely play Manchester United off the park they will embarrass them they'll play a level of football that United can't reach and United will win 2-1 as always the one thing all the derbies have in common is that they exist in their own ecosystem. By the way, quick word. In terms of the Mark Gahey move, it is a dark day for Palace fans. Also today, Oliver Glasner has announced he's going to leave at the end of the season. He said in his press conference, I told Steve Parrish, the club chairman, I'm looking for a new challenge. I ate for Palace fans. Was it just 244 days ago you won the FA Cup with Eze and Gahey and Glasner and a Europa League journey to come.

10:48We know how that panned out. All I can say is savor every single second of happiness while you have it, because football is a brutal truth. And talking about brutal truths quickly, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your response to the news of my new book, We Are the World Cup, a personal history of the world's greatest sporting event. I'd love it if you'd take a quick second to do two things. First, go to our website, add the link below and read the introduction to the book so you get a sense of what it's all about. It's taken me four years to write. And if you listen to this show, you're exactly the human being I wrote it for.

11:24Then take a moment to do something completely counterintuitive, which is pre-order a copy now. It is crazy how the book industry works. Pre-orders make or break a book. So if we've given you any joy and you can find it in your heart to thank us, this would be the way. Buy a copy at an indie bookstore. And if you do upload your receipt at the landing page at the link, I will send you a signed book plate into your loving hands as soon as possible. Spread the word. I'm so grateful. Support your local indies. Keep sending your best indies to us at meninblazers at gmail.com. And thanks to our friends at KEXP in Seattle who sent this gorgeous, gorgeous sweatshirt after we visited there on our latest trip.

12:05We love you in that city. Next question. Hey, Raj. Anna from Glendale, Arsenal supporter. Last season, we drew at City Ground. Seems like we've been able to handle teams we dropped points to last season. This will be three points, right? Anna from the Jewel City. Your boys head to Nottingham Forest Saturday, 12.30pm Eastern Time on NBC. At the moment, it feels that everything Arsenal is coming up joyous. Winning, Jocarez scoring a goal. Mikel Arteta even winning semi-final games. an act which has been his bet noir so far, and your fans finding new creative ways to taunt Thomas Frank and his coffee cup along the way.

12:49The boys are on a bender. Thomas Frank is a silver member. Arsenal boys are on a bender. Thomas Frank is a silver member. We'll talk about Thomas Frank, God bless, in just one moment. But this game, it's almost a Xerox of a Xerox of a Xerox of what it is last season. And indeed, of seasons yore, you think about a Deitch team, classically, almost revel in bullying Arsenal into a very, very dark place. But Arteta's Arsenal this season, they physically fear no one. Even though Sean Deitch will have spent all week, you kind of imagine him raw, just tying up his huge defenders at the back and making them sit deep in a line, lads.

13:29Milenkovic, what's your name? Murillo, you big boys, I'm calling you. I mean, this rumble, it does remind me, I used to watch a lot of wrestling in the 90s. It does feel like a heavyweight tag team wonder. Every corner is going to be magnificent pandemonium to witness. Is there any part of you, though, Raw, Anna's question, that can see anything but Arsenal three points this weekend? Yeah, I can see why Anna's worried, to be honest, because Forrest, on paper, are good. They absolutely should not be where they are on the table. they have under Deitch produced some really good performances and occasionally you sort of see them and you think this is a team that's got Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson and Murillo and Milenkovic and all these excellent players and that was in Champions League contention until really late last season.

14:15And then you see them play Everton and you think, well, what? How's that happened? Steady. So I think, no, I'm poaching fun at Forest's unpredictability rather than Everton. I think there is reason to be concerned but as Anna says they had this run over Christmas and the new year of games in which they dropped points last season in Arsenal and they have come through all of them with one exception against noble plucky underdogs Liverpool where they repeated the result from last season but they beat Villa which was a real banana skin they beat Bournemouth they look like they have the confidence the self-belief to go to these places and get results so I think it will be tough and I think it will be edgy but I do think they will win I actually had the pleasure of speaking to Durian Timber this week about how Arsenal's backline don't just want to win, they want clean sheets.

15:04Their mentality, that collective mentality, that focus, honestly really fascinating to listen to, to learn from. That drops next Tuesday. Next question comes from our Discord roar. I will say Men in Blazers Discord, my favourite place to react to and live every single Premier League game. The stoppage time heroics, the Anthony Gordon haircut, even savour every single long throw. That's why we watch in real time with like-minded football-loving souls like yourself. It's been a revelation in the way I watch football. It reminds me of Twitter in the good early days. I'm going to be in there tomorrow at 9.30 doing an AMA.

15:43You can sign up to join other listeners. The link is in the chat below. Here's the question for you, Raw, from Rob Burnley fan, who says, Chelsea have been particularly yellow cardy for a while. I love that, yellow cardy. Even under the new manager today in the Cup of the Cup, what makes a team yellow cardy? Because as a Burnley fan, I remember that even though Deitch, getting a lot of air today, shorty, even though Deitch's style puts the B back in subtle, Burnley were the least carded team in the league. That's interesting. Raw, what a question. Has Chelsea girded their loins to face Brentford?

16:19Saturday, 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Peacock. than the long shot Liam Resenia faces up to the long throw in the West London derby. Chelsea are a strange beast. They're both, to use your term, crazy cardi, and they're also unable or unwilling to have the physicality to resist or defend long throws. We saw that in Bournemouth when Anton Semenyo just caused absolute carnage December 30th game. Why are Chelsea on the league leading seven red cards this season? Is it inexperience? Is it ill-discipline? Is it tactics on the edge kind of football? And what, if anything, do you think Aura Farmer, Liam Vecini, will do with it?

16:56Yeah, I suppose the age has to be part of it, doesn't it? It is the youngest team in the league pretty regularly. And that feels like, all right, correlation is not causation, but that feels like it's probably not unrelated. I think ill-discipline maybe comes into it slightly, that they haven't necessarily been able to control their frustrations at times. I'd have to check the stats on Burnley. but I do think I do think it's fair to say that like underdog teams have a little bit more leeway than overdog teams when it comes to refereeing decisions I think that they are often not just Burnley but allowed a little bit more free reign when they're up against some of the elite I think referees do give them an allowance maybe for the financial gap that they have to overcome but the main thing with Chelsea to be honest it's tactical the reason you pick up a lot of yellow cards in the Premier League nowadays is if you're committing those sly little tactical fouls to stop counterattacks.

17:53So to me, it would indicate the main thing with Chelsea, because I don't think they've got a load of brutish players. I think it's probably they're quite often open on the counter and someone has to take emergency action to stop them conceding. I just think this is going to be a fascinating game for Rosinha, Roar. I mean, won the FA Cup game last weekend. Glorious! He's going to be amazing! But Charlton, then lost the Carabao semifinal midweek. But Arsenal lose here. You kind of think his lack of experience is going to flip him upside down quicker than he'd like. I will say, you know, this footage that's coming out of his fairly unwise decisions in the past, the gone film with kind of David Brentes management quips like this, really doesn't help at all.

18:39In English, manage, if you split the two words, it's man, age. You're ageing men. Roar, I mean, this is bizarre to say. It's his first league game, but is it kind of must-win? It's maybe not must-win, but I think it will go a long way to defining the tone of Resenia's early tenure. That's the importance of a game like this, because it is, as you say, almost their first real test. Charlton doesn't count because they're too low. Arsenal don't count because they're too high and it's in the Carabao Cup. this is basically a standard Premier League game alright it's a West London derby but it's a standard Premier League game I think the Chelsea fans will definitely need to see some sort of improvement some sort of excitement some kind of sense that this is going to be different to Maresca because as much as Resenia seems smart and bright and all those things that we've said Rog those kind of Brentian quotes as they're seen here they don't play very well in Britain there is a core of football fandom that just doesn't like that stuff.

19:40I mean, it's high risk, high reward. It really is. And you can see why he's said it. And I think if you're working in a foreign language, in a foreign country, maybe it feels slightly different. But yeah, it's the sort of stuff that will be held against them if things go wrong. There's an article this morning about his training in the Daily Mail where they wrote about how he intentionally doesn't wear gloves so the players will hear him clapping. And he's just like, somebody has briefed the journalist on that. That has been, I mean, you know how articles work. I mean, it is just, I will say again, all of this, if he wins, it will be, every coach will never wear gloves again.

20:19That's how football works. And if he doesn't, my Lord, this is, he's in a canoe that could flip very, very badly in one second. Godspeed, Liam.

20:32Next question. Hey, Rog, this is John from New York, Tottenham supporter. Next week, I'm actually attending the Tottenham-Dortmund Champions League game, and I'm doing so on my honeymoon because I'm getting married on Saturday, and my wife-to-be was crazy enough to sign up for that. Timing-wise, could be a little bit better for Tottenham. I think the booing might be starting to kind of go over the line of being unproductive, and now after like Van De Ven had that spat with a fan and stuff came out of he doesn't want to renew his contract. I'm just starting to think the booing's becoming a little too much and like not as helpful as fans think it is.

21:17Just curious what your thoughts are on that. John, I want to say I hate for Spurs fans, but first of all, I'm so happy for you and your wife. I think you will find love and happiness eternally if she's indulging your Spurs on honeymoon. Send me photos, man, of you of that game. That is joyous to weave in memories of something you love into a life moment that is so powerful. But you're Tottenham. Welcome, West Ham. Saturday, 10 a.m. Eastern time on Peacock. A London derby is cut from trauma and teardrops, self-inflicted sorrow. West Ham have lost five of the last six games. Almost incomprehensible by the way how the hammers have fallen so fast.

21:57I'm old enough to remember, oh, European wonder. Declan Rice, David Moyes. Nothing can stop us now. But the question is about Spurs. And poor, poor Thomas Frank. I am pro Tommy. I'm a Frankian, if you will. I love him. He's smart. He's empathetic. I hate for him. I do think he's a lightning rod for almost profound systemic rock, that is prolonged. I mean, this is amazing. Spurs have signed plucky Connor Gallagher. God bless him. A real fireplug of a player, but not the creative mind they ate for. Irrespective, he's the 50th player to sign since Mauricio Pochettino was sacked. Spurs have spent close to$1.3 billion, which is more than Arsenal and Liverpool in that time, with any of the, what's it called?

22:44The happiness and the prolonged winning rule. I mean, it is really, really remarkable. That's what we're seeing. It's a product of so many things, isn't it? It's like football, high ticket prices, so fans expect entertainment. fans that do expect more social media now is just one prolonged booing. We're kind of carrying that crap into real life. And while Thomas Frank is lost and it feels like there is a vacuum, but no one will fire him and bring an end, nature abhors a vacuum. And so it's filled with the sound of booing raw. And it's just how our crappy life works now, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, I think you can make a case that not that many teams in the Premier League are actually having a nice time, despite all of the money and despite all of the glamour and all the success.

23:26it's really interesting that so few teams, there are a handful, but so few of them are enjoying it. And Tottenham, to me, are, I think, maybe the most interestingly poised club in England. This game has been sort of dressed up here as El Saccico, the misery derby, because Spurs and West Ham are both utterly beleated at this point. But for Spurs, I think it comes from a position of pressure where you have this massive stadium, you have this huge outlay on players you have this like endless procession of quite glamorous and very talented managers who are coming in and yet nothing seems to work and to me at least part of it is because Spurs are almost uniquely pressurised by their kind of status because they have all of the accoutrements of an elite team but there are five teams in England who have more money than they do All of the accoutrements of an elite team without the Chex Notes elite team thought Well, exactly, because you can't be Spurs and build the same team as Manchester City.

24:25It's not possible. You don't have access to that quality of player. You can't quite run the wage bill that Liverpool have. You can't rely on the history of Manchester United or the endless number of footballers you're able to sign if you're Chelsea. And so I think that the entire stadium, the entire broader fan base is kind of preconditioned taboo. And at some point, look, Frank and I like Thomas Frank as much as you do, is going to be a victim of that. Thomas Frank will do really well to recover from where he is. But whoever follows him will have exactly the same problem. And I don't quite know how you break the cycle.

25:00I love your analysis, though. They can't be Chelsea. They can't be City. They can't be United. They can't be Liverpool. Find your own kink, Tottenham Hotspur. Get on with it, would you? God, I really do pray for Spurs this weekend. This game shouldn't have commentary. It should just be played to the sound of Johnny Cash's hurt. what a game. No one wins. Everyone loses. I do pray Spurs win because I ache for poor Tommy Frank. I really do. OK, Roar, one more quick hit. And it's almost as if this gentleman was listening to your last answer. Hello, Rog. It's Frank from Kennebunk, Maine. Crystal Palace supporter.

25:38I had called you from Wembley last May when Palace won the FA Cup. I was in a very good mood, as you might imagine. And I thought it would be important that I man up and call after the humiliating and embarrassing defeat at Macclesfield this past weekend. It occurred to me in my state of sadness that about 80 % of all UK football fans exist in a place of sadness at any one time, and very few are happy. And so my question to you is this, out of the six teams that did get bounced out of the FA Cup, Everton, Palace, Bournemouth, Spurs, Man U, Nottingham Forest, which of those clubs do you think have the best chance of giving their supporters some happiness this weekend.

26:20Courage. Roar, I love this framing. Frank, you beautiful man, and I feel your pain. 80 % of all UK football fans exist in a place of sadness at any one time and very few are happy. Why do we do this again? As you said that to Vagnamora, who supports like the Everton of Brazil, Vittoria, why do we do it again? I actually, just to answer your question very succinctly, I think all of those teams that you just named are going to lose this weekend. So, Roar, is there one thing you want to tell us about that you are actually looking forward to this weekend? I mean, just the booing, Rog. Just loads of booing.