Liverpool break Arsenal and Alexander Isak is finally a Red: Men in Blazers 09/02/25

23:22Roger Bennett:After that first game of the season, it's Bournemouth. Andonio Riola, who is a wonderful coach and seems like a wonderful man. You've interviewed him, Roger. you will know that better than I do. He said, rather than kind of feeling sorry for himself that Bournemouth had played really, really well at Anfield and come away beaten 4-2, he just said, kind of alluded to the fact that like, there are holes in this Liverpool system, it's still a kind of work in progress. But he said that Liverpool have so much quality that at any point they can beat you. And I think that might be what they're going to ride on for a little while until the system beds in, until everyone's familiar with what they're doing.

23:59Roger Bennett:Across that Liverpool team, there are players who in any given moment can hurt anyone. So many, so many. And that's the problem. It's not just that you have one or two to shut down. And this is what we saw with Arsenal last season, say that they had Odegaard and Saka. And if one of them was missing through injury or if one of them wasn't playing very well, you could shut down the other one. And that was Arsenal's weakness. They've tried to address that in the transfer window. I think they have. I think we will see the fruits of that labour over the course of the season. Liverpool have so many options who even when they're not playing well can settle things.

24:32Roger Bennett:So even in that game, when the goal itself is absolutely a moment of wonder and like a genuinely extraordinary free kick, Gary Neville compared it to a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick and I saw someone say on X, it's like a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick with the one difference that it went in. It's a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick in Cristiano Ronaldo's imagination. They're as he imagines them before they hit the first man in the wall, right? I would say this, Rog, because I am biased, but I don't see how you can see anyone scoring from 30 yards in the red of Liverpool's number eight shirt and compare them to Cristiano Ronaldo.

25:07Roger Bennett:That was a Steven Gerrard free kick. That's what that was. Hit perfectly. Absolutely. I mean, maybe a little bit of a question mark over Ryder's footwork, I suppose, but just impossible to say. You could hear it hit the post. It is a piece of genius. but even before that there were three occasions where Liverpool worked an opening for Salah and Salah's touch let him down on all three of them it was just he sort of rolled it too far out of his feet but any other day one, two, maybe three of those go in Mo Salah edge of the box on his left foot that's where you want him and alright he's obviously not in the best of form at the moment that's not a problem Liverpool didn't play especially well they came into it more in the last half hour they still created three openings that more often than not might have given them the win and I think that's the difference that Arsenal, for all their possession, for all their control, didn't create anything from open play.

25:57Roger Bennett:And that's where the frustration for Arsenal sets in. Yeah, you talk about Ira Ola just in defeat, just saying, my Lord, they have so much quality. You saw the goalkeeper version of that when that ball had flown in, David Wright just puffing out his cheeks. You know, Gent was like, yeah, no human is saving that. It was just that startling a moment, a startling a piece of technique, a startling moment of majesty. and then Liverpool shut the game down which is incredible really. Liverpool clean sheets had not been a thing. They bodied Jocherez, Martinelli bullied out of the game from the off. Arsenal's only real threat throughout was Madweke cutting in on the right.

26:33The guard made a difference late. He's in a fleeting what if cameo but Van Dijk was so aggressive. Canate and Kerkhez, I'd say more focused. Sobber Sly, goal aside, so unbelievably versatile out of position. As much as the win, Liverpool fans, you've got your rarely spotted clean sheet. That in its own way is ecstasy. But from an Arsenal perspective, I do think Arsenal fans are going to mourn the loss of invulnerability against the big six opposition, which has been a real thing. And the fact that they now have two weeks during the international break to mull over every iota of existential angst of this loss inflicted.

27:11This team who live by the set piece, being undone by the set piece. Arteta, knowing him, will agonise almost in a dark night style of fashion during this break. First defeat against Big Six since April 2023. It's going to rue the injuries, which are beginning to tick-tock up. Second worst XG in open play this season, his team have. The inability continued to win at Anfield. Perhaps a lack of ambition down the stretch will haunt him, which condemned Arsenal to continue their long black veil of not having won in Liverpool in 13 games. I mean there's a lot a lot a lot for Arteta to ponder which is never a good thing

27:48Roger Bennett:No and I think you can take solace in the fact that Arsenal's fate this season won't be decided by whether they won or lost or drew at Anfield the problem for Arsenal last season was the points they dropped in games they shouldn't have dropped points in that's how you win the Premier League is you beat all of the other teams and you don't make mistakes I think from what we've seen this season so far it will be quite an up and down Premier League because there are so many teams you know the results we're going to talk about coming up, Rog. Bournemouth will be no to Spurs and win. Brighton can beat Manchester City.

28:18Roger Bennett:It will be more like last season than the season where Man City got 100 points or Liverpool and City got 99 and 98. There are lots of really good teams in the Premier League and to win the league you have to drop points against as few of them as possible. The issue for Arsenal, I think, is are they creative enough to win those games against the better teams when they're not playing well? because there comes a point where no matter how good your set-piece coach is, you'll run into a defence that's got Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahim McInerney in it and they manage to kind of stifle you. Or do you know what?

28:52Roger Bennett:Your delivery's not that great. Declan Rice's delivery from corners at Anfield wasn't brilliant. It's often amazing, but he had a bit of an off day. You need more than that. And I think the one little bit of doubt that's gathering around Arteta is, has he prioritised that solidity, that caution, that indomitability at the expense of the kind of creativity and freedom you need to beat all of those teams with the consistency that wins you league titles. What is modern football? I only watch for the transfers and the set pieces. After the final whistle, Arna Slott walked to the cot. What a moment.

29:28Liverpool fans just applauding him, heralding him. They broke out into an immediate chant of champions, champions. I was like, are they talking about last season? Are they already talking about this season? We will see. Yet this weekend's marker means they picked up where they left off in the pre-Ibiza part of the season. They remain football's only perfect team. Nine points out of nine. Raw, all season long, yes, three games. We have said do not read too much into August football, people. But we can and we should let ourselves react to this win a little bit, right? It is a sign, can we say? It's an indicator, but not a conclusion.

30:04Liverpool had a really hard start, Rog.

30:06Roger Bennett:And I know that sounds a little bit like partisanship, but Bournemouth are good. You'd expect to beat them at Anfield, but Bournemouth are a good team. Newcastle away is really tough, even leaving aside the whole ESAC thing. St James' Park is not a place where Liverpool win easily or haven't won easily in recent years. Very few teams do. And then Arsenal, it's first versus second in the third game of the season. That is a tough start. And Liverpool, I think if they'd come through it with five points, would probably have felt that that was OK, to be honest. to get nine is way beyond expectation.

30:37Roger Bennett:They're clearly not a finished artefact. They're still a work in progress. But the fact that they've beaten Newcastle, beaten Arsenal and beaten Bournemouth, riding their luck at times, that's quite an encouraging start. I guess the complication is you now have to chuck another player into the mix, don't you, Rog? So let's talk about that. You talk about the finished artefact. I like the idea of Liverpool being an artefact. I've got to tell you, but before the transfer deadline, I don't know if you've heard, Liverpool proceeded to finally free Isaac for a quite exorbitant amount, 176 million big ones.

31:08British record transfer, clips in the fee Chelsea paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo. Isaac, huh? Who saw that coming? High merchants now wondering, is this the best transfer window in Premier League history? Isaac, Eketike, Verts, Frimpong, Kerkes, Leonie, Pexi. But below the Bantz merchants and the tabloid headlines, What do you think is going on in Arnaz Slot's head in regards to how he's going to make them all get together? Again, I talked to Mo Salah on Friday. I asked him, because he's talked in the past. I said, how do you play with Luis Diaz? How do you play with Dominez? He'd give me like a dossier, like Luis likes the ball played through to his left foot.

31:47Like he knows, he knew the minute idiosyncrasies. He said, look, I've got to figure it out. And I haven't yet. Now he's got Isaac as well. Yes, I joked earlier about he's just come into spell mode during the African Cup of Nations. But man, another focal point, another player who's got that, you know, in the NFL, they talk about the give me the damn ball mentality as opposed to like a selfless work together front three unit. How will it work, Ru? Because to me, it's like, it's almost like an NBA super team where everybody wants control of the basketball.

32:17Roger Bennett:Yeah, and that's the risk. The risk is that you unbalance the side because there are too many focal points effectively. Is it a team that's run by Florian Verts? Is he the main creative outlet? Is it designed, as Liverpool have been for the last couple of years, to make sure that Mo Salah gets the ball as close to the goal as possible? Is it designed to make sure that Izak is playing off the shoulder and being slipped through by Wurz or McAllister or Gravenberch or Sobberslay or whoever? I don't have the answer to that. I hope Arna Slott does, but I don't. The one thing that I keep thinking of, and can I be self-indulgent for a little bit, Rog?

32:51Roger Bennett:Is that right? I think this whole show is. Because we're talking about football, not transfer. so it's not really a public use. It's not what the people want. A few years ago, when Antonio Conte won the Premier League with Chelsea, I went to see a man called Renzo Olivieri, who was an Italian coach, old Italian coach, who'd managed Roma and Cagliari and maybe a couple of the other bigger teams, but was now running Italy, or was then running Italy's coaching academy, Covirtiano, which is where they all have to go and study, do their thesis, learn the ropes of how to be an Italian manager. And Kvirtziano churns out these incredible managers constantly.

33:28Roger Bennett:It's a really academic approach to football coaching. And we were talking, it turned out that Olivier, who at that point must have been in his 70s, was still coaching a team. He had like a seventh division team nearby that he coached. And it was what he used as his guinea pigs for all of his ideas. And he told me, this would be 2017, he told me that what he was working on at the moment with these students and doctors and labourers who formed this amateur team was that he thought attacks would soon be three players standing very close to each other in a formation. So not like a wide right winner or a wide left winner.

34:04Roger Bennett:Everyone would be inside the 18-yard box, effectively, that width of the pitch, and interchanging positions constantly. He thought that was the future. And I think if you look at PSG, that's what they do. I think Renzo Olivieri was right. The future of attack is not striker, right winner, left winner. It is three forwards who can play anywhere. Kveric-Gellia, Dembele, Douay and or Barkela, they change positions constantly. One's not the left winner or the right winner. They just move around as they wish, as they've been taught. I think what Liverpool will do is something similar. I think Eketike and Izak in particular will interchange positions.

34:42Roger Bennett:It might be that Eketike kind of starts on the left and Izak through the middle, but I don't think they will finish there. I don't think they'll be hidebound by those positions. Wurtz, I think, will end up playing a similar role to Odegaard, who's kind of a number 10, but he's also, he's enough of a presser that he gets involved with the dirty work. And Salah will have that opportunity to hold his position wide on the right and come inside and interchange with Izak and Ekotike. I think that's the idea. I don't think any of us know whether it'll work. The future's not three switching strikers. It's tiny, tiny shin pads.

35:15You heard it here, lads. Irrespective, incredible days to be a red. Well, I think when I watched that Sobber Sly free kick, I wrote yet again by accident, being a Liverpool fan, occasionally, occasionally have an out-of-body, non-blue-nose experience. And I wrote in my notes, it does look so bloody fun. We are delighted to bring you the Men in Blazers City Guides, presented by Visa, a joyously assembled guide to the best places to eat, drink and explore and watch the beautiful game across the country. It's a guide aimed at helping fans experience the city as a local. It's built by you, our listeners, recommending some of the best small businesses in your communities, like the finest Viet Cajun in Houston.

36:03Yes. The best burrito in San Francisco. Yes. Where to savour lemon pepper wet in Atlanta. Yes, yes, yes. A massive shout out to our sponsor Visa, who's made this guide possible. Visa gives local business owners the tools and support to be ready for moments exactly like this one, welcoming you to enjoy the games this summer. Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. Slightly less fun right now, being a Manchester City fan. This was Old Brighton 2, Manchester City 1. I was at the Oasis show, like the whole of New York, in MetLife this weekend. Best City performance by some stretch, the way New York City roses want to do the Poznan.

36:49But after the shot loss to Tottenham last week, Pep rolled down to Brighton, the very place he'd suffered his fourth straight defeat last year. And Ora, in a way, he spent 10 months and$460 million trying to recover. But the one player they can't live without, Rodri was back, first start in the early year. Incredible to see him. As City, this stat is incredible. sought to win away for a team that finished in the top half of the table last season for the first time in more than a year which is incredible here they tried to shake off the flatness and openness that doomed them against Spurs they needed early young James Trafford who retained his place in goal after flapping around against Tottenham made a fine fingertip save to smother low from Matoma this was early in Harland's 100th Premier League appearance he missed a couple of close range finders early on but then pounced after Bob and Marmouche dance through the gut of the Seagulls backlight 100th game 88th goal, nine more than the next-gen, the prolific Alan Shearer, 20 more than anyone else.

37:46What was amazing in the moment, he barely celebrated, which made it seem like more were going to be coming. But instead, 61st minute, quadruple Brighton substitution, seized control of the game. Brighton started to cut a very suddenly flat-looking city apart. Will outshot them 11-3. And coming back, first through James Miller, The only player left in football to be born within, I think, 20 years of Tim Ream. That is how old he is. Struck home a penalty. Did the beautiful Diogo Jota celebration in honour of his friend, who's number 20. He'd taken on this season in his honour. We talked about him last week.

38:23We can't talk about him enough. Second youngest Premier League goalscorer ever. This made him the second oldest Premier League goalscorer ever. Roar, this career arc is just superlative. Jen's gone from being a wonderkint to essentially the footballing Betty White. It is marvellous.

38:42Roger Bennett:Yeah, people forget what Milner was like when he first came through at Leeds. He was Rion Romoa. He was Max Dowman. He was that sort of player. And to see the way he's, it's his adaptability, his versatility, the way he's transformed himself through the ages is incredibly, just incredibly admirable. I don't think he's at Brighton as he expects to play every week. I think he's there and he knows he's there because of the standards he sets, the example he sets for the younger players around him. And yet he can still come on and do a job and fight and compete in a Premier League game against one of the best teams in the world.

39:16Roger Bennett:That is testament to his dedication and his longevity, but it's also testament to his talent. And I think that bit maybe gets overlooked a bit. It is amazing. I mean, we were told child actors are meant to go off the rails, right? Meant to lose their mind. This gent just keeps on going. Love this stat. Milner is the oldest penalty scorer in Premier League history, 39 years, 239 days old. And the goalkeeper he scored against, Jimmy Trafford, was born exactly one month before Milner made his Premier League debut in 2002. Just live on, you incredible king. He is so unbelievably inspiring. And as Brighton began to attack at will, and then the moment, Ruta laid the ball off to Matouma, fed a speeding gruder, held the ball up, duked Trafford to the ground, dumped Ryan Aitnuri onto his arse, and then rolled lethally, bottom left.

40:05And the big surprise was it was not a surprise to witness. Brighton coming back from behind to shock Manchester City again. Pep Guardiola's second successive loss down on the south coast will be in utter bloody agony, equivalent of him seeing both a rake and a banana skin roar and just be like, you know what, I'm going to jump on them both. Credit Fabian Herzler, hugely. He's got this team so tactically, so mentally primed. They're well-drilled. Herzl, we talk about Milner Herzl, I think, is barely older than Max Dowman, but he just keeps working out a way to tactically outsmart Pep Guardiola.

40:4032 years old, unbeaten against the great Pep. Raw, football, increasingly a young man's game, even in the coaching area.

40:48Roger Bennett:Yeah, and there is an element now where you start to wonder whether Guardiola, who's talked a lot about how there's a new generation of coaches sort of starting to emerge that might overtake him. You do wonder increasingly whether he's got the answers for the questions he's being asked. And that is extraordinary to say of Pep Guardiola, who is arguably the greatest manager of all time, certainly the greatest manager of his generation. He is coming up against challenges that he seems, I don't know, not unable to meet. But that first performance of the season against Wolves where we thought, OK, City are back, that's undone immediately because Spurs go to the Etihad and have a go at Manchester City.

41:26Roger Bennett:Brighton were outplayed for an hour, but clearly thought as long as we stay in this game for long enough, we will get our chances. and they did and they took them. And there has been from the first three games of the season, maybe it's too soon as well, Rog, maybe we shouldn't be too harsh, maybe we shouldn't expect Guardiola to have an instant answer, but they've lost two of their first three games of the season. It doesn't look like that aura is about to come back. And the problem for City is that the longer it's not there, the more teams will look at them and think, we can get something here, which is what happens to Manchester United.

41:55It's utterly true, man. I mean, your aura is almost like trust. Once it's gone, it takes so long to earn it back. I love your idea that Pep doesn't know the answers to the questions that the young manager are asking him. They're asking him TikTok language questions. Like, what does cat mean, Pep? What is skibbity? It's just like, Calvin Phillips asked me, what is skibbity? I have no idea. Like, he literally doesn't know. But I think more complicated is you've got so many bloody players who are trying to all learn Pep's deeply complicated demands. and you almost see in that second half a lack of a clear idea of football which was astonishing for Manchester City.

42:35Donnarumma has arrived on the last day of the transfer window an arrival which I think can only muddy up the who is the number one at Manchester City debate. We will see lots to discuss there when you think of the top 10 goalkeepers with their feet which is what, not just what Pep Guardiola wants but he pioneered, you know, in getting rid of Joe Hart, He pioneered the ball-playing goalkeeper. Donnarumma is not that. It is going to be a fascinating story. And Manchester United are next after the break. Talking of Manchester United. United 3, Burnley 2. Oh, Schadenfreude and Seydis. Go home. Nothing to see here.

43:17We'll see. Watching Ruben Amorim, who admitted he was thinking of packing it in after his night of horrors midweek, as United lost against four-tier Grimsby Town in a quasi-farcical display in which he went 2-0 down, ground their way back in and then lost the shootout 12-11. He said, sometimes I hate my players, sometimes I want to quit. A night which gave the world the quite terrible optics of him rocking back and forward in the dugout and scratching away maniacally on the tactics board mid-game. Again, against Fortier Grimsby Town. It was like watching Nero fiddle while Rome burn, or I guess Rome was slapped by the fish.

43:53I've got to say, Roar, I found it at this point painful to witness Amirim, you know, one of the coolest, most coveted young managers when he arrived, all smiles. And then 299 days later, just looking bereft, shattered, arguably only in the job because of all the money spent on the squad to make it fit his fundamentalist formation. This was the mostest of most wins already at Old Trafford in August against bloody Burnley. And JJ Rotzmob rocked up to Old Trafford full of confidence. They'd won two games in the past week alone. Amorim rocked up in a really, I've got to say, quite clean Manchester United bomber jacket.

44:33It was like he'd gone straight to the club shop. One last trip, use his discount card there before it's discontinued. But it should be said, United did set up with real intent here. And Bumo singeing the Clarets goal. 27th minute, huge relief, breakthrough, set piece, Casemiro went Brazilian dude perfect, banking his header off the crossbar, and then Burnley midfielders Josh Cullen and into the net to make it 1-0. Roura, United, even when they go ahead, they're still a bantz club, first club to have their first two goals of the season be scored by the other team. For all their signings, own goals still having the biggest impact.

45:08And that is not maybe unimportant.

45:12Roger Bennett:I was at Old Trafford on Saturday, actually, for the game, and they were fine in the first half. Like Man United did what they should do against Burnley. Burnley weren't bad at all. I thought Lesley Ouduchuk would have played really well in midfield. But United looked fine, no problems, created some chances, decent intensity. But the way it was kind of greeted, the way it was discussed, I think is almost the problem. That they play okay and suddenly it's, well, United are back. This is exactly what we need. We're turning the corner. Turning the corner now, we're 1-0 up against Burnley. And then, so you're kind of underwhelmed by that, but just because of the way it's been presented.

45:45Roger Bennett:And then the second half happens, and in the second half there were total shambles. And quite what happened in between those two things, I have no idea. Part of it is that Burnley got better. But again, Burnley clearly thought, we're only 1-0 down, we're going to get chances. I mean, there's so many storylines in this one, and we'll have to see how they play out. New signing, Matthias Cunha limped off with a hamstring injury. Interestingly, Xerxe, not Cesco, put on instead of him. Mason Mount also taken off precautionarily. at halftime, which went Amarim, forced to fling on, reported one-to-way, but then staying.

46:1820-year-old Cobby Mano for his first appearance of the season. United missed chance after chance. I think they had 26-3 overall, shots-wise, and it bit them 10 minutes at a restart. Burnley broke back. Arking cross from Jacob Brun Larsson, found an unmarked Lyle Foster, went all mortal combat to level it up. Cometh the hour, cometh the man with that cheer pet on his chin, Brian Mbumo. 13 seconds after the restart from that goal, A delicious Diogo Dalot pullback found on Bumo. By the way, poetically, the man who missed the penalty, which handed Grimsby victory. Here he made no mistake, just swivelled, lashed home.

46:53First goal for the club he grew up supporting, and arguably the moment they needed it most already. Real human beauty. But this time it was almost cancelled out. Lyle Foster scored an equaliser, Vard for offside. I've got to say, Vard had a fractious nitpicky day. It was all day, a little bit uncalibrated. but this one even the photo looked like he was on side or or at worst level you think about the dictionary definition of clear and obvious in terms of the mistake that var is there to correct does feel like it's askew and in a way united partially survived because of it yeah i mean

47:28Roger Bennett:the margin for error that they're meant to take into consideration appears to have been like the width of someone's shoulder and it you looked at the picture and they sort of flashed the picture up when you're in the stadium and it's very quick no one really gives you any chance to kind of study it. The whole thing was very unconvincing, not least as I actually thought the furthest player back was Lenny Yoro and they didn't seem to take Lenny Yoro into account at all. That could have been an optical illusion because of where you're sitting in the stadium but it was an unsatisfactory VAR experience as you say on a day of unsatisfactory VAR experiences.

48:01Roger Bennett:I'm so glad we're talking about this again, Rog, how I've missed it. I know, it's not where we want to spend our time. We've got to talk about the transfers, man. That's all people care about nowadays. Burnley did equalize, but in the die embers of the game, Jadon Anthony gave him a little tug as he ran into the box. I'll just say as an Everton fan, I've seen him given, I've seen him not given, but a VAR review. Sam Barrett pointed to the spot. Bruno Fernandes, one week ago, he was iced from the spot by the referee during his pre-shot routine and missed. Amirim again, couldn't look at this penalty.

48:34He said later, I knew Bruno would score. I wanted to, quote, enjoy the fans. OK, Roupes, this time Portuguese made no mistake putting one low to Dubravka's right. Raw, 97th minute penalty winning it for United, sparking the sound of approximately 70 ,000 jaws and bums and clenching simultaneously Old Trafford apart from yours. I mean, it is amazing. I watched Bruno down the stretch housing the Burnley players in his moment of victory, which honestly showed you how much it meant to them. You know, there's goalkeeper problems, even with the arrival of new 23-year-old signing. Belgian Sanna Lamens, whose scouts swear, can catch across.

49:14There's midfield agonies, there's Cesco problems, but a win. By all means necessary. You saw the celebrations at the end. You'd think United had just beaten PSG in the Champions League final rule.

49:26Roger Bennett:Yeah, there was a little bit of distraudence, I suppose, between the scale of the celebrations and the actual reality of the victory. You need a 97th minute, very soft penalty. to beat Burnley. But at the same time, there's no time for the celebration police, Rog, if people want to celebrate. Let them be happy. I'm not sure it suggests that United have turned a corner. And to be fair to Amorim, he said that afterwards. He said, we can only go day by day. He must have realised now, Manchester United has never seen a corner that doesn't look like it can be turned or whatever the phrase might be.

49:57Roger Bennett:The problem is that it's a long, slow process and Manchester United aren't a club and the football ecosystem in which they exist is not an ecosystem. that allows you a long, slow process? Because as soon as there's a setback, it feels like a crisis. Yeah, you know, we'd said this about late era Arsene Wenger, that he just, the club kept turning corners and all they were doing was like being trapped in one of those MC Escher optical illusions where they're forever just circling the block. Manchester City, then Chelsea next for Amarim. I'd say, who would want to be a football manager? I think the answer to that is Andoni Iraola.

50:33Tottenham nil, Bournemouth one. Oh, Spurs. Didn't we almost have it all? That 2-0 win against City. Perfect start to the season. Xavi Simons arriving midweek, paraded on the field before the game. New hero,$70 million in the sunshine. And then crashing right back down to earth as Bournemouth rolled to a quite convincing 1-0 win as they can possibly be. Took the lead. Inside five minutes, Evan Nielsen benefiting from a thick deflection off Romero to beat Vicario. First goal Spurs have conceded. in Premier League play. Honestly, it should have been more for the Cherries. Their pressing was seething.

51:12Semenyo, white hot heat. Vicario had to keep his team in the game. I was surprised watching this that Thomas Frank kept the same starting XI, kept the same tactics to a large degree used against City, which really played into Bournemouth's hands. They didn't want possession. They could just charge through the Spurs midfield at will on the counter. Took 68 minutes for Spurs just to have a shot on goal. They were booed off at halftime. That's how impotent they looked in this one. Frank, in the second half, had to ask the fans to calm down, which is astonishing in many ways, how quickly things can change in modern football.

51:48Spurs' expected goals was a putrid 0.17. But Raw, this was Tottenham's first defeat in the league since Thomas Frank took charge. I think you could make the case, couldn't you? Stay calm. Stay with me here. this loss almost could be a positive because it prevents, you know, what we did with Nuno Espirito Santo. When his first three games, he's going to take us to the moon. Ange, the first 10 games, just felt ecstatic. This is almost like a statement. We are still a work in progress. There's going to be great days. There's going to be times of challenge. Even with the arrival of PSG's live wire, Randall Calum on here at the deadline day.

52:27You know, this is going to be, this is going to be a grapple or not instant top four wire-to-wire challenges here.

52:33Roger Bennett:yeah I agree to be honest I think there's an argument that it is quite helpful to just restore expectations to keep people's feet on the ground obviously it hurts and I think the nature of the performance is quite worrying how toothless they looked how easily Bournemouth broke through how comprehensively Spurs were outplayed by Bournemouth is bad that's all bad but yeah the the idea that it prevents Spurs getting carried away I think that has some logic to it perverse logic I know Spurs fans stay the course huge huge love to all of you and huge respect to Bournemouth again and Antonio Irola in particular his team have lost almost their entire back line but have played so bloody smart so clinically they've lost only three of the last 15 away games and this must have felt so great for Irola Tottenham have been linked to him heavily at the beginning of the summer they went Thomas Frank instead Irola in this one was almost like I don't know if you remember the old quiz games on television where even when you lost in the final, they still wheeled in the big prize that a contestant could have won but fell to like a boat or a jet ski and said, here's what you could have won.

53:38Watching Andoni Irola do Thomas Frank just felt like this. You could have had him.

53:43Roger Bennett:There is an element of that. Irola has always kind of made it clear that he sees out his contracts. But given the way they've started the season, given the way they're playing, given how easily he's adapted to losing his entire central defence, the biggest signings in Spain and France this summer, Bournemouth central defenders, if you're a club who might be looking for a manager next season, he is surely top of your list. I can see a world in which Andoni Irola is the next Manchester City manager. Clip it, freezing cold take it, celebrate it, whatever, in the years to come. But from Andoni to another management grandmaster, Chelsea 2, Fulham 0.

54:18Chelsea, Cole Palmer FC no more. Arcole out injured with Greenack. New signing, Alejandro Garnaccio watching on with new blonde barnet shining in the stands. Chelsea continue to be football's great day traders. In many ways, they trade talent, I realise, watching this window. A bit like Todd Burley oversees his baseball organisation, the Dodgers, you know, trading minor league prospects en masse. And the game began phonetically. Fulham so bloody well organised. Another team, this is the difference in the Premier League over the past five years, the incredible managers who are almost everywhere.

54:53Marco Silva's team so well drilled, they let Chelsea onto them. Chelsea almost like pressing their way into that Fulham back line, like teeth into clay when you're at the dentist. It was Fulham. You thought they'd taken the lead. A delirious moment. We have to talk about it really quickly, Roar. 18-year-old Josh King ran off the field to deliver a fine, fine finish, but the goal was ruled off by VAR. Quite cruelly spotted a stamp during the course of a spin by Muniz. Did not feel like a clear and obvious there. A lot more like a man putting his foot down than another player putting their leg under it.

55:24It was all so bloody subjective. And this one felt painful for the kid, finishing his first Fulham goal with a flourish. Far official, Michael Salisbury, was replaced for Sunday's game at Anfield after PGR and Moel acknowledged an error was made. Raw? I mean, this is serious. It's slightly flippant. Who watches the Watchmen was what I wrote. Robbie Musto over here called it one of, quote, the worst decisions he's seen since NBC has been broadcasting the Premier League since 2013.

55:55Roger Bennett:Yeah, because it was so unfluent in football. I think that was the problem. It was blindingly obvious to anyone who watches football, plays football, thinks about football, likes transfers, that Munez had the ball and he happened to put his foot down at a place where Chelsea played, I think it was Chaliver, wasn't it? Just so happened at that very moment to put his leg. There was absolutely no intent to foul him. It wasn't a tackle. It wasn't dangerous play. It was just two people on the pitch at the same time. And occasionally you get things like that. If the goal had been given, I don't think Chelsea would have complained.

56:25Roger Bennett:I don't think Chelsea would have complained that Chalabar had been fouled by Mouniz in the build-up. It felt technocratic and nitpicky and the very definition of what VAR is not meant to do. And this is a conversation that everyone's had a million times, Rog. It's pretty clear now, isn't it, that VAR can't help itself? That's the problem. If the technology's there, we will use it. The referees are being... There is something that they just can't stop using it if it's there. They don't want to get any. It's out of a kind of, I think, quite an admirable aim, which is not to have any mistakes, but they just can't resist it.

57:01It's like Isaac Asimov sci-fi where the machines have taken over. It's not just not football literate, the decision. It was also not literate from anyone that's got an older brother where they grab your hand and slap yourself in the face with your own hand and say, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself. It was hard to watch. It was hard emotionally, I think, for Fulham to recover from, especially because at the stroke of halftime, reminder number 21 ,723, why football is the cruelest of games. Chelsea took the lead in the ninth of eight minutes added on at the death of a half. They failed to dominate.

57:34Off a corner, they're turning to a blue Arsenal and the other side of the break, another long VAR check for a penalty, ultimately converted by Enzo. Chelsea had a 2-0 lead. They honestly didn't, I think even Chelsea, I'm just going to say, didn't quite deserve it, which was an agony for Fulham. Again, so well coached, so well drilled, so bloody fearless. Tactically and psychologically by Marco Silver, they had to leave empty-handed. Serenade of, you're not fit to referee, and possibly the poshest accents a football ground will ever hear from our Discord channel. At T Cook said, you do have to admit, after all the hard times their fans have endured, it's difficult not to feel happy for a venture capital firm like Clear Lake enjoying a bit of undeserved success.

58:19Roger Bennett:Yeah, and I saw someone say after the game that Fulham went with the last team that go to Stamford Bridge this season, lose and not really understand how it's happened. There is a little bit of that about Chelsea. Again, I wonder if there's an element of if you put enough quality on the pitch, maybe the system doesn't always need to be the most coherent. Not a fan of the way that Clear Lake trade players. I think ethically there is an issue there. I agree with you. It's clearly inspired by, shall we say, inspired by baseball. I think the same approach. But it does feel as though Chelsea are building something.

58:50Roger Bennett:They might even be building two things, one football team and one trading operation. It feels like those two things may well be quite separate. But they are gradually getting further ahead of where they were every single season. But they will need to be a little bit more convincing, I think, just because the Premier League is so competitive that you need to have a really clear idea of what you're doing. And I'm not sure they have that yet. I did love the meme, finest one of the transfer window, the photograph of Todd Burley texting to Todd Burley, the same photo, but reversed, saying, do you want to buy Chilwell?

59:23Negotiating hard, Todd Burley. Yes, I will for Strasbourg, the other club he wins. That is the modern transfer. They're also nice to see Timothy Chalamet watching this game in a role of his lifetime as a Chelsea fan. Martin Tyler went off on one in comms. It was really glorious. He called Wonka. I crap you not. Martin Tyler called Wonka. One of my favorite movies of all time. which I just... Wow. Okay. The new one? Yes. I mean, just amazing.

59:49Roger Bennett:I mean, it's good. The new one's fine. It's a new film. But it's not the old one. I'm like, Tyler, can you tell us what you thought of the Dylan biopic? For God's sake, start doing movie reviews, Mark. I would die for those. Chalamet, there's rumours from our Discord at Cletus Jump saying, is Timothy Chalamet set to star in the new Cucurea biopic? We can only hope.

1:00:12In other games, Games leads nil. Newcastle nil. What a dreadful game. One of which, it honestly fulfilled incredibly American stereotypical football tropes. If you had a sceptic friend watching a game with you, please God do not make it this one. Poor Newcastle. Hearts broken earlier in the week by a child. Liverpool's Rio on Monday. They limped into this one. Blunt, robust, rain-wit match. honestly felt like watching a midweek game that was from February ripped from just dull old like makeup game football without the freedom fighting Isaac alongside them they looked utterly bereft this was just two blunt blunt teams managed just I think three shots on goal between them I will say my heart aches watching Dominic Calvert-Lewin trying to find his floundering confidence and self-belief God bless to you DCL you beauty but Leeds four points Larry Nance Jr.

1:01:12said, we would have bitten your arm off for that after the first three games if you offered it. Just one goal, but never mind the quality. Feel the points total. I'm actually taping with Larry and TJ McConnell, two Leeds co-owners coming on to talk about them. Their fans sang, he's act to the pool, ole, ole. And indeed, off he went raw. I don't know if you've heard. To me, Newcastle ultimately have become winners. Not of a game of football, but of an awful lot of money that makes, I think, PSR threats go away for a long time, $176 million. I did love the brevity of the Newcastle farewell statement for the man who scored the winning goal in the cup final of their dreams.

1:01:5237 words of a very cold clip farewell. But you're the man who knows modern Liverpool success can be traced back to the biblical moment. Coutinho was sold to Barcelona for$142 million, which ushered in the age of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson. Raw, Liverpool fans will be bereft in this moment, this moment of chaos, this moment of fear, but they've already begun to rebuild. 5 '9", Johan Wieser arriving, and the German 6 '6", Nick Vultemada, who is going to be fascinating to watch. He may have been their fourth or fifth choice, which has been kind, but he is intriguing. His nickname is Two Meter Messi, which I love because he's like a big beanpole with an exquisite touch, kind of creator, goal scorer, hybrid, Bayern wanted him.

1:02:35He's going to get quite the kicking of welcome in the Premier League, but I can't wait to see him play. If you take away the whole EZAC thing, Newcastle have had a really good window.

1:02:44Roger Bennett:Which I know sounds silly. Yeah, it's like Abraham Lincoln at the theatre stuff. Yeah, great night at the theatre apart from that. No, they mean Jacob Ramsey, I think, is a great signing. They've strengthened every area of their team. They've brought in Ramsdale as competition for Pope. They've signed Malik Chior from Milan and central defensive sort of reinforcement. Ramsey is an all-purpose midfielder. that Ilanga is a Premier League quality winner. They've got Harvey Barnes fit, Anthony Gordon's still there. The issue was Isaac. In hindsight, I wonder if Newcastle might think it would all have been a lot easier if they'd just sold Isaac in July rather than hanging on and hanging on and hanging on.

1:03:19Roger Bennett:It feels like, and I've not been as close to this situation as other journalists, but it does feel like it's been pretty obvious for quite a long time that he really doesn't want to play for Newcastle. And maybe they should have listened to that rather than, And I think kind of allowing their pride to get in the way, if I'm honest. Volta Marder is clearly a very promising footballer. He has a different skill set to quite a lot of players. That can be an advantage. I think Johan Wiss is overpriced because of the circumstances, but he has stored loads of goals in the Premier League. He will store goals for Newcastle.

1:03:49Roger Bennett:They will like him. There's no resale value, but do you know what? Sometimes you have to do that. And yeah, the bigger thing is the sale of Izak buys them all the PSI headroom they could ever want for the next few years. They should be able to transfer that into building that squad into one that can certainly compete in the Premier League and the Champions League at the same time and possibly kick on to become genuine title contenders. That's what they need to do. And yet, do you know what? For all the complaints of Newcastle fans, that's what Liverpool had to do. It's what Tottenham had to do.

1:04:23Roger Bennett:You sometimes have to sell your one big star so that you can build your team. That's how you run a business. it's not doesn't make them the exception just makes them the rule there's another narrative in a way you could say Everton are still trying to recover from the loss of Wayne Rooney the first time but we won't go there um I will just say we had Brighton CEO Paul Barber come on the gold standard of a well-run club and he said that this is a live truth he said the day you start searching for your next manager is the day you appoint your new one um and and using that wisdom for strikers I think ultimately that's the it's the chaos of the transaction rather than the transaction itself which would panic me in the medium term if I was a Newcastle fan.

1:05:01But Godspeed to them. And I cannot wait to watch two-meter Messi take the field in the Premier League. Nottingham Forest nil. West Ham three. What? A game. Unpredictable outcome. Exploding late. And thankfully, in the blast radius, it was West Ham's full-eating manager, Graham Potter, who was still standing with his first win of the season in his hands. Jared Bowen propelled the perfect win with Lucas Paquetá scoring. did a celebration in which he slammed down the phone on transfer request. Yes, this is who we are now. And even the lively 33-year-old Callum Wilson scored. Forrest, woeful. That smoke around the future of Nuno Espirito Santo, his manager, will continue to smolder after this.

1:05:43I can only use the word claps, but roar. The moment of the game came when the criminally underrated Jared Bowen beat the entire Forrest back line, ran half the field with one of the greatest dribbles you will see. And then at last, as he pulled his foot back to shoot on goal, Callum Wilson decided, yeah, I'm the number nine here. Slammed in. Chaos ensued. The ball went past the post. Instead of Gerard Bowen having an all-time worldie, which I think is the name we legally have to use for it, were you just like, I love that selfishness in my number nine? Yeah, that's what you want.

1:06:17Roger Bennett:You want a striker who just takes the ball off his teammates' feet at all times. It's quite hard not to feel sorry for Bowen in that situation. But I guess the flip side is that who would have seen West Ham coming out of all just feeling good about themselves? God bless. Hug yourself tonight to sleep, West Ham fans. There is joy. There is a real team there. I would say Graham Potter's renaissance redemption story would be one of the most remarkable and I think deeply meaningful. If he regains the nice guy mantle that he had at Brighton, God bless. I would love. Aston Villa 0, Crystal Palace 3.

1:06:50What? Palace extended F-14 game and beat and run. But this was a match in which the football, as it should be, was totally overshadowed by the craziness of the transfer window. Began with the most bewildered pre-match press conference you'll ever see. Unai Emery giving just the same two-word answer to any question. Emi Martinez was then rumoured to be headed for United. And Unai Emery, if you didn't see it on our Instagram, simply decided to say the name of his second string replacement to every question. The reason for his absence? Marco Bizot. Where is Martinez? Marco Bizot. Will he be your future goalkeeper?

1:07:26Marco Bizot. OK, your time is over. Thank you. I mean, that was just Unai. Frustrated in the transfer window, aware that the chaos was from it, as it should do, was permeating the on-field play. Huge respect to Emi Martinez, who ended up staying and signing a new contract. few players have said goodbye to their fans more than emmy martinez if there's a stat xg leaving not leaving data he is world class give him some kind of trophy you can make sweet love to in front of a crowd um it's like a one-man wolf of wall street meme i am not leaving um but here palace romped um and the story is mark gay he seemed like he'd lashed his final goal for palace in his last game incredible poetry but then yesterday deadline day reportedly 3 p.m english time four hours before the transfer deadline uh slam shut trademark um the principles of a deal with liverpool have been agreed i think he'd done a medical um but then it fell through reports that manager olivier glasner threatened to resign if his captain was sold he's kind of telegraphed that his fate and gay he's fate were intertwined um even though gay he only has a year left on his contract lots of talk ultimately about how players will now be encouraged as if they needed that encouragement, Ro, to act like Izak and Wiesa and essentially go on strike and not act like modest model professionals like Gehi.

1:08:49Is that the moral lesson in life, Ro? That if you're a baby in a stroller and you have toys in your hand, you gots to chuck them.

1:08:57Roger Bennett:Gots to chuck the toys, Rog. No, not necessarily, because Eberich Eze got his move and he didn't do what Izak did. There are plenty of players who have moved this summer who have done so relatively amicably. The Gay situation is an unusual one. It's quite an extreme case because Palace had allowed it to roll on to this point where if they sold him, they would also lose their manager because it seems like Glasner was at least kind of intimating that he might quit if they sold Gay to Liverpool. But at the same time, that now means that Crystal Palace, who are not kind of backed by a sovereign wealth fund, have basically had to turn down£35 million for a player who may well leave for nothing next summer or even if he leaves in January for half of that, it's cost them a lot of money.

1:09:41Roger Bennett:And I think what's really odd about it is I get why Palace allowed him to get to this point where there was a year left on his contract because Palace could quite reasonably say, we've won two trophies in the last year. Has that not convinced you to stay? What I don't understand is why at the start of the summer when it became clear that Mark Gay, he still wanted to go, Crystal Palace didn't go out and start signing players to play in central defence instead. It was almost as though they were, and again, this is not based on information beyond that, which is in the public realm. But I wonder whether they were kind of trusting how nice a person Gay was, that he wouldn't leave them in the lurch.

1:10:21Roger Bennett:Maybe they made the mistake of not getting caught up in transfer window gossip and they didn't know. They didn't know he wanted to leave. They hadn't noticed that their captain was about to. Yeah, they hadn't heard the news. They were too football. Oh, it was so far advanced that Gay had made a goodbye video for Palace, which is extraordinary. I think he will still use it. My guess is he'll go in January when Palace have had time to line up a replacement. He'll have played football for four months, which will help his World Cup credentials. Palace will go and get a replacement, a backup, a couple of people to cover for him.

1:10:55Roger Bennett:And to be honest, at that stage, moving to Liverpool might be not a bad thing, because if he doesn't play every week, all of a sudden, Mark Gay is fresh for the World Cup. but it's been a very messy circumstance. I think the bigger lesson of the window is that because the Premier League clubs are all so rich, none of them have to sell, which will make situations like Wissett and Isak more likely. Does the players have to use whatever power they have to get out? God bless. Remember the moral children watching. Choose bad behaviour every single time. Reminds me of Julian Lescott when he was in Everton stalwart and Manchester City wanted him.

1:11:30David Moyes wouldn't let him leave. started him. I think it was against Arsenal. And just Julian Lescott just watched the attackers just walk past him. I think we lost like 7-0, 7-1. That's the way you do it if you're listening, Gehi. Godspeed in every regard. And finally, talking about Everton, Wolves 2. What? Everton Football Club 3. Jack Grealish back in Birmingham where the Wolves proper hate him. I've got to say, I feared this game. I didn't want to make it clear. When you learn that Wolves had 0.0 goals going into it, it was the perfect rational case of why I thought they were going to do it.

1:12:05Even more so when I found out they hadn't won one of their last 11 home games in August. I was just like, oh my God, we are going to get slapped. But that negativity, which normally becomes life truth, burnt off almost immediately. Jusby Hall and die. Above all, Jack. Beautiful, beautiful Jack Grealish. Raw, this is strange. They played silky football. liquid blue football so many footballers who are comfortable with the ball at their feet, I'm not used to it we can also now score the goals it took just seven minutes off a recycled corner, ball fed back, Jack Grealish nodded back with his delicious hair fringe flapping in the brummy sky, Beto nodded home from close range, Jack Grealish I screamed at the television, I'm never going to dance again, guilty feet have got Jack Grealish here's what I want to know, if you're Pep is this humiliating or is it absolutely nothing to do with you watching the resurrection of St.

1:13:01Jack? Because you're a complex football systems man. Jack could never comprehend them. You know, can Jack Grealish, just guess what I'm asking, can he soar this season without looking bad on City? Or do we just have to say Grealish has just cut out to be a cult hero on a mid-level club?

1:13:17Roger Bennett:That's what Guardiola will look at it as, that Grealish needs to be in a team that's built around him, that plays to his strengths and that that wasn't something that would happen at City. But I think from the outside, most people will think that the better Grealish does, the worse it looks for Guardiola. Because surely part of your job as a manager is to get the most out of a player that talented. And he, for the last couple of years, failed to do that. Yeah, I mean, we had Erling Haaland online during the game calling Grealish Jack. De Bruyne, which was really fascinating. Life felt amazing.

1:13:46Nothing could go wrong now, which of course meant it did. Wolves got them back into the game. The Korean guy, as Pep called him, Hwang, smashed the ball home. We've felt for a moment, hello darkness, my old friend. It's incredible how in football the good vibes can just instantly burn off. But then we did it again. Roar, you know me, I don't like to be hyperbolic. I'm starting to think we win in the league. I've got to be candid. We have no Europe to distract us. Hear me out here. Grylls, calves are on fire. Beto, unstoppably potent and die. The most stunning footballer to wear blue, I think, in the modern period.

1:14:21The man who got a yellow card for scoring against Brighton, doing the seagull selly, now netting against Wolves and doing the big cat. He's both good at football and hilarious. Jack flipped the ball to Kieran Dewsbury Hall, who clapped the ball decisively into the roof of the net. Raw, it felt like I was watching AI. I'm not going to lie. Jack Grealish, this is unbelievable. First Everton player to provide two assists in back-to-back Premier League games ever, which is wonderful and insane and brilliant and sad. come and join the bandwagon if you're watching people on Everton. There's room for everybody.

1:14:56We're going to the moon. Also just 34 more points we need before we feel safe. Do you think about the bandwagon fans who joined Everton because they just really love points deductions and they're now completely confused because what?

1:15:11Roger Bennett:We're good at football. They're the Premier League's great entertainers, Rog. We have come through the dodges of war period and now we're back in school of science. the eternal sort of balance of Evertonian existence that normally ends up a school of dogs. It's a triangle, though, Ro. There's a triangle. There's the school of science. There's the dogs of war. There's also the utter woeful abject crap as the third and probably most popular in the last 10 years. That's what I like to refer to as the school of war period. When it's neither. It's either the dogs of science or the school of war. It was a school of science, but we just played truant the whole time.

1:15:47Roger Bennett:In fact, it could be dogs of science, War, School of Science, School of Dogs. There you go. Yeah, the school, I'd love a school of dogs. Oh my God. That would be amazing, the School of Dogs. I'd never, God, I wish I'd gone to a school of dogs. Who are your best mates? The dogs. But you know, they are, Everton, look, you mentioned Potter, like Graham Potter's transformation, potential transformation into George Graham Potter again being kind of one of the uplifting Premier League storylines of the season. The most uplifting conceivable storyline of the season is David Moyes, Grandpa David, in his last, presumably like his last act as an elite manager suddenly going all brazil 1970 great entertainers school of dogs just having a whale of a time with all these creative players they've got tyler diblin to come in it's all there this is everton having fun i know and at the same time rule let me tell you on one level i'm just like those three goals each magic in their own way by the way if they've been sprinkled across an entire season we'd say that was an incredible season remember those three goals They were in one bloody game.

1:16:49And I can't describe how wild that felt as a man who's watched a lot of terrible football. Yes, it was against Wolves. So we're going to say we're woeful. And yes, we almost crapped the bed by conceding late and kind of it got weirdly nervy because, you know, St. David Moyes doesn't do subs and we do like to drop deep and hold on. But final whistle felt so good. But at the same time, part of it was like, I love a good dive bar in life. This was like, I go to the same dive bar for years and then suddenly turning up one night and finding out it's somehow been remade into the hottest club in town.

1:17:22DJ Greal's just in the corner spinning tracks and you're like, what? It's not what I'm used to. It's not why I go. I go because this is my dive bar. I'm imagining what you like if your partner had an extreme makeover and you're like, okay, okay. I'll try and embrace these radical differences. We sexy now.

1:17:41Roger Bennett:It's a bit like your dive bar getting turned into a really upscale pizza chain. That's what's happening to you, Rog. Just eat the pizza. I love Pete's chains. Just eat the pizza. Just go to Sbarro and have a pizza. That's as upsell as it is. But you're almost for Everton to be a Sbarro, or however it's pronounced. I think this season particularly, that is the identity Everton need. The challenge is going to be, Rog, I know you'll want to end on a negative for Everton. Yeah, please. The challenge is, at some point, Everton will lose a football match. And they will lose a football match in a way that David Moyes doesn't like.

1:18:15Will we then?

1:18:16Roger Bennett:And as soon as that happens, Moyes will be tempted to just shut it all down, dodges of war again, no more fun. That's it. That's your lot. Summer's over. It's raining again in Britain. Here we go. And the challenge will be what happens at that point where the Moyes is prepared to say, actually, do you know what? They will win more games than they lose if they play like this with Grealish and Dewsbury Hall and Dibling and GI. Or does he revert to type? Oh my God. You've just chilled me to the boat. It reminds me of like the Carlo Ancelosi season where we started off so well. James Rodriguez just doing, you know, Jack Grylls things before Jack Grylls.

1:18:53I had Carlo on the show and I said, Carlo, how's this going to end? It's like, we've got you, Carlo. You've come and you brought the dragons. Game of Thrones was a television show, kids, back then. It was really popular. And Carlo just leant into the microphone and chuckled and goes, yes, I have the dragons. But winter is coming. oh my god oh don't want to go there so let's wrap this show up with a letter from a GFOP this one from Adrienne Bender from Boston Mash who wrote to us at meninblazers at gmail.com you can do the same we love your letters they sustain us raw do the honours I think Adrienne also wrote

1:19:32Roger Bennett:to the correspondent which you can do as well we welcome correspondents at the correspondent as well Rog but to us she wrote I'm a proud Tottenham supporter from outside of Boston Massachusetts sits. A former Poster Coddlewite, I can now say I will join whatever cult Thomas Frank is promoting. Although he seems like just a normal guy, so maybe no cult joining is necessary. That's how they get you. My question today is on the songs that are sung at football matches. As an American, our sports fans creativity is very lacklustre and results in some pretty poor game day chants. I would love to know how songs are created at football matches.

1:20:08Roger Bennett:I know clubs have chants that have been around for ages, but how are new chants or songs distributed among the masses? How does everyone know what to sing and when? Is there an underground society where club members meet up to bounce lyrics off of each other? Thank you for everything you do for the sport. I love listening every week to your insights and humour. P.S. Rory, has anyone told you that you have one of those relaxing voices that could be put on those apps people can listen to in order to fall asleep? Could be your next career, pal. Do you know how to take that bit, Rog? Not sure about that.

1:20:36Roger Bennett:Take it as a compliment. It doesn't sound like a compliment for someone who's podcasting. Roar can we get to the core of the question and move you away from that sly insult which I love Adrian I actually have no idea this question reminds me how good your singing voice is but do the honest explain well it's case by case to an extent so there's maybe two examples that I can give one is the song that everybody now knows as LA LA LA Arsenal have a version Forest I think have a version Villa have a version but Liverpool introduced that to England but its journey before that I wrote this piece for the New York Times ages ago and it's one of my favourite things I've ever written because I had to trace it all the way back and it starts out in Italy it's an Italian song called L 'estate stafinendo which means summer is finishing which was Does it mean that?

1:21:30Roger Bennett:I thought that meant my piss is boiling L 'estate L 'estate stafinendo but it got picked up by It ultras at like a fourth division team in Italy and then turned into a song called, a chant called Un Giorno all Improviso at Napoli. I think it then went to Porto. A little bit of a detour to South America. And Liverpool fans, I think, got it from Porto and took the tune and then made up the lyrics themselves. And that kind of showcases one route, which is that songs are adapted somewhere else in Europe, often in Argentina as well, and then picked up by teams and they become kind of standards. Take a Broadway play being workshopped off Broadway.

1:22:11Roger Bennett:Yeah, a little bit. And you tend to find that Italy, Portugal, maybe Spain and Argentina, as I say, are the places where these songs come from. To get into Britain, they often come through Celtic. That's one of the stranger things is that Celtic will pick them up and then the English teams borrow them from Celtic. But then the other one is the Federico Chiesa song, which is kind of Liverpool's standard at the moment. Again, Arsenal now have their version of it. that seemed to emerge organically that I think there were videos online on forums, on social media on Reddit kind of November last year of fans singing that song which obviously is a Dean Martin standard, the Michael Bublé version of Sway is maybe the most famous, there was a famous one in Britain in the 90s by a band called Shaft Did Bublé sing it before or after he's a big Chiesa fan He got into Liverpool during the Patrick Birdie years, Michael Bublé but as we all did that kind of flourished online and then by around kind of late April they'd started, the fans had started to sing it in stadiums at away games and because it's such a catchy tune it caught on and by that stage it goes from the away fans to the home fans and at that point it is then kind of in the songbook each song has its own journey but I think often the lyrics come from one person and the best ones or the catchiest ones maybe the easiest to remember ones they're the ones that catch on I mean, the pub used to be the place where songs used to be learned pre-game in the old pre-internet era.

1:23:38I mean, it was about fans, I'd say, like baiting themselves into full voice. I remember football songs used to be, they used to be very few, they're just classic tropes that every football fan knew and just kind of amended the lyrics to fit into the classics. Like there's only one, insert player's name here. Or when the, insert name of club, go marching in. Or by far the greatest team. You just have to jam words into that. But now it happens, as Raw says, via social media. I once interviewed, it was a beautiful interview. It's still up somewhere. It's hard for me to do to be candid. I interviewed Liverpool bar Jamie Webster, a guy who popularised such tunes as Mo Salah, Mo Salah, Egyptian King.

1:24:20He told me an amazing story about Virgil van Dijk's song, which I think is probably the way songs spread now. But like this, the song he's out saying, Anyway, that one. He told me, he said they were going to an away game at Huddersfield. He described the scene. He goes, I was with 10 drunk Scousers on the bus. And they were listening to the radio. Pogue's Dirty Old Town, that fantastic song, was on the radio. And he just started to, I love the way Jamie brings his guitar, by the way, on the bus. It's world-class commitment to the art. Just started strumming along to it. that the lyrics kind of, I guess, found themselves as he did.

1:24:59So right there, one of his friends shot a video on the bus of Jamie singing this new song, which he just kind of magicked on the journey. They put it online. The local paper, the Liverpool Echo, retweeted it. And Jamie said with a real marvel that by the time they got off the bus at Huddersfield and walked into the ground, he said the entire Liverpool away end was already singing the song. He just composed like half an hour before It happens at the speed of light now we're all. In that spirit, I want to thank GFOP Peter Dahl, who took my suggestion that Jack Grealish is the hero Everton have been aching for in the way Bonnie Tyler needed a hero, sent in a beautiful chant, which I will not sing, but it's called I Need a Grealish.

1:25:44The lyrics are, I'm holding out for a Grealish till the end of the night. You know that he's fast and you know that he's strong and his curves are larger than life rule. What do you think about that one? Be honest.

1:25:55Roger Bennett:I think there are certain players whose names don't fit easily into songs and that's why they don't have chance. There is one at Liverpool at the moment who's got a free kick this weekend, Dominic Sobbersly. It's difficult to get that into a song. There is a version of American Pie. Stands with that, but it's not really caught on. Fear that Grealish might be in the same. I need a Grealish! Oh my God, it's so great. I love it. I'm in. I'm in. Peter Dahl. You can work with Jack. Maybe something about Jack. That's where you need to... Don't police our chance, please. I still think we should be doing something for Careless Whisper for Jack.

1:26:29But Adrian, send us your post. Or Peter Dahl, send us yours too. We'll send you both the coveted Men in Blazers patch. Keep sending your letters, questions to Rory and me to meninblazers at gmail.com. That is it for today. We're in an international break. We don't even have Premier League football to keep us going, Rob. But we'll have a ton of content dropping this week, including interviews with the quite magical Seginio Dest. Clint Dempsey and I will be on live after Saturday night's game against South Korea. Please, God, let us have a modicum of joy. Roar, huge, huge love to you, Crown Prince of Harrogate.

1:27:00Roger Bennett:It's been a pleasure. I'm just glad we've all survived the transfer window and we can now just go into hibernation until the transfer started in January. We'll live off the meagre crumbs of Premier League football, Roar. This is Roar, sending you big love. Let's not take a second of watching football together for granted. And courage.

1:27:20you