Arsenal start strong, Liverpool survive at the last, and Manchester United get mauled by the Tigers: Men in Blazers 08/24/26

25:27it's just got a lot worse. And I think at a certain point, you probably just have to give yourself up to fate there, just accept that it's really not your day. Yeah, the empathy, I will say, in that moment from the Hull supporters, who immediately broke out in a chant of, you're going home in a taxi. That's an expensive taxi as well. That is an expensive taxi. I love football. I really do. And I've got to say, tough night to be a can of lager in the vicinity of Hull. I mean, it did feel like it was the best day ever for Hull City fans. and for that United fan who doesn't want to ever get his hair cut.

26:01In the second half, cometh the hour, cometh the man before Marcus Rashford flung on wearing the number nine. Back at United, first time since December 2024. It's a strange reunion. Quasi-biblical return of the prodigal son lived out in real time. Or at least it's a bit like watching David Duchovny come back to the X-Files for season 10. Had a couple of runs. but I've got to say Hull who had the fourth worst defensive record was it in the championship last season they were dogged at the back with all of that United power flung on they had Sheshko chucked in there, Kobi Maynou thrown on, United couldn't really make a dent, I don't know what would worry you more the poorest back line of United or just the inability constantly to play against a three for United without a dominant striker that kind of gnawing doubt that really still confounded them last season too.

26:57Yeah, I think there's obviously reasons to be concerned for United. It's interesting if you compare the moods with which certain teams went into that first game of the season. United felt like they were really on the up and that all kind of crumbled instantly within 17 minutes against Hull. I'm inclined to be a little bit sympathetic here though, Rog. Michael Territ said before the game, on Friday I think, that it was actually a little bit of a nightmare getting a newly promoted team away from home in the first game of the season. And I think he's got a point. Hull were really up for it. That was the perfect way for them to start life again in the Premier League, to have Manchester United at home.

27:35I think that's probably the worst time to go to Hull City for anyone this season. And I'm inclined to give United not a pass, but to just give them a little bit of allowance. I don't think that is what United will look like for the rest of the season. and I think getting Belaber into the midfield will give them real energy and thrust, which they missed. I still think Bruno Fernandes, and there's a few players like this, as wonderful a football as he is, by some distance, Man Utd's best player, their defining player of the last five, six, seven years. Of the post-Ferguson era. Yeah, I'd say that's probably fair, but I think he does give you, I think you need a very specific type of midfield to work around Bruno, and I'm still not sure they have that balance right.

28:17There will be more signings as there will be for so many teams. But I think Carrick, he said afterwards, and it was a really smart line to strike, I think, was it's disappointing, they're hurting, but they've lost the game. It's not more than that, it's not less than that. And I think that is the right way to look at it. I think United will look different next week once the transfer window's shut, once they've had a chance to kind of get Belaber into the team. It was a bad start, but I'm wary of overreacting to it a bit, I think. I mean, Carrick's great skill is to calm the narrative around Manchester United.

28:48He's done that incredibly admirably. And this, the agony of this is in our knee-jerk world. It kind of means he's going to have to spend the entire week facing up to the United, appointed a legend as an interim, gave the job to him permanently, craps the bed form-wise. Where have we seen that before? And that's the narrative that is now going to kind of hound them all week. United play Ipswich and then Everton. So six points there. I think if you're an optimist, before the City game loads in an epic early clash, September 13th. All I say about this game, I kept thinking, my God, United have chosen an incredible season to do an Amazon all or nothing.

29:28I can't wait to see this game open that series. But we've got to say a word about Hull. Watching their manager, Jekirovic walk around that stadium, in giddy triumph at full-time with status quo blaring. He looked as astonished as anyone. You know, the season before, his club had avoided relegation to the third tier just by goal difference alone. Suddenly this, football, unbelievable. Light life, just the unexpected. They did it on the transfer embargo for the last two windows too. To me, this was like watching a Premier League version of Kate Verdwell. Every single one of those players stepped up as a collective and every single one of them deserves 35 million Instagram followers by the end of the weekend.

30:14They might not get quite that many. I loved the fact, not just that Hull played so well with so much poise and determination and grit, but that the players who really stood out weren't necessarily the new signing. So the goalkeeper who they've brought in from Greece was fantastic. Nobel Mendy, who saw the second goal, was really, really good. But it was Louis Coyle, the right-back, Ryan Giles, the left-back, like Ajayi, who scored the first, Reid and Slater, who in midfield was amazing, and McBurney, like you say. And a lot of those won't be familiar names to a lot of people who've not watched a lot of Hull City or not watched a lot of the Championship.

30:48But they are mostly players who've played in the Premier League before and who've been kind of found out as not being quite good enough, that went down with Sheffield United a few years ago. And they all look like players playing to prove a point, to say, I can cut it at this level. And they were all, every single one of them, absolutely superb. there was a point where McBurney who's kind of a lanky slightly ungainly striker slalomed past four tackles they were enjoying themselves Semih Ajayi dropped a shoulder to take I think Bruno out of the game and got this huge round of applause they were all brilliant and it's really nice to see players who must have gone onto that pitch thinking there's still a week of the transfer window left if I don't play well maybe I lose my place and within 90 minutes they have all proved to me and hopefully the proof to the fans themselves, to Jekirovic, they can cut it at this level.

31:40And that's really nice to see. That's what is so different between this Premier League and the one, you know, 2010s, 2012s when we started podcasting. I remember Steve Bruce, Hull City, playing Chelsea, was it? First game of the season. And he went up to Mourinho and had not heard of hot mics. And he just said far too loud for everyone to hear, just don't beat us up too badly. Also, with this Premier League, anyone feels they can beat anyone on their day. At Tang Coffee Life wrote a beautiful message in our Discord. Thousands of Americans post World Cup tuning into the Premier League for the first time.

32:18They wrote, am I dot, dot, dot a whole city fan? Which I just love. For all those listeners who are new to the game after falling in love with football this summer, we actually got a quiz, a guide on our website, menandblazers.com. It's linked below that will help you on the way to find your Premier League club for life. For all the newcomers, I've got to say, more than a few of you are landing on Hull. Go for it. Go get mauled. And talking of maulings, Brentford 3, Tottenham Hotspur 0. Behold, the dawn of a new day at Spurs. It's a good day, listeners. Enter the sharp sideburns of one Roberto De Zerbe Spent big, huge overhaul in progress.

33:03All of his leverage that he has from saving the club last season, a makeover that could reach up to$550 million by the end of the transfer window. Expectations high. R.D.C. speaks quite vaguely. When he came on our show, I got the feeling he was being intentionally vague. He talked about competing again for the top of the table. But Mann had the full pre-season to prepare. He's got Tonali, Sinise, he's got Van Hecker adding muscle to the back line alongside Andy Robertson. I've got to say, still, admittedly, that front line looking under man, but six new players, youngest captain in club history, Archie Gray, just 20 years old.

33:42But man, that press from the off, just so easy for Brentford to play through. 12 minutes, Sangari, that player I said in our preview was the one I was most looking forward to watching. so coveted as a midfielder who can do it all. He did it all. He burst into that area, exchanged brilliant passes with Watara, cut the ball back sumptuously for Lewis Potter to slam home. Oh, Spurs ripped apart. That was the thing about this goal. They were cut open, almost gutted by this incredibly borderline erotic team play. Team play, which is the kind of thing money can't buy. It was one of those goals that looked very simple, but was extraordinarily complicated.

34:22But what was really strange about it, Rog, was that by that stage, it was still very early in the game, Brentford had had about four chances, which is, and I don't know a lot about football, I think that's not a great sign. What was odd about it was Spurs' reaction, which is honestly barely visible. Little fight, little strength, Bergvold and Tonali in that midfield together, completely overrun. More than that, they seem to be out-hustled by Brentford. 35 minutes, Richarlison dispossessed. Jensen drove forward. No one challenged him. They almost invited the shot and it came in. Kinski parried it straight up the gut and Janel swooped to tap home.

35:03A comedy of errors kind of goal all over the field, one after the other compounding. And that panic question immediately kicked in for Spurs fans I know and love. What's different about Tottenham now and last season? That 17th place finish for, It honestly feels about as different as Pizza Hut when it just changes its name to The Hut. Is there a difference? Psychologically, yeah. I mean, what's different is they've put about$350 million into the squad and there's more to come. The same thing has happened with Manchester United. You know, we mentioned that United were one of those teams that came into the first day of the season feeling good about themselves.

35:37So did Tottenham. Tottenham assumed that the dark days were over, that De Zerbi had been able to overhaul this squad, that things would instantly be different. it doesn't really work like that to be perfectly honest like you you need time to bed new signings in that you need time to build those bonds between players in different positions i don't think anyone could reasonably have anticipated that they'd be quite this bad in their first game and i and i would agree that like the speed with which heads went down is slightly troubling but at the same time the idea that De Zerbe would be able to kind of buy five players, turn Spurs into a top three team immediately and we'd be able to see that instantly I think is probably asking a bit too much.

36:23Yeah, I've been for fans having one. You go down with a Fulham, they sang second half. Fernandes, new signing flung down alongside Benton, no difference. Basic corner, far post headed back. Spurs second place to every single phase of this. Coyote netting. I think Brentford even had the luxury of taking a penalty, missing a penalty. Thiago sat down the keeper and hit the post. Madison and Salenke flung on again to no avail. And Brentford fans finished by singing Thomas Frank. He's laughing at you. There's levels of history in that one at Roberto De Zerbe. For his part, Raw, after the game, pretty damning words.

37:04He's made it clear he wants and needs wingers and a striker. He said, I mean, to me, these are very, very early days, very early days. And that could have been his message, but he was very direct. He said, we played very bad. We are not a team yet for a lot of reasons. We are not in the right physical condition, but these are not excuses. It's a normal situation when you're building a new project. Ro, I've got to say, we've seen this weekend, there's a lot of managers doing more, a lot more, with a lot less than Spurs have. And on one hand, you want to say time. he needs time to make all of this gel but it wasn't just the culture the tactics have felt half-baked the attitude of the players rule that was the thing that was frightening for me as someone that is Spurs curious I'm very very fond of that team but it felt woefully lacking Well you've got a stand in the game Rog you said they're going to finish third so you kind of need them to hit the ground running to an extent It's reputational damage You're effectively supporting not only Everton but the Everton of the South this season Yeah I think that's absolutely right I do wonder a little bit whether a coach like De Serbian it's maybe a little bit true of Irayola at Liverpool, there'll be a couple of others as well, who has a very set idea of how they want to play.

38:11I do wonder if for them to go in over the course of one pre-season, there's a limit to how much you can do compared to someone like Keith Andrews or Jachirovic at Hull, who are probably by necessity, because of the nature of the clubs they're at, a little bit more pragmatic. They're much more able to say, this is what we need to do, so that's what we'll do. It would make you question whether you maybe need to have an overarching vision that you stick to regardless. I'm not convinced you do anymore. I'm not sure that approach works in football or certainly in what the Premier League's become. But yeah, the one thing that would really worry you from that performance as a Spurs fan, because the opening day of the season can be a bit strange.

38:48This was a strange opening weekend of the season. Mad. The one thing that would worry you is, I guess, the question of are the psychological scars of last season, do they linger, at least on those players who went through them? Maybe not on the new signings. maybe Sandro Tonali doesn't have the same doubts set in when he goes 1-0 down as Archie Gray might or as Richarlison might or as whoever it might be. Are those stars going to be, will they take longer to heal? And are they more complicated to heal than just signing some more players? Come back to Everton, Richie. God bless Brentford. Magnificent for them.

39:24First win at home against Spurs since 1948. I did watch the end and I wonder when it must have felt like to be to be Mamadou Sangare his teammates had to push him to salute the the ebullient crowd after the final whistle um your first 90 minutes as a premier league football player 24 year old Marley and still he's amazing brought from Lons for a club record 52 million dollars that is a club that do not spend big often uh that immediate impact I mean for a man who struggled in his his career had to move to Europe in his teens was in Austria on loan in the second tier Belgian too I think had to fight his way here and it is incredible to me that in a game that that featured so many massive massive names or massive money as new signings it was Brentford's man who came in for half of a tonali who kind of bossed the game ran the game looks like a deeply intelligent physical star in the making um instant crowd favorite the G Tech it was beautiful yeah I I did watch it thinking, football's kind of a village, they all know what everyone else is up to.

40:30If I was a director of football or a scout or a manager somewhere else in the Premier League and I'd heard that Brentford were prepared to really put money into a player, I'd probably think, they don't do that very often, they must really like him, maybe we should go and look at him too. I think that it may well be that they have a real breakout star in their hand. I love the way you scout, Everton scout by just picking players who do well against them. It's why we're really interested in, we were always into Dwight McNeil, who scored very rarely, but always bangers against us. It's why we're looking at Jacob Murphy of Newcastle, like genuinely turns into, into just an elite fullback when he plays against us.

41:09God bless different ways for different teams. Newcastle 2, Liverpool 2, a game that began with both teams coming together, their supporters quite beautifully actually, to celebrate the life of their shared legend, Kevin Keegan. He's an English icon from an era before football became a massive thing in the United States. Many fans here never got to see, to hear, to really worship Kevin Keegan in his prime. He died over the summer of cancer in his 70s. Toon fans held up one of his quite beautiful quotes. It really captured him. I want people to dream about their football. We should all be dreamers at heart.

41:51Raw, it was beautiful, it was moving and it was a really fitting tribute to a quite effervescent man's life. Yeah, I don't remember Keegan as a player but I do remember him as a manager when he was in charge at Newcastle which was kind of how my generation interacted with him. A legendary player for Liverpool and for Hamburg in Germany, two-time European Footballer of the Year, a player of huge quality at a time when England didn't produce that many players of huge quality. but as a manager he was he was flawed in in lots of ways but he was he was incredibly popular because of his kind of unstinting belief and his willingness to entertain his desire to entertain his passion his enthusiasm it's quite childlike in a lot of ways rare english optimism yeah where there was not much around bottled it up he was really kind of bubbly as a character not he you A lot of managers were very dour, and certainly in that era were very dour, but Keegan kind of wore his heart on his sleeve.

42:46And I think as much as his death probably hit home hardest at Liverpool and Newcastle in terms of the Premier League clubs that he was associated with, I actually think all of English football felt they'd lost someone. I think he's someone, you don't get these anymore, Rog. I think he was almost a unifying figure in English football, even the teams that he'd played against or that he'd managed against. I don't think they had any animosity towards him whatsoever. but Keaton's kind of defining moment as a manager was when his Newcastle team was competing with Manchester United for the title in 1996.

43:17And he gave these... When United were inevitable. And Newcastle had this massive lead that they threw away and Manchester United ended up winning the title. But Keaton, throughout that run-in, gave these really impassioned kind of TV interviews. The line is, I'd love it if we beat them. I'd love it if we beat them, which managers just don't say anymore. You're not getting Enzo Moresca saying that. But I don't think Man United fans would have any animosity towards Keaton. And I think they would have appreciated and understood that he was feeling it. He was really kind of, he had a real passion for the game.

43:48And I think that's why the tribute to him at St. James' was so kind of poignant, but also so communal. What I think it reminds you of is he played the game, led the game in a more naive era before we'd really, we'd kind of really perfected and almost weaponized hate rule. Yeah, that's true. There was a lot of hate for Keedon that was left on the table in many ways. Missed opportunity. Weak. We were weak. I mean, to the game. A game between two new managers, two new works in progress. One, the quite hyper-intelligent Andoni Arola. I make no secret of how much I love that man. I loved being with him last week.

44:30He's trying to summon life after Mo Salah. The other, the young, quite raw. I think respected by many in football circles. Matthias Geisler having to prove there's life after his entire team. The heart had almost been ripped out of it. Tonali, Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon now working on his Catalan, all of them decamping. But Newcastle fans were too busy to boo. Isaac during warm-ups to really notice. And within five minutes, they had something unbelievably positive to cheer. Gravenberg strangely coughed up the ball in his opponent's area. and immediately Asula broke into acres, acres of space that were left uncovered in behind.

45:11Liverpool, I mean, Rue, they seem to not care about the absence of a true defensive midfielder at this point. Asula rolled the ball to the speeding Alanga. My God, Kyrkos is fast, people. But what Alanga was doing was just different gravy. Alanga just kind of casually, confidently, calm as you like, rolled the ball with World Cup top performance-infused confidence. into the corner of the net past Alisson. And I thought, Roar, what must that have felt like for Newcastle fans? You know, the new manager could have been like Liam Rossini, part two. The squad, unrecognisable, young, few leaders, six new signings, average age 21, the babies.

45:53To watch them just do a full-on instant reenactment of Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones, just the Bedouin swordsman of Liverpool doing all that fancy sword playing and whipping out the pistol and just ending it. It must have felt like relief beyond compare. What was it like in the Rory Smith house? It felt like a very familiar story was unfolding, to be honest. No, I think Newcastle are very good at coming together in adversity. You've seen it a lot in the last couple of years. And this isn't meant to sound dismissive at all, But if a player leaves or if there's disappointment or if there's a sense of the Premier League being biased against them so they don't want to let the Soundies just spend all of their money, they're very good at kind of channeling that and using it.

46:39And what was really striking about St James' Park after the tribute to Keegan was that as a club that has gone into the season or had a right to go into the season feeling really downbeat, as you say, Eddie Howe has gone. The heart of that midfield, Newcastle's strong suit by a million miles for the last few years, that's gone. Dan Burns injured, Anthony Dordens left. They've signed a few players, but they've also been rejected by loads. It did feel as though there's a real sense around Newcastle, I think, of uncertainty around the near and medium-term future. There's question marks over the ownership.

47:11No one had really heard of Matthias Geisel. His reputation, as you say, was really high when he first came through at Red Bull Salzburg. He then went, I think, when he was 31 to Saudi Arabia. That's a weird decision. it was hard to know what to make of any of it it did look like a club that was listing and yet Giselle, the players and the fans managed to turn that into an energy that they could use to be perfectly honest, that they could use against Liverpool and it did feel in those first few minutes of that game as though it was a roar, I don't want to sound like I'm doing an impression of you but it was like a roar of defiance it was Newcastle saying I know we're being written off but we've still got something to fight for we can still put up a fight And it was, as annoying as it was for Liverpool to concede such a stupid and soft goal, it was hard not to be touched by the fact that Newcastle were saying, we've had a bad summer, but that doesn't mean everything.

48:05You're a big-hearted man, Ro. I can't tell you. And now for me to do an impression of you, because you mentioned this for Spurs earlier, I thought in that moment, Liverpool stung. But we see how much scars, the slotty and scars of last season would still be present. They tried to assert themselves. They look to me a team that want to do positive things, Iriolian things, but they're so kind of scorched by that feeling of vulnerability, which is at their core. It's always kind of lurking. Chow, when they did have a chance, seemed to block bloody everything. Mo Salah scoring twice during the game for his new club in Turkey, Travzon Spur, almost seemed like he was still subtweeting them.

48:47And for all their domination, it was hard watching. they always created nothing more, a quality, Wurtz. And Tony Arola told me in our interview that he wanted him to, he chases too much, he wants him to calm down, pick his moments. He really didn't pick his moments here at all. Isaac, let's just say, on the evidence of one game, it's hard to tell whether the crowd got to him or whether he's just still too much inside his own head, but they were blunt. Yeah, absolutely kind of absent. I thought Wurtz is quite smart in possession, but I agree completely he doesn't influence games enough. He doesn't define games enough.

49:24Isaac, first half abject, anonymous. Second half actually thought he did okay. Liverpool, I think you're totally right. They played fine, I think, while always feeling quite vulnerable because you'd seen how Newcastle scored the first. They look like a team that is trying to learn to do something new and also trying to pretend that last season didn't happen. And I think that will take a while. You can only do one of the two people. Second half, Newcastle dropped back deeper and deeper. Gap Poe, Art 1, just passed the post. It was like a range finder because minutes later trotted through the two lines and was almost invited to shoot.

50:03And he did so. The kind of goal again that makes goal scoring look incredibly simple. What he did was incredibly complex. It was very, very difficult. But Roar, we always need to bring back our worm burner sting from the World Cup. It was very much a worm burner, Rog. absolutely yeah the Premier League's first worm burner that's what we need get the sting in come on get the sting in

50:30oh now we're back Roar it felt like in that moment it wasn't just the worm burner sting that was back it was Liverpool Football Club so much release so much psychic comfort but my god both of those emotions in football are just a dark false friend because within two minutes Joisler reacted with a double substitution, and it paid off 110 seconds after he came on. Joe Willock, God, it was actually Wieser in transition. Hard to watch from a Liverpool peer. He trotted through the entire Liverpool gut. Again, no true defensive midfielder, screams its name. Joe Willock, this striker who has not scored in the Premier League in two and a half years.

51:10He's about to leave for Turkey, according to the rumour mill. Just a stunning sonnet of a shot. the way he arced it, they angled it just off Alisson's hand's whip, perfect loft. It was jaw-dropping transition, wasn't it? It was an amazing finish. It was a great moment, a brilliant celebration. But from Liverpool's point of view, it was, I mean, totally criminal. There were all these crimes they were committing, Rog, throughout that entire process as Whistler just ran directly up the middle of the pitch. Did you say fractricide? Regicide. A whiff of fractricide in there. Just a little. But the thing that's kind of interesting to me in the aftermath, you can point to the structural flaws of the system.

51:51I personally think Liverpool need to sign a specialist defensive midfielder. I think it's really obvious that that's the case. I get the argument that the system will do that job for them. Jürgen Klopp used to say that the system is the greater creator. And only a role of believes that the system is the greatest form of defensive midfielder. I get that completely. But I don't think it's fair necessarily to point the finger at the coach. for the fact that Wisser ran about 50 yards with four Liverpool players around him. That's not Iriola's fault. I wouldn't even say that's a structural flaw. I think that is a flaw of decision-making, maybe physical state, perhaps, if the players couldn't quite keep up with Wisser, who's quick but not lightning quick.

52:31To see a player carry the ball that far, as though the Liverpool players were kind of accompanying him towards their own goal, was genuinely bizarre. And I'm not sure you can blame the manager for that. Yeah, I mean, God. And Liverpool's response also. What is it? It's like Frimpong, Kerkes. Both look like Mikalenko in disguise. They're crossing. Winger after winger, to be candid. Flung on. Unable to summon any kind of a ball. That drop-off from the Trent, the Robbo prime, as much as anything, made it just feel like darkness descending. Liverpool had not lost an opening game of the season since.

53:07Do you know when, Ru? Oh, I mean, a while, but I don't know when the last one would be. Brendan Rodgers' first season, 2012. Interesting. I felt like it was happening. I felt like it was over. St. James' Park resurgent. I started to think about how Andoni Irola first came on our show and talked with Payne about how he didn't win his first nine Premier League games at the beginning of the Bournemouth era. And I started to wonder, how long is he going to get? You know, if that happens again at Liverpool Football Club in terms of the critics, the voices, the fume. But then 96 minute, God, football is hard.

53:43Lewis Hall, who'd had an incredible game. Superb. Superb. Probably man of the match. Tired legs, tired minds. A tangle more than anything as Munoz erupted past him. Penalty given. I was like, let Isaac take it, you cowards. But up steps, Sobosai. I just say, Ro, I would love just once in my life to do something as confidently in the crucible of this pressure as Sobosai did. just the way he finished that penalty, man. It was just him bailing out your team again. Yeah, he's not always that reliable as a penalty taker. My sense is that he missed at least one last season, but it was a genuinely brilliant penalty.

54:23I think Peter Schmeichel said on TV afterwards that even he, at his peak, could not have saved that because it was so fast and it was so well-placed. That's quite a thing to do 99 minutes in when you need to score to get an equaliser. So that's a cool head. Yeah, and then that other crowd I also loved. Do you think he was doing the talky, talky, talky? Or do you think he was doing the thing that you do instead of clapping if you don't want to upset people? Oh, I think it was talky, talky, talky. I thought it was going like that. I think he was saying, what a narrative flip my shot into the corner.

54:55The goal has just conjured for not one, but two sides. For Newcastle, this is what he was saying with one hand. So besides saying, 18 days on the job. Josler was seconds away from his first victory, almost proving himself to himself from the fan base. But instead, Liverpool again, late goal merchants at St. James' Park. And really the narrative flip that is fascinating is for Irola. You know, tough first game of the season at Newcastle. Tough place to go for him too. And I thought how crucial it could be, man, just giving him a tiny bit of air to do his work for this week without being utterly completely under that cosh of doubters, which would have swarmed instantly at Liverpool.

55:39But I do need to know, Roar, what was different about Iroh Olas Liverpool to Arna Slott's Liverpool? Because to me, it looks like you're going to need more than just one Bradley Barcola to fix it. Yeah, I think that's a really good point. Look, the same logic applies as it does to Spurs and Man United and all those other teams. Although I think Liverpool actually play better than both of those. But it strikes me that the fundamental problem with Liverpool is that the type of football all they want to play is not actually possible with the squad they have at their disposal. It's not that anyone involved is a bad footballer.

56:11There's lots of really, really good footballers at Liverpool. Gravenberch, Sobberslay, McAllister are all top-class midfielders. I just think they're not top-class midfielders in this sort of system, just as they weren't top-class midfielders in the sort of system that Slott played. And I think that is the problem. And look, you can spin this as a positive, Rog, that Iriola will now know, right, that's the bit you have to solve. If you make Liverpool less porous straight through the middle on the counter-attack, you've gone a long way to solving Liverpool's problems, to be perfectly honest. I still think they don't look that creative, but it's a long rebuild.

56:45What Liverpool are trying to do is really complicated. They're coming off one era where they had this kind of clear identity and this set team, pretty much all of which is now gone, and they're having to try and find something new. That's difficult. It was difficult for Slott. it will be difficult for Iriola, there'll be ups and downs. I think the biggest challenge is that we're not really in a world or an industry that allows you to have those ups and downs without overreacting. And whether Iriola can do what he needs to do in that environment is really the big test. I wish we just overreacted, Rourke.

57:17We lose our effing minds. That's what we do now in this football world. By the way, this is incredible. This is the chaos that we're seeing this Premier League season play out in. And Liverpool in Ereola, schedule means they will face six teams with new managers in their first six Premier League games. Never happened before in the Premier League era. So here's my question, Roar. Which one of these human beings is going to have his team fit for purpose quickest of the teams that Liverpool are about to face? Is it Josler at Newcastle? Glasner at Forest? Gary O 'Neill's Ipswich? Areola at Fulham?

57:55Marco Rosa at Bournemouth? or Maresca at City? I think that, well, yeah, that's a really good question. I think it's probably the more pragmatic ones, the ones that aren't quite as wedded to a specific idea of what football should look like. And you could say Gary O 'Neill, which have already won a game. That's really important for a team that wants to finish 17th. That's kind of their ambition. Maybe this is just me being very negative as a Liverpool fan. Oliver Glasner and Nottingham Forest both have insanely good records against Liverpool. I very much am not looking forward to Liverpool playing Nottingham Forest at Anfield next week.

58:33that feels like a, in fact, I think their records against Bournemouth might both have been pretty good as well. It really feels like that is not a recipe for a happy Saturday. But I think Glasner, for all, obviously, is a disappointing start. I think he will get Forrest in order pretty quickly. And talking of your golden war cherries, Manchester City 2, oh, Bournemouth 1, an agony. But for City, for the first time in 10 years, Pep Guardiola was not on the City sideline. No, it was his acolyte, former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who worked under Guardiola at Manchester City as an assistant coach.

59:11And the youth coach has come in to replace him. I love the name the internet has conjured for him, Ro. Tesco Pep. Oh, I like that. Yeah, Tesco Pep. Yeah. That is who was leading you, boys. Almost Tesco Pep with the mission impossible to oversee a charge at the title. For the first time in three years for City, that was a lofty one. But we're not lofty. We're knee-jerk short-term haters. We came to see how the new ball in charge would rebound from that humiliating 3-0 Community Shield beatdown. And I know we don't read anything into the Community Shield, but did I mention we're knee-jerk people?

59:50So we really came to rubberneck into this one. Raw City, Rodri-less, Bernardo Silverless, Erlin Harlan, going full-on voluntary ball draw before the game. That's the big question we've got to get into. What do you think Erling is trying to say with what I think is the reverse Landon Donovan? It's the anti-Turkey. That's what Erling's done. Is he trying to engineer a move to Turkey? Is he saying, I want a free hair transplant too? I mean, it is mad. I think he's saying something. I mean, I've thought about it a lot. And the video he made is unbelievable. The number of Easter eggs that are, it is genuinely, it's Christopher Nolan-esque.

1:00:31I'm not being hyperbolic. that film is it's a masterpiece I think he's trying to say and I don't mean to be too subtextual here in a world in which everyone and I mean everyone is just going full on turkey hair transplant I think he's trying to say think different Is there a thing about younger people now don't have tattoos? I think I might have read that over the weekend that whatever generation it is now are kind of rejecting tattoos because people in older generations are kind of covered in them. So it's become a little bit kind of cliche to have a load of tattoos. In the same way as very young people don't wear trainer socks, Rog.

1:01:10They think that the trainer socks are ridiculous and millennial affectations. They're like a tube sock now, the cool trendy people, all of our listeners. Maybe Erling is saying, you're all getting hair transplants. I've got so much hair I can cut it off, almost as a power play. Philosophically, there's reaction. He's coming in with counter reaction. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's like, by the way, football is like life. It's like pressing leads to counter-pressing. Counter-pressing leads to, you know, everything is cyclical. Everything come in waves. I do think he's saying to everything, there's a season.

1:01:44I mean, clearly, to everything, there's a season. To everything, turn, turn, turn, turn. I mean, you tell us what you think about this. Because I think it's the only thing worth talking about this weekend, to be careful. But we'll talk about the football. City opening. With who in midfield? With Gahey. was that Moresca just saying to the board get me Enzo Fernandes get me This is my favourite thing about football is when managers dress or make team selections to send messages to the board you don't get that in the World Cup by the way dress like Pep for reals dress just like Pep and then the team selection was come on lads don't embarrass me I'll embarrass you I've got to say City looked fluid in the opening Foden flicking the ball around like the cocky kid the year early.

1:02:28Because they made that curious attempt, had that perfect Haaland chance, could have just headed it home, decided to chest that floating, was it O 'Reilly the floating dream of a cross? And maybe it's just like nearly shaved head, don't trust it yet, whatever. Cherries, got to say, 18 game and beaten run of their own, largely playing with a sense of just hold them at arm's length. They gave City 69 % possession in that first half night, but they're always confident, Bournemouth, that they can pick their moment on the counter, and it was known. I crap you not, the commentator in America Raw had just said, this is a very kind fixture for City.

1:03:05Bournemouth have lost every visit to the Etihad, and they've never even taken the lead. And then that very second, chaos in the City back line. Ev Nielsen picks up the ball on the right flank unchallenged, played a stunning cross across the face of the area, and Tavernia swooped on in, thrashed past poor Donnarumma. it was just an astonishing moment it was like the whole air was suddenly sucked out of the stadium and just replaced instantly with a sense of gnawing frustration But I suppose there's two things there one is that it shows that although you can't take the Community Shield seriously trademark etc it does set a tone and to be beaten that well by Arsenal is the sort of thing that will make players and fans in particular worry just a little bit and the other is that for 10 years that team has looked across to the sideline and seen the greatest manager of his generation standing there, sometimes crouching there, with a solution in theory in his head.

1:04:04And now when they look across, they see a guy who looks a bit like him, but they know deep down is not him. And I think that's a big test for City, is whether they can have that same belief in themselves when so much of that belief was rooted in Guardiola. Do you think that's why he's dressing like him? because those who don't have great eyesight will just look over and just have the instant emotional confidence. Oh, is Pep still there? Is Tesco Pep, but he's still there? We did talk about this, didn't we? That, you know, there's various ways of replacing a legendary manager. No one's ever tried getting a lucky likey.

1:04:39Maybe it's the best way. That's what it is. You think that's like with Stalin having doubles that he's just sitting down with his fancy? We're not going to be able to replace Pep, but stay with me here. We just have to get someone that looks like him. Is that not the plot of Naked Gun 2 1⁄2? It's also the plot of, is it being there, that incredible movie where Peter Sellers played a very slow-witted man, but people just thought everything he said, they just projected that it was genius. And so they followed his lead. Just have to get someone that looks like Pep. It doesn't matter what he says.

1:05:10People say, oh, yes. Whatever it was, Roar, ultimately it worked. We didn't know when Gay He Blew a golden chance beginning of that second half. Anderson limped off 63rd minute but I would say very quick modest Premier League debut for Elliott 153 million dollar price tag hanging heavy yeah quiet competent I suppose but I mean what the problem is with that amount of money you expect a little bit more than that and then enter Ryan Cherky aka that mischievous French footballing chipmunk and him coming on life energy there was a mishit bobble of a Harlem pullback chance. I typed into my notes, Bournemouth.

1:05:51This is what killed the game, by the way. I wrote, Bournemouth are an extraordinarily well-run club. It is just remarkable. The culture and mindset from top to bottom. Just an incredible fruit. Those are my exact words, Roar. And I wrote fruit and everything changed. One minute, City looking back-to-back losses at home for the first time in 25 years. 84th minute, though. Cherky corner found Gahey unmarked. Second time, made no mistake. Vindicating, you could say, is unorthodox positioning. And wow, football makes an arse out of all of us. 91st minute, Cherokee again. That's second assist. Tyler Adams on him, got rid of him, swarmed by, I think, four.

1:06:30Bournemouth defenders somehow saw and then somehow executed. Just a beautiful, beautiful ball. Unlock the heart, the cherries back line. And Gavardial, first touch, not of a defender, but of a master assassin. That first touch was, I think that was like Pep. That is a Pep defender. And God bless one minute, Mureska screaming into the abyss. The next, Manage just blowing kisses to the City crowd. Roar, football always makes a fool out of us. Was City as bad at 1-0 down as they were good when they were 2-1 up? No, neither. I think City were fine throughout. I don't think the win turns into a triumphant performance.

1:07:07I think that you still see a team that's a work in progress. but equally, and this is true of so many of the teams we've talked about Rog the side that takes the field, maybe not next weekend but the weekend after will be totally different, I think by the time this goes out they will have signed Ayubouadi, the Moroccan midfielder for$110 million or so which is a lot for an 18 year old, I think Enzo might follow from Chelsea we're not entirely clear, they have a lot of work left to do City, this isn't the team as it will look for the rest of the season but at the same time, just because they scored and a 90th minute winner doesn't mean they were wholly convincing either.

1:07:43It'll take time for Moresca to kind of work out what his city looks like. Still need a wide player. I think you still need another striker. The midfield you've just analysed perfectly. I mean, big picture, they will remain a work in progress. Moresca's Manchester City. By the way, same for Spurs. Same for Liverpool. Same for United. Their challenge should all be assessed. I think in a month rather than now. But you carry on with the knee-jerk stuff. Brighton 4, Aston Villa nil. All the talk coming into this was about their exodus, really. It wasn't just a mass sale of players. The players who brought Europa League glory to the Midlands at the end of last season.

1:08:24That happiness just felt like ashes in the mouth. Esri Kansa arriving at Arsenal in his jeans. Morgan Rodgers, Chelsea, Uri Tillemans, United, Lucas Dinha, Paris Saint-Germain. Oli Watkins controversially holding himself, it seems, out of the squad as he is trying to push for a move to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. You've got Emi Martinez just perpetually giving an annual farewell tour. It feels like he's been given the farewell tour since he arrived, Roar. So that meant one and a half of that team that defeated Freiburg back in May wasn't even present for this one. Lacking attacking power. Had to play Emi Buendia up front as a false nine.

1:09:02At Dam Coo tweeted, the Villa players gathering in the huddle before kickoff. They should tell each other their names and one interesting fact about themselves. Yeah, it felt like a bit of a team building exercise, I suppose. It is astonishing, not just the scale of the exodus from Villa, which I think was probably, when we had to happen at this stage in their development, you need to kind of kick on. But the fact that it's been allowed to happen so late, I find extraordinary. I don't know if anyone's noticed, but the season has started. And it's not just Villa who have been guilty of this, but there used to be an idea that you wanted your players in for pre-season.

1:09:40And I get that that's sometimes hard because so does everybody and sometimes you have to sell before you can buy and all that stuff. It's complicated. But the amount of teams that have left things so late this year is astonishing. And Villa are probably the most extreme example, but they're by no means the only example. It's crazy to me, spending time last week with the Premier League teams, how late World Cup players have come back. This is not a Villa-specific item, but like Premier League says, just came home when I was there last week. The notion of pre-season training, I'd say it's been loosely used.

1:10:15But we had no idea going to this because Brighton themselves think they just played midweek at Tramso in the Europa Conference League. They should have been knackered. They were missing some of their full-bar players. Mitoma still out. Minta, future Liverpool player, question mark. Manchester United prospect Carlos Belieber also out. So this was not the brighton of our imagination, but we did not know that, that first half. It was like watching one of those German fairy tales where a sweet, sweet child wanders into the forest against the advice of every elder in the village. And it's just a bit turned to bones by some giant woodland creature.

1:10:51One Minute Villa fans were singing full voice champions of Europe. we know what we are. Then after 31 minutes, 4-0 down. Two goals struck by Jack Inchelwood. By the way, Chelsea no doubt someone there currently writing an enormous blank check for that man. The Nadir, one of the players we did. Salovey about seeing in the Villa shirt. Brazilian João Gomez lost the ball in midfield as he kind of flipped over and was seen to have kicked out at Jorginho Ruter. While on the ground, Varsed red card, first player to be sent off on his Premier League debut for a club since 2012 will miss next week's clash against the Arsenal.

1:11:31Roar, can you put this in a context for us? First half, 4-0 down, down to 10 men. This is about as historically bad as it gets to begin a season. Yeah, if there are people who are just getting into the sport on the back of the World Cup, if you're 4-0 down after 30 minutes and you've had a player sent off, that's bad. That's a bad way to start a game. It's not a tactic. It's not a rope-a-dope thing. It's not lulling them into a false sense of security. It's just bad. and do you know what was really bad, Rog? Go on. They gave them all four goals. Yeah. I mean, it is true, by the way, this is what we thought the 48-team World Cup would be like in game after game.

1:12:07Instead, it's what we love and what we watch. I felt for Unai Emery, man. The heart of his squad ripped out. By the way, so many of his coaches also leaving in that back room. We talked about Austin McPhee, the set-piece genius who decamped to Chelsea and you get this, just this, this calibre of mistake-strewn performance. I joked during the game, even the Visit Rwanda branding was not the worst thing about Aston Villa on this day. It's easy to pile on Villa, but when you look at the players who they relied on, not just as footballers, but as leaders, seven first-team players sold on for$342 million.

1:12:49What are we looking at? Are we looking at financial fair play rules just utterly crippling the progress of a team? Are we looking at something cultural? And if I was a Villa fan, I'd be wondering, looking at Unai Emery, how long do you expect a clearly exasperated Unai to stick around? Silence. So the first thing is, the Premier League's financial rules have changed this season. So it's no longer the hated PSR. and Villa fans like Newcastle fans blamed PSR for a long time for kind of creating a glass ceiling, saying that you can't compete with the existing mid-sits because at some point you get sort of hauled in by these financial rules.

1:13:30That no longer really works. So the new ones mean that you can only spend a proportion of the revenue you make on buying players effectively. Revenue in general, so it really does favour, you know, those were real commercial heft. So I guess you could say that Villa don't have that much commercial health, not small by any means, but they're not Manchester United. So they have to sell players to reinvest that money. That's kind of the way it's always worked. And I've never had a huge amount of sympathy for that argument. I think most teams buy low and sell high and that's how they grow. And I think Villa and Newcastle, too, are asking for a shortcut because they're rich, which is not something that I think is healthy.

1:14:10It's weird that it's happened this summer. I think a lot of the players who've gone, you can kind of maybe make a case they had reached that point. So Luka Dean was 32. Thielin was 29. He'd been there for a long time. Emi Martinez is 33. It's not a terrible idea to sell a goalkeeper at 33, to be perfectly honest. That's about the right time. As you say, he has been trying to get out for a while. I think Villa aren't great at selling. I think they generally haven't been great at selling it, timing it at various points. The coaching staff, though, that's the extra little thing. That's not to do with the Premier League's hated financial rules keeping you down.

1:14:47That suggests that on some kind of executive level within the hierarchy, there is a sense that they need to do things slightly differently. And that is a legitimate thing to do, absolutely. But it does come at a cost, and the cost is, as you say, that maybe things are a little bit less coherent, a little bit consistent as you go through that change. Next up for the Villers Only a visit from Arsenal Monday night football Prayers up for Unai In other games Nottingham Forest 0-0 Leeds United Won what a week For Leeds Anton Stack First He had the personal high Of launching A personalised burger At a local Leeds restaurant Then He stood over An 88 minute free kick Whipped it low Hocking into the corner Out of the reach Of a despairing Matt Saltz Only Dominic Soberslay Had more than stacked three kicks last season.

1:15:38And it was Daniel Farker, the Leeds manager, who post-game marvelled in the most Farker way. I had no idea before the last season that the German could even do this before adding, and I love this quote, Roar, he's a bit of a weird and crazy guy. Optimism overflows at Leeds right now. Clean sheet, away win, Harry Wilson bedding in. Another great Farker quote, last time this club was able to have two solid seasons at this level, you'll perhaps find it in black and white photos. For Forrest, new leader Oliver Glasner, club's fifth head coach in less than 12 months. Not the best start. Liverpool away in the league next.

1:16:16Raw, who's going to be the first manager to be fired this season? Neither of these two, Rog. I think Farker has more than cemented his position. Glasner, I think, will do well at Forrest. Leeds, it was a really even game and it was settled by one kind of moment of ingeniousness from Anton Stack. I don't think, as much as it's not a great start for Glasner, I don't think even Evangelos Maranakis will be too upset at this stage. So I would expect, this is a little bit safe because they're not played yet as we're recording, I still think the most vulnerable is Alvaro Abelhoa. At Fulham? At Fulham.

1:16:52I think I can very much see Fulham surviving under whoever replaces Alvaro Abelhoa. Yeisler. That's who. Ipswich Town 2. Sunderland 1. What a game. Premier League returns to the house that Ed Sheeran built. God bless Ipswich. In the rump of England, the old school club with new school aspirations. New manager, Gary O 'Neill. 12 signings this offseason. Incredible seven of them are in the starting lineup, including Roar. Tallest ever Premier League player. Six foot nine goalkeeper, Kel Schlerpin, aka Dutch Wemby. had to keep his finger in the dike. It is the Ipswich defence. We often wonder over here, Roar, what if our best NBA players played for the US team?

1:17:42Six foot nine. That man is Hodor. Is this the future of football? Giants? As a rule, no, Rog. Because the bigger the goalkeepers are, they don't always have the kind of, what's the word, the nimbleness, the agility, I guess, to be as dexterous as you need to be in goal. So a 6 '9 is unusually large for a goalkeeper. 6 '7 I think became standard after a while. It's not too weird to see a 6 '7 goalkeeper. 6 '9, that's a lot. But I like the fact that Ipswich went and signed an unheard of Dutch goalkeeper. Because it's very much, this is what Sunderland did. We'll do it too. I like that. Also, Ipswich have this great Dutch tradition in their 70s.

1:18:22So I kind of love it for that reason. Basketball was played by tiny, quick, kind of cunning players. and then they brought in one tall giant and it changed everything. The game became played above the rim. Pomi wonders if this is football's turning moment where in 10 years time we'll just be watching seven, four, eight blokes just going at each other. By the way, I'd love it. Sunderland, I'm old enough to remember them they were the Premier League darlings. Regi Labris, newly promoted wonders, qualified for Europe. Ipswich kind of pulled the leaf out of their butt with all these signings. turned the game into a total street fight.

1:19:00It was lovely to see Julio and Cicel have such a game. He created the first goal, charged completely up the gut, the Paraguayan. They always say never fall in love with the loony. He's back, thrusters on, record signing Emerson. Two ends, this kind of random Brazilian striker when you actually look at where he's come from. But God, he's scored on his debut. Black Cats look so good in beautiful, beautiful pink bangers. They pulled one back. Nielsen Angulu, a beautiful, beautiful moment. But this one was all about Ipswich. Final moment of the game. Turnover. I'm so fond of Jack Clark. Just his journey.

1:19:39Just the way he carries himself. And God bless him. The way he just slapped that ball into the corner. Made the whole town of Ipswich explode. Raw, first win at home for them since December 30th, 2024. in the Premier League. A lot of learnings, I think, from that campaign. I think that's the hope. A lot, as I said, they've done Sunderland's playbook, gone out and bought a ton of players. They faced Manchester United at Old Trafford next. And this game, more than anything to me, Roar, a reminder that there's going to be no easy games in the Premier League this season. There is no such thing as a gimme.

1:20:13Yeah, that and Hull, I think, are really important. Ipswich, as you say, have gone out and done what Sunderland did last season. and they've obviously realised that is how you stand the best chance of surviving in the Premier League. I think as things stand, they are the fifth biggest spenders in Europe, which is astonishing. It's incredible, man. But they've added really smartly. I think they've got real depth there. They've got options for Dario Neal. He was the big risk because of his record at keeping teams up but also taking teams down. But they won't go lightly. And I think the same thing struck me about Hull, that it's really easy when football is still a theory in the summer to be like, they don't have the right players, they will go down.

1:20:53They do have the right players, they'll qualify for the Champions League or whatever. It doesn't work like that. It's only when all of this is exposed to sunlight that we can start to shape what we actually think. And that process takes a little bit of time. This is just one game, it's a really small sample. I think you're right, I think you wait maybe until that first international break. In a league where there's been so much change, I think even as knee-jerk as everyone tends to be now, as we tend to be, I think we probably have to really try and resist it because it's going to take time for so many of these teams to figure out what they look like.

1:21:24I'm going to put that in my diary. First international debate, we have permission to lose our minds. Talking about losing our minds, Chelsea tonight opened their campaign with a trip to Fulham. Incredible narrative in which Xabi Alonso begins his Chelsea era against the manager who replaced him at the Bernabeu last trauma season. Alvaro are below. Real Madrid reject against Real Madrid reject. Godspeed to both, which means all we got left, this one, Everton 2, Crystal Palace 0. Talking about a game in a second, I've got to say, I was just at Everton at that delirious fever dream at a live show at the Hill Dickinson last week.

1:22:00I was surprised by just the amount of bad vibe around the club, real trepidation for the season ahead. The failure, I think, to secure a right back or a real centre forward kind of reinforces a sense of drift, which is gripping the fan base. There's that stat that's really damning, that's doing a lot of heavy lifting, that since the turn of the century, Everton, the only club in the top four divisions of English football who've never experienced the exhilaration of winning a trophy or the rush of securing promotion. And perhaps worse, club entered the season in the grip really of a cold war. The owners and manager, David Moyes, he wants a new contract.

1:22:38He's not getting one. Club CEO, Angus Kinnear, briefed that last season was a failure because we didn't make Europe. Moyes had stayed silent all offseason, wouldn't even speak to club media, and then spoke at the end of last week. He said, I'm surprised they were disappointed. There was never any time anybody ever said to me, David, you have to make Europe or in and around the top end. I think that six last game of the season implosion, still sitting hard at every level. In come Crystal Palace. By the way, the kind of club who we could be, one who win trophies, that cunning collective, two trophies of joy and wonder in the last year.

1:23:16They're about to compete in Europe again. Dwight McNeil in their ranks. I just was sure this was a revenge game loading. But 30 years without a trophy rule. I think many Everton fans are asking the hardest question. What's the purpose of an Everton? Yeah, it's a really good question. It's a really interesting, and I'm conscious that it's a bit like kind of using Everton as a zoo, but it is a really interesting test case because Everton are a huge club. They are a club that historically has a right to expect, not to win titles every season, but to contend for trophies reasonably regularly. And I think, to be honest, I think the bigger issue is that for a long time they didn't seem that phased by actually trying to win the trophies that they were able, or they might have been able to win.

1:24:05You know, they didn't take domestic cups usually seriously. They always treated them as a bit of an afterthought. I think that's probably a mistake. Winning is a habit. but yeah I think now you look at anything well there is no reason why they shouldn't be trying to be to take the Crystal Palace route to relative success and happiness which is you you you look at the domestic clubs and the the route they offer into European competitions that you can win rather than saying well nothing really counts unless we can get into the Champions League which I think has always been the abiding logic of a lot of teams and it hasn't worked for any of them including but not limited to Everton.

1:24:43Yeah, I mean, it's fascinating. Everton in the kind of ether of the fan base are a massive club. We have been, I've seen us win things by right at times in the 80s. Right now, I'd settle for us being a Brighton or a Brentford, you know, shrewd, strategic in the transfer place club. There's like levels to this and that's ultimately what I'm looking for in this season to come. Palace, God bless them. Off a tough off-season themselves, they lost La Croix. Looks like Ismail Asar may also be gone. Club said he was injured. Doesn't look like Galatasaray sniffing around. A lot of problems then for new manager Pierre Sarge.

1:25:19God bless him. He looks a bit like Mauricio Pochettino after an enormous three-day bender. His side started brightly. This is what we forget about this game. They created all the chances, pouncing on mistake after mistake from the Everton backline. And Ketya had a couple of chances. Mateta missed a close range one-on-one. hit the post I was there screaming at the television with all my heart like holy crap we are bad at football it felt so dark raw again football the thing you love just making you hate yourself and then God bless Harrison Armstrong found my mate Kieran Dujby all inside the box soft shoes shuffled got separation from Chris Richard and just God unleashed left foot stunning moment of football that made me unafraid to love again second half 53 minutes, weapon of an Iliad cross.

1:26:10He wants to leave us so very badly, but until he does, he'll always be the captain of our hearts and not let Tieno Berry to nod it in, just like a classic Everton centre-forward goal. This for a man, Ro, who some pundits, I won't say who they are, some pundits last week compared to being as painful to watch as the female spotted hyena's painful birthing procedure through the pseudo-penis. We're back on the pseudo-penises, Rog. We're always, always back on the pseudo-penis. The thing is, Tiano Barry has a right to get better. We said it about Lampard and Coventry, that you're allowed to get better.

1:26:44And Barry was raw and he needed shaping when he arrived at Everton. But he's got a season under his belt now. He's got a goal on the opening day. The sun is shining, Rog. Let's make the most of it. Yeah, now suddenly I'm walking around the house and I'm like, Tiano Barry, 20-goal season loading. By the way, who would have thought it would be 20-26 when we see Tiano Barry do the whip and Nene? What a buzzing day. I can't tell you. I can't remember when a win last made me feel this great, man. There's like Tariq George, Evil Saka, Electric, Hayden Hackney, so young, so intelligent. Harrison Armstrong, a Liverpool boy, and you can see the local in every single tackle he makes.

1:27:23Merlin Roll playing right back. I swear like a Teutonic Cafu. I love the way he matches his headband and his boot colour. It's just elite aesthetics. In short, we are so good. and for the rest of the game, 2-0 up and cruising, you could see just that natural tense energy of Everton fans at the Hill Dickinson, fearing the worst, witnessing the best roar and trying to make sense of it all. Yeah, and it was a great way to start. And again, like Newcastle, I suppose, and the opposite to Tottenham and Manchester United, Everton came into that game with a really negative sense of things are not, everything's not right here.

1:28:00Something is wrong, there's a stasis, there's a worry of decline. And yet, all of a sudden, the season starts and Everton feel good about themselves. I would, just a tiny little caveat, I think Palace are in a bit of a mess, Rog. And Everton would have contributed to that. It's all very delicate. All the success that they've had in the last few years does feel fragile and fleeting and beautiful. So it may be that Everton, kind of the opposite to Man United, Everton got Palace at just the right time. But that said... By the way, Palace could have been 3-0 up inside like 25 minutes, man. Yeah. The mateta of our imagination and the mateta of the last couple of months.

1:28:39Two different things. He's busy trying to get his contract cancelled. That's the problem. But this is the... Yeah, that is very true. Obviously, that game was a three o 'clock on a Saturday, Roger. It was not on television in the UK. Also, I was driving back from Hull to my home, which would have been illegal to watch a football match at that time. But when I watched it on the highlights, I was really surprised by how many chances Palace had because I assumed it had been a fairly straightforward Everton win but I should have known, Rog there is no such thing as a it was ecstatic and at the same time when the game finished I hugged my youngest son and he was like Dad, just 37 more points now just 37 more points and we won't get rally I was so proud of him I have a son that's in Australia at the moment he texted me, he goes I'm flying so high I can't wait to be fuming after the Preston game and the Carabao midweek when we lose.

1:29:30That is the joy of being an Everton fan. You seek the darkness behind every silver cloud. Nicely the Prime Minister there, massive blue. I think he did turn the game around. Could Andy Burnham be Everton's Taylor Swift? We do not know. But Stuart Turner, singer 5-1-4, was one of many who wrote in after we wondered what kind of shark Everton would be if the entire Premier League was made solely of shark breeds. That was in our previews. Stuart wrote, I've seen the type of shark Everton are while scuba diving off Phuket in Thailand. You're a leopard shark, a large, docile plant-eating lump, which spends most of the time sleeping on the seabed.

1:30:07A disappointingly non-dangerous sleeping giant, spending most of their time around the bottom of the environment, having brief flashes of quick, sometimes upward movement, if given sufficient disturbance. Stuart, that is us rule, isn't it? Bite your arm off for some sufficient disturbance. I would say, if I was a kind of branding consultant, the Leopard Sharks is a better nickname than the Toffees. You think? Yeah, 100%. You can do the mauling. You've been mauled by the Leopard Sharks. The Leopard Sharks sounds like the nickname of a team that's qualified for its first ever World Cup. That's what I would say.

1:30:42I think so. By the way, they're 0-0 against England in the opening of Group C. Pretty good result for all Leopard Shark fans. To the mailbag! We always end this show with your letters. we love your ideas we love your thoughts your questions your insights send them to us meninblazers at gmail.com if we read it we'll send you a coveted meninblazers patch in return first of the season Tom Flower from Portland, Maine Roar do the honour that's Portland, Maine Rog it's not the other one Tom writes great as a new fan who was turned on by watching England in the World Cup weird this is my first Premier League watching season welcome aboard is there any advice you would have any life wisdom new fans should understand about the 38 weeks we're going to share together.

1:31:25Courage from Soccer City. Tommy. Oh, Ro, I love this letter. Thousands of Americans fell in love with football this summer. Watching Scottish men drink Boston trials, do that to a nation. It's a deceptively great question. I've got to be honest, Tommy. Ro, do the honours. So I would say the crucial thing, and this is a very early season sentiment, is take the rough with the smooth. Except that the Premier League that you're buying into is inherently unpredictable. that it's extremely well balanced, that the gradations and the differences are really, really kind of incredibly fine. So don't get too high with the highs and don't get too low with the lows.

1:32:04I think that's the crucial thing. The great footballing cliche. Yeah, to survive in this Premier League in particular, I think you need to have a dose of an ability to perform the sort of mental gymnastics that make terrible results seem okay and good results seem quite bad. That's the crucial thing about being a football fan in 2026. Is that called repression? You need a deep-seated repression. No, I think you need a strong and on-running internal dialogue. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think my advice would be in that ballpark. I think mine is the process, not the outcome. But Tom, first of all, I want to say welcome, friend.

1:32:45We've been expecting you. And second, most important thing I would say is reveling it all. And week one was just the crazy return to the madness. It was just an in-the-face weekend. But in this kind of social media era of watching football, football is insane, Tom. I want to be candid in that everything's felt like times 100. One loss is a club in 3-4, like disaster. And then one win is the opposite. Everyone's like, they're back, they're back. Everything is, I've said it a couple of times this show, everything is so bloody knee-jerk. So I'd say resist the knee-jerk. You've got to watch and enjoy the battle from up close, and we can see it up closer than ever with the number of cameras they've got.

1:33:28But also have perspective, which is very hard to do in football because it's emotional as well as it is rational. It's far more emotional. Who am I kidding? But watch the battle from the hilltop as well at times. See that over the course of the season, for instance, us awarding the title in week one, ludicrous. Us relegating teams on the first five games, ridiculous. That's only going to blow up in our faces. I do say a lot, football, it's greatest thing is it reminds us that we know nothing. And I've said this a lot on the show, that when I was a kid, the English newspapers never even used to print the league tables until like week four or week five.

1:34:07Because they knew they didn't mean anything until then. so people are losing their minds over this table. Right now, one game in, just resist. Resist the urge to be definitive. Know that football will always embarrass us and also that he who laughs last normally qualifies for the Europa Conference League. That's how it works, baby. GFOPs, let us know your advice for Tommy Flowers. Email, as always, menandblazers at gmail.com. Before we sign off, where are you off to this week, Rul? I will be glued to my phone watching Premier League football teams spend$1.7 billion in five days, Rog. That's what I'll be doing.

1:34:47And we're filming with Cole Palmer tomorrow, Chippy Chips. We'll be back Friday morning for a very special version of Big Weekend Preview. I might be off to the Jersey Shore next weekend. This is Rog saying let's not take a second of watching football together for granted. and Aquarium is the toupee of public exhibitional spaces and courage.