Arsenal Crash Out, Slot Under Pressure, and FA Cup Chaos: Men in Blazers 04/06/26

27:10It is the ghost that they are facing. In moments of panic, you do face your ghost. And by the way, they're all facing their ghost. Max Downwind is probably just in that locker room just lighting his farts and thinking about what it would take for him to be able to meet Central Sea, like whatever any 60, whatever fills the head of 60. He's sitting there on Roblox and he doesn't know what's going on. He's just like, all right, lads, what's the stress, man? I mean, that spirit, by the way, that is the spirit of teenage kick fearlessness that they need to channel. Once again, well-played Southampton, currently now on a 15-game unbeaten streak across all comps.

27:49Huge props to their manager, Eckert. Not lost since mid-January. That's why his team had the ability to score late. He said, why? Resilience and belief. I think you need to live that every single day. That's actually words, a spirit that you should try and bring to your life, listener, never mind football, but it's certainly one that Arsenal need to bring in, that Southampton will now bring against Manchester City in the semi-final at Wembley. Talking quickly of resilience and belief, we're heading to a city that embodies both of those qualities. Oh, Philadelphia, we're coming to you Tuesday, May 12th.

28:23We'll be live on stage in Philadelphia, presented by Verizon. World Cup will be less than a month away. Come be with us, come and raise a beer, come and commune with those who love football in America. Tickets available right now at the link in the show notes. Come be with us. Talking about human beings who I believe would love Jim South Street, Mr Pep Guardiola. Here's Manchester City for Liverpool Football Club 0. I take no joy in this roar. You were there. This was on a slots redemption tour. That's what it felt like coming in. Really the last remaining realistic chance of silverware for your Dutch god with clay feet.

29:01barring a miracle in the Champions League. You've got five massive games stuffed into the next 16 days. What did it feel like for you as an objective journalist? Yes, but as a true Liverpool fan before the game, was there a sliver of her wear? Was there a belief? Do you know what's really annoying, Rog? No, there wasn't. I walked into the Etihad thinking this is a relatively easy get-in, get-out job. I expected Manchester City to win. I didn't think Liverpool stood a hope. and to be honest I was kind of at one with that I had kind of genuinely and I'm lucky I suppose because on those occasions I'm going to work so I can kind of put my work head on and just think I've got to think of something to write and then I'll go home and see my kids and I might be back in time to catch the start of the Southampton Arsenal game that was my mentality going in and what was really deeply irritating was that for the first 38 minutes Liverpool played quite well And I was sat there thinking, after 38 minutes, this has gone much better than I expected.

30:05I can suddenly see a way in which... I'm no longer just here for work. You've hooked me in again. And I was starting to think, could they get it to 90 minutes and maybe win on penalties? Maybe could they nick one? Oh, bless. They'd had the better chances in the first 35 minutes. They were looking dangerous. They looked well organised. By the way, this is the same as every US game in the last international window. Sweet, sweet, raw. I love this. Arsenal fans have the cognitive dissonance of, yeah, we're not going to do it. You've got the cognitive dissonance of, I'm here for work. I'm not here to believe.

30:34I'm not here to get hurt again. Because you knew you were going up against Pep Guardiola, who, by the way, takes the FA Cup seriously. It's one of the many quirk Pep. He's made the last seven semifinals, lost the last two finals, and with rumours of his own imminent departure rumbling. This was really tenure-defining for both men, Arna and Pep. I think it's close to two bald men fighting over a coma as football will ever provide. And the game opened. You're right, it was cut and thrust. Liverpool sprightly through Wurtz and Eketike in the early exchanges. City trying to impose themselves through possession and press.

31:09By the way, one of the most fascinating storylines, I need to hear how you felt. Pep Guardiola was suspended, yellow card accumulation. So he was up in the stands with his daughter. So it was his assistant, Pep Linders, on the sideline. Six years he was an assistant to Jurgen Klopp at Anfield. What was it like for you to watch Pep Linders go against you? At Footberry said in the Men In Blazers Discord, it's the Liverpool Linders press being used against us. Oh, Liverpool, let's go and lose to our own tactic. It was odd seeing Pep Linders in the Man City dugout. It was very heated. Arna Slott seemed to have arrived in quite a grumpy mood.

31:47And Pep Linders is quite expressive on the touchline. And where the journalists sit at the Etihad, the managers are right in front of us. and they had two or three very kind of full and frank exchanges of views in Dutch I assume obviously both being Dutch both speaking Dutch that there is no option other than them both speaking their minds all of the time but it was a little bit unusual yeah it was unusual to think well that's the guy who worked with so many of those players for so long and as you say he did seem to be doing things that Liverpool maybe should have recognised to them for most of the game Yeah Liverpool had too many of their own things going on to be thinking about Manchester City The other big storyline, this was Mo Salah's last dance.

32:26Started for the first time since announcing he'd leave the club at the end of the season. We'll talk about that big picture in one moment. But 40 minutes in, it was Mo springing directly from a goal kick. Burstu outpacing Kuzinov, pulled back his foot to shoot. But the Uzbeki, this is remarkable, had time to fall over, get up again. So Mo still got a toe back to the ball, the second most shot. the ball went out for quite the most humiliating thing in football the shot that ends up going out for a throw-in we'll get back to Mo in a second but that game settled in not a knock on the quality of the match rule but really just the sense of the occasion in that first half I just kept feeling like an ache and nostalgia for Pep Klopp era City Liverpool for what we had back then two heavyweights going at it like Godzilla and Kong I think the Germans have a word for it It's like zensucht or something like that, which means like a yearning.

33:21When part of your life feels imperfect for former, more perfect experiences. Here, the football was fine, but just the sense of the stakes, it felt so much lesser. Yeah, one of the things I'd written down that never made it to the light of day, it's no great loss that, Roger, there's many, many thoughts that have gone that way, was that it did feel a bit like a kind of tribute act to itself as a game. it wasn't, it's Man City Liverpool so you kind of expect one thing and then obviously Liverpool have got their troubles this season, obviously Liverpool are a pale shadow of what they were last year and in the Klopp era, but I think the same is true of City as well that City are not quite as imposing, they're not quite as breathtaking to watch they don't have as much control, they look like a team that is a year ahead of Liverpool in a fairly substantial transition and if you look through the teams that's what's happening that it's not just Salah leaving, Bernardo Silva's leaving Manchester City in the summer.

34:15Rodri might leave Manchester City in the summer. As you say, Guardiola might leave Manchester City in the summer. They both look like teams that are going through some stuff. It's just that City are a bit further ahead in that process. Yeah, and God bless. That's ultimately what edged this game. City had a penalty not given earlier in the half, I think correctly. But on 37 minutes, Nico Reilly, he had the Nico Reilly Carabao Cup final. He had the full-back who lives to crop up in central positions where you don't expect him span into the box. God bless old Virg leapt in quite unwisely. Another dank moment in a long, long season.

34:52I think it's his fourth penalty conceded this season. I think he conceded four. Exact same number in his previous 319 appearances for the club. And upstepped Erling Haaland to face Marmash Feely. Saved an Erling penalty back in November. But the Roamilt lobbyist, just five goals in his last 20, rolled it home made flippy floppy in celebration Raw 31st goal of the season all comps just about Erling rumours of his demise greatly exaggerated Yeah it's incredible that he's only scored I think six goals this year that might have been his sixth goal this year this calendar year which makes you think oh he's having quite a poor season but as you say that was goal number 31 of the campaign so he has tailed off there's no point pretending that he hasn't he's had by his standards a relatively kind of fallow winter and spring.

35:42But the numbers are still astonishing with Haaland. And the numbers got even more astonishing. Spoiler alert. Because we asked ourselves, how would Liverpool react? Remember, this was a club who last season, they often leaped first when they won the title, but they roared back. This season, 17 times they've leaped first, but they've come back only two times. The tenacity of last season has been replaced by a timidity. They are. this game was like watching the US and the international make great first 30 minutes but then completely burning off after leaking Liverpool's defence just carved open again and again and again Cherky, Semenyo their chemistry, clip ball from Semenyo for the second, chef's kiss, Haaland thunderous like an Anthony Edwards dunk with a third, I don't like to be hyperbolic but watching Haaland come alive again, it's like seeing Ted Williams' head break out of its cryogenic chamber and just start hitting baseballs all over again.

36:39Suddenly, Arsenal fans, I imagine, were like, oh, crap, it's the last thing we bloody need is Haaland back to his thunderous multi-goal again form in this last stretch of the season. But the talk stopped being, can Liverpool matter come back? It was more like, could your boys even cock a fist? And the answer was no. Turkey, man is crazy like a fox. By the way, that's an incredible storyline. City wanted verts. Liverpool got them for a vast King's ransom. Settled for But Cherky, for a casual$41.5 million, he's just an ecstatic force. He's what you call in Manc, different gravy. Yeah, Linda said after the game, which is really interesting, he said that Cherky is a maverick talent.

37:18And that was always what I think put teams off when he was at Lyon, was this idea that he was an untameable free spirit. But what they've realised at City is that he does have a maverick talent, but he is able to not just do the work, but kind of harness that ability, that imagination, that impudence, harness it to damage the opponents. And that, and Pep Linder said this, not me, that is what makes great players, is having that sort of ability, but using it to help your team rather than to have fun yourself. And Cherky still gets those, still gets it wrong occasionally. Was it in the Carabao Cup final?

37:48He did the ball juggling and Guardiola was very unimpressed. Yeah, this time he stopped on the ball and just like as if the whistle had gone and then almost lost it, coughed it up in midfield and then just jumped on it again. He just seems to be playing football as if to amuse himself. His audience of one is his deeply, deeply avant-garde, occasionally quite adolescent brain. And I love him for it. The ball he used to free Semenya. Again, utterly stunningly simple. Semenya then freed O 'Reilly to centre. Haaland smashing off the bar. 28th hat-trick in his career. 12 goals, 12 games in the FA Cup.

38:22Cue Poznan. Cue Liverpool fans leaving the Etihad before the hour mark with a side 4-0 down. To the astonishing optic, it really, really was. We see it often from other fan bases. Liverpool, though, are a different culture, a different level of fandom, a different connection historically between fans and teams. Club's anthem, which is taken seriously word for word, is you'll never walk alone. Roy was remarkable to witness. It was. I mean, the one little caveat I'd say, Rog, and you grew up in Liverpool, so you're probably better qualified to say this than I am, but I think it's easy to say Liverpool fans don't walk out on their team when they're losing.

39:02when Liverpool are very rarely 4-0 down after an hour. Welcome to my world, Liverpool fans. It was remarkable to witness the defending champions so woefully dismantled. To the extent that this fan base, and I know them well, I grew up around them, Liverpool fans left without hope or cheer. Those that left spared from watching the indignity of the Mo Salah penalty miss. They already missed a pair of chances. there's really an aching numbness watching this man. His legs have almost suddenly become phantom limbs. And when he stepped up to take the penalty, God bless, by the way, James Trafford, another storyline.

39:41Poor James Trafford, showing what he thought he'd do all season. Probably knowing him compounds his frustration. But I will say to focus and concentrate in the way he did in this game, keep this clean sheet, all the more admirable, just the same. But Mo, after the save, left in like an Egyptian Natalie in Bruglia. They had cold, shame lying naked near the penalty spot. It is remarkable watching Mo this season. It's remarkable watching David Hasselhoff in olden days just flounder around on the floor chasing a cheeseburger. Or probably a better parallel is a baseball great suddenly getting the yips or a golfer suddenly getting the yips.

40:20Last season, we all talked about Mo, who was the best player on the best team and there was no one even close. Now, he's playing so inside his head, he can't do it at all. It's obviously a superhero stripped of his powers. It's honestly hard to watch. Slott said afterwards, and I think he kind of has a point, that City scored the four really good chances they had. I think that's probably about right. It didn't feel like it at the time, but I think that is probably about right. Liverpool also had four good chances, and Salah missed all of them. Now, obviously, what's happened with Slott over the course of the season, that relationship clearly has become tense and fractured.

40:54The tactics aren't working. the team's not getting the best out of Salah it's not set up to make the most of his abilities anymore but there is a point where there was one in the second half I think just before the penalty where it fell to him 15 yards out inside the box on his left foot and ultimately it is just not Arna Slott's fault that Mo Salah puts that one over the bar and the one thing that Slott didn't say and he was absolutely right not to say it because Liverpool deserve nothing out of the game they created the chances that could have at least made a fist of it and Salah as has been the case so many times this season just isn't scoring them and I find it now not just difficult to watch but quite sad to watch that you know that this is his last rodeo with Liverpool the end of this incredible nine-year career but to be perfectly honest my sensation watching him is you should play him as a substitute you should bring him on for the last half hour when the defences are tired and see if he can nick one, see if he can snaffle one with that goal poacher sense that he's always had.

41:57Playing him from the start almost seems cruel. Yeah, it is. There's a John Barrymore quote of something like, a man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. That's what I think about when I watch Mo kind of just wallowing in his own memory and his own current imperfection. And the impact of it all, we've mentioned Verge struggling, Alisson out injured. The impact is more than just individual role. It is collective. These legends were meant to be ushering in the new era at Anfield, taking the old values into the new bold future with this whole new roster. They're meant to be the kind of leaders, induct them into the Liverpool way.

42:37But this last dance for Mo Salah, it's as if Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in that final season just got bounced before the playoffs. It's hard to watch Virg be the opposite of the player that Jamie Carragher. Was it just a year ago? Carragher suggested was too good for the highest level of football. This collective drop-off, it hurts a club far more than just as individuals were. It is a collective cultural disaster in that locker room. You start to realise how high their standards were. You realise how good they were. But also you start to see the players that they're missing. You know, there's no Milner, there's no Henderson.

43:11All of those kind of figures of that era. Robertson. Have gone. And will Robertson and Alisson, there's four left. There's Robertson, Alisson, Van Dijk and Salah. Salah has, I'm not sure I've ever seen a player go from such higher level to such lower level so quickly, if I'm completely honest. Van Dijk is not anything like himself. You could, in his case, maybe say that it's to do with the kind of, he's exposed a lot more than he used to be. But he's making mistakes, he looks uncertain, he's doing a lot of pointing. Doing a lot of pointing when Liverpool conceded old Virgil van Dijk. Robertson I think doesn't have the energy and the dynamism certainly to play left back like Andy Robertson used to and even Alisson when he's fit he's missed an awful lot of the season looks nothing like himself they have aged he's still incredibly handsome and I think you need to have Liverpool have got a really interesting decision to make because you need to have some of them around to kind of like you say to pass the culture on but I don't know whether they were expecting them all to drop off so fast at this point.

44:15I think it has come as a surprise to Liverpool that it's easy to criticise them about the contracts with Van Dijk and Salah last season. And obviously, in hindsight, they were both a mistake. But I don't think it's unreasonable for Liverpool to have thought. They will obviously drop off, but not that they'll drop off quite like this. Bring Darwin and Naby back, you cowards. I will say, Dominic Sobosite, again, very damning in his post-match comments. He talks about how the fighting spirit wasn't there. The mentality wasn't there. None of us were there as much as we could. Remarkable words. Big Virg said his side quote gave up, which is also shocking.

44:53So again, much of the focus is going to come down to on the slot. I thought it was, you talk about how Manchester City converted their chances. I always believe, I think he said that Manchester City outperformed their XG quote by a mile. I always believe when you're brandishing the XG as a manager post-game, that it's like the last refuge of scoundrels and managers who are really, really feeling it. It's never a good look. As is City fans delighting and singing, you'll be sacked in the morning down the close. And now the visit to reigning Champions League champions PSG. Really the last chance saloon this week.

45:29A lot of continued tabloid buzz about how loud and how often Xavier Alonso's phone must be ringing. But Raw, if PSG dump Liverpool, really dump and pump them, Arna's got to go right. Not just the torrid football, but really the feeling of dented hope that's now gripping the fan base. You said you did not expect to win this game. What's shocking to me is how few Liverpool fans actually believe right now that the PSG clash is winnable. Tells you all you need to know. Far more than anything, that to me is what makes Arna Slott's future untenable. I'd be sad if you didn't find a single Liverpool fan who thinks the PSG game is winnable.

46:06I think there might be some who think that you could keep it tight and have a chance, maybe. But I don't think anyone's looking at that and thinking, oh, Liverpool are going to get through. There were three really damning things for slot on Saturday. One was the pity whistle from Michael Oliver, the referee. 90 minutes and four seconds. That's what you do for kids in a baseball game where they're being slaughtered. That is, you don't need to suffer anymore. That's embarrassing. Mercy rule. Mercy rule. Number two, it would have been slightly worse had he said, do you want to bring an extra player on?

46:41which is what you're allowed to do at under eights when it's 4-0. Bring on an over-age kid. Yeah, exactly. Bring one of the dads on. The second was the site of the away end, which was, I mean, there were, I think, 8 ,000 there at the start. There may be 1 ,000 there at the end. That's not great. That's people giving up on you. And the third was, he broke down the game and he said, look, basically, and I don't disagree with this, that first 38 minutes, relatively even, 20 disgraceful minutes from Liverpool where they did give up, where they seemed to have no fight, no pride, no dignity. And then, and Arna Slott said this, the Liverpool manager said, and then both teams accepted it was 4-0.

47:24That's not really what's meant to happen, is it? I mean, City could have accepted it was 4-0. Liverpool shouldn't have accepted it was 4-0. They should at least have been fighting for a little bit of common decency. I think I've said to you before, Roger, I've not shifted after that game. Liverpool want Arna Slott to succeed and that's really admirable it's really admirable that they believe he's had an incredibly difficult season, there's all these sort of extenuating circumstances and that he is still the coach who won the Premier League at the first attempt I think that's a really admirable stance to take if they get beaten heavily by PSG, if the second leg at Anfield is you know, if it's just a box ticking exercise and a piece of administration that needs to be completed for PSG to go through, if they lose the derby at Hill Dickinson if they miss out on the Champions League, if they come close to missing out on qualifying for the Champions League, and at the moment you have to say it's a pretty distant prospect, Liverpool's best hope of qualifying for the Champions League is Liam Resenia.

48:16That's all of that. If you stick with Slott, even if you give him a whole load of new players in the summer, the minute Liverpool go behind next season, there will be outright and full-scale mutiny. And I think the risk is now, and it's really harsh because Arnaud Slott seems like a really nice man and he's clearly a good coach, the risk is now if you if you stick with him you've not only blown this season but maybe you've blown that season too Yeah I've got to tell you I believe more and more he's like got future Tottenham Hotspur coach written all over him City God bless had all the joy Mark Gehi racked up his fifth win against Liverpool since his deadline they moved to Anfield collapse which is just incredible the only City misstep on the day I think was Cherky Sonny's Paul on the Eketike shirt on the City bench, as I said.

49:06That man is different gravy. It was fascinating watching Pep sitting by his daughter up in the rafters in agony, even 4-0 up when he was witnessing things he didn't like on the field, which was a lot. I mean, it's so him. By the way, his daughter, God, it's also fascinating. She knew, knows her dad well enough to not smile, not crack as well, not engage with him, just let dad be dad. It is a fascinating moment in this tenure, Pep tenure, at Manchester City. all the talk now, will he, won't he stay on at Manchester City? We've been told he's going to make the decision on his own at the end of the season.

49:42We know he's won the Carabao Cup, which we know also is a bit of a tchotchke. City nine points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, that home fixture against Arteta's side charging towards us, two weeks and counting. But Roar, if it's a Carabao Cup and an FA Cup for City this season, is that enough for Pep as his legacy see last note swans all basically basically rog no it's not is it it's it that isn't how he'd want to sign off i think two two domestic trophies is no small achievement it's not to be taken lightly i guess to call pep has to may is there any more guarantee that he'd get the sign off he wants next season that's the calculation does he look at city squad does he look at all the squads of arsenal and chelsea and liverpool and manchester united and think i can at least win the premier lead next year.

50:29And I think if he does, I think he will stay. Last word, and I want to go back to Mo Salah. It remains to be seen where he goes next. Elsewhere to Europe. The Saudi league, outside chance of MLS. But I felt so sad watching him this weekend. They actually rewound the tape to go back to that glorious day. Liverpool 5, Tottenham 1 last April. Around a year ago, if you remember, it was less a football game. It was more like a coronation, a communion. A game which felt like the sound of a million red champagne bottle corks just popping all over the world. Mo was an irresistible force on that team. Him signing a new contract was greeted like a trophy in itself.

51:13This was less than a year ago. This is the point. The Liverpool songbook that rang out after that game, the fans, what Brene Brown came on our show and talked about as collective effervescence. Watching it again, just human beings collectively sees in the moment the entire team posing for a photograph darwin nunes there diogo jota was there trent alexander arnold the last to arrive kind of charged in quickly just before the shutter went on the photograph mo then stepped forward and took a selfie yes it was like with a galaxy phone yes it was for some kind of commercial use but the whole team posed because he deserved to be in the foreground with all of his background it was fitting that's how he was he was that good no close second to him and now we're watching it when all that's happened since then it's so unbelievably powerful not just again in a football sense but in a life sense um really just a reminder that nothing's forever um save for what you have when you have it joy is powerful joy is fleeting um and I think the memories you make because I'm sure you're remembering this moment of feeling just the joy a wonder just deep deep memories that you shared with your son um that are ultimately the most important thing of all yeah and you wouldn't have been able to to convince me in the in any way in the world that within a year you'd be talking about Mo Salah as though he was he was kind of finished ready to be out to pasture it as I say the speed of his drop-off is astonishing I suppose the other thing that it teaches you is even the most kind of coruscating brilliant kind of illuminating players are totally reliant on the team around them working because that that is no without question that is part of what's happened to Salah this season is that the structure that supplied him so well last season is not there and so he looks mortal and I don't know I think that that's quite significant as well that he has been one of the three greatest Liverpool players of this century very easily he's in the conversation as the greatest of all time but he kind of needed everything around him to work as well and as soon as it stops working he can't he can't win games by himself talking about being able to win games by yourself chelsea seven poor veil nil but we think chelsea fans think that storm dave is really called storm cesar as pillow cueta but no one knows how to pronounce that hence it may well be that the person who named storm dave is a cesar as pillow cueta fan.

53:43Yeah. Maybe it says, in fact, maybe it says Aspergerueta. I think we've just cracked it, baby. But Chelsea, for one weekend, oh, thank you, Dr. Port Vale. Chelsea, by the way, staggered into this game. Why do we watch football? We do so to witness an innovative disruptor business model cracking before our eyes. What a terrible international break Chelsea had. The announcement that their losses of£349 million, the biggest ever seen in the Premier League era. and then two of their veteran leaders took time out of their international break schedule essentially to lambast the club project in interviews.

54:18Enzo Fernandes decided to talk openly just about how much he'd like to live in Madrid, dot, dot, dot. Meanwhile, Cucurea talked quite passionately about how shocked the players are with the Mureska firing, that the club have, quote, paid the price for their inexperience and the model of the club and saying that the heavy defeat to PSG in the last 16 of the Champions League has left the players who want to win things, quote, discouraged. Liam Resenia said Friday morning, he felt Enzo crossed the line by attempting to manifest the transfer to Real Madrid. Won't be part of the squad for the next two games.

54:53That includes the Manchester City game, fast coming. I wrote in the newsletter, Raw, about how Chelsea's American owners have made no secret that they want the club to be a faster performing content platform. God bless them, in a way they're succeeding because Chelsea are the greatest melodrama in English sport. Yeah, and from a content production point of view, it's really hard to fault Chelsea. They occupy, they take up a lot of oxygen, they occupy a lot of space. The Enzo Fernandes thing struck me as being really weird in lots of ways, but I think the main one was, his agent is Javier Pastore, who used to play for PSG.

55:27Javier Pastore should not be an agent. Javier Pastore should be a number 10 who's often injured. But Pastore said that they'd been talking about renegotiating his contract. why are Chelsea renegotiating his contract? It's got six years left to run. Why would you even, surely part of the reason that you sign players to contracts that long is so you don't have to renegotiate them. Maybe having this facility trying to navigate it down. As if it's a prison sentence and he's a defence lawyer. Like, you're on that. But good behaviour. Enzo can get out after two years, yeah? This is the mad thing that Chelsea seem baffled.

56:02The losses kind of make clear that the disruptive economics of the Chelsea model don't work. But also for the players, surely Enzo Fernandes is now quite a good example of why you shouldn't sign an eight-year contract. Because when you get to the point where you want to move to Madrid because you've always wanted to live there, it's a great city. You basically can't. You have zero leverage. Yeah, to commute to Chelsea, is that what you meant, Enzo? I don't know. I do think that when you have that many senior players essentially giving, come and get me, please, it's an incredible sign incredible moment for this Chelsea project that they're going to have to really think about how to counter and correct but this game then ultimately really blissful going into it it felt like it could have been one of the most humiliating banana skins ever Chelsea had lost every single game since they beat Wrexham in the last round thumped by PSG that's one thing being battered by Everton another I'd say losing to Port Vale would have been whatever the opposite of good better best is The gap between them, this team, Port Vale, rock bottom of League One, 14 points from safety, plummeting towards the fourth tier in their 150th anniversary year.

57:11The squad's Chelsea's$2 billion. In Port Vale's market value, about$10.5 million. By the way, the agent fees at Chelsea, I think, alone eclipsed Port Vale's annual wage bill by more than 10x, which is kind of like the symbol of what happened. we all tuned in Rubberneckers unite and God Port Vale wilted within two minutes Chelsea early corner Port Vale defended as if they'd never heard of corners before Hattoe drilled a shot in off the bounce felt like game over in that moment because Port Vale's dream of holding on they had to come out and try and get some that moment was just like go home you haters you Rubberneckers you Port Vale fan Yeah it must have come as a considerable relief for a senior I think But yeah, it felt at that point as though there was a great letting out of air and everyone thought, oh yeah, it's Port Vale.

58:05Yeah, God bless. The goals flowed. João Pedro pump fake slap home just before half-time. Amal Augusto flick out to set up another. Cole Palmer clearing up the slop for an own goal. Came out for the second half quite relentlessly. This is what was fascinating. Old man Toten got ahead of Estaval, just luscious all over the field. And you could tell how much this was all needed, Roar, by how much the good vibes just emanated around Stamford Bridge, the relief, the joy. Yeah, a sense of a bullet dodge. But more than anything, this young squad, never mind the golfing class, never mind it was just Port Vale, it was almost the muscle memory of feeling potent again, feeling dangerous, almost a team, Yeah, we'll drop down the weight class for a minute to feel good again.

58:54So let me ask you this before they head off to Manchester City next weekend. An FA Cup final for Liam Rossini. It would be so good for the optics, wouldn't it, Rob? It would give him, I think, a real kind of shot in the arm as I've dropped to a major final. It's still a major final. A decent chance of a trophy. Chelsea on their day, presumably against Manchester City. It's not impossible, but it would also justify his appointment. I think it would give Clear Lake, Todd Bowley, whoever's in charge at Chelsea these days, it would give them reason to believe that this risk was worth taking. But then, that's surely something you have to decide over the course of his five months in charge.

59:37And the jury on that, as smart as he undoubtedly is, as eloquent as he is, the jury on that basically has to be out. Because it's really hard to tell what sort of manager Liam Rossini is at that level at this point.

59:52for Port Vale God bless their fans ended up singing you're nothing special we lose every week for this quarterfinal run financially so important for them for their bottom line I think hopefully felt kind of dark bit like bomb it's for boys on Monday morning back in 6th grade math class or whatever as they go back to the lost cause of just trying to stave off League 1 relegation battle that's already lost But what you do have, you'll always have those memories, particularly of Ben Wayne scoring that winner against Bristol City in the fourth round and then taking down Sunderland in the fifth. A childhood Newcastle fan just charging away with Alan Shearer's trademark arm in the air.

1:00:35Those memories ultimately they'll have forever. Yeah, it's a shame that it wasn't Port Vale against Chelsea rather than Chelsea against Port Vale. That would have been a very different kind of occasion, I think. ultimately for a club like Port Vale having the season that this Port Vale team are having to get to a quarter final is an incredible achievement and I think that's what will stay with them, not the results at Stamford Bridge. In Sunday's game, West Ham 2 Leeds 2, Leeds 1-4-2 on penalties Gainers low on quality high on drama two teams mired in the Premier League relegation battle, you think both would prefer almost to focus on survival.

1:01:15Leeds scored once in both halves, seemed to be on a canter to their first FA Cup semi-final in 39 long years. Leeds fans could probably taste the number of beers they were going to drink pre-game in Trafalgar Square, give those fountains a good old Yorkshire workout. West Ham have been, let's say, second best as being kind to them for the first 90 minutes, but then in 11 minutes of extra time, Easter miracle, West Ham resurrection. He is risen, and by he, I mean Gerard Bowen, 93rd minute, Bowen thumped a beautiful shot off the post. Mateus Fernandes slapped home the rebound. And then 96th minute, De Sassi went crouching tiger to stab home the equaliser.

1:01:55God bless. Nuno's last name, Espirito Santo, many of you pointed out in Discord, means Holy Spirit rule, which is very fitting for this Easter period. But the real lesson is never leave a game too early, people. Hundreds of West Ham fans had left in disgust. midway through the second half, couldn't get back in when their team scored late, didn't see a thing. Roar, let's just say the sacrifice they made, right? I think that's really mean. I think they should let them back in. I think if you can show you've got a ticket, you should be allowed back in. It's mean. You don't think, nah, were you with the team?

1:02:29No, you weren't with the team. Out you stay. You can listen. There's nothing more shaking as a fan when you've left the stadium. You just hear that stadium roar from a distance. And you're like, what? What just happened? In the age of cell phones, you can kind of follow along and work it out. But back in the 80s, you'd be like, what? Did we score? Did they score? What happened? But my God, that is a life lesson. Never leave too early. Never give up. Game ultimately went to penalties. West Ham had brought on their third string keeper, 20-year-old Finlay Herrick. He seems like a remarkable gent.

1:03:03I think he'd come to their academy, only played 10 games for Boreham Wood. as he saved the very first penalty he faced as a professional, a terrible penalty from Perrault. I will say Kidd looked like John Mulaney, facially carried himself with the spirit of Jordan Pickford. It was almost like watching Jordan Pickford in disguise. Just his antics between shots was beautiful. His reactions were immense and I love him. But then Jared Bowen, God bless, an agony match to it with an equally terrible penalty and Lucas Perry later did the same, which meant Leeds will be in the semi-final after all. Wolves game on Friday for West Ham is definitely so much more important than this distraction, right?

1:03:41This isn't the purpose of either club's season and you're right to an extent I think both would be able to see the silver lining if they weren't in the FA Cup at all. But what I would say is that it's a long, long time since either has been at a Wembley semi-final. I think for West Ham it's 20 years and for Leeds it's closer to 40. Both of them regard themselves as the sort of team that goes to Wembley, that takes part in semi-finals, that competes for trophies. Leeds being at Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final will be an astonishing day in terms of the number of people who go. The fact that it's against Chelsea and this is one of those kind of ancient rivalries in English football that no one really understands anymore or certainly new generations of fans don't understand that will be a game of spite and bile played out against an incredibly raucous backdrop.

1:04:29That might well be the best game of the season the Leeds-Chelsea semi-final. I'm so happy for Leeds fans. I really, really am speaking to so many here in my life. You know, the spite and bile, which I need to get on a coffee cup, their rivalry, late 60s, early 70s, the notorious 1970 FA Cup final between the two teams, which went to a replay, was a game that referee Michael Oliver rewatched in like 2021 or 2022. and he admitted he would have dished out 11 red cards and I think 27 yellows if the game was played today. I can't wait, Rul. It will be great. And look, for the FA Cup, Southampton was an incredible story.

1:05:09City smashing Liverpool was an incredible story. Chelsea-Portvale, if I'm honest, wasn't. But I think the game this weekend that gave the most kind of luster to the FA Cup was West Ham-Leeds because of how desperate both teams were to win. you really saw how much it mattered and we saw with the FA Cup and the Carabao last season that these tournaments, they benefit when the teams that are in the final don't see them as one part of a treble or the least part of a double they regard it as a generation-defining achievement to just be at the final and particularly to win it and I think if Leeds were to make it through that would be true of Leeds as well so to me, Southampton's obviously the great romantic story but if Leeds make that FA Cup final I think that would be genuinely good for Leeds for the City which is important to me but also for the FA Cup itself And for DCL and Brendan Aronson who combined in the penalty for Leeds second goal I'm so happy for both of those remarkable gents who have both developed thick skins to soar once again I want to finish with a question from our mailbag but first, quick toast I want to raise my third first Michelob ultra of the day to Roy Hodgson who aged 78 returned to the sideline for a second spell as Bristol City boss he won at Charlton 2-1 first win at Bristol in 44 years and 35 days for Roy the achievement alone was magnificent as many joked see what happens when you give a manager time but what was really amazing was to see him so immaculately dressed jacket, tie pair of power shades looking like an absolute aura king he was asked if he was going to stick around next season He had a lovely turn of phrase.

1:06:51It felt like it was ripped from one of his novels that he loves to read. He said, I shall be happy enough. These last six or five weeks, one's gone now, isn't it? Only five before I get the slippers back on. Roar, as a French writer, Jules Renard once said, it's not how old you are, it's how you are old. It's really nice that Hodgson, who I've talked to him, but I thought had retired properly, not in the way that most managers retire, which is until they get a better offer. it's really nice that he kind of made the exception to come back for the club where he started I think that is given the amount of time that has passed since Roy Hodgson started out in management I think that is a an incredibly kind of moving thing to happen it's like a salmon swimming upstream before yeah you know and it shows kind of that you know in in a lot of the books that Roy Hodgson likes reading are kind of a bit more Philip Rothie it's kind of the dark heart of humanity.

1:07:44But he's obviously got a romantic soul as well. Godspeed. He's like a young David Moyes returning to the club. God bless you both. To the mailbag. A lot of joy for me this weekend as an Everton fan. It's in that we haven't played, so we got to extend the feel-good vibes and dreams. Still vibing off that 3-0 win over Chelsea before we inevitably go and crap the bed at Brentford next weekend. I'm sure Tottenham fans feel likewise, which is why it's such a wonder to get this letter from David Shepard in Texacana by the way I love the name of that city I'd love to do a live show with you in Texacana do the honours where is Texacana it's on the border of Texas and Arkansas which is why it's just like what it says on the tin Texacana nice Rog and Rory I can't tell you how healing I can't tell you how healing it has been to experience a weekend in which Tottenham have not played no fear no darkness not even a single Mickey Van Der Ven moment of self sabotage to save her.

1:08:42Yet I've not been able to shake the fear of our predicament and the cliffhanging sense of whether our new dad Roberto Dezerbi is going to be our saviour or like that stepdad in boyhood who started off kind but then fell apart and became more and more of an ogre. That one. I'm both counting down the moments until we face Sunderland next Sunday and also dreading it. Remind me why we watch football again. Is it for the self-abuse? Can you give us a rational objective read on how Dezerbi will do and whether we will survive the seven days intact? Yours in daring and doing, Storm Dave. Storm Dave! Big, big love for that letter.

1:09:17Raw Tottenham, enter the Deserby. On some coin, it has to be said, I think six best paid manager in the world, $60 million a year are the reports to sign on to the Spurs' doomed ship with no relegation clause. He'll be there whatever happens. So he says next season he's arrived with his reputation as a deeply tactical, innovative manager. He's uncompromising. I'd say not the most practical, not the most lock it down, grind it out over the next seven games. On one hand, Spurs are saying to the players, we didn't bring in a temporary teacher. You've got to pay attention. This guy's going to be with us for the foreseeable future.

1:09:56Get it right. Impress him. But on the other, they put in an artiste. I mean, it's a bit like having an avant-garde creative, like a Murakami to your house because you've got a terminally blocked toilet. What words of advice do you have for Spurs fans like Dave for all that is to come? I'm trying to think of how Haruki Murakami would unblock a toilet. I'm sure he can. I'm sure that's within his wheelhouse. We have a tiny little piece of origami. You don't want to put origami down your toilet. I know! Smart point! That's the problem. The thing is, Rog, that football logic is that they should have appointed someone like Sean Dyche, that you go and get the ferryman to the ferryman, someone who can, a renovation specialist, knows what they're doing, knows the lead, battle it out, get them organised, keep them up, gets a big payoff, off you go.

1:10:48But Nottingham Forest have tried that and it didn't work. They needed to get rid of Sean Dyche. I am a Sean Dyche believer. But to be honest, I think Spurs have made the right decision. They've gone and got a really good coach, someone who does have a distinctive style of play, someone the players will want to impress, someone who they will take seriously immediately. and that in the circumstances is probably the right play the one little asterisk I have the little doubt I have is is that quote from Lewis Dunk who obviously played for Deserby at Brighton who said that the first two weeks were carnage that none of them knew what he was talking about or what he wanted to do and it was only after a while that they started to kind of take his messages on board Spurs don't really have that sort of time to play with they they need to work this out pretty quickly but then I did it did occur to me to be honest that the timing of it's quite smart they didn't play this weekend so he gets two weeks he gets to have a little bit of time to imprint his ideas on the squad to figure out which players he can use over the next six weeks because he only needs to win two or three games at most that's all he'll need to do and they'll stay up so as much as it is a risk as much as it is a gamble as much as there are reasons to think they may be they look he's clearly made the most of his leverage in terms of the deal he's signed i have a feeling it's the right thing to do i think they've they've they've done something bold and daring and brave and i suspect it'll pay off yeah i mean that is ultimately the question dave is that is that there certainly is a tactical and he's rigorous he's almost a fundamentalist and whether um you can inculcate those ideas that strategy that sense of cultural change in in essentially one international break.

1:12:27We will find out. I'd worry more about two things. First is, with time, we've seen the Zerbi improve clubs, but once his tactics are found out, it's what happened at Brighton. He doesn't change. He kind of burns his welcome out. That's been his pattern. He's the opposite of calm and stable. He is a volatile element in his own right, which is probably medium term going to be quite fascinating. Is it what Spurs need? But second, and probably the bigger question, That question, what do Spurs need? Who is making these decisions? Spurs hiring of coaches has just felt so unbelievably random. Poster Cogli, Thomas Frank, Tudor, now De Zerbe.

1:13:07It's just all over the map of management styles, management philosophies, management personalities. That lack of a plan, which looks very much like reaction and counter-reaction, and we're definitely in the latter mode right now. So it's that chaos thinking that's led Spurs to this place of deeply profound Lulean dignity. And it's that that ultimately has to change. There isn't any real sign that the club knows what it wants to be or how it wants to get there. I guess in De Zerbe you get a bit of both. You get someone who will force the club to be shaped in his image. But first of all, he has to ensure that they're doing that in the Premier League.

1:13:45Because to be honest, if they're not in the Premier League, then all bets are off. So they have six weeks to survive. and then they can start to think about the bigger picture. I want to give huge thanks to Bank of America, official Bank of US Soccer and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting the Men in Blazers media network. Discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to do? I think win at Sunderland and the noise just immediately goes away and God bless. Believe in that. Tottenham Hotspur. And also we believe that West Ham are not going to eclipse the results that you do.

1:14:19I think that's ultimately, there's two teams that you can be cheering for. But that is it for today. Keep sending your messages about ideas, suggestions to our mailbag at meninblazers at gmail.com. I do try and answer as many as possible. They fill me with incredible joy. We'll be back with European Nights tomorrow, covering all you need to know about the European battles to come. And they are delicious. I'm off to the Masters. I'll be in Augusta Thursday night, Friday. We'll do a show down there with Bank of America. come be with us if you are golf inclined until then raw huge huge love thank you beautiful I'm going to go and recover from my dose of FA Cup fever I think some paracetamol will do it oh it won't it won't it's a poison in your tummy big big love to you let's never take a moment of watching football together for granted and courage